[ShadeTreeMech]

I'm a firm believer in the law of thermodynamics.

To create ethanol requires sunlight to grow the crop. Then the ethanol is distilled from the sour mash which requires more heat; about 183* I think? Can't remember. Then the ethanol has a stoich of about 9:1 compared to 14:1 for gas (or as low as 50:1 for diesel.......) Then there is the heat put out by the burning of the fuel, which will equal less than the heat put out by the sun some 12-20 months ago when the fuel was a plant growing in Kansas.

With gas production, they pump the stuff from the ground, where it's been sitting for ages. They use such a large amount of heat that the liquid moving through the steel lines can be seen through the red hot metal. An acquaintance of mine described a former job he had repairing the pipelines in a refinery where he saw this phenomenon, and mentioned the repairs had to be made while production was ongoing. The pipes were so hot he wore a fire suit with freezing cold gases pumped in constantly to keep him cool and there was someone to change out his fireproof gloves once every 20 minutes. This info begs the question, how much energy is wasted by the heat from those pipes escaping to the atmosphere?

Now, remember the rate of an object cooling down is related to the density of the surrounding enviroment and the difference of temperature. IE an object at 1500 degrees dipped into 50 degree water will cool off nearly instantly compared to the 180 degree object being cooled by the low density air at 100*.

In the production of ethanol, how much energy is wasted in comparison to the heat of rotting dinosaurs who ate plants ages ago and by burning those dino fuels we are releasing that heat back into the atmosphere?

Yes, you may get better mpgs from using a fuel that has its eyes set on making the most profit for the gallon compared to a fuel distillery who requires welfare from the gov't to survive. But which one releases more heat into the atmosphere to warm up our planet? If alcohol refineries are able to best a century of development by the oil companies in cost per mile per gallon, would ethanol seem less the devil and more the transfer of energy from one source to another with a shorter turnover than gas that it is?