Should the use of ethanol be banned?

Question

A new study shows that pollution from corn-growing farms will destroy the Chesapeake Bay.

Forests are being clear-cut to make new farms.

It takes far more fuel to grow, harvest, refine, transport, and distribute ethanol then gasoline.

Hydrocarbons from ethanol emissions are worse then gasoline.

A gallon of milk is now over $4.25/gallon in most grocery stores. The price of meats has doubled. The population is increasing rapidly, so food will be more of a problem in years to come.

Liberals are making us jump feet first into using ethanol when there are serious problems with it. Ethanol is a very serious mistake. Will liberals admit that this is a giant screw up, and ban the use of ethanol before it is too late?

firstythirsty--you are right... Bush is pushing it, Charlie Crist, Republican governor of Florida is requiring it's use in all state vehicles.

But it is still largely a liberal environmental movement.

I am not an environmentalist... but I do believe we need to protect the planet and there are several environmental movements I can get on board with... but this is something I truely believe is a HUGE mistake... and we need to step back and ask outselves what the hell are we doing?

Answer 1

The use of ethanol is only a political ploy. It is nothing more than a way to get more of your money. The long term viability of ethanol as the replacement of gas will not work due to demand. You need to consume twice as much ethanol as gas due to it having half the BTU content per gallon. Next is strike against ethanol is it is hard to store and transport. We will need massive refining capabilities to supply the demand, and as we know no one wants a refinery in their backyard. (the evo's will eventually protest every refinery to be built)
The current alternatives to gas right now are ethanol, electric, etc. are only short term concepts. Electric while sounding evo-friendly actually causes more environmental damage than a gas car.(mostly due to the manufacture and disposal of the battery) The real future is in Hydrogen, but Hydrogen is being pushed aside for quick easy P.C. friendly ideas.

Answer 2

I saw somewhere some statistics that showed if we used new plant-based fuel rather than that derived from oil, we would need so much land to grow enough that there would not be enough land left to grow enough food.

I think that ethanol is a small part of a very complex solution ... a mix of different solutions will emerge in the end.

Answer 3

Good question. The hydrocarbons are worse with Ethanol. On top of that, you use more ethanol per mpg than gas, therefore not as fuel efficient. You need more compared to gas and will use more, putting more hydrocarbons in the air, creating more green house gasses............you do the math.

Answer 4

No we need to change over to a completely ethanol society so we can starve half the world and make the world hate us more than they already do.

Power to the Corn.

Answer 5

"Ethanol is not particularly good nor bad for the environment. It's a hydrocarbon made from plants, which is exactly what gasoline, oil, natural gas and coal all are. All of these can be burned cleanly or can be burned dirtily. Each produces waste heat and CO2, and each has its own special "extra" pollution - Coal, for example, tends to produce unpleasant sulfur compounds, which end up as acid rain. Ethanol produces aldehydes, which burn human mucus membranes (eyes nose and throat) and cause cancer. There's no free lunch.

The only real advantage is that ethanol can be made in real-time, rather than waiting millions of years."

Answer 6

Brazil, who gets most of their auto fuel from ethanol (from sugarcane) is concerned about turning forests into more land for ethanol production. Very good question!

Answer 7

Burning carcinogenic foreign oil that we'll run out of is a much better idea!!! And rising oil prices don't make the cost of anything we buy go up at all.

Answer 8

Hmmm...it wasn't liberals that created those initiatives. You should pay more attention to facts, and spend less time looking for things to blame on liberals.