permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>]

I've seen different numbers from John's, but the conclusion is similar. The
December '05 Wired magazine cites USDA figures noting that if ethanol were
to be made from corn, we'd need to plant 10 times the current US corn
acreage to meet annual gasoline demand. That means using nearly 1/3 of all
arable land in the US for ethanol from corn. (Maybe corn is more efficient
than soy for ethanol, or maybe the USDA is just as dishonest about fuel
reserves as the Saudis). Any way you slice it, it's not sustainable and is
just another short-term subsidy for industrial farming.

I suspect ethanol will be used mainly on-farm. People who can plant some of
their acreage in fuel crops will use them to power farm vehicles and the
like. But I can't see ethanol ever becoming a significant long-term fuel if
derived from crops.

Toby
www.patternliteracy.com



On 1/31/06 2:37 PM, "John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net> wrote:

> Aloha,
> 
> Pardon if I already posted this here...there's a lot of buzz about
> biofuels on lotsa lists...
> 
> Anyhow, latest issue of Solar Today has an article on biofuels.
> Among other interesting stats, they found some saying that if every acre
> of existing USA farmland was planted in soy for fuel production, it
> would meet approximately 12% of our current USA national energy usage.
> 
> That's "every acre" as in *every acre*...POP!
> 
> We don't have a fossil fuel addiction.
> We have a high energy culture addiction.
> 
> Mistaking our high energy culture addiction for merely a fossil
> fuel-specific substance addiction will get in the way of true long-term
> solutions.
> 
> Addicted is addicted, regardless of choice of drug.
> 
> John S.
> 
>> One point I just got from Lester Brown's new book "Plan 2.0" is that
>> growing food for fuel competes directly with growing food for people.
>> Service stations and supermarkets will soon vie for the same
>> commodity. This incentive to grow more monocrops means more
>> deforestation, soil loss etc. Means costlier food means derailing
>> attempts to eradicate poverty as rich nations out bid the poor for
>> food/fuel....