 The REAL Napster says: This is when other countries realize just how dependant THEY are on the U.S. Europe simply doesn't have the room to plant 90 million acres of corn. Other countries are eagerly placing orders for the bumper crop of U.S. corn. How funny it is that the U.S. is called the scum of the Earth...that is until we have something they want and need. This is also good for alternative plastics like PLA which are made entirely of corn and are environmentally friendly. ; ) Fritos, my favorite food. In all seriousness, I have been wondering when this was going to happen. Wouldn't it be nice if WE actually used some ethanol and didn't just sell it to Europe and Brazil? I use ethanol in my vehicle whenever I can, which is getting more frequent as they add more and more ethanol stations. I also burn corn for heating my house. Don't get too cocky about corn-based ethanol being so wonderful that everyone will clamor for it. This recent study shows no statistical difference between greenhouse gas emissions of regular unleaded gasoline and 10% ethanol-blended fuel. This finding and the added costs to consumers for the many other products that use corn may put a huge damper on the current enthusiastic rush to produce so much corn for biofuel use. That study is unpublished (why?) and looks be to very small in scope. I would have to see more data, taken from a larger controlled study from multiple locations before I started to take their findings seriously. It is good that they are checking, but again, lets see real proof with data to back it up. That clip mentioned that proponents of Ethanol saying tailpipe emissions are not the only statistic that matters. Ethanol is made from a renewable resource and — although there is much scientific debate on this point — they argue ethanol produces fewer greenhouse gases when the entire production cycle, from gathering to refinement to emissions, is taken into account. Another reason not to get too puffed up over corn-based ethanol: corn is a very heavy feeder. Meaning that it generally uses one hell o0 a lot of commercial fertilizer to get high yields. Guess where much of the ingredients and the manufacturing process for this fertilizer comes from? If you guessed the petroleum industry give yourself a gold star. I'm certainly not against ethanol, in fact quite the opposite. However I think it would make a lot more sense to look for plants that thrive on marginal soil such as Jerusalem artichokes and many other such sources. In defense of corn: There is more to corn than most people know about. Most farmers knows this, but for those of you who don't. It is true that corn plants require alot of fertilizer to return heavy (not moderate) yields. As the stalks grow so tall (usally 5ft-8ft) the plant consumes alot of Nitrogen, the main ingredient in any ferttizler. Alot of farmers are switching to natural sources of nitrogen (organics) as opposed to chemically derived fertilizer. The chemically based sources can burn the plants easily and are costly. Organics are also costly, but more forgiving in over-application. Ears of corn are not the only thing harvested from corn plants, however. The stalks themsel... |
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