Is making motor fuel from corn really a good idea?

Question

Its such an important food crop I wonder if we aren't shooting ourselves in the foot in the ethanol craze.

Answer 1

It not our problem if rain forest dies because third world country have no backbone for enviroment.

I would be interested if there is reciepe to make homemade ethanol fuel.

Answer 2

I am not making this up.  An article I once read in Yahoo! news included an estimate that it would take 16 acres of suitable farmland to grow enough corn to fuel ONE CAR for just one year.   How many million cars are there in the USA anybody?

Answer 3

I agree with Evita but, take it a step further.  The high expence of distilling corn or other similar products is the crux of the problem.  If a high-temp solar furnace could be developed to distill the mash, we'd be good to go..

Answer 4

No, it has a trickle down affect that increases the price of so many products I don't dare list them all. Its just more fear of so called "man made global warming" that is pushing us to use corn for fuel.

Man made global warming is nothing more than a liberal political agenda. It does not exist. We shouldn't be using corn as a fuel.

Answer 5

Nope, Solar or Hydrogen Cells are the way to go.

Answer 6

When American growers were producing much more corn than could be consumed by the world's food markets, corn-based fuel production looked like an attractive means of utilizing the excess production.

Unfortunately, as we now know, there is no longer such a "surplus" of grain on the market.  Biofuel startups are purchasing large quantities of grain not from US Suppliers but from foreign markets (such as Mexico) and paying much less, while driving the prices in foreign markets up.

This has raised costs for all concerned, especially those societies heavily dependant on "cheap" corn meal as a staple of their diet.

The other problem is efficiency.  It takes 1 gallon of ethanol equivalent energy to produce 1.24 gallons of ethanol.  By comparison, it is currently estimated that 1 gallon of oil is required to produce 3 gallons of oil.

Energy Balance will remain the primary problem for corn into the near future.

The other problem is, you can't possibly plant enough corn to replace any substantial part of America's oil habit.  The laws of thermodynamics area gainst you.

Answer 7

What will we eat- petrolium products?

Answer 8

Its only being promoted by vote hungry politicians in the corn belt.

Answer 9

all in all, it isn't much better than using regular oil, it will be around the same price becuase it will cost more to convert it into usable fuel, and will still give off the same emmissions as gas. and your right, if we were to completely convert, there would be more demand than supply, after all corn doesn't grow all year around,and the government is payin many farmers not to plant certain things, some places are corn. i say we should try using a resource that is renewable, like water, hydrogen(after all they make hydrogen bombs, why not use that kind of power for cars), there are so many things they could use instead, but aren't thinking about them

Answer 10

No. Biofuel production is causing important rainforest areas on the planet to be cleared so that other countries can make a profit on its production. It is now assumed to be even more destructive to the planet in the long run than oil use.

Answer 11

There is plenty of debate on that subject.  One study I read in Yahoo concluded that it took more energy to make ethanol from corn than what was available in the end product.

A better idea is the perennial crop switch grass which they now say produces 540 percent more renewable energy than energy consumed in its production.  Its also low maintenance and can grow anywhere.