Is ethanol one big scam? <b>"Recent research by a Cornell University professor says ethanol uses about 30 percent more energy to produce than it puts out. "It's an absolute waste," said Dr. David Pimentel, a professor of agricultural sciences. "The only reason we're doing this is because of politics and big money."</b> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050729/ap_on_bi_ge/ethanol_plants The recycling of many materials is a known scam, with the cost of recycling far exceeding the cost of producing the materials from scratch. Is ethanol a similar enviro-scam? If producing ethanol uses about 30 percent more energy to produce than it puts out, why the hell does ethanol get such glowing praise from the media & Bush administration? This multi-billion dollar government subsidy program comes out of our pockets after all...
A lot of these studies are patently false. They fail to factor in the cost of safe disposal/waste management in leiu of recycling. As far as the ethanol debate. It's not a matter of cost efficiency, but a matter of national security. However it seems this energy bill was written my lobbyists representing narrow interests at the expense of good national policy and rubber stamped by a half-witted congress paid for by said lobbyists. there is relatively very little given to alternative energy research like advancing micro-turbine technology to harness tidal currents etc. Yes I know, a lot of this is experimental. But so was all technology we have today.
No, it's not a matter of cost efficiency; it's a matter of energy efficiency as the original poster wrote. If ethanol production uses more energy than it produces, it does not do anything to make us more secure since it does not reduce our net energy requirements. Martin