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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> Brazil produces 35 percent of all ethanol and the U.S. produces 37 
> percent, and in both cases, production and consumption occur 
> domestically. 

The US uses all the ethanol it produces domestically.  Brazil exports most of 
its ethanol mainly to the US and Europe.

Here's another thing not well understood about ethanol use in the US.  I 
found the current figure and it's a little lower than I expected.  Ethanol 
currently accounts for 3.6%  (note decimal point) of all US liquid motor fuel 
by 
volume.  By energy content that is only 2.4%  since ethanol has considerably 
less 
energy than gasoline.  But the E85 blend of gas/ethanol accounts for only the 
tiniest fraction of that use, an insignificant amount.

Rather ethanol is used as a substitute for methyl tertiary-butyl ether 
(MTBE).  To increase the octane and burn the gasoline blend more evenly, most 
gasoline blends have 15% MTBE.   10% ethanol can be substituted for the MTBE 
and 
this is where almost all the ethanol is going.  The thing is, MTBE is NOT a 
petroleum product, it is made from domestic natural gas.  Substituting 
ethanol for 
MTBE does not decrease imported oil any, and in fact is probably increasing 
it 
due to the amount of diesel used in the production of corn.

We are diverting 20% of our corn crop and importing millions of gallons of 
ethanol to replace a product we were already producing domestically!



 
>  There are at least three reasons.  

There is a fourth and I would opine that it trumps the other three by a very 
wide margin.  The amount of motorfuel being consumed is staggering.  During 
Bush's second term (just as a time frame) the world is consuming 10% of all 
known remaining oil deposits.  Even if you diverted ALL the world's cropland 
to 
biofuel production, it would not equal the world's current motor fuel use 
(after 
deducting the energy used to produce the crops).  If ALL of the corn produced 
in the US were made into ethanol, it would not replace 30% of our motor fuel 
even if no energy were involved in its production.  If you account for the 
energy used in producing the corn, it replaces close to 0% of our fuel.

> Some Brazilian farmers burn the stalk and leaves to power 
> electric generators, but in the U.S., the stalk and leaves of the 
> corn crop are left in the field.  Second, at the moment, there is no 
> viable or economical way to get the corn stalk and leaves to a 
> .


And a very good thing.  If you grew corn on a piece of land and removed all 
the mature seed, cob, stalk and all biomass for making into ethanol,  the 
ground would be depleted into ruin within a very few crops.
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