It's a joke! First, there's the debate on whether or not there is actually MORE energy used to process the corn to get the ethanol than the ethanol is worth. At best, right now there is a 1:1.2 ration of energy in to energy out. That's not even close for something to run a nation on, especially a culture that uses the most energy per capita in the world.
Second, there isn't enough farm land in the world to plant enough corn to supply enough energy to the people of america. We're talking automobiles, homes, factories, businesses...we'd probably need 5 planets of corn with continuous cultivation.
Third, there is the whole nitrogen problem. Corn is a very inefficient plant at taking in nitrogen. Nitrogen has to be manufactured and poured all over the fields so that the corn grows fast and large enough. This requires even more energy, more pollution, and a big mess if corn plantations continue to spread with this new demand.
And please, don't even bring up palm oil...if you think that global warming is impacted by man, then using palm oil as an alternative energy may be the thing that kills us all.
And don't forget about all of the energy required to grow and cultivate corn...you don't just plant corn seeds and watch it grow...corn is one of the more difficult plants to grow. It requires huge fields to be plowed, machines to plant it, machines to cultivate it...all of those machines run on fossil fuels, and if you want them to run on ethanol, you're going to be getting even less out of the yield if you factor all of that in.
Or, we can do it all by hand and see a fraction of the yield.
Kerry, shut the fuck up. Ethanol is a type of alcohol, that comes from CORN. That is what I'm talking about. Ethanol. Not alcohol. I never mentioned alcohol in my post. And ethanol is the alternative energy source that is being presented and marketed by two of the top leaders in the United States. And shut the fuck up about other forms of energy...I am asking why anyone thinks ETHANOL is a solution, because it's such a hot topic.
And yes, I know why it is being marketed. Corporations like Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland are making a fortune off of this. Monsanto owns patents on the corn genome that is grown in this country, producing corn that only produces sterile seed, forcing farmers to rebuy fertile seeds from them annually. And this is why farmers in Mexico can no longer afford to grow their own corn.
