Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
Corn ethanol probably takes more energy to make than it produces. That's why it is a lousy thing to do. GMO's are just a way for Monsanto et al to reap profits.
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Everything takes more energy to make than it produces, Neil. It's called efficiency, and it's an unfortunate fact of life. What is important to us is how much fossil energy it takes or simply how expensive it is to produce. Right now Corn Ethanol produces 2.5 BTUs for every 1 BTU of fossil energy, based on a survey by the USDA. Plenty of room for improvement or we could start using a more efficient feedstock. Right now supply is low from the drought but demand was maxed out before the drought and we were exporting Ethanol in huge quantities, over 1 billion gallons.
Some resources: Note that Corn Ethanol actually takes more total energy to produce but far less of it is Fossil based compared to Gasoline with very little being Petroleum based(mostly diesel I would hazard to guess).
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehicles...hure_color.pdf
Argonne GREET Sample Results