>Though that I would do some calculations on Ethanol production and Corn .... here are the results:
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>Let’s here it for Ethanol … all it takes is corn … it’s the answer … or is it.
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>In 2004 terms … (just an engineers opinion*)
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>In 2004 the US consumed approximately 140 Billion gallons of gasoline.
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>In 2004 the US had a bumper crop of corn amounting to 11.74 Billion Bushels. According to the North American Combustion Handbook 3rd Edition, 2.5 gallons of Ethanol can be derived from one bushel of corn. One gallon of Ethanol produces approximately 77,000 BTU’s of energy. While one gallon of Gasoline produces approximately 114,100 BTU’s of energy.
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>If all the corn produced in the US had been converted to Ethanol in 2004 then this would have been the equivalent of 3,169,079,750 gallons of Gasoline (3.2 Billion Gallons of Gasoline) … in other words 2.3% of the actual gasoline need that year.
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>The production cost for this 3.2 Billion Gallons of Ethanol in 2004 terms would have been the same as approximately 9 Billion Gallons of Gasoline. Also, the depletion of carbon from the soil has limits. Excessive corn production (i.e., in quantities which cause carbon depletion) will require action or eventually no corn will be able to be produced from that carbon depleted soil.
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>Oh, and don’t forget under the 100% use of corn for Ethanol to replace Gasoline we may not have any other use of corn: this includes Bourbon Whiskey, corn bread, corn on the cob, tortillas, etc; I guess it’s safe to say that corn should also not be used for “pie in the sky”.
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>* Engineers use “science and math” in their decision making process while environmentalists use “feelings and conjecture”.
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Precisely!!!
Buy sugar cane ethanol made in Brazil... :)