122 comments on US News and World Report looks at Ethanol
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That's a new one for me. Whilst I know of nat gas reserves that contain significant CO2 that are not being produced because of this, I never heard of considerable amounts being released at the well head on a routine basis - refs please.
At any rate this misses the point. Using nat gas to make corn ethanol is a way of upgrading the energy quality from a gas (nat gas) to a liquid (ethanol) - with the bonus that it keeps farmers and Wall Mart happy. Nat gas can be upgraded to a liquid much more effectively by freezing and compressing it - you just cut out all the labour growing corn etc. - so long as you are happy sacrificing some space in your trunk for an LNG tank. In fact, USA is importing increasing amounts of LNG - why not stick this straight in your tank? Cut out all this regassification crap as well.
So thats the choice - sacrifice some space in your trunk or let thousands starve to death. Which do you think is the right answer if the USA wants to regain some of the substantial amounts of international good will lost in the last 6 years?
About 30% of the natural gas produced for lng is consumed to generate the energy to liquify it, trasnport it, and then gasify it. The co2 released during this process is not always considered in the overall co2 calculation.
I too had heard that much ng is released - in the worst way, that is, unburnt - in the production process. Not routinely, I suppose, but when plugged wells leak, etc. In addition, some gas associated with oil production is still flared, and this co2 release is probably not charged against the oil that is later burnt.
Ah - now that's somethings completely different - energy consumption in LNG production and gas flaring - u seen the pictures of gas flaring in Siberia in Gore's book?
But all this is still irrelavnt to my central theme, which is that temperate latitude ethanol seems to be a total waste of time. Our society runs on large surpluss production of energy.
Hat tip to Roel who sent me this a few weeks back:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BiofuelsBiodevastationHunger.php
(Chris - you still got to write a post on this one)
Wrong question. I doubt many care that much about international good will.
FWIW, my employer recently took delivery of a bunch of natural gas powered cars. And promptly returned them as unacceptable. Too small. They said there wasn't enough room for passengers and equipment, especially since there's no trunk on such vehicles. (The gas tank takes up the whole trunk.) They asked for minivans instead, but apparently, nobody makes natural gas powered minivans.
Well they should.
They'd rather boycott French fries.
The French were right!
The French are also more effective in providing aid to New Orleans than those incompentent Americans in Washington DC.
Just talked with firefighter in line in grocery store. The only reason that we have ANY fire protection in the 80% of the city that flooded is because of our good friends the French. They sat down with the NOFD and selected which stations to rebuild and they "just did it". The other fire stations are still years away from any FEMA funding and the city is broke. Good ole French "Can Do" spirit !!
Fire risks, and fires, are up dramatically as people rebuild their homes and live in tents inside their gutted homes.
Viva La France !
Alan
Well, this is no surprise since the French now own Louisiana.
We could only hope and pray.
Reminds me of "what we lost" articles during bicentenial "celebrations" of Louisiana Purchase.
Universal health care, vacation all August, several nuclear power plants to get us off of natural gas for electricity. Cultural culinary exchange (we have done things with roux that the French never dreamed of :-) High speed trains and more streetcars (will we have to call them trams ?). A more melodic and expressive language. Tariff free access to the EU AND, most important, freedom from the stulifying, uncaring bureaucracy of Washington DC and getting a responsive gov't instead.
Best Hopes,
Alan
PS: I especially liked that part about immediately spending the French payment to buy back Louisiana on rebuilding Iraq. Bush certainly has his priorities straight !
.
That's Freedom Fries.
The US cares about international goodwill when it needs the cooperation of other powers to achieve its ends.
For example:
- to hunt down international terrorist groups like Al Quaida
- to form a united front against Iranian nuclear ambitions
- to help extract itself from the mess that it is in in Iraq
- to help secure Afghanistan
- to maintain a united front against a crazed and nuclear armed North Korea
- to work out what to do about global warming
Now it turns out French intelligence is particularly good on the Islamic terrorist issue (having crushed Islamic terrorists in the early 90s, and being spectacularly well connected in the Middle East).
And before the invasion of Iraq, Syrian intelligence was very helpful in tracking down Al Quaida people (and Syria was part of the CIA Extraordinary Rendition aka torture network).
So GWB's bluster notwithstanding, the US needs the world, just as the world needs the US.
But not enough to actually drive a car without trunk space.
You guys need bigger cars with bigger trunks.
Americans, on the whole, have more than enough 'junk in the trunk'.
"- with the bonus that it keeps farmers and Wall Mart happy."
Euan - your off hand comment is probably very close to the real reason. As the Pres says - Go shopping!