OK, gang, here's a good place to start with re Brazil's use of ethanol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil
In summary, it appears that the process used there is a net energy
producer. (My earlier claim was that it takes as much $ to make the
ethanol as you get out of it, was based on typical US practice in
distilling corn-derived ethanol using fossil fuels). Brazil uses the
waste fiber from the sugar cane to create the heat for distillation and
still have some left over for electricity generation above and beyond
the needs of the distillery.
So, can switch grass or sugarcane be grown readily in the (presumably
southern) USA? How much land would we need for this? Would the
combustion products of ethanol be more benign or worse than that from
gasoline? I dunno.
See you at El Mirage on Sunday...
Benn
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