Re: Energy Cost of Ethanol


cnctut wrote:


Certainly there are many side issues with corn to ethanol. Greg
Hansen's original post was aimed at a statement seen on the web
frequently--"1.5 gals petrol needed to make one gal ethanol." We could
have used any variety of crops to address that statement from beets to
cellulose--but since corn issues are in the news, I chose that product.

The article said that figures range from 1.4:1 to 1:1.5, so whether
corn fuel even breaks even still seems to be in dispute. Too bad it
didn't have citations. There are other, more distant approaches, like
breaking down cellulose. But one at a time.

The economics are interesting, too. Like the price of ethanol going
from (what was it..?) $2.45 per gallon to $4.60 per gallon when it
started being added to fuel. Something similar would surely happen to
the price of sugar of whatever origin if it became the common feedstock
for fuels. But that's not "Would it reduce our reliance on fossil
fuels?", it's "Is it worth it?"

.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: OT: The big lie. Or is it
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