Green journalism, green government and
green business that feed off of the green government pig trough like to push
green energy because they get green money for it.  But that green money
does not come from profit generated from free enterprise and market
competion.

Green energy money comes from green
government pig trough in the form of a subsidy to green industry who
like to pretend they are doing a green good while taking our green
money.

The green people love this because most
people then think green energy can replace fossil fuel and nuclear energy.
They love to extrapolate a little green energy into green power for the entire
nation.  Not unlike they do distorting normal slight variations
in species and climate temperature into shutting down the entire lumber and
energy industry in the U.S.

Green energy would not exist if
environmental extremist did not mainline their drugs of choice and green
government did not  pimp out our green tax dollars paid by
our property taxes on our green farms and lawns.  Green energy is a
lime green lollipop for the environmenal extremists, jobs for green contractors,
careers for green government.

Here is an excert from article linked
below on the Wild Horse Project by
PSE.

But none of those projects is likely to come to fruition unless Congress
restores a federal income tax credit for wind production that lapsed last year.
"It needs to be renewed in order for the project to work," Ringel said.

Protests may loom

Ringel claimed the Wild Horse project has community support. But the same
can't be said of a second proposal by Zilkha. The proposed Kittitas Valley
project, between Cle Elum and Ellensburg, has drawn significant opposition from
a group called Residents Opposed to Kittitas Turbines and other parties.

NPCC's King noted that the Kittitas Valley project is planned for a highly
visible area, across from a big vacation-home development. "I can't think of a
location better designed to incite controversy," he said.

It remains to be seen whether Wild Horse, a project in the same county by the
same developer, will encounter permitting problems.

"There's a heightened sensitivity in Kittitas County that probably wouldn't
have been there" if the Kittitas Valley project weren't so controversial, King
said. http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2004/09/27/newscolumn1.html

You know there

Welcome! It's Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Updated
12:42 AM ET

Apartments|AutoGuide|CareerConnection|Classifieds|

|Real
Estate|Yellow
Pages

within

Site Stocks
News Archives

Subscribe
to The Pilot   Manage
subscription   Advertise
in The Pilot   Advertise
online   Search
archives   Buy
Pilot photos   Contact
us   More...

Channels

Opinion
Editorials
Blogs   Guestbooks
Letters
to the editor   Past
weeks by day  Columnists   Roger
Chesley   Kerry
Dougherty   Jacey
Eckhart   Margaret
Edds   Marvin
Lake

Apartments
Autos
Broadband
Business
Buzz
Classifieds
Community
Fun
& Entertainment Health
& Fitness Home
& Garden Jobs
Local
Events Lottery
Military
News
& Opinion Real
Estate School
Zone Shopping
& Coupons Sports
& Rec Traffic
Travel
& Tourism Weather
Guides
City
Guides

Chesapeake
Franklin
Gloucester
Hampton
James
City Co. Newport
News Norfolk
NE
N.C. Outer
Banks Poquoson
Portsmouth
Smithfield
Suffolk
Va.
Beach Williamsburg
York
County

Ask an Expert
Best of HR
Blogs -
New! Contests
Dining
Guide Guestbooks
Movie
Guide Newcomers
Guide Nightlife
Guide Places
to Go TV
listings Visitor's Guide

Special Sections Mortgage
Rates  Services E-mail
Newsletter Headline Feeds

Opinion / Editorial

E-mail This Page

Print This Page

Get The
Pilot

Ethanol is no solution for our energy
woes

The Virginian-Pilot
© June
26, 2006

Talk about news that will make your blood boil: The high cost of
Iowa-grown ethanol adds 30, 40 or even 50 cents to the cost of a gallon of
gas. We're not just being ripped off by Saudi sheiks halfway across the
planet; we're being fleeced by plaid-clad farmers from the square
states.

The fact that ethanol comes with a wallet-whacking downside shouldn't
come as a surprise.

There's a reason America is addicted to oil: Compared with the
alternatives, it is pretty good stuff. It packs a lot of energy in a small
space. It is cheap and easy to get out of the ground. It is simple and
relatively safe to transport.

Latest Videos

A
New Way to Clean Up Hampton Roads

Tell
us your best joke Hampton Roads

Abraham
Cherrix Back to Court

Original
NASA Moon Landing Tapes Lost

One Key
Can Open Too Many Locks

Dell
Recalls Notebook Batteries

See the complete Pilot, exactly as in print

- View stories, photos and ads
- E-mail clippings

- Print copies
Log
in or learn
more

Besides price, the corn-based ethanol already at the corner pump comes
with a host of problems. It evaporates much more easily than gasoline,
adding to air pollution and making the fuel more expensive to store and
transport.

To really put a dent in oil imports, we'd have to turn over the entire
surface of Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and the
Dakotas to corn. We'd have to expand our use of fertilizer and pesticides
by millions of tons, plenty of which would end up in rivers and lakes.

Wildlife would lose out too - as millions of acres of forest were put
under the plough.

With all that corn diverted to fuel, there would be less for everything
else. Among other things, beef, soda and many processed foods would be
more expensive. To top it off, you'd have to stop at the gas station more
often because a car using ethanol gets fewer miles per gallon .

The panacea of the moment - cellulosic ethanol, which can be made from
waste products like paper and corn stalks - solves some problems but
creates new ones. It may take more energy to gather the waste product than
we can produce in ethanol.

