Quote:
Originally Posted by roosterk0031
According to that article, 17 times as much Co2 is removed from the air than is used in the production of corn.
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I think what the critics are complaining about is the fossil fuels used in growing corn & converting it to ethanol: diesel for tractors, synthetic fertilizers, distilling the ethanol, etc. And it might be true that if you do all those things in the most CO2-inefficient way possible, and maybe fudge the accounting a bit, you can "prove" that the production of corn-based ethanol (or other biofuels) emits more fossil CO2 than is saved by using it as fuel. What you need to remember, though, is that the people who prove this are philosophical kin to the ones that produced the infamous "Green Hummer" study, that purported to show that cradle-to-grave a Hummer produced less emissions than a Prius.
The other half of the equation is that corn-based ethanol was a way of jumpstarting the market. There are lots better crops, and more efficient production techniques, but no one would invest in them unless they were certain of a market for their product. But there were surplus corn crops, and agribusinesses eager for some government subsidies...