Quote:
Originally Posted by gtahvit
I keep hearing that we can't produce enough corn (or whatever else we can make Ethanol from) to support the demand enough to replace gas/foreign oil.
Any one else have info on this?
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Yeah, Corn is reaching it's limit. That's where Switchgrass starts coming into the picture. But ethanol will NEVER completely replace Gasoline/oil: It's impossible. But that's not it's goal. Ethanol is to be a
part of our energy solution.
I think the initial numbers is that if we utilized the majority of available land in our country. We could produce enough ethanol to replace around 30% of our gasoine useage. That number can only go up, as planting, and land-use efficiency goes up. And that doesn't factor in change in our transportation efficiency.
Now, imagine lots of vehicles with the E-flex technology, or similar (i.e. potential for fuel-less travel). Then later on as the tech gets improved, and upgraded....well, you get the picture: We will need to use less fuel anyways. So that 30% grows to 40%, and 50%, and 60% - beacuse there's less fuel to displace. So Ethanol can become a very large portion of the solution. Along with Biodiesel, and Hydrogen, and God-knows whatelse they come up with.
