Ethanol.

[HeyYou]

Well, seems ethanol isn't all its cracked up to be, and it has become official. Find an article about the latest report here.

 

Basically, what it comes down to is, adding ethanol to our gasoline in an effort to be 'green', is a miserable failure, that actually puts MORE carbon into the atmosphere, than just burning straight gasoline. Now, this is something I have suspected for quite some time in any event, due to a variety of factors... several of which are discussed in the article. (deforestation, edge-tilling, etc.)

 

Now, the question becomes, what to do about it..... Is the government going to recognize that this is a failed effort, and drop the requirement, or, are they going to continue down the rabbit hole, and increase ethanol content as they have discussed in the not so recent past.... I seriously doubt the farm lobby is going to just shrug, and say "well, it was fun while it lasted"....... They are going to continue to advocate for ethanol fuels, as they make a fat pile of money from it. And of course, the legislators from states that are heavily into agriculture.... particularly corn, aren't going to want to see it go away either.

 

I see this as a perfect example of money/politics taking precedence over common sense/science.

[Aurielius]

Ah yes the government makes a mistake creates a bureaucracy that attempts to implement a social policy covered in a Green disguise....the announcement of their mistake will be made in the central plaza of Oz.. The Umpalumpa's will be serving tea and biscuits also...flying monkeys not invited. FYI we still have a subsidy for beekeepers to promote the production of bee's wax to seal flight masks that we have not used in the field since the 50's.

[JimboUK]

Well, seems ethanol isn't all its cracked up to be, and it has become official. Find an article about the latest report here.

 

Basically, what it comes down to is, adding ethanol to our gasoline in an effort to be 'green', is a miserable failure, that actually puts MORE carbon into the atmosphere, than just burning straight gasoline. Now, this is something I have suspected for quite some time in any event, due to a variety of factors... several of which are discussed in the article. (deforestation, edge-tilling, etc.)

 

Now, the question becomes, what to do about it..... Is the government going to recognize that this is a failed effort, and drop the requirement, or, are they going to continue down the rabbit hole, and increase ethanol content as they have discussed in the not so recent past.... I seriously doubt the farm lobby is going to just shrug, and say "well, it was fun while it lasted"....... They are going to continue to advocate for ethanol fuels, as they make a fat pile of money from it. And of course, the legislators from states that are heavily into agriculture.... particularly corn, aren't going to want to see it go away either.

 

I see this as a perfect example of money/politics taking precedence over common sense/science.

 

Politics and money always trumps common sense, understandable as they're serving their paymasters, not the people.

[kvnchrist]

Perception is 9/10 of reality. As long as they are doing something they will be aplauded by those who think any effort, no matter how fruitless, is a good thing. Look at how many people make videos to qoute/unqoute raise awearness of issues that we've been awear of for decades.

 

Activism has become a comodity, bought and traded by the politically elite in this country. Look at the Occupy Wallstreet movement and what it accomplished. Look at the Tea Party and see much the same thing. Look at how influential third party candidates are. Has anything really changed, oher than the slight nudge they have made in the political spectrum at the height of their popularity. How quickly does the fervor fade?

 

We, in this country are sensation seaking drama queens that gravitate to the newest shiny object to creep into our mundane lives, as we search for that elusive feeling we get when we can justify our own ideals. We are so busy trying to pat ourselves on our own backs to really look at those who are driving the train of government off the cliff we have convenced ourselves the oher guy created. If we scrutinized ourselves and those who claim to speak for us as much as we do those that do the same in opposition to ourselves, would we even be on this train or heading in the dirrection we are at present.

[edgeburner]

You'd think that they would have learned their lesson from the corn/ethanol debacle of 2007?

Which basically left us teetering on the brink of a world food shortage?

NAH!! Let's just re-wrap it and move on.

So what if there are millions starving on this planet and we burn the food that could potentially feed some/many of them.

The important thing is that we feel good about ourselves, that we accomplish a sense of self-satisfaction, WE ARE PLANET SAVERS!!

We are saving our planet from an unsubstantiated climate hypothesis.......The expense and consequences do not matter....

only our self-importance matters.

Oh.....lest I forget $$$$$$$$'s

Edited October 13, 2014 by edgeburner