Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Scott Berkey" <berkeyscott@hotmail.com>]

This ethanol stuff is way off topic, but I just can't let it go.

A net energy loss to what?  The earth?  Your back yard?  The United States?

Hydro power must really burn you up.  You take the heat from the sun and
vaporize water to form clouds.  Then you use wind (from solar energy) to
blow those clouds thousands of miles until the conditions are just right for
it to rain (good bye latent heat!).  The rain is collected in huge
reservoirs and used to run turbines to make the electricity that I then use
to heat up water for my coffee.  What a tremendous waste!  It must take ten
times as much solar energy to make that electricity than it would if I just
heated the water up by burning some gasoline!

Gasoline prices will always rise.  Eventually there is a price point where
ethanol (regardless of its net energy loss) will beat gasoline.  Is that $4,
$12, or $25 a gallon?  I don't know, but you can bet that ethanol producers
do.  

Scott  

-----Original Message-----
From: livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
TradingPostPaul
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 8:13 PM
To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Ethanol a net energy loss


Close but no cigar.  Gasoline is not a net energy loss.  That's the problem.
It's not, and sources like ethanol and hydrogen are. Anytime it takes more
energy to produce than you get out of it, it's a no-starter. Nobody's going
to make a product when it costs more to make it than they can sell it for.
That's why we've been using oil like there's no tomorrow, instead of
ethanol. 

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------
The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our
most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster
its renewal is our only hope.
   - Wendell Berry 
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