Post
by stilltrucking » May 3rd, 2010, 7:09 pm
Bad business, and a waste of good ethanol. I prefer my ethanol straight up in a glass.
The ecological and social tragedy of crop-based biofuel production in the Americas.
Despite the studies of Shapouri et al (2004) from the USDA that report a net energy positive return for ethanol production, Pimentel and Patzek (2005), utilizing data from all 50 states and accounting for all energy inputs ( including farm machinery manufacture and repair and fermentation-distillation equipment) conclude that ethanol production does not provide a net energy benefit. Rather, they claim it requires more fossil energy to produce than it produces. In their calculations, corn ethanol production requires 1.29 gallons of fossil fuels per gallon of ethanol produced, and soy biodiesel production requires 1.27 gallons of fossil energy per gallon of diesel produced. In addition, because of the relatively low energy density of ethanol, approximately three gallons of ethanol are needed to displace two gallons of gasoline.
http://www.foodfirst.org/node/1662
A danger to our health and the Earth
Growing corn at the scale required to switch a significant amount of fuel in the US to ethanol could have devastating environmental effects. Corn requires more toxic pesticides and fertilizers than any other US food crops, according to the New York Times. Chlorpyrifos, the most commonly applied pesticide on corn, is banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for household use, and EPA studies have linked chlorpyrifos to brain damage in rats. The EPA has also classified
Atrazine, the most commonly used herbicide on corn, as a possible carcinogen. Nitrogen, a main ingredient in corn fertilizers, encourages algae growth in saltwater, creating oxygen-starved “dead zones”—including a 12,000-foot dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico—that threaten aquatic life and water quality in coastal regions.
http://www.greenamericatoday.org/pubs/g ... thanol.cfm
