Why is corn based ethanol a poor choice for an alternative fuel?

Question

Why is corn based ethanol a poor choice for an alternative fuel?

Answer 1

you must not go to the grocery store.  prices on everything have gone up.   the more grain you use for fuel, the less you have for food products, so the cost goes up.

Answer 2

It's more expensive than gas, and it will also drive to price of everything up.  For example, animals need corn to feed on, having a higher price for corn will raise meat prices.  

Also, to have enough E-85 to power all the cars in our country, we will need a lot of corn fields.  Several states in the mid-west will need to be just cornfields, and this doesn't include the corn that we consume.

The best alternative is converting coal to oil.  We have a lot of coal mines that we can use, in fact, this method is cheap compared to the price of oil.  That or drilling in Alaska and off our coast would be fine.

Answer 3

does it not happen at times you have to choose the best out of worst evils?

Answer 4

Too expensive.  When oil gets to $500 a barrel though, it will start looking pretty attractive.

Answer 5

the only reason it takes as much as it gives is cause its mass produced if you want more info go to alchoholcanbeagas.com

Answer 6

What war said is true. It takes 1 gallon of gas to make 1.3 gallons of ethanol.  This is only true of corn.  Brazillian ethanol is made from sugarcane, that takes 1 gallon gas to make 8 gallons ethanol.  Problem is sugarcane would only grow in certain areas in the US and the quantity would not be enough.  Now switch grass is the best option, that is 1:10!  And that would be more suitable to grow in the US. BUT remember the aquifers in the midwest are precariously close to going dry, and growing more crops for fuel could dry up these aquifers.  Considering that switch grass may not even work.  Now using something besides corn would not increase the price of feed and food, but there is the water problem.  Someone mentioned biomass to ethanol may work really well.  Remember Mr. Fusion from back to the future, turns out that d**n movie was smarter than us, lol.  Nuclear is the cleanest way to go, France gets 80% of their power from nuclear.  Solar, geothermal, and wind/wave energy are also very good.  The only reason to pursue these technologies is to get off foreign oil.  Global warming is based on a miscalculation anyway.

Answer 7

There's talk of making ethanol from non-edible plant material,

but I thought that methanol might be better.

Answer 8

Because it takes more energy to combust and actually uses more gasoline because it makes the gasoline burn less efficiently.

Also, if we used all of the corn produced in the US, it would only make up 1% of our fuel consumption.

In the mean time, it's driving up food prices of all types. Corn is a basic ingredient for lots of food and we're using most of the corn for ethanol production, thus driving up food costs.

Answer 9

It takes almost as much energy to produce corn base ethanol than it produces.  It also needs a lot of water to make it which takes away from the communities that need the water.  And it drive up the price of corn which makes food prices higher.

Answer 10

because it polutes more than normal gasoline based on production and usage as a whole, costs more to produce, is subsidized by taxpayers to be cost effective to produce at todays prices of a gallon of gas, less mileage efficient per gallon, and is not a viable replacement of gasoline, long term production will lead to greater soil damage and ground water pollution due to the chemicals, required to maintain crops, ie, pesticides and fertilizers and such...

Answer 11

For one thing, it takes almost as much energy to grow the corn and distill the ethanol as it provides in enerygy when the ethanol is burned.

Depending on the source of energy for distillation it could be cleaner than using gasoline in cars.

But it diverts a lot of farmland from food to corn production for ethanol. I don't know if you've noticed but the price of wheat flour has skyrocketed recently  because of it. I was talking to a local baker who told me a 100 lb sack of flour cost $8 a year ago and it now costs $35. It costs him $4.50 to make a loaf of bread.

A better alternative which is not up to large scare production yet is converting cellulose to ethanol. Any scrap plant material could be used. Cardboard, weeds, grass, kudzu, sawdust - anything like that can be used to made fuel.

Answer 12

Here's a novel idea.  We now live in an advanced society.  We live where the technology exists to manufacture goods, including energy and transportation, that do not harmfully impact the environment.  Why do we not live in a world where this is mandated?  Why do we not REQUIRE this?  Why don't we PROGRESS as a society and realize that just because we've done things a certain way for all these years, doesn't mean its the best way NOW.  

Until this becomes the mandate and priority of all people, our planet and its resources will continue to deteriorate indefinately.  What are we waiting on?

Answer 13

Because the energy used in the production of the corn is more than the energy extracted from the corn or other biomass if you take into consideration the efficiency of the motors that use it. More calories for less is bad business. It is a windfall for Archer Daniels Midland who pays a lot of lobbyists for this. I have a friend who works there and he sells the by-product of all of this to Russia, ethanol or in your terms, Vodka. Have a nice day@!