Scary Statistic
Did you know this?
Question: How many gallons of oil does it take to produce one gallon of ethanol?
Answer: "It takes 1.3 gallons of oil to produce 1 gallon of ethanol, our data suggests 45% is oil, 35% natural gas, and 20% other (coal, natural gas and oil)
The answer is provided by Dr. David Pimentel. Yes hes a skeptic and yes his answer may not be correct but if this is true then obviously this is a major problem. How did he get 1.3 gallons? Oil is not used directly in the process, but in terms of electricity and transportation to produce and transport ethanol, oil is needed. Is this answer true? I will continue to research to verify this. Are we going in the right direction?
These numbers represent what I call semi-strong form EROI, which means they include direct and indirect energy costs as inputs (most studies just include direct). The numbers are even worse if one includes the environmental externality costs, which I would then term Strong Form EROI
Reply to this
Assuming "ethanol" and "grain ethanol" are synonomous is negligent to the point of being deceptive. Pimental's points refer only to ethanol produced by corn.
The majority of fuel ethanol produced in the world over the last 20 years has been from sugar cane. The World Bank, Worldwatch Institute, German development agency GTZ, and the Brazilian government all cite EROIE between 8-10 times.
I think the text above should be corrected because as stated it is wrong.
Reply to this
I am quite tired o seeing chickens and ducks compared. Whenever one wants to discredit ethanol, they roll out corn - which is, of course, vastly inefficient as a feedstock.
Everybody who has something to gain by the adoption of ethanol sits by passively and doesn't address this fundamental issue. Why? By keeping silent on such a preposterous comparison, they play into the hands of the oil industry and the corn lobby - and leave millions of American drivers who need cheap fuel out in the dark.
Reply to this
Just learning about ethanol from personal research and have been following your blog... you might want to check out this link... i found it interesting. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/06/jgc_and_arkenol.html
Reply to this