Does making Ethanol even make sense?

Question

Considering how much oil is required to produce ethanol?

Answer 1

It's a stop gap measure , what we really need is energy sources that are not dependent on oil. These are blocked at every turn by the big oil cartels and big oil business. Hello people are actually being killed for this because it represents so many dollars.

Answer 2

I googled "Process of making Ethanol" and the first website revealed these steps:

1. Wheat or corn kernels are ground in a hammermill to expose the starch.
2. The ground grain is mixed with water, cooked briefly and enzymes are added to convert the starch to sugar using a chemical reaction called hydrolysis.
3. Yeast is added to ferment the sugars to ethanol.
4. The ethanol is separated from the mixture by distillation and the water is removed from the mixture using dehydration.

Does this process take oil to produce? Other than just running the machinery? Seems to me, they could use wind (lots of it in the plains) to generate the needed power to run the equipment...It sounds rather straightforward and simple to me, but then I didn't even know the procedure till i googled it, so maybe I am missing something???

Answer 3

Unfortunately, it makes plenty of sense to the businesses involved in the research, development, promotion, hype, production and manufacturing of ethanol. (Perhaps "sense" could better be known as "dollars" in the preceding statement.)

Even more unfortunate is the premise that this will somehow help the United States become energy independent.
It's just another political bandwagon that the so-called environmentally conscious politicians can scrape their shins on jumping on and off depending on the public opinion polls.

The truth will come to light when the price of an ear of corn starts escalating at the same rate as gasoline prices have in the recent past - and the price of that steak you enjoy cooking on the grille will necessarily escalate right along with the cost of everything else directly or indirectly involved.
Oh, the unintended consequences..............

Answer 4

from what I've read no. I can't remember where I read it but a study showed that ethanol will never be able to replace gasonline at a lower cost because it cannot be transported by pipeline and that it emits about the same if not more polutints in the air as gasoline.

Answer 5

Ethanol is just a campaign pandering gimmick. Watch it drop off the radar after the Iowa elections.

Sure, agribusiness -like ADM- will receive pork monies to "research" ethanol, but it's only to resurrect the issue at the next election cycle to fool the farmers.

Things will go back to normal. Ethanol isn't here to stay, just secure votes.

Answer 6

People like to feel like they are making a difference even if they are really just making matters worse. At the end of the day politicians can pat them selves on the back and say, "I made a difference today." The thing they don't realize is they are taking 1 step forward 3 steps back.

Answer 7

ethanol gets 2/3 the milage per gallon, so it is a waste.

Answer 8

The only problem that I see is the increase in prices of everything else, effected by the now higher price of corn.

Answer 9

No, not considering that we could have plenty of oil in the US if it weren't for environmentalists.

Answer 10

It BETTER work, considering all the corn fields that have been planted this spring!