Re: What is the technical name for this kind of energy?


"Charlie Edmondson" <edmondson@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44ca355e$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
AKA Gray Asphalt wrote:

I meant to say ... that if there is enough crop to produce ethanol then
how come there isn't enough crop to produce corn oil to use directly as a
fuel? Diesel engines ran on corn oil before diesel as they were developed
for farm work. Not sure about the last but very sure about the fact they
ran on vegetable oil before petroleum.



Hi Gray,
I don't know if you are just trolling, or just not listening...

Ethanol from corn is a vote buying scheme to purchase the votes of
millions of farmers and those in farming communities. It takes an energy
intensive biomass source - corn - and creates a fuel from it, with typical
losses of 5-15%, i.e. you input a gallon of diesel fuel energy, and get .9
gallons worth of energy out. It makes econonic sense only because the
government is subsidizing the process.

While corn oil is probably better in energy efficiency, it still isn't
very good. Corn is a foodstuff, not an energy feedstock. If you are
truly trying to produce biodiesel, you pick the source with the greatest
abount of oil production, not that tastes good.

Charlie

I'm not trolling. My question is not based on the type of oil but about why
a crop isn't a better fuel source than the same crop converted to ethanol.
Maybe I'm still not listening well enough, but to me crops use up co2 and
the economic component is important but should not be overstated to get
votes, as many have said. I just wonder why someone can drive a car on corn
oil (or any other kind of oil from plants, hemp, weeds ... : -) with a small
conversion cost, under $1000 and burn free used cooking oil.

It seems like a good idea to stay away from the politics of this issue
because then people wonder if you are on one side or the other and if you
present the scientific data in an understandable way those making decisions
might have to consider the data.

Just because we have decided to use a crop for food doesn't mean that it is
not suitable for fuel. Do you think that the name we give something and the
current use matters when looking for alternative uses?


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Study Says Ethanol Not Worth the Energy
    ... First there was the comment that it takes 29% more fuel to produce ... Ethanol than what you get from Ethanol. ... regularly plants 660 acres of corn. ... He speaks of huge subsidies given to oil exploration ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: 27 years of gasoline prices: actual & inflation adjusted
    ... Corn and pork bellies don't have to deal with the greed and corruption ... And this has what again to do with the price of gasoline? ... Demand for oil ... factors in determining the price of fuel. ...
    (alt.auto.mercedes)
  • Re: UN Warns of Biofuels Environmental Risk
    ... the last 5 years claims the net energy benefit of corn as a fuel ranges ... It's that newly found oil that caused Brazil to become energy ...
    (misc.transport.trucking)
  • Re: What is the technical name for this kind of energy?
    ... how come there isn't enough crop to produce corn oil to use directly as ... Diesel engines ran on corn oil before diesel as they were ... intensive biomass source - corn - and creates a fuel from it, ...
    (sci.energy.hydrogen)
  • Re: Some janet and john figures for biofuel
    ... so using grain as a fuel alone is relatively inefficient. ... Since the crop is wood, the need to use good agricultural land for the crop seems foolish and the possibility of using waterlogged land for willow cropping is attractive. ... We get 130-200 gallons of oil per acre from olives, pretty much the same as OSR. ...
    (uk.business.agriculture)
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