Word: ethanol
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Time has come to end this relationship; national security has been wearing the pants for too long. This is already the case with the ethanol orgy in the Midwest. Despite the fact that corn-derived ethanol only yields 30 percent more energy than is required to produce it , a splurge of federal subsidies have brought about the largest acreage since 1944. And what’s more, the average American probably thinks this is a good thing...
...sooner this partnership is ended, the better, for the two groups are unlikely to agree over the next step. The current boom in clean energy investment will only be sustained if the price of oil remains high. Cellulosic ethanol, produced from trees and shrubs, promises energy yield ratios of 16, but requires extensive research into cheaper enzymes. A full-scale carbon tax would help, but hawks reject such action as quite rash. At most, they might support a gasoline tax as a way of weaning America off Saudi crude...
Biofuels are touted as a planet-friendly substitute for coal and oil. While ethanol (made from corn or sugarcane) and biodiesel (made from soybean or palm oil) burn cleaner and produce less greenhouse gas than fossil fuels do, critics warn that biofuels have their own dark side. Cuba's Fidel Castro even called powering cars with food "sinister" policy, but here's a more level-headed breakdown of the impact and limitations of farming for fuel...
Corn. One-fifth of the U.S. corn crop is now turned into ethanol at 114 biorefineries, located primarily in the Midwest. To meet Bush's 2017 target of producing 35 billion gallons of ethanol, the entire current U.S. crop would need to be turned into fuel. So long, cornflakes...
Sugarcane. Boosters see Brazil, which meets 40% of its transportation fuel needs through ethanol, as a model to emulate. But critics warn that sugarcane encroaches on wildlife habitat, degrades soils and causes pollution when fields are burned...