Saturday, Feb 20, 2010 at 01:12
Hello Bob of Killing and Other Stuff,
Your summary,
"Correct me if I am wrong but this is what I believe happens. Plants draw CO2 out of the atmosphere and by photosynthesis fuelled by sunlight produce hydrocarbons that are harvested and converted to ethanol. Crop waste may be used to provide energy for the process."
Is on a certain level absolutely correct. There's also a step or two before that!
Lets start from the beginning,
1. Clear some natural vegetation. (burn diesel and/or petrol)
2. Plow cleared land. (burn diesel and/or petrol)
3. Plant ethanol able crop. (burn diesel and/or petrol)
4. Harvest ethanol able crop. (burn diesel and/or petrol)
5. Deliver ethanol able crop to processing plant. (burn diesel and/or petrol)
6. Process ethanol able crop into ethanol (burn coal and/or natural gas to power process)
7. Deliver ethanol to fuel company for blending. (maybe make a profit from steps 1 to 6. burn diesel and/or petrol)
8. Fuel company blends into unleaded petrol. (definitely make a profit)
9. Fuel company delivers ethanol and unleaded blend to local service station. (burn diesel and/or petrol)
Yep, ethanol is as green as a politicians promise is honest.
As I tell my daughters, have a think about the whole picture, not just the agenda.
| Geoff,
Landcruiser HDJ78,
Grey hair is hereditary, you get it from children. Baldness is caused by watching the Wallabies.
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