This longish (about 13,000 words), extremely interesting and
more-convincing-than-I-expected article argues that cellulose bio-mass
based ethanol is not only unsustainable as a fuel but has a severe
cost far in excess of its value and causes unaffordable long term
damage to the agricultural systems on which it depends.

        http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=3Dcom_content&task=3D=
view&id=3D107&Itemid=3D1

This is not just a "greenie rave" although it is that as well.

I skim vast quantities of material, quite often at not too much beyond
headline or chapter header level, increasing the amount I read as
interest or apparent relevance dictates.  I'm quite liable to go back
and skim through this in greater depth and maybe even read the lot if
it proves as useful as it promises. (But, most things fail the
in-depth test).

A reasonable summary paragraph from the article is

    Fuels from biomass are not sustainable, are ecologically
destructive,
    have a net energy loss, and there isn=92t enough biomass in America
    to make significant amounts of energy because essential inputs
like
    water, land, fossil fuels, and phosphate ores are limited.

Before you seek to argue with that it would be a good idea to read or
to at least skim the paper.

Fortunately, lunar Helium 3 will save us all ... :-) (Russell's
comment, not theirs)




        Russell






_________________________

Summarised summary re corn

Corn Biofuel (i.e. butanol, ethanol, biodiesel) is especially harmful
because:

=11 Row crops such as corn and soy cause 50 times more soil erosion than
sod crops [e.g., hay] (Sullivan 2004) or more (Al-Kaisi 2000),  ...

=11 Corn uses more water, insecticide, and fertilizer than most crops
(Pimentel 2003). ...

=11 The government has studied the effect of growing continuous corn,
and found it increases eutrophication by 189%, global warming by 71%,
and acidification by 6% (Powers 2005).

=11 Farmers want to plant corn on highly-erodible, water protecting, or
wildlife sustaining Conservation Reserve Program land ... BUT ...

=11 Crop residues are essential for soil nutrition, water retention, and
soil carbon. Making cellulosic ethanol from corn residues -- the parts
of the plant we don=92t eat (stalk, roots, and leaves) =96 removes water,
carbon, and nutrients (Nelson, 2002, McAloon 2000, Sheehan, 2003).

______________________

"I asked 35 soil scientists why topsoil wasn=92t part of the biofuels
debate. ... ... "

Answers can be imagined,

__________________







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