Washington Post - columnist's take on biofuel controversy

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Typical media, it is unfortunate where the USA media has sunk to. They are empty heads, just type whatever they are fed with no research involved. Or worse yet, have an agenda to push, and pretend they have knowledge behind it.

--->Paul

• Lester Brown

First, just because someone disagrees with your opinion doesn't necessarily mean that they're wrong.

Second: Read the byline. The authors are NOT journalists. It is an opinion column, and it not necessarily even the opinion of the Washington Post, it is the opinion of the two authors, both of whom work for environmental organizations. I daresay that there is a fair amount of research behind what they say. You may disagree with their conclusions, but that doesn't mean they didn't do their research.

I found the most interesting statement to be this: "Last year, the United States burned about a quarter of its national corn supply as fuel -- and this led to only a 1 percent reduction in the country's oil consumption." Those statistics frighten me. If this statement is correct, it certainly is insane to continue to increase corn ethanol production.

Meanwhile, the biofuel promise seems to be getting farther and farther away. We hear about the super microbes that will convert biomass to sugar and the super yeast that will make that into more and better ethanol. But they are nowhere near commercial feasibility. It's either five years or three years or ten years out. Anyone know for sure?

The current ethanol industry would not exist without the huge subsidies that make taxpayers' money a bigger part of ethanol revenues than fuel sales. Competing studies show that ethanol either (a) generates more energy than it takes to create it, or (b) less in the very next study. If it was a clear winner, the opposing studies would disappear because their facts wouldn't hold up. Both sides push the margins of reason, and redefine the terms to make their argument work. That shouldn't be necessary.

So where are we going with this? Are the facts wrong in the newspaper report or just uncomfortable?

Corn and Soybeans are a different matter.

If we want to use a crop for biofuels, one of the best in the northern hemisphere is hazelnuts.
Higher oil content and far less inputs (fuel and ferterlizer) than any other grain crop.