Friday, February 08, 2008

Ready, Fire, Aim


I like it when they have to slap their heads and go 'd-oh!:

WASHINGTON - The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes, researchers concluded Thursday. The study challenges the rush to biofuels as a response to global warming.
Hey, it's math, you guys. Calculate how many acres of land have to be devoted to making ethanol, in addition to growing food to, oh, I don't know, keep people from starving, and you're soon into we're-gonna-need-a-bigger-boat territory.

Sure, it's fine to research turning waste into energy, but the price of corn took a jump to uncomfortable levels by just doing the little bit of biofueling we're doing now. We can't afford to turn this into a feel-good project, like newspaper-recycling - where no net good is being done but we get to feel like we're saving the planet.

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