We're not just picking on ethanol. Most other alternative energy
sources have hidden downsides as well:

To make enough solar power to fuel a fraction of our cars - even if we
can improve efficiency tenfold - you'd have to pave Texas. And you'd still
have to worry about building all those batteries - and disposing of their
potentially toxic remains.

Hydrogen fuel cells? There's plenty of really expensive infrastructure
to build. Generating, storing and transporting hydrogen won't be simple or
cheap. Anybody want to volunteer to live next door to a hydrogen storage
facility? And you still have the problem of where to get the electricity
to make hydrogen. Dirty coal? Scary nuke plants?

Which brings us back to the high price of gasoline at the pump - in
part caused by those farmers.

While America's scientists and capitalists conspire to come up with a
new route to cheap energy, there's one thing people can do that has no
downside: They can conserve.

Every dime that ethanol adds to the price of gas only increases that
incentive. And as much as it hurts - that's a good thing.

USER
COMMENTS

Comments 1 - 3 of 3

Dollars
and Sense (hide comment)
It
costs about $1.50 to make a gallon of ethanol fuel. The current spot
market price for ethanol is well above $5.50. The $4.00 difference
is largely going to the ethanol refiners and distributors, folks
like ArcherDanielsMidland (coincidently one of the largest campaign
contributors on Capitol Hill). There is another alternative.
Methanol, known as wood alcohol (as compared to ethanol which is
grain alcohol) can be made from a wide range of feedstocks including
natural gas, coal, waste wood, and landfill methane gas. Methanol
too can be used in flexible fuel vehicles, but the spot price for
this is just 84 cents per gallon. If it wasn't for the opposition of
the ethanol lobby, this fuel could be made available at the corner
service stations too. But that would make too much sense.
-
Greg Dolan - Arlington Dollars
and Sense (view comment)

Missing
the Point (hide comment)
High
fuel prices, yes; fuel shortages, yes. Back up and look around for a
minute or so. We have fuel "shortages" because the oil companies
don't want to stock pile supplies to any great extent, thereby
creating a shortage. As for the high prices, don't blame Opec, that
cartel has already publicly stated prices are too high and that they
prefer prices to be about $40-$50 a barrel, period. They also state
there is enough supply coming out of the ground and can be shipped
to forestall any shortage. This is public record. The blame for high
prices at the pump--day traders--the buying and selling of oil
futures--to line the pockets of these greedy speculators. They look
for ANY reason to bump up the price of the a barrel of oil, "oh
there may not be enough storage space", bid up the price; "oh we may
have a hurricane in the Gulf this year", bid up the price. "Iran may
go it's own way and do its own thing", bid up the price. It goes on
and on. Before you accuse Opec, look right in your own back yard.

- james t. - katy Missing
the Point (view comment)

A
little cornfused about the big picture. (hide comment)
Celluosic ethanol will be
the replacement fuel of the future. No one is betting on corn; but
at least you acknowledge celluosic as a solution to many of the
problems upon which you hinge your whole argument. What needs to be
factored is that the price of gasoline is highly subsidized in the
form of military interests in the middle east. Instead of enriching
radical islamists and commies like Hugo Chavez importing energy (40%
of our trade deficit); I'd rather create an industry for our farmers
rather than continue to subsidize them for NOT to growing various
crops. You are correct on the thermal efficiency of ethanol being
lower than gasoline and this is a problem in flex-fuel vehicles
during the transition. After E85 is widely available, this
performance gap can be closed because vehicles tuned specifically
for ethanol can run at much higher compression ratios than gasoline
(due to gasoline's propensity to detonate or pre-ignite at
compressions greater than 8:1). Current engineering has them about
equal in performance per gallon when using higher compression ratios
for ethanol and this will be the norm in the future. I encourage you
to do a bit more research on this topic. Celluosic ethanol from
agricultural wastes and native grasses like switchgrass is the fuel
of our future.
- Jimmy Hogan - Nashville
A
little cornfused about the big picture. (view comment)

Comments 1 - 3 of 3

Log in to add your comment

My email address is:

Password:

» New Users Click
Here

My email address is:

^ close

More Editorial Articles

• Little room in middle in
today's politics - Jun. 26
• Drilling for answers in House
energy bill - Jun. 25
• Fund fire services with
public money - Jun.
25

E-mail This Page

Print This Page

Get The
Pilot

Top
of Page / Give us
feedback / Sponsor this
channel

See All Big
Deals
Add a Deal

10%OFF
ANY CATERING ORDER OR 10%OFF A FAMILY MEAL AT OUR RESTAURANT!

Pollard's
Chicken & Catering

See
Deal

ONE
18 inch X-LG PIZZA, 1 TOPPING, 10 WINGS ONLY $15.99!
Bella
Pizza-------Pizza Delight

See
Deal

SUMMER
CAMP AT HUNT CLUB FARM!
Hunt
Club Farm

See
Deal

LOOSE
DIAMOND SALE! 1 ct ROUND $995!!!
Jewelry
Bazar

See
Deal

Financial
Services Representative
SunTrust Bank

Auto
Sales Consultant
First Team Auto Group

CDL
/ Long Haul / Local / Team Drivers
Dolphin
Deliveries

Medical
Assistant / Phlebotomist
Medical
Temporaries

Sales
Associate
Haverty's

•
View All Jobs
• Place an Ad

The most jobs, the best
employers in Hampton Roads

About Us | Join Our Team
| Place an Ad
| Advertising Info |
Feedback
Copyright
1993-2006, HamptonRoads.com /
PilotOnline.com
|  Privacy Policy

Add an Event | Link to our
Site | Manage
Your Account Profile