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U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#91

Post by mrfusion »

njarboe wrote: post #19
jillesvangurp wrote: post #12

Corn in the US is mostly used for harmful purposes. It's used for producing fodder for intensive cattle farming (which of course produces lots of CO2). It's used for biofuel production, which as the article observes releases more CO2 than that it saves. And it's used for producing corn syrup which is an ingredient that nobody needs in their diet. The rest, which would be usage for e.g. corn bread or other staples of…

Iowa has the first primary every year in the US[1]. Iowa produces more corn than any state[2] while being 32nd in population. Corn is very important to people in Iowa and as long as the first two facts remain the same, corn will continue to be highly subsidized and supported in other ways by the US government. [1] https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2024-primary-sche... [2] https://www.cropprophet.com/us-corn-…

Why doesn’t another state move its primary up? It seems like an easy way to get more influence?

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#92

Post by mrfusion »

The worst thing about ethanol is the huge hit to gas mileage. Ten years ago I used to happen upon gas stations that didn’t use ethanol and I’d see my mileage jump!

I wonder if the epa mpg ratings tests use ethanol free gas?

Now they all mark up ethanol free gas.

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#93

Post by spiderfarmer »

giantg2 wrote: post #77
spiderfarmer wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The romantic view people have of peasant farms is ruining all discourse about agriculture. I blame the books people read to toddlers. Peasant farms were labor intensive, disease ridden, high risk, low reward businesses that shortened lives and ruined families. But somehow for a lot of people this episode in the history of farming is seen as the optimal blueprint for sustainable farming. They ignore the fact that all…

What was that one on Netflix that sold organic specialty produce to restaurants in Chicago? I thought that one was profitable without any sort of assistance. Either way, we have several examples of local "peasant" farms, some organic, that do well.

They got a lot of exposure, even before Netflix. Now their model is to milk the brand they built. That's not traditional farming, that's marketing wrapped in farming.

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#94

Post by _dark_matter_ »

mrfusion wrote: post #91
njarboe wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iowa has the first primary every year in the US[1]. Iowa produces more corn than any state[2] while being 32nd in population. Corn is very important to people in Iowa and as long as the first two facts remain the same, corn will continue to be highly subsidized and supported in other ways by the US government. [1] https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2024-primary-sche... [2] https://www.cropprophet.com/us-corn-…

Why doesn’t another state move its primary up? It seems like an easy way to get more influence?

Race to the bottom. The political parties won't let it happen.

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#95

Post by mrfusion »

_dark_matter_ wrote: post #94
mrfusion wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why doesn’t another state move its primary up? It seems like an easy way to get more influence?

Race to the bottom. The political parties won't let it happen.

We’ll the bottom would be everyone on the earliest possible day and then no one has an advantage. Seems like a good thing.

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#96

Post by tw3464575686 »

kortilla wrote: post #36
jillesvangurp wrote: post #12

Corn in the US is mostly used for harmful purposes. It's used for producing fodder for intensive cattle farming (which of course produces lots of CO2). It's used for biofuel production, which as the article observes releases more CO2 than that it saves. And it's used for producing corn syrup which is an ingredient that nobody needs in their diet. The rest, which would be usage for e.g. corn bread or other staples of…

> Nothing wrong with e.g. organically farmed corn. There is nothing wrong with “factory”, “industrially”, or “sustainably” farmed corn either. Farming at scale is the only thing that allows all 8 billion people to eat.

Not really. Small-scale sustainable farms produce more food per hectare than industrial farming. However, they are usually less profitable, since they need more manpower per hectare. Efficiency in terms of money earned is not the same as efficiency in terms of food produced, and with a growing population and a diminishing area of arable land, one seems more critical than the other, especially when you consider that industrial farming tends to destroy topsoil and emits quite a bit of CO2, whereas small-scale sustainable farming usually does the opposite.

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#97

Post by pinephoneguy »

AniseAbyss wrote: post #80
njarboe wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iowa has the first primary every year in the US[1]. Iowa produces more corn than any state[2] while being 32nd in population. Corn is very important to people in Iowa and as long as the first two facts remain the same, corn will continue to be highly subsidized and supported in other ways by the US government. [1] https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2024-primary-sche... [2] https://www.cropprophet.com/us-corn-…

I always thought the GOP hates welfare programs...

Moderate libertarians hate welfare programs but their parties rarely win so their candidates often run under the GOP. The GOP just likes the status quo.

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#98

Post by bsenftner »

njarboe wrote: post #19
jillesvangurp wrote: post #12

Corn in the US is mostly used for harmful purposes. It's used for producing fodder for intensive cattle farming (which of course produces lots of CO2). It's used for biofuel production, which as the article observes releases more CO2 than that it saves. And it's used for producing corn syrup which is an ingredient that nobody needs in their diet. The rest, which would be usage for e.g. corn bread or other staples of…

Iowa has the first primary every year in the US[1]. Iowa produces more corn than any state[2] while being 32nd in population. Corn is very important to people in Iowa and as long as the first two facts remain the same, corn will continue to be highly subsidized and supported in other ways by the US government. [1] https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2024-primary-sche... [2] https://www.cropprophet.com/us-corn-…

Iowa. Former Iowans here. The nation's politics have screwed Iowa, with it being the first primary state all manner of overt attempts of political favoritism occurs in there. The economy is screwed left, right, and sideways with all the attempts at political favoritism. And the intellectual mind there is equally turned around with large helpings of religious infringement on world views, and a material amount of corporate shenanigans because Iowa is tax favorable for corporate headquarters - most the Insurance and large publishing has corporate headquarters there.

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#99

Post by pibechorro »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #12

Corn in the US is mostly used for harmful purposes. It's used for producing fodder for intensive cattle farming (which of course produces lots of CO2). It's used for biofuel production, which as the article observes releases more CO2 than that it saves. And it's used for producing corn syrup which is an ingredient that nobody needs in their diet. The rest, which would be usage for e.g. corn bread or other staples of…

Subcidies are 90% of the reason our country is turning to shit. It leads to corruption, massive distortions and zombie companies that only exist as parasites on tax payers. From the ballooning student debt, to the ridiculous military industry, to prisons being at record numbers, etc. We need a lean and efficient economy which functions "as is", a true and fair free market. Politics should have close to no impact on it and sadly, wirh forced lockdowns which did nothing good (0.2%) and bailouts being handed out like candy, we are very very far from the dynamism which made the country great and free. We need a minimal operating system for the people to run good games over it, we live in Windows Vista.

Re: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline

#100

Post by igetspam »

plater wrote: post #86
colordrops wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't make sense. More and more electric is being generated renewably. It's not some far fetched pie in the sky thing either - I fully charge my car using solar cells on the top of my roof. My daily driving is carbon neutral. Lithium mining isn't great for the environment, but it's certainly much less of a problem than co2 emmisions.

It takes about four years for your solar panels to pay back the co2 used to produce them. And the co2 eeded to produce your car's batteries I do not know, but probably several years for that too. So I doubt your daily driving is carbon neutral just yet.

Four years is a pretty short amount of time.
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