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Permalink Reply by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher) on November 22, 2010 at 13:12

I read the other day that almost all of Brazil's sugar crop will be used in the production of ethanol... Midwesterners fell in love with this idea, but its the lousiest thing I have ever heard of.

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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on November 23, 2010 at 6:05

at least making ethanol w/cane makes sense. Best estimate I have seen shows ethanol from corn produces 1.3 BTUs/per BTU in, while sugar can is 8:1. Cellose, which is not yet been successfully scaled up from a lab could as much as 32:1.

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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on November 23, 2010 at 6:32

Gore Admits He Was Wrong About Ethanol Subsidies: ‘Not Good Policy’

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/gore-admits-he-was-wrong-about-etha...

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Permalink Reply by P.G. on November 23, 2010 at 7:30

It's been good for Monsanto!
Just like that Food Safety bill will be!

Neither are good for the consumers though...

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Permalink Reply by Robert Duke on November 23, 2010 at 8:47

Yes, total special-interest motivated folly! Like The Baron says, cane sugar apparently at least makes "environmental" sense, in that the renewable energy yield is not bad; with corn, you really have to question a practice that gives you very little net renewable energy yield and drives prices on a critical food resource through the roof.

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Permalink Reply by P.G. on November 24, 2010 at 2:38

The purpose was to help free the US from imported oil.
Seems like it would be a better investment or use of our tax dollars to put all the subsidy money into building access to Natural Gas for vehicles. Of course that would upset Monsanto though, huh?

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