I has to be, I can't figure how the thermodynamic inputs to outputs could possibly work. (compared to crude, and considering _all_ inputs, including soil depletion) It's not possible to put that much energy into production of the corn or sugar cane, only to end up with something that has to go through the same refining process. It's like looking at the sum total of what it takes to run/build/dispose a Toyota Pious: if you really wanted to save energy, you'd just buy a used car instead.Nonc Hilaire wrote: Is ethanol really a bad concept?
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Like purely electric cars, it's a shell game that ignores the efficiencies of energy transformation. You end up trying to theoretically replace all the energy supplied by oil for American cars, with coal burnt in electric generation plants, and do it with a more inefficient process due to electrical power conversion and transmission losses. (Because electric cars are "green" -- I guess for no other reason than we wish they were.)