One of the subjects I’ve been making an effort to learn more about since starting this blog is that of biofuels. I have to admit, before I really started looking into renewable fuels I was in the camp that wanted our energy independence to come from getting our own oil here at home. I still think we need to push for that to a point, but I’m supporting biofuel more and more as I do my own research. If you haven’t noticed a lot of my posts lately have been about these fuels. Either way, if we want to keep some stability in the price of fuel for the country, getting most of it domestically would be a good way to do that. Better, I think, than having oil prices take sharp increases because a country like Libya that we hardly get any oil from cuts off, or is forced to cut off, their supply and it disrupts the entire world market.
Well, now we have yet another way the overall energy cost of producing ethanol moves ever closer to that of gasoline. With news from Farms.com about the deregulation of corn amylase Syngenta can now sell its Enogen™ corn which would allow refiners to reduce the inputs need to produce a gallon of ethanol. Go ahead and click on the links to learn more about the amylase enzyme. One plant that has been testing it reports and 8% increase in ethanol production along with an 8% decrease in natural gas consumption. Syngenta is makings claims of saving 450,000 gallons of water, 1.3 million KWh of electricity and 244 billion BTUs of natural gas per 100 million gallons of ethanol. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again after this, but remember that corn IS NOT lost to the food market because the by-product of ethanol production (dried distillers grains) is sold back to livestock producers as feed. Sounds like a big deal if you ask me. Check out those links and do your own homework to see what you think!
I think one of the main battles to help biofuels and ethanol is to get the general public to change their mindset away from gasoline. Old habits die hard. If you could make biofuels 100% compatable with existing engines, the same price, and conveniently available, I think it would be much easier for the public to jump on board. However, those conditions won’t happen until people jump on board. It’s sort of a chicken and the egg sort of conundrum. Win the hearts and minds of the public and the rest will come.
You nailed it. And I think we’ll move away from grain as the source as well. Celluosic ethanol or algae will likely take the place of grain. I know with corn plants are already trading bales of cobs and corn stover to produce ethanol. I’m concerned what this will do to soil quality taking that biomass off the land, but I did read one article that said Bt hybrids have enough extra plant material that there is still plenty left in the field. John Deere already has a baler that attaches directly to the combine.
People should not change their mindset away from that black stuff in the ground because oil is still and king and always will be.The problem is Washington needs to get out of the way and let all the drilling for oil we have from coast to coast.I see no one falling over themselves when it comes to ethanol the way it is when it comes to fracking in Eastern Ohio and Western Pa.Or the oil that being drilled out in the Bakken area in North Dakota where the umeployment is around 1-2 percent and booming is really booming for businesses like the Burlington Northern Railroad.5 years ago Rush Limbaugh wrote a story on oil is still king and will always be.Open up the Keystone pipeline and start the drilling in ANWR.
I’m all for oil. If we can do domestically and responsibly, let’s go!
I also think that Vermeer has something that goes behind a combine to