Some notes on alcohol production and biofuels:
I got into a discussion with my friend Jim over the energy efficiency of alcohol production. He pointed out that common perceptions about Ethanol production being a net looser is based on the oil industry financed and discredited research. The site http://www.ncga.com/ethanol/debunking/ (funded by corn growers) does a good job of summarizing several research studies about ethanol and shows it does produce a net energy gain.

I never expected ethanol to have a negative net energy. It does look like the true net energy gain is in the 1.2 -1.6 range. But for all the labor and energy expended to make it, 20% -60% return seems really small to me. It helps but it seems more like “hamburger helper” in making the expensive oil go a little further. Cars that are 20% -40% more efficient seem like a better investment of money.

And like the oil-industry funded studies are biased to show a negative energy return I believe the “Corn Growers” association study is also biased in their favor.

The best new information on alcohol I read about yesterday involves using switchgrass, a native prairie species, to make alcohol using a new bacteria that eats the woody fibers and produces alcohol. The energy return ratio here is around 4.4! http://www.westbioenergy.org/july98/0798_01.htm Which is a real return on investment (440%) to me. I don’t see how anyone can make a profit from all the energy inputs to corn ethanol production only getting a 20% return. The switchgrass process could also be used on the corn & wheat stalks… taking a waste product and making energy from it.

Lastly, take a look at this conference in September covering how to turn organic farm waste into energy: http://www.focusonenergy.com/data/common/calendarfiles/Conference%20Brochure.pdf sponsored by BioCycle Journal (that might be worth subscribing to - energy production from agriculture waste)