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Originally Posted by SayOw
Mainstream media fed 'oil' discussion going on here...
Here's the facts that you guys are overlooking and need to consider when 'debating' the gas price/oil picture of the United States...
Ethanol is not the solution nor is it even viable. The only reason ethanol is even talked about is because it is all driven on government subsidies. It takes more fuel to produce ethanol then the ethanol that is produced to lower fuel costs - the last figure I saw was that it took 1.75 gallons of fuel to produce 1 gallon of ethanol and that hasn't even factor in a lot of transportation costs. The only reason ethanol based fuels are cheaper is because you have already paid for the difference in taxes. Heavy agricultural states, such as the one I live in, love to hear talk about ethanol because it means the price of their farm products has just increased in value for no other reason then that it will be consumed at a faster rate. And switchgrass...a farmer in these parts would love that... "You mean I let these weeds grow and then mow them up and that's my investment and you will pay me how much? HEE HAW! Maw we're getting another Caddie!" Ethanol plants are all subsidized by the government so the companies going into the ethanol business do so more for the write-offs of the money-losing ethanol plant for a tax-shelter. Sell ethanol based fuels without subsidies and the price per gallon is easily 150% more then regular unleaded.
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While you have some validity when referring to corn-based ethanol, it 'fumes' me to know that you did not research when making such a brazen statement.
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The current excitement over ethanol derives from research that has cut the cost of converting nonfood plant matter like grasses and wood chips into alcohol. Mr. Khosla says he believes that such ethanol, called cellulosic ethanol, will eventually be cheaper to produce than both gasoline and corn-derived ethanol.
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"Ethanol is cheaper to produce, unsubsidized, than gasoline today," he said. "As these technologies ramp up, they will be cheaper — unsubsidized — than gasoline even if petroleum drops to $35 a barrel."
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Brazil has proved that ethanol can be made competitively from sugar, said Daniel M. Kammen, a professor in the energy and resources group at the University of California, Berkeley. He estimates the cost of producing ethanol from sugar — including raw materials and processing — at $6 to $7 per gigajoule (a unit of energy) versus $14 a gigajoule for gasoline.
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FOR that to happen, automakers would need to build more flex-fuel cars. The cost of adding this capability to new cars has been estimated at roughly $100 a vehicle. And ethanol would need to be much more readily available at gas stations. Mr. Khosla has been lobbying in Washington for government help in both areas.
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And this article is back from 2006! I hope I can find something that is more up-to-date, to see how we've progressed.
Nick