OT of an OT: Ethanol

[Fyron]

Rather than clog up the other thread, I'll reply here:

Note that I only referenced that site for the number 7, adding in the reference from a really quick Google search. I wasn't basing any argument off of it. Take that as you will.

It doesn't matter what crop you use, you still have to use crops to create the ethanol. This will, beyond any shadow of a doubt, increase the amount of crops that have to be grown. You can certainly use excess crops that don't get sold for food, but there are only so many of those. Talking about a nation with a population of 266+ million that has who knows how many 10s-100s of millions of cars, you're going to need to grow a lot more crops. Then think about China and India converting to ethanol. This has nothing to do with oil companies or PR, it is basic logic... Such efforts will require cultivating more land. This is not deniable. More wilderness will be tamed. There are tradeoffs with converting to ethanol to think about. There are always tradeoffs to think about. That was my only point. Any new technology has good and bad tradeoffs that have to be considered.

Can plastics be made efficiently from ethanol, or in a similar manner? Or will they still require crude oil?

Atrocities said:
FlexFuel cars are already being sold in South America in great numbers. They have an established distribution infrustructure for ethanol fuel and have been selling it for years now.

The myth that we would need huge amounts of land to cultivate bio-fuel is a myth started by the oil companies in order to discourge research into that area. The truth is, you can make ethanol from many crops not just corn.

Alcohol fuel is the best alternative and is what I believe they are using in Brazil at the moment. Remember, the oil companies don't want alternative fuels on the market and have virtually bottomless pockets to keep the anti alternative fuel PR machine going.

"Its bad for the environment." - false
"Its bad for your motor." - False - look to flex fuel engines built by most manufactures now.
"It will cost more to produce." False, look to brazil and see that it is about a 1/3 the cost of gas.
"It will hurt the economy." Untrue, just flat out a lie.

Don't buy into the PR machine funded by the oil companies.

Imperator Fyron said:
Ethanol would require a huge amount of land to be added for cultivation for any sort of wide-scale use (possibly as much as it takes to make food for 7 people, if this site is reputable), which is not particularly good for the environment either (though obviously in a different way). Ah, tradeoffs. Hmm... a quick search for "ethanol production" found a number of issues with using it as a fuel.

Renegade 13 said:
I wish is was possible to make a car that could be powered by nitrogen! After all, about 76% of the atmosphere is nitrogen. Unfortunately, it's a rather stable element, and wouldn't work as a fuel at all.

Now ethanol...that's a fuel we should be using more. Cheap, easy, renewable, environmentally friendly.

Whoops, a little off topic there. Oh well.