If gas makes corn more expensive what makes people think food will be cheap when we put it in our gas tank?

Question

What's up with people and global warming? I lived in South Carolina and I looked at the weather almanac and the weather is almost no different compared to 100 years ago. Why do people believe in that? There hasn't been any weather change. I live near the beach and they say the oceans are rising yet the pier I fish on doesn't look any more in the water than when I was a little kid. Wooly mamoths once roamed north america and the ice glacires that were in New york receded and the mamoths died out. Was that caused greenhouse emissions? Could it be that were are still coming out of the Ice age? It was onle a few thousand years ago when almost half the world was ice.

Answer 1

Because, if you'd pay attention, not a lot is going to change at your latitude for some time.  Maybe you should ask why 100+ towns/villages in Alaska are schedualed to be moved because of the melting of the perma-frost.  Get out of your back yard and look around!

I remember this woman complaining much as you are now.  She claimed that the water wasn't rising - it was getting lower.  She was camping on lake Superior!  Not the ocean.

Maybe a little thought might help.

Corn to ethanol is another Bush stupid mistake.  One of the most energy consuming choices to be made.  Overall, ethanol could be a small part of the fix.  Sweet Grass grown on marginal land would be five hundred times more energy productive than corn.  Also, algae may be the next big fix as far as ethanol goes.

Answer 2

So!! was this a stand up act, that you are trying out on us?

It doesn't really work if you can't here the people laugh at the punch lines.

Answer 3

I'm a skeptic and i'm with you! the believers hold on to their beliefs soo strongly they made a religion out of it.....

Answer 4

You can make 5 gallons per hour of your own ethanol at home for half the cost of gasoline.

The  government's corn-to-gas fix was just to delay the rise $5.00 a gallon as long as possible. Even they knew the eventual result would be a cost of living increase. It was supposed to last through the next election so it could be blamed on the next administration, but it sort of back-fired.

Costs of drilling and refining oil continue to rise, and demand continues to out pace supply. We've passed the sweet spot on oil production and it's time to move on. Ethanol may seem expensive at the moment, but that's changing rapidly.

Actually, ethanol, properly made, can be much cheaper than gasoline, about $2.00 a gallon, with current technologies. You can even make it yourself for close to that price (see ABC News link below). Try doing that with gasoline - or hydrogen, for that matter.

E85, the mostly-ethanol fuel mixed with a little gas so people won't be inclined to get stoned with it (watch them try) can run in some vehicles now, but many engines currently out there can run on as much as a 50% blend, which could theoretically shave off a buck a gallon.

Problem is, when "properly made" as I mentioned above, it doesn't do much for the oil companies, who are the only ones with enough money to promote the product. Farmers sure as h**l don't have that kind of money, nor do you and I. Don't expect to get a lot of help from anyone who knows you can make it at home.

Converting to ethanol requires fewer vehicle or infrastructure changes, and is cheaper than converting to any other technology, including biodiesel, hydrogen, hybrid, or all electric - and, it's fully renewable. It may not become popular in time to save the Bush administration, but I will give them credit for trying.

Don't get stuck on corn. There are many crops that yield much more fuel per acre at lower cost than corn (sugar beets, for example). We just happened to have a lot of corn and corn farmers available, and it sold fertilizer and other oil products to keep big oil happy (but you are not a politician and don't have to do the same).

No matter what, ethanol will only work as long as the earth can support sufficient land and water to make growing fuel crops economically feasible. This will become less so if current trends continue.

Meanwhile, we can buy enough time with ethanol to prepare for the next big thing, whatever that is.

BTW, if you decide to make your own ethanol, you MUST mix it with 15% gasoline (E85) or you will be busted by the feds. Besides, ethanol is not as flammable as gas, and most engines cannot start on 100% ethanol anyway.

Answer 5

Corn ethanol was/is a huge mistake as well as a huge polluter.  It's a perfect example of a knee-jerk reaction to air pollution.

And for Bruno G    

".......the Clinton Administration's policy on emission-reducing renewable fuels -- in essence, ethanol made from corn -- is little more than a politically inspired gift to farmers and corn processors, especially the Archer Daniels Midland Company.

BTW…. Archer Daniels was a serious contributor to Bill Clinton’s election campaign.

NYT  /August 2, 1994