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Increased Use of Ethanol - Bad for the Environment

Discussion in '2007 Archive' started by KenH, Jul 18, 2007.

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  1. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

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    Don't you just love our national government? First, they mandate the use of ethanol. Then when the effects of unintended consequences set in they want to spend more taxpayers' dollars fixing the problem that their own mandate causes.


    'Green' Fuel May Damage The Bay​


    Ethanol Study Has Dire Prediction for The Chesapeake​
    [SIZE=-1]By David A. Fahrenthold[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
    Washington Post Staff Writer​


    Tuesday, July 17, 2007; B01​
    [/SIZE]
    A surge in the demand for ethanol -- touted as a greener alternative to gasoline -- could have a serious environmental downside for the Chesapeake Bay, because more farmers growing corn could mean more pollution washing off farm fields, a new study warned yesterday.

    The study, whose sponsors included the U.S. government and an environmental group, predicted that farmers in the bay watershed will plant 500,000 or more new acres of corn in the next five years. Because fields of corn generally produce more polluted runoff than those of other crops, that's a problem.

    "It's going in the opposite direction from where we want to go," said Jim Pease, a professor at Virginia Tech and one of the study's authors.

    - rest at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601845.html?hpid=moreheadlines

    ​
     
    #1 KenH, Jul 18, 2007
  2. Bro. Curtis

    Bro. Curtis <img src =/curtis.gif>
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    Thanx, Ken. This article's a printer.
     
    #2 Bro. Curtis, Jul 18, 2007
  3. hillclimber1

    hillclimber1 Active Member
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    The environmental issue is small compared to the price increase for food. It is wrong headed to dedicate a food product that makes a rather lousy fuel, to this. Food costs rising will be a far bigger negative than any ill perceived gain.

    Work on conservation based on the individuals personal saving, not the "good of mankind" or some such drivel.

    Allow drilling off the west coast, in the gulf, and in Alaska's frozen north. Crude oil is what God intended for our fuel, not corn, or soybeans.
     
    #3 hillclimber1, Jul 18, 2007
  4. av1611jim

    av1611jim New Member

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    I might add that ethanol is an irrational substitute for petroleum fuel anyway. For every gallon of petro fuel you need 1.5 gallons of ethanol to produce the same amount of energy. I was reading a 6 month old article about that just this evening. It was in Newsweek Feb. '07.

    It just never made any sense in the first place.

    What should have happened long ago was perfecting diesel engines. Mr Diesel invented his engine to run on waste oils 100 years ago. That is what we should have been perfecting all along but $$$$$ and the big oil guys shuffled it under the table.
     
    #4 av1611jim, Jul 19, 2007
  5. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    A finding any self respecting oil man will enjoy greatly.;)

    Right, Ken?​
     
    #5 carpro, Jul 19, 2007
  6. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

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    I think that oil is out over the next 50 years, but ethanol made from an important food source such as corn is not the way to go.
     
    #6 KenH, Jul 19, 2007
  7. Hope of Glory

    Hope of Glory New Member

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    You beat me to what I was going to say.

    No fair!
     
    #7 Hope of Glory, Jul 19, 2007
  8. hillclimber1

    hillclimber1 Active Member
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    The "greenies" are touting the replacement of incandescents, with florescent bulbs in order to save the world, instead of pointing out the value to the consumer in utility costs. Many of these efforts at energy conservation could be more reasonably presented as cost savings for the individual, rather than the impossibility of seeing the overall value to the world.

    I have a real problem with the public conscience condemning me for some nebulous environmental misdeed, but no problem with the rational that saves me money. We have but one incandescent light bulb left in the house. A 3 way that my wife reads and studies by.
     
    #8 hillclimber1, Jul 20, 2007
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