Study: Ethanol Won't Solve Energy Problems
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/10/AR2006071000788_pf.html
And the link to the full study: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/103/30/11206
Isn't there some fable/archeological record that shows when a civilization starts using food for fuel that the end is near? Shouldn't we be shipping some corn to someplace that needs it if we have such an abundance? If the "market is flat for corn" as the growers association claims, shouldn't the farmers switch to something like anything organic (which have huge profits) so they can actually make a sustainable profit from their land? If we have to build machines that use gas to grow chemical-coated and covered corn to grow gas, doesn't that equation stop making sense? Shouldn't we focus our energies on increasing the efficiency of every machine we have and bring sensible large-scale planning guidelines (on the scale of the ones by the federal government that have guided suburban sprawl over the past 60 years!) so that we can reduce our reliance on driving around for everything?
In this debate about the need for oil from unstable countries, global warming, and the sedentary lifestyle, why does nobody even mention urban design as the only real solution? If you have a car that gets 8,000 miles to the gallon and live an hour's drive from your everyday work, have you stopped eating up farmland/open space/forests/etc. and driving everywhere?
