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To: tdl4138 who wrote (61738)	5/23/2006 11:32:10 AM
From: yard_man	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

I don't think ethanol makes any sense whatsoever unless it can be produced as a byproduct and maybe not even then. No one has shown me that the economics works ... I think it is BS.

To: tdl4138 who wrote (61738)	5/23/2006 11:37:24 AM
From: Travis_Bickle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

I think the reason it works in Brazil is they aren't too concerned with soil depletion. Using cane on a large scale wouldn't work in the US, imo. Florida sugar cane production will cease to exist during out lifetimes.

To: tdl4138 who wrote (61738)	5/23/2006 12:52:28 PM
From: benwood	Respond to of 110194

You're right, corn is about the least efficient crop for producing ethanol, although the byproduct of the corn used for ethanol production can be fed to cattle, in place of kernel corn as now, so the ethanol is in effect free. I think they grow corn because they are corn farmers. When they make the shift to ethanol farmers, they will probably be more productive and embrace farming practices that better preserve the soil while increasing efficiency at the same time. And potentially without Monsanto's wonderful poison, Roundup, and all the patented seeds they are selling that encourage the use of Roundup. The "special interests" as you mentioned include the President and the V.P. and the richest corporations on earth. So yeah, they are only interested in increasing oil consumption. If the auto companies sense danger, and they sure as hell should by now, they should be breaking from the pack of gas hogs. I think the switch over will have to be a ground-up revolution. I sense we are getting close to a tipping point where self-sustaining clusters of bio-diesel and/or E85 or pure ethanol vehicles can proliferate with convenient access to fuel, and then the isolated bubbles they live in will start to expand rapidly much like the way electricity spread across the US years ago. The oil companies will behave much like the record companies have in the face of the Internet revolution, clinging to control and high prices as they slowly and irreversibly lose their grip.