DISQUS

Ian Fernandes · 2 years ago

Is it just me or does Khosla's argument that corn ethanol will grease the wheels for cellulosic ethanol sound like ex-post rationalization after he realized that the benefits he had been touting for corn ethanol were illusory? In any event, cellulosic ethanol is super-expensive and super-energy intensive, and probably always will be. We have plenty of fossil fuels for transport for at least the next 50 years (including domestic coal that can be liquified) and over that time we should move to mostly electric transport with some biofuels and fossil fuels at the margins. Also, biofuels can never be as efficient or as clean as electric, because it is only possible to clean emissions completely (or near completely) when they are concentrated.

Victor · 2 years ago

I thought that the grass is going to be cheapest source to make ethanol. I think Vinod Khosla invested in a ethanol producing company to make the ethanol from prarie grass. So why corn ?

Jim · 2 years ago

Everyone seems to stop at corn=good since it's "renewable." BUT, to grow corn you need nitrogen fertilizer..ammonia (NH3) is the most concentrated form of nitrogen...where does that come from? ...Natural gas (CH4) (with a bunch of CO2 emissions unless a urea plant is next door to the ammonia plant.) Anyway, methanol from corn is not renewable..it chews up fossil fuel like a madman...

Ethanol · 2 years ago

The answer is a little more complicated than "let's just grow more corn" as Jim has already pointed out.

mInaz.m.p. · 2 years ago

My grandfather has left me 1200 acre's of land in india.SHOULD I RETURN TO INDIA AND START FARMING CORN ......

Barbara Porzio · 2 years ago

There are hundreds of thousands of people who can't eat wheat. They rely on products made of corn for their nutritional needs. As a mother of children with Celiac Disease, I am concerned what could happen to foods which now use corn, corn syrup, or corn oil for example.
If manufacturer's switched from corn to wheat based products, those with Celiac Disease would be in big trouble.
Why not use the grasses for ethanol and leave the corn to eat?
For those who don't know, Celiac Disease is considered a hidden epidemic in the world today. Check out the websites. Statistics now indicate 1 out of 100 people have celiac and 95% remain undiagnosed.
www.celiacdiseasecenter.columbia.edu
www.celiacdisease.org
There are many M.D. experts who are trying to educate health care providers about this hidden epidemic.
Please, leave the corn for food, not fuel.

Melchor Ferrer · 2 years ago

Lets not kid ourselves about this ethanol craze. It is more about boosting corn producer prices and appeasing midwest and plain state constituents than solving a energy crisis. Its crazy to trade food for fule, it takes energy to grow it in the first place (see jim), and we will never make a major dent in gasoline consumption. Rather, we will give a boost to corn prices. There are other more sane solutions but the subsidy to petrol is warping the market against these possibilities.

Wayne Dusek · 2 years ago

To all crying about the price of corn. If automobiles had kept pace with the price of corn for the last 50 years a nice car would be $5000 instead of $30000, a nice house $20,000 and the price of gasoline about 40 cents per gallon. Those estimates take into account the recent doubling of corn price. Try being a farmer when the price of your main product has been basically the same price for 50 years with everything else inflating.

usuck · 2 years ago

U really f'in suck

DirtCrashr · 2 years ago

The turn towards "corn-thonol" is endangering Tequila production, as poor Mexican land that wasn't previously very valuable until the corn prices went up, is turned to that and a quick-growth cash-product, and away from the longer-term demands of growing Agave. The horrors!