talk.politics.misc

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:57:15 -0800 (PST), last_post@ wrote:

>On Nov 28, 5:53 pm, Chad Stone wrote:
>> Soupy Sales entered into testimony:
>>

>> Q:  How does one "argue" with "ethanol is mostly petroleum", twaddles?  
>
>* It really does not matter.
> Ethanol burns up more energy in its production
> than it produces.

Well, the several Laws of Thermodynamics that deal with the
transformation of energy, and not just the Production of it, would
seem to augur for such an outcome when taken overall.

But EtOH can come out with a net plus on the transformation, IF the
substrate used to get the sugar content is sufficiently high in sugar,
AND the heat source required for distillation/fractionalization is
inexpensive enough.

So, with sugar cane, the net outcome is probably positive, because the
sugar content of the substrate is also high.

And if you burn the cane after the sugar is extracted, that can add to
the overall energy balance.

With corn, it's an arguable proposition - sometimes it is, sometimes
it isn't, and the ambient temperature has a lot to do with it.

And sometimes it just isn't, regardless, with other substrates.