

Much of the ethanol produced from the corn was exported overseas


Source: Scientific American

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RE: What the ****?
By MrBlastman on 10/13/2011 2:51:48 PM , Rating: 2
Well right. Food-based ethanol was my whole point of why it has been a sham. Substitute the food for non-digestible materials and it changes slightly. Substitute the food for non-digestible materials that are not farmed solely for the merit of turning them into fuel and instead obtain them from waste products and it changes substantially.

As is, that is probably the only way that I'll be satisfied with ethanol. I've never been too keen on giving up farmland for fuel. People are getting more creative though and are finding ways to use garbage of various sorts instead and that is progress.

I think this is the key, too. Finding ways to make these liquid fuels (as I see no viable way to replace them anytime soon given power-production barriers such as resistance to nuclear power-plants or even localized, subterranean mini-nuke reactors--which very well might be the future) with a net-neutral impact to farmland or the food supply is imperative. Using carbon from our atmosphere and coupling it with hydrogen is a great thing, just do it in a way that doesn't cause living expenses to increase (algae-based fuels are a great idea).

