"Denny" wrote:

The bottom line is that at the moment producing Ethanol from corn
wastes more energy than it makes according to experts.



Well, use some rational thinking... We grow corn to make alcohol...

What does the tractor that plowed and planted the field burn? diesel
mostly

What do the fertilizer and pesticides put on the field come from?
petroleum base

What does the combine that harvests the field burn? gas or diesel

What does the truck that takes the corn to the local elevator burn?
diesel or gas

What does the train that moves the corn to market burn? diesel

What does the electric motor(s) at the alcohol plant get the current
from - and ditto the lights, air conditioners, furnaces, etc? (natural
gas mostly)

What do the employees at the alcohol plant burn to get there for work
each day? gas mostly

Where does the heat to distill the mash come from? natural gas

What does the truck burn to take the alcohol to the gasoline terminal?
diesel

Those kinds of questions also apply to the exploration for and extraction of
oil, the transportation and refining of crude, and the transportaton of
gasoline. It takes energy to make energy; this is not news. Also, gasoline
has enormous hidden costs related to our (U. S.) international efforts,
military and otherwise, to maintain the security of imported oil sources.

The question is: what are the real figures on energy margin recovery for
ethanol? I can find a lot of hand-waving pro and con, but I'm having
trouble locating any scientific/economic study that seems objective and
trustworthy.

[snip]

Anyway, those of you who favor alcohol explain to me how burning
alcohol reduces oil imports...

Amen.

--
Dan

'Gut feeling'

Intestinologists concur that the human gut does not contain any rational
thoughts.

What the human gut *is* full of is moderately well known.