[Peace-discuss] Yesterday's rant
n.dahlheim at mchsi.com
n.dahlheim at mchsi.com
Mon Jul 7 08:54:15 CDT 2008
Sorry for the rant yesterday, everbody. I just get frustrated every once in awhile with the stupidity, pig-
headedness and greed of people. Just as simple as that... Hope everyone is well, and I didn't mean to
offend anyone with my misanthropy. Truthfully, AWARE has been one of the few clear-thinking political
organizations at the University of Illinois. So, I'm grateful for all you have done. Have a great day.
Best,
Nick
---------------------- Original Message: ---------------------
From: n.dahlheim at mchsi.com
To: "E. Wayne Johnson" <ewj at pigs.ag>
Cc: Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] some figures on ethanol production from corn
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 13:40:27 +0000
> Have you read the Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstlter? His website
> www.kunstler.com is also
> funny with the Daily Grunt and other commentary about the insanity of the
> suburban sprawl economy....
>
> Thanks for the wonderful ag chemistry lesson on ethanol----I've already
> downloaded those e-mails and
> saved them as word documents..... You have been very, very informative. I hope
> to have that kind of
> command of the science someday.
>
> Best,
> Nick
>
>
> ---------------------- Original Message: ---------------------
> From: "E. Wayne Johnson" <ewj at pigs.ag>
> To: Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] some figures on ethanol production from corn
> Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2008 21:24:04 +0000
>
> > The microbes that ferment the starch-derived sugar consume about 1/3 of
> > the energy in the starch and
> > release 1/3 of the carbon chains as CO2. The oil, protein, and fiber
> > ends up in the DDGS along with the
> > microbes and the mineral fraction.
> >
> > The most serious inefficiency is the that the end products (ethanol and
> > DDGS) are all in aqueous solution, about 11% ethanol max,
> > and that has to be distilled 3 times to reach a concentration suitable
> > for use as fuel.
> >
> > It is also a rather difficult SWAG calculation to make since the plants
> > use a lot of heat recycling and co-generation to recapture a varying
> > amount of the energy used in milling, cooking, distilling, drying, etc.
> >
> > I used the probably quite adverse spin-doctored figures of Pimintel
> > (2005) .
> >
> > 1 bushel of corn could provide the energy needs of one person for about
> > 40 days, so 10 bushels of corn would work
> > for a whole year, and that would equate to about 27 gallons of ethanol
> > generated from that corn. Mind you
> > that corn would not work as the sole food supply but could be part of
> > some theoretical varied diet.
> >
> > *
> > One of the common features of calculating the energy cost of biofuels is
> > to calculate the energy cost of producing the grain and the other
> > various costs of bringing land into production. One thing that should
> > be noted is that we had 116 million acres in corn production in 1917 as
> > compared with about 90 million this year. It is true that modern
> > production techniques use lots of energy intensive mechanization and
> > chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides, all of which have energy
> > expenditures and environmental footprints associated with them.
> >
> > But, how much of those energy and environmental costs are attributable
> > to Ethanol production, per se? Actually not as much as we would tend to
> > think, because we are really not bringing vast new acres online or even
> > intensifying corn production all that much. Since suppliers of inputs
> > to farms are charging what the market will bear, and since corn demand
> > for ethanol has sent prices skyrocketing, the suppliers have increased
> > their prices such that a bag of seed corn that cost $8 when I was a boy
> > is now estimated at $300/bag for the 2009 planting season. Likewise
> > fertilizer, chemical, and land rent prices are increasing dramatically
> > beyond the bounds of common sense, and some farmers are becoming very
> > reluctant to plant corn in some areas because of the high input costs.
> >
> > Actually farmers seldom plant corn for a particular use. They dont
> > think, "I am planting this corn for ethanol". They are planting corn
> > because they are hoping the market price and weather will be favourable
> > for a profit. Since corn is a commodity with good value, farmers have
> > produced more or less the same number of acres of corn every year since
> > the 70's with only relatively minor changes toward soybeans, sorghum or
> > other crops due to market conditions or weather concerns.
> >
> > So, in one way of looking at ethanol, one actually ought not look at the
> > energy input for producing the corn, since the corn would be produced
> > anyway, as long as the market is decent. And the corn will be
> > transported somewhere to be used, so that is a "SUNK COST", too,
> > regardless of what use the corn is put to. Certainly more energy will
> > be expended in sending midwestern corn to 3rd world consumers than in
> > dumping it at local ethanol mills.
> >
> > The real problem as I see it is the disgraceful support of an erroneous
> > ill-fated lifestyle by diverting foodstuffs to fuel.
> >
> > However one expresses the outcome, be it in terms of the burden of wrath
> > brought in by iniquity and injustice, in terms of bad karma, or in
> > terms ecologic and economic collapse, widespread famine, sociopolitical
> > disquietudes, wars, and pestilences -- one thing is clear -- the Western
> > world and the USA in particular is not living in a sustainable way.
> > /Xindaihua/ (modernization) is taking the Chinese down a similar path
> > although they might miss the bulk of the wrath because they are closer
> > to the land than urban dwelling Westerners.
> >
> > Americans shun close living circumstances. Its understandable since so
> > many Americans tend to be foul smelling and ill-humoured. They prefer
> > the unbroken monotony of labyrinthine farmland-eating Suburbia to the
> > close-neighbors urban monotony of highrise housing, and distant shopping
> > centers and discount stores to nearby markets and they enforce it with
> > zoning laws so they can waste time and gasoline fighting traffic in
> > their individualized mobility to get to WalMart, Target, Meijer and Costco.
> >
> > Not only will we be forced by the laws of natural science and economics
> > to halt the stupid wars of aggression whether our handlers want that or
> > not, we will also be forced to change the way that we live. Actually if
> > we can manage to consider our ways, stop the war right away and change
> > our lifestyles right away we might even get a chance to have some say in
> > the outcome and how it comes about.
> >
> > If we end up taking it the hard way via some sort of series of sinkhole
> > socioeconomic collapses that make 9/11 and the 1930's look like a pimple
> > in comparison, we won't have much time for any real planning on the way
> > down other than looking for a soft rock to crash on.
> >
> > That might be a harsh analysis for a sunday afternoon but probably not
> > too far from a reasonable projection. Maybe it doesnt have to be like that.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
> > > If corn is consumed by a monogastric animal or by a human, the
> > > conversion of its gross energy occurs at an efficiency of about 89%.
> > >
> > > If the corn is converted to ethanol and DDGS, the following balance
> > > seems to be a good estimate of the process.
> > >
> > > 448000 BTU Gross energy of 56 Lb of Corn
> > > 210000 BTU Gross energy of 2.7 gallons ethanol derived from
> > > 56 lb corn
> > > 136000 BTU Gross energy remaining in 17 lb of DDGS (wet)
> > > 101000 BTU Gross energy lost per bushel in conversion to ethanol
> > >
> > > 77% - Efficiency of conversion of corn energy by process.
> > >
> > > <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
> > > {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt;
> > > mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
> > > Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1
> > > {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
> > > mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;}
> > > div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> 162000 BTU Energy to
> > > process corn and distill the ethanol (according to Pimentel, 2005)
> > >
> > > 210000-162000 = 48,000 BTU net from 1 bushel corn (plus 136 KBTU in
> > > wet DDGS)
> > >
> > > 48000/124000 => Energy yield from 1 bushel corn is equivalent to 0.39
> > > gallons of gasoline
> > >
> > > 110 bushels per acre (average US corn yield)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
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