Corn fuel vs fossil fuel not going to work

Thanks Once again for stopping by and reading my thoughts and Ideas.This time I have one that was suggested to me by a pretty wise older guy and long time friend.

I recently noted that the brains over at Nascar were converting over to this cool

new "old school based" fuel called ethanol.I thought it was good enough for

the moonshiners and would bring Jobs and money back to the U.S.A.

 

After spending a day trying to prove this point,I have come to the conclusion

That this is not going to work.What are the brains thinking?

First my point was going to be that this wonderful new fuel could be

made from other items besides corn.

The problems start with corn being one of most ready resources but it is hard on

the land.It takes nutrients out of the soil that are hard to replace.Next we use nitrogen

Currently to fertilize the corn and we also ad pesticides that are very bad for

our environment.I should also mention that corn contributes to erosion.

None of these seem viable to me.Then lets ad in that it apparently take

more energy to make Ethanol from corn then you get back.

Using wood or natural gas more supplies down the drain.

The economist's and the green folks are touting that it will cut down

emissions my research found only about a 13percent reduction.

This percent in my opinion does not outweigh the cost of materials

used to make it.

 

The next best way  to make it would be sugar cane.The cane

has around the same basic output we would get from the corn,However

In Brazil where this product is doing well the weather conditions favor

sugar cane growth.Here in America  we do not have that many places

where you could grow the sugar cane.the bulk is grown in Florida and Louisiana 

 but most of the united states is not suitable for this product.

My next thought was to import  sugar cane.The tariff is to high for a Brazilian

import and Philip Hayes of the American Sugar Alliance said his group would stand strong against any governmental efforts to drop sugar tariffs.

 

There are a few other product wheat grass,sugar beets to name a couple

but they do not put off the Ethanol amounts that we need to do it successfully

and meet the demand at the same time.Also in the list of problems

is the mileage sugar cane ethanol doesn't get the gas mileage that corn ethanol

gets and corn doesn't do as well as fossil fuel gas.

 

This leaves me with a few parting thoughts.first Verne you are right

at this point in time Corn fuel may be a bad idea.

There is a small light on the horizon and my last chance to come

out on top of this debate that only time will tell.

This has been researched for 10 years over at university of Gainsville.

They have come up with the idea of just using the fibers from the corn and

not the feed corn itself.These guys have managed a bacterial fungus that will

speed up the production and get more ethanol out of the fibers.

This is still experimental.they are also looking at enzyme drawn

from animal intestines that may break down the corn fibers in a quicker

fashion.Whoever at this point it is all experimental.

I say hold on to your gasoline car as a second car if you decide

to convert to an ethanol car it may not make the cut.

 

Whats nascar going to do? I am not really sure but with

Hendricks,Roush,Gibbs, and a few other high profile teams there

I expect they will get the most out of whatever they are told to

work with.Who knows maybe they will make the strides to send

this alternative fuel on its way