Re: OT of an OT: Ethanol
In the broad sense, Fyron is right. It's not that there is so much acreage needed to produce a few gallons of fuel as AT is claiming. It's the sheer quantity of fuel we use in this country. I don't have the latest statistics, but it's in the billions of gallons a year for gasoline alone, let alone diesel and then various sorts of fuel oil for heating and what not. Assuming this 'breakthrough' that will let them convert cellulose into alcohol actually works, making it possible for ethanol to have a positive energy balance -- which it doesn't right now (and saving us from having to grow food crops to produce fuel), you're still talking about vast areas of land to grow the millions of tons of plants to digest into alcohol.
Billions of gallons of alcohol will require many millions of acres of cropland even at a yield of several hundred gallons per acre. It will have a major effect on the agricultural economy, and perhaps not a good one. If petroleum really does become scarce soon we might be faced with having to choose between food and fuel. Just because ethanol is a convenient liquid that we can transport around and pour into vehicles like gasoline doesn't mean it's the best replacement for gasoline. We really need to think about lifestyle changes that reduce the need for everyone to have their own personal vehicle to drive to work every day, to drive to the grocery store, etc. Reducing usage is the only real soluton to the multiple converging crises around our petroleum use.
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