Is Ethanol a good alternative fuel?

I'm not so sure.

Published on June 21, 2007 By Adventure-Dude In The Environment

Colorado now has 3 ethanol plants, the first in Boulder, the second in Sterling, and the most recent in Yuma county. Thanks to Governor Bill Ritter Colorado is planned for 40 new stations to pump E85 (85% ethanol and 15% unleaded) for 2007. Many support this idea of 'renewable' fuel source as a prized alternative but I'm not so easily convinced.

For those who think corn comes from a can this would sound like a great solution to our foreign oil dependence but let's briefly examine this 'solution:'

Corn crops are one of the top crops that deplete soil nutrients extracting large amounts of Nitrogen from the soil. If crop rotation isn't utilitized the land can be devastated in just a few years. From my understanding it is the second harshest crop on the soil (first being cotton).
Since the push for Ethanol corn has increased in price to over $4 a bushel that's up 73% (-Link). With this significant surge in price many farmers are opting to raise corn instead of other grains. A recipe for shortage of other grains and greater damage of soil depletion. WIth a shortage of other grains such as wheat simple laws of supply and demand will cause the price of wheat to go up.
There will be several areas in the grocery industry that will be directly affected by this.
-Your box of corn flakes will go up as it will be competing for each bushel of corn by this new competitor.
-Since corn is greatly used in feed for cattle we can anticipate meat and dairy prices to rise.

These are just a few of the heavily impacted areas for this 'solution.' I know that some have claimed the environmental benefits of ethanol being a cleaner burning fuel but it comes at a high cost of soil depletion. From an environmental perspective I cannot see any legitimate reasoning. From an economical perspecitve I'm not convinced it will be 'better.'

What do you think JoeUser? Is this a good alternative or is it just going to make things worse?

Comments (Page 2)

Abe Cubbage

on Jun 24, 2007

hemp is illegal in the united states becouse of one of its other use

danielost, you are easily the dumbest person who posts on JU.

Tova7

on Jun 24, 2007

My dad worked for Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant when I was growing up and I'm perfectly normal except for when I glow in the dark. ha ha. Lame, I know. I can't help it. My lameness comes naturally

LOL

danielost

on Jun 24, 2007

hemp is illegal in the united states becouse of one of its other use

danielost, you are easily the dumbest person who posts on JU.

why becouse you don't know that hemp and marjiwani are in the same family and produce the same results

danielost

on Jun 24, 2007

Vote Hemp is a national, single-issue, nonprofit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and free market for low-THC industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow this agricultural crop. We educate people on the issues surrounding hemp, register voters, and build coalitions to fulfill our mission.

Vote Hemp is working to shift federal regulation of industrial hemp back to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and out of the hands of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Vote Hemp also works to defend against any new laws, regulations or policies that would prohibit or restrict hemp commerce or imports.

Vote Hemp was founded in May 2000 by members of the hemp industry and was incorporated in the District of Columbia as a non-profit 501(c)4 organization. Since then Vote Hemp has emerged as the unquestionable lead political activist organization of the hemp industry. We have demonstrated that Vote Hemp is a strategic organization working for meaningful change in Washington, DC, a necessary precursor to expanding the hemp industry in the U.S. and worldwide.

WWW Link

danielost

on Jun 24, 2007

why becouse you don't know that hemp and marjiwani are in the same family and produce the same results

sorry i should have said may produce the same results

Abe Cubbage

on Jun 25, 2007

why becouse you don't know that hemp and marjiwani are in the same family and produce the same results

sorry i should have said may produce the same results

WWW Link

You prove my point, however I commend you for doing cursory research on the subject. Read everything at the link you provided and your ignorance on this particular subject will be considerably lessened (hint: you can't get high from hemp).

danielost

on Jun 25, 2007

hint they are trying to make it legal to grow which is what i said about it being illegal to grow

non of the other stuff in that web page has anything to do with what i said

Adventure-Dude

on Jun 25, 2007

I'm perfectly normal except for when I glow in the dark. ha ha.

Glowing in the dark. That reduces energy because you don't need electricity to see in the dark. Sounds like a glowing green idea!

Yea, I wrote about this recently:

I see that we had similar points although your's I will say is more researched.

I agree There is much more we could be doing but invading our food supply is like poking a stick at the top of a cave. With that said I don't see HEMP as being a successful alternative either.

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