No doubt all what professor Pimentel has said is absolutely correct. But in 50 years time when world conventional oil production is down to 17 billion barrels per day and demand for oil equivalent in liquid fuels is 70 billion barrels per day, American motor vehicles are not going to be powered solely by ethanol produced from corn.
There will be other far more efficient methods of producing energy for transportation. Enzymatic conversion of cellulosic feed stocks to sugars and alcohols will no doubt be one of them. If we already have the technology to clone stud animals today, then surely we will soon have the technology to genetically engineer plants that produce their own enzymes not only for cellulose-sugar conversion, but also sugar-alcohol conversion. We will simply mash up these plants, put them into a fermentation tank, add water, raise the temperature and distil the resulting beer. Deriving liquid fuels from natural gas, coal, shale, tar sands and methane hydrates etc. will not only be too expensive, but also create atmospheric, land and water pollution which by 2050 will no longer be politically acceptable in any part of the world. Therefore a combination of reduced demand for liquid fuels and cheap bio fuels produced from dedicated energy crops is the most likely long term scenario. In the meantime however, what if it takes 70% more energy to produce ethanol from corn that the ethanol produces? It is good for the atmosphere, it is good for the farmers, it makes cars run better and it boosts technology development. So the industry is subsidised. What would we rather do? Spend the tax dollar on something that is good for the rural GDP and good for the planet, or make OPEC wealthier, spew more CO2 into the atmosphere and have our economies run down a path of ever increasing environmental cost and diminishing resources. Sometimes one wonders what these so called scientists do for common sense. They are so busy investigating, analysing, and tabulating, that they loose sight of the practical world that we live in. Hanns -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, 9 August 2001 12:22 AM To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Subject: [biofuel] Ethanol is a net energy loser~Bigtime http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug01/corn-basedethanol.hrs.html [i]Ethanol fuel from corn faulted as 'unsustainable subsidized food burning' in analysis by Cornell scientist FOR RELEASE: Aug. 6, 2001 Contact: Roger Segelken Office: 607-255-9736 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------snip---------------------- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Small business owners... Tell us what you think! http://us.click.yahoo.com/vO1FAB/txzCAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
