Are you for or against the continued use of ethanol?

Question

do you believe that we should drill for oil here in the us?

what is the best way you could reduce your carbon emissions?

im against ethanol

i think we should drill here

i know stop exhaling. when you exhale you release co2.

Answer 1

Ethanol just encourages more forest and grassland to be converted into profit making farmland.

A better solution would be to improve the capacity of lithium ion or other batteries so that good electric cars can be manufactured, and then recharge them all from electricity produced at nuclear power plants.

Answer 2

We already drill for oil in the US.  There just isn't much oil left here, or anywhere else for that matter.  It's not like there's a bunch of oil sitting around waiting to be scooped out of the ground.  Oil supplies are simply running out.

Corn-based ethanol is not the solution.  It does more harm than good.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

However, ethanol from other sources (such as switchgrass) can be a good solution, as long as we don't rely on it too heavily.  See the link below for further details.

Answer 3

for the most part, I'm against using too much corn based ethanol.  It's fine as an additive to gasoline, but no more than 10% of the blend should be ethanol.  There are many reasons for this.

First of all, it takes almost as much energy to create ethanol than from what you get from it. Plus you only get about 70% of the mileage driving on E85 than you would driving on regular gasoline.  

Also using all of that corn (think of it as food) to fill our gas tanks leaves us with less to put on our plates, causing food inflation.  And it's not just corn and corn based products that are going up in price, it's dairy and meat too (what do you think they feed the cows and chickens with?)  

Growing more corn than other crops also is not very sustainable for the environment.  Corn uses a lot more fertilizer than soybeans or wheat, which are the two crops that get replaced for more corn acreage.  

The main reason people are "pro-ethanol" is because they think it reduces our dependance on foriegn oil.  That's true to a certain extent, but last year 30% of the corn crop in the US went to make ethanol, and it only replaced 3% of our oil imports, so obviously it can't replace that much at all.  

We could try and drill more in the US, but it takes anywhere from 5-15 years for a new oil field to actually start pumping oil.  There ain't no new oil fields underneith Texas any more, it's all in the artic or 10,000 feet waters in the Gulf of Mexico.  That takes time, and lots of money, to get that oil out.

I think we should mandate that automakers make vehicles that get 50% better gas milage than what they get right now.  This would have a much faster impact on oil prices than drilling for more oil or promoting ethanol.

By the way, every time you breathe in, you're inhaling CO2 as well, so you're just exhaling that same CO2. Your lungs take in the air you breathe, strip out the oxygen to use, and exhale the rest.

Answer 4

i'm against it i think

land used for agricultural food production in the past are converted into corn feilds and sugarcane plantation for ethanol.

this caused food shortage all around the world, food prices inflation and more people dying from hunger because food production decreased.

best way to reduce CO2: walk, ride you bike, take buses.

plant trees.

drilling isnt a long term solution because crude oil is non-renewable :)

Answer 5

Ethanol is actually a promising alternative to fossil fuels, just not corn-based ethanol that deducts from the food supply. This link is to an article showing that switchgrass is far more efficient than corn for ethanol production, 540% more energy from switchgrass than it takes to make the fuel, versus just 25% for corn. The grass can be grown on marginal land that isn't currently being farmed, it has a permanent root structure so it doesn't need to be replanted every season, and the roots keep about as much CO2 sequestered as is needed to produce and use the resulting ethanol. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=gras...

Who knows how much oil we have in reserve? We haven't been able to drill test wells for decades in nearly all of the US. But we should take the opportunity OPEC is giving us and break our addiction to oil for good, stop giving so much money to countries that would like to see us fail and stop polluting the air. CO2 isn't a pollutant but cars emit other things besides CO2. We may find a great use for oil in the future so it would be foolish to use it all when there are many alternatives becoming available. Not just ethanol but hydrogenhttp://www.qsinano.com/white_papers/2006... solar thermal for electricity http://media.cleantech.com/2570/ausra-an... compressed air cars http://www.theaircar.com/ and hopefully in our lifetimes we'll have fusion power.

** edit Since so many later posters (not Dana) failed to make the connection I'll state it again. Switchgrass is far more efficient for producing ethanol, 540% more energy than it takes to make it, versus 25% more for corn. It doesn't require cutting down any trees, farmland that is currently kept out of production by the USDA can be used to grow it. It doesn't need replanting every season and the root structure keeps most of the CO2 involved in producing and using the fuel locked in the ground. I think a big push into further research and rapid deployment of this will make a big difference, but first we need to get the politicians away from the corn lobby. Maybe some pointed questions at a future debate or some letters to Congress would help.

