Mike Irwin
Staff
Also think about the new ethanol production methods that are being developed.
The old "brew in an open vat and distill over an open fire" isn't going to be the only method of production for long.
New production methods have the potential for increasing yield and reducing the amount of energy required to turn out a gallon of ethanol.
As demand advances, production methods also advance.
A good example is penicillin.
At the beginning of WW II the corn agar vat process was brand new. It required something like 5 days and 30 tons of agar just to produce 1 ton of penicillin.
By 1945 that was down to something like 1 day and 10 tons to produce 3 tons of penicillin.
Ultimately, is ethanol the "answer" to all of our energy needs?
No. Anyone who believes that is an idiot.
But is ethanol a potentially viable method of reducing our dependence on foreign oil?
Yeah, it is.
The old "brew in an open vat and distill over an open fire" isn't going to be the only method of production for long.
New production methods have the potential for increasing yield and reducing the amount of energy required to turn out a gallon of ethanol.
As demand advances, production methods also advance.
A good example is penicillin.
At the beginning of WW II the corn agar vat process was brand new. It required something like 5 days and 30 tons of agar just to produce 1 ton of penicillin.
By 1945 that was down to something like 1 day and 10 tons to produce 3 tons of penicillin.
Ultimately, is ethanol the "answer" to all of our energy needs?
No. Anyone who believes that is an idiot.
But is ethanol a potentially viable method of reducing our dependence on foreign oil?
Yeah, it is.