Columnist says use corn to make bourbon, not ethanol
The editorial page editor of the Detroit News give the ethanol industry a wicked right cross in his Sunday column. Nolan Finley says when the bottom falls out of the ethanol boom, perhaps the refineries can be used to make corn liquor.
Obviously no fan of the increasing subsidies and emphasis on ethanol production, Finley blasts the politicians who keep feeding the frenzy. He too is worried about skyrocketing food prices and predicts a bust "when ethanol is exposed for its impracticality."
Remember, Finley is writing in a town where E85 vehicles are promoted heavily by the area's leading employer, General Motors. And he's in the Midwest where governments are falling over themselves to give ethanol subsidies or tax breaks to new ethanol plants. Tough crowd.
[Source: Nolan Finley / Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Howard Lee Harkness 11:44AM (2/26/2007)
Time will show Nolan Finley to be correct in his assessment of the ethanol industry.
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ksmith 10:22AM (2/27/2007)
A correction should be made to the above comment. Time will show Nolan Finley to be correct in his assessment of the [corn-derived] ethanol industry.
There are several ways of producing ethanol that are far superior to corn. Ethanol as a fuel is a worthy choice. Out of all the alternative fuels out there, ethanol could make the biggest dent in our gasoline consumption in the near-term (say, the next 10-15 years). Electrics aren’t ready for mass-production primetime yet, Fuel cells are even further off, if they even come at all.
And don’t give me that B.S. about ethanol not having as much energy density as gasoline. Saab has shown with their BioPower 9-5 that a properly tuned engine can make as much or more power running on ethanol when compared to gas. And it can do all of this without a drop in fuel economy .
And don’t bother quoting some out-dated, asinine report saying that ethanol takes more energy to produce than it yields (Patzek, I’m looking at you), because I can find ten studies to your one that says the opposite.
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Tim 5:00PM (2/27/2007)
Cellilosic ethanol from woodchips or switchgrass which is just trash MAY be a good idea WHEN used for the range extender in a PHEV-40. Using foodstock to fuel our cars is assanine.
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