Discussion on:

Is the U.S. squandering its biofuel potential?

40% of the 2011 US corn crop will go for ethanol production at a time when we grow over 1 million acres less corn than we did in 2007.

Just how much food do you want to take out of people's mouths Mr. Klann?

Mr. Klann needs to shut his pie hole.

Put another way, if the feedstock for biofuel is from any part of the food chain, it is a non-starter. We don't want to be in competition with our food supplies for our fuel supplies.

The problem with using food crops to make fuel is that it causes shortages of food. The revolutions in Tunis and Egypt were based on rising cost of corn that the poorest could not afford. The revolutions are less about ideology and more about hunger. The cost of food for everyone goes up when corn is diverted to fuel.

It would be better to find a vegetable source for biofuel that is not needed for food and also does not reduce resources needed for food production. There are some species of algae that might be a better source for biofuel.

There is one problem with your post. If a potential source of 'bio-fuel' DISPLACES any food crop, then it has the same end result as the current internationally disastrous Ethanol programs.

Typical reactionary response void of complete thought that is like a cancer dragging us down. No argument from me that corn based ethanol is a non starter and should not be subsidized due to low yield and impact on food supply. However, there is a diverse source of options for ethanol that are not food products and yield far more than corn mentioned above and are a part of the ethanol Mr. Klann is referring to (not just corn).

It is easy to sit back and criticize but perhaps exercise your brain a little and, rather than merely offering criticism and pathetic attempts at flaming, offer what you think would be a better alternative if none of these are acceptable options for you.

The sources mentioned by Mr. Klann are capable of meeting less than 20% of our current ethanol usage. Until they develop a source that does not take from the food chain all bio-fuels are unsustainable.

Destroying forests is as damaging as many other options. we need different solutions. Ethanol is not the answer anyway, the fuel value is too low, speaking as an engineer. Of course, methanol is even worse.

maybe if Kudzu could be converted into a liquid methanol polymer? We have rather a lot of that, and we want to get rid of it.

Though, I think that the real future solution will be electric rail, and electric cars, powered through the highways. All supplied by Nuclear. Fission for the near term, and fusion for the long term. Nothing else can provide the power quantities we need, without destroying large parts of the environment. Except for maybe orbital solar, but that's even more far out than fusion is right now.

Environmental scientists are starting to wake up to the serious environmental consequences of both Ground Based Solar and Wind. Those will be limited to niche sources in the future, longer than 15 years out.

At depth in the oceans there is methane ice. Harvesting it without releasing uncontrolled amounts into the atmosphere is a serious engineering problem.
Maybe the engineering can be perfected. If so then this natural gas is available in greater quantities than all the oil reserves.

If you don't rewire the gas stations, how will you prevent dry ethanol from re-absorbing water from the environment to attain its most stable state of 95/5 ethanol/water mix? You either rewire/repipe your gas stations or modify your car. Or use very little amounts of ethanol to make sure the water becomes negligible.

Creek to be Austin's version of chat voice the San Antonio River Walk. Good luck on that one. I doubt that joggers would use it; I'm not sure who would.

The Austin City Council is great kalam on spending Other People's Money, and then raising taxes and fees for thecitizens to cover for their little pet projects.

The photo was taken from great "make-out" spot... if you don't mind the three ahj w,jd
The Austin City Council is great on spending Other People's Money, and then raising taxes and fees for thecitizens to cover for their little pet projects.

The photo was taken from great "make-out" spot... if you don't mind the three