Now that the caucuses are over, maybe somebody can tell Iowans the truth about ethanol:
Using a more realistic measure of cost per miles driven, [Professor Emeritus Don Elliott] shows that a vehicle running on E85 needs 40 percent more fuel to go the same distance as one burning gasoline, and E85 would cost 9.6 percent more per mile driven. On the pollution issue, he figures in the emissions from the fossil fuels used to produce the ethanol as well as the greenhouse gasses E85 produces. When looking at the total pollution produced by each fuel, he computes E85 produces 15.5 percent more greenhouse gasses per mile.
Is there not one Democrat or Republican brave enough to tell us that the Emperor of Corn has no clothes?
We all know that corn-based Ethanol is for suckers. It's just a way for us "aw-shucks corn-suckers" to separate you city slicker types from your hard-earned cash....
Populism, stronger than truth.
As true as those facts are 1) it keeps the money in country and away from islamofascists and 2) total air pollution in the US is not much of a problem. I remember LA in the 70s. Whew. That stunk. It don't any more. 3) You're absolutely right about corn, fortunately ethanol and methanol can be made from many other crops.
Ain't no free lunch folks, but done right it could be better than where we are now.
One of the very few things I'll give McCain - before he flipped (and arguably after he flopped back), he said that corn-a-hole had no clothes.
The Dems will "magically discover" this about the time high-ethanol gasolines become mandatory, and use that as an excuse to force mass transit down our throats European-style.
Don't they feed corn to pigs?
Death to Archer Daniels Midland!
Populism, stronger than truth.
Painfully sad but true, at least in Iowa (see also: Harkin, Gephardt, Dean, Obama, Edwards, etc. ad nauseum).
And yeah, you have to give McCain credit for not playing that pandering populist bullshite with Magical Holy Ethanol™.
There are certainly good arguments against ethanol, but a 40% efficiency loss is, I suspect fairly atypical. Something on the order of 15% to 25% is more likely.
