Ethanol sucks

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: AcuraTech
..The problem is that the average Joe has no clue. "Hey, the ethanol plant means more jobs for local workers and farmers, right?"..


That 'selling point' does crack me up. From what I've seen, a large ethanol plant employs something like 30-50 people at best. Whoopty freeking doo. Pay isn't all that great either. Imagine that.

Joel

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
You'll get used to it. Save the hissy fits for something that really matters...


Government putting lobbyists ahead of public interest doesn't matter to you? Yeah, it's standard procedure. But it should still matter.

 

[ekpolk]

Hey, I like ethanol! Properly presented, in say a quality gin, and blended with one's favorite mixer (non-petro based, of course), ETOH makes football games, arguments with the wife, the job, and just life in general, a little bit more enjoyable. And how hypocritical is it that Big Brother wants us to load up our cars with ETOH, but if WE load ourselves up with just a tad too much, it's off to jail we go!!!

Seriously though, I just don't see loading up our transportation fuel with a product that is part of the human food chain is a good idea. But hey, time will tell...

 

[Junior]

Just so everyone knows, corn ethanol is not made from the corn you eat. Food grade corn is used to make edible corn products. Field corn is used for animal feed, corn syrup and ethanol.

I think the much much bigger factor in the increase in food prices is energy prices and not the price of corn.

 

[JTK]

That's true Junior, but field corn hogging up all the 'growing space' is what fuels the doomsday scenario and with just cause I suppose. Either way, it's a renewable resource and a fuel additive that most likely will stick around as long as gasoline does.. and why shouldn't it. How is it possibly more harmful that gasoline itself.

Joel

 

[paul246]

Originally Posted By: Junior
Just so everyone knows, corn ethanol is not made from the corn you eat. Food grade corn is used to make edible corn products. Field corn is used for animal feed, corn syrup and ethanol.

I think the much much bigger factor in the increase in food prices is energy prices and not the price of corn.


Field corn feeds the livestock...that we eat. Corn syrup/fructose also goes into what we consume.

 

[paul246]

Originally Posted By: JTK
How is it possibly more harmful that gasoline itself.

Joel


Because more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere producing ethanol than what we a spared when burning it.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: JTK
That's true Junior, but field corn hogging up all the 'growing space' is what fuels the doomsday scenario and with just cause I suppose. Either way, it's a renewable resource and a fuel additive that most likely will stick around as long as gasoline does.. and why shouldn't it. How is it possibly more harmful that gasoline itself.

Joel


It doesn't pass the cost:benefit analysis. Even if it worked on the primary cost:btu balance in price, the inflationary side effects make it MUCH cheaper to import more petroleum. Renewable or otherwise, it's a way to keep more MONEY at home in internal consumption through higher food/transportation costs. I doubt that our energy imports have decreased.

 

[Junior]

Originally Posted By: paul246
Originally Posted By: Junior
Just so everyone knows, corn ethanol is not made from the corn you eat. Food grade corn is used to make edible corn products. Field corn is used for animal feed, corn syrup and ethanol.

I think the much much bigger factor in the increase in food prices is energy prices and not the price of corn.


Field corn feeds the livestock...that we eat. Corn syrup/fructose also goes into what we consume.


The livestock producer is often stuck in the middle with high feed prices and low commodity prices to sell their animals. High frutos corn syrup was a made up product to find a use for corn. We could get by without it. Just a though, has anyone considered the beer industry. How much barley do they use that could be fed to livestock.

Anyway, I don't believe corn ethanol is the long term answer. It has helped increase commodity prices to a level where farmers can actually make money.

I guess my main point was that ethanol is not even close to the biggest reason why grocery bills are higher.

 

[Junior]

Quote:
=Gary Allan
It doesn't pass the cost:benefit analysis. Even if it worked on the primary cost:btu balance in price, the inflationary side effects make it MUCH cheaper to import more petroleum. Renewable or otherwise, it's a way to keep more MONEY at home in internal consumption through higher food/transportation costs. I doubt that our energy imports have decreased.


Do you honestly believe ethanol is the cause of higher food and transportation costs!?! Regardless of the energy balance, supply and demand and speculators have caused the price of oil and energy to increase. Not the ethanol industry.

 

[tmorris1]

Originally Posted By: mikered30
Citgo claims no ethanol, except in large metro areas.

In most areas it is mandated by law so it is not up to them where they add ethanol.

 

[Samilcar]

Originally Posted By: paul246
Originally Posted By: Junior
Just so everyone knows, corn ethanol is not made from the corn you eat. Food grade corn is used to make edible corn products. Field corn is used for animal feed, corn syrup and ethanol.

I think the much much bigger factor in the increase in food prices is energy prices and not the price of corn.


Field corn feeds the livestock...that we eat. Corn syrup/fructose also goes into what we consume.


Distillers grains also feed the livestock...that you eat. Field corn that is taken out of the food chain to produce ethanol is not completely lost to food production. The distillers grains left over from ethanol production are turned into livestock feed. Almost half the profits generated by our local ethanol plant come from the sale of this livestock feed.

 

[oilyriser]

Originally Posted By: Junior
Do you honestly believe ethanol is the cause of higher food and transportation costs!?! Regardless of the energy balance, supply and demand and speculators have caused the price of oil and energy to increase. Not the ethanol industry.


The central bank governor Ben Bernanke is the cause of higher prices overall, because he devalued the currency.

 

[tmorris1]

Originally Posted By: Junior
Just so everyone knows, corn ethanol is not made from the corn you eat. Food grade corn is used to make edible corn products. Field corn is used for animal feed, corn syrup and ethanol.


Corn is corn. Corn syrup is in about everything we eat, corn meal, corn flakes, corn bread, are all made from corn. There is no difference between this corn and the corn that is used to make ethanol. A farmer doesn't plant a field of "food grade" corn and another field of "ethanol grade corn".