As to excess water in the fuel, tell that to the millions of Brazilians who use 96% pure ethanol from sugarcane to run their cars. One reason it's not pure ethanol is to keep people from drinking it, "ethanol" is what bootleggers used to make in backyard stills and the gov't doesn't want your making your own booze.

Answer 6

We should drill for oil in ANWR and off shore. There is plenty of it still around. ANWR will supply us with an estimated 1 million barrels of oil per day for 30 years alone, not to mention the vast stores of oil in the gulf.

Hillary said recently “ she will fight OPEC…” this statement is either she is ignorant of the fact that we get a majority of our oil from Canada, and Mexico, or she thinks the American people are.

It also indicates that the democrats have no plans for oil exploration nor plans for drilling known stores of oil that we have on our land, and off shore.

Bush pushed for action by the democrat led congress in 2006, and 2007, to drill ANWR, but it failed passage both times. I don’t think either OBAMA or CLINTON will follow suit, but I hope McCain does.

We need to stop bickering over global warming and bring about some real solutions, and drilling for oil is one. Ethanol is a bad idea by our government. We use a major food corn for making gas that has brought higher prices at the supermarket in all corn based products, caused food shortages, riots, and starvation in some third world counties, and has to be subsidized by the government to top it all off.

I could go on about global warming, but it’s the biggest scam in the twenty-first century. I am not worried about a minor green-house gas.

Al Gore should be made to pay back all those people whom he scammed that bought his carbon credits.

Answer 7

i completely agree with you. drilling in the u.s. is the only way we're going to get a quick fix for this gas-price issue.

i think it's sooo funny when liberals gab about alternative fuels. they always make it sound so easy and affordable, while all the while making the consumer think that nothing adverse is going to happen to the economy. when will they ever realize that most of these alternative fuels are inefficient, they're expensive and their introduction into the market is most definitely going to have an affect on the economy.

oh, and in case all you environmentalist wackos forgot to read the news today ... there was a volcanic eruption this week in south america which spewed more noxious gases and toxic ash into the air than the u.s. does. global warming my a-s-s.

Answer 8

From what I hear, the cost of corn and corn products could go up as a result of manufacturing ethanol. I am for using ethanol, but would hate to see corn prices skyrocket. I would like more alternate fuels developed and used, not just ethanol.

Answer 9

I am neither for or against using ethanol as a fuel.  I am in favor of ending all tax subsidies for ethanol.  If the industry can survive and make a profit on its own, great. If not. too bad.  Let the market decide.  I am in favor of more U.S. oil production and further private development of other energy sources.  As the price of oil goes up,  alternatives that weren't price competitive a few years ago begin to compete on there own.  That is capitalism at work in a free market economy.  Get the government out of the way and all of us can prosper.  This can and should be done without destroying the environment.

Answer 10

Ethanol is an alternative fuel thats all ready been tried and found to not work. Ethanol is a distilled product. Any time you distill anything you get a certain amount of water. You want water in your gas? I dont. Also ethanol is made from corn. Now what do you think is going to happen to the price of food if we use corn for fuel. Break out your common sence people and stop listening to those that want to ruin our country and economy. If our government would back off drilling restrictions we have enough oil in the ground to run the WORLD for 250 years. DRILL NOW.

Answer 11

ethanol can also b harmful but drilling here in the US would ruin land and just encourage ppl 2 keep polluting our air w/ more harmful emissions.

Answer 12

I am for and against.

I am against the use of food crops to make ethanol.

I am for using the Fischer-Tropsch process to make ethanol or any syn-fuel from sewage, trash, old tires, ag waste, etc,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fischer-tro...

Butanol alcohol would be a better alcohol to make with the Fischer- Tropsch process as it gives higher MPG then ethanol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/biobutanol....

The added benefit of making fuel from trash and sewage is getting rid of landfills and keeping our rivers and ground water clean.

Answer 13

I'm all for ethanol and bio-diesels, and bettering are technology on batteries to store the energy we harness from wind and solar

STOP "ALL" THE DRILLING, we don't need it anymore

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