> From: AG Schnozz <agschnozz@xxxxxxxxx>
>
>> In fact, David Pimentel (Cornel University) claims that
>> commercially
>> made ethanol from corn actually consumes more energy in its
>> manufacture and distribution than it contains!
>
> I believe that that particular study has been debunked.
"Debunk" is a very strong word. That's not at all how I'd describe it.
At least one other researcher (from Stanford, I believe) has
duplicated Pimentel's results. However, a lot of non-peer-reviewed
pseudo-research, paid for by the agribiz sector, comes up with
figures different than Pimentel's. They have a massive PR machine to
make up for the lack of peer review, and get a lot of undeserved press.
Pimentel *does* attribute a value to the remaining mash after ethanol
extraction. The remaining mash is quite low in carbohydrate, though
(the yeast eat all that up!), and Pimentel includes the energy burden
of other grains needed to make the mash nutritionally balanced -- it
apparently is not at all useful by itself.
There is a similar problem when you remove the fat from soy when
making biodiesel. There's a useful mash remaining, but neither the
residual from ethanol or biodiesel is as nutritious as it was before
fuel extraction.
There's no free lunch. You can't really burn your grain and feed it
to cows, too. What is taken away in the fuel conversion process must
be replaced if it is to be used as food again.
:::: "Are you all right?"
:::: "No, I'm 5/6ths right. My mother's maiden name is Wright, which
makes me half wright, and my middle name is Wright, which is 1/3rd
wright, for a total of 5/6ths."
:::: Jan Wright Steinman http://www.VeggieVanGogh.com
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