In another thread some months ago, x made one point that made a little sense to me. It was that if you had an abundance of different source of energy (coal, nuclear, solar, wind) but, what you really needed was a particular kind of source like liquid transportation fuels, it might make sense to waste some of the other forms of energy to get the one you really want. My response was that, from my perspective as a native of a tropical island where all non renewable energy sources have to be imported and paid for out of export earnings, the option of wasting one form of energy to produce another does not exist.

There are many weaknesses in x's arguments which I'm sure have been pointed out over the years but just in case this one has not been discussed, there's the question of how we got to this level of dependence on liquid transportation fuels in the first place. It was due to the discovery of a cheap abundant (non renewable) source of a very energy dense type of fuel, petroleum. Just as we have done in the past, the human race latched on to this source and exploited it as much as possible. It has lasted long enough for our civilization to become structurally dependent on it but, it is not going to last forever. In light of that, does it make sense to expend huge amounts of resources on an unsustainable form of energy conversion, when those resources might be better spent trying to reduce our consumption of and dependence on on liquid transportation fuels?

Case in point. It has been pointed out repeatedly that at best, corn based ethanol can only produce a tiny fraction of the current requirement for liquid transportation fuels while, increasing the US average fleet mileage to the level of Europe or Japan would probably save a larger fraction. Increased use of rail for long haul freight is another potential area for huge savings.

I saw a news clip on BBC World News yesterday (Jan 13) that showed a rubber wheeled, articulated bus with a pantograph on top in Ukraine. This is something I never even new existed but, once I saw it, I realized how many solutions might exist for reducing consumption of liquid transportation fuels. This prompted me to do a search which resulted in my browsing of this wikipedia article that says:

Tramways or street railways were common throughout the industrialised world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but they disappeared from many U.S. cities in the mid-20th century. In continental European cities they remained quite common. In recent years, they have made a comeback in many U.S. cities. Many newer light rail systems share features with trams, although a distinction may be drawn between the two, with the term light rail preferred if there is significant off-street running.

The point being that the EROEI in reducing our overall dependence on liquid transportation fuels would probably be greater than
the returns from the energy spent on this whole corn ethanol debacle. Obviously I have no stake in corn farming!

Alan from the islands