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Ethanol More Trouble Than It's Worth?

Posted by Hemos on from the and-don't-even-get-me-start-on-methanol-young-man dept.

call -151 writes "Yahoo reports this story by researchers from Cornell and Berkeley who show what a number of people had suspected- it takes significantly more energy (at least 29%) more energy to produce ethanol than it yields. Since ethanol production plants don't use ethanol themselves for their own energy needs (with presumably negible delivery costs) this has been widely suspected but not so bluntly stated: "Ethanol production in the United States does not benefit the nation's energy security, its agriculture, the economy, or the environment." Ethanol producers dispute the study, predictably, which deducts the multi-billion US dollar subsidy. It's not clear how this compares with this earlier Union of Concerned Scientists article that claims that the yield from corn kernels is net 50% positive- and the UCS is usually quite unbiased on these things."

9 of 986 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ethanol not worth it! by Ewan · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I believe it's because a "funny" moderation no longer affects karma, but an "insightful" does, so some moderators don't bother with funny anymore.

  2. Re:Ethanol not worth it! by DarthTaco · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "Why are so many obviously comedic posts getting modded insightful instead of funny lately?"

    It's because you don't get karma credit for "funny" mods to your post. It's much nicer to give someone an insightful or underrated, etc., than a funny.

  3. Sheesh. by bigtallmofo · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I'm not usually a grammar nazi, but the summary of this article is very difficult to read due to errors.

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    I'm a big tall mofo.
  4. en garde by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    god i love fencing

  5. Re:When will people stop quoting Pimental .... by aaronhurd · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    How to up your karma on Slashdot:

    1. Post something insightful.
    3. Wait for inevitable story repost.
    4. Repost.

  6. And then there's HEMP oil by XxtraLarGe · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Which I understand is fairly easy to produce. Too bad we have to deal with the War on Drugs Boogeyman.

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    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  7. Re:Sodium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    So you're the reason slashdot posts dupes !

    Get with the times man. Electrolyses is so OUT.

  8. Re:Bah by m50d · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    O3 is better known as Ozone, which to my amateur eye seems to be something we need more of.

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    I am trolling
  9. Diet Soda causes people to gain even more weight by linzeal · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Drink water and unsweetened tea or coffee as Diet Soda causes people to gain weight.

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    An Education is the Font of All Liberty