[Terrapreta] Fwd: evil ethanol

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

Lou,

I agree.  It is a great shame to see the massive deforestration in  
the Amazon.  But:

1.  The resulting high commodity prices are not an "evil" to North  
American farmers.  They are delighted to be able to produce a crop  
without requiring subsidies to not only break even, but actually make  
a profit.

2.  All capital intensive agriculture is very "unnatural".  The more  
land we exploit as monoculture farmland, the less is available for  
use by the rest of the species inhabiting this world, and for  
maintaining our climate/weather, etc.

3.  Should Brazil sacrifice their potential economic gains from  
converting forestland to farmland?  How can we get an international  
consensus on important issues, as long as the United Nations is held  
in such low regard by the most powerful nation of the world?

4.  I don't think that sugarcane is 10 times as efficient as corn in  
producing ethanol, though it is more efficient.  I've read that the  
USA could import it from Brazil for less than it costs to produce  
from corn.  Why don't they?

I just have more questions...

Gerald

On 23-Apr-08, at 9:28 AM, lou gold wrote:

> Hey Gerald,
>
> I agree but it's not about "evil ethanol" but about "evil corn  
> ethanol". Why "evil"? Because sugarcane is 10 times more efficient,  
> because the US corn ethanol program is a major taxpayer funded  
> boondoggle that is distorting global markets and food supplies, and  
> because the resulting jump in soybean prices (as soy planting  
> shifted to corn in the US) resulted in a return to massive  
> deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Perhaps, you might agree  
> that these are "evil" outcomes?
>
> hugs,
>
> lou
>
> On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 10:04 AM, Gerald Van Koeverden  
> <vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca> wrote:
>>
>> Sorry.  I don't know.
>>
>> Whatever the case, those dollar values are all old values from  
>> several years ago.  This is a program that works in Excel.  Just  
>> replace those values, with the new ones for your area.  You can  
>> also adjust efficiency of the furnace, to suit your condition.
>>
>>
>> On 22-Apr-08, at 10:05 PM, MFH wrote:
>>> Gerald,
>>>
>>> Apparently a "cord" of wood can be different volumes.
>>>
>>> For example, a 'stove' cord is 4ft x 8ft x 12" and a 'face' cord  
>>> is 4ft x 9ft x 16", whereas a full cord is 4ft x 8ft x 4ft.
>>>
>>> Do you know which is used in the Excel spreadsheet?  If it's a  
>>> full cord then $130 sounds too cheap.
>>>
>>> Max H
>>>
>>>
>>> From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org [mailto:terrapreta- 
>>> bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Gerald Van Koeverden
>>> Sent: Wednesday, 23 April 2008 5:08 AM
>>> To: terra pretta group
>>> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] evil ethanol
>>>
>>> Sorry.
>>>
>>> Lost the actual link. Here's the whole program
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
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