Can the Ethanol industry be successful now? (1 Viewer)

[Dragonmaster262]

I remember seeing on the news that scientists have designed this new method to obtain all the materials required to produce ethanol from any type of biological waste. Does this mean that the ethanol industry's viability will become more realistic in the future?

 

[Pwnage101]

Possibly, although there are other considerations, the main one being cost (crude oil is still cheaper, as a source at the moment, due to conversion costs / time); also a considerable amount of energy is needed to convert biomass into ethanol in the first palce, which does cause environmental pollution in the process.

 

[sinophile]

At the moment, the ethanol industry completely sucks. Yes, there is a theoretical net energy/carbon use/emission of zero. In reality, the energy used to truck materials, to distil the ethanol, to power the machines etc, offputs this advantage and makes it only marginally competitive in comparison to petrol.

We also see the ethical issues of using arable land to produce biomass to make ethanol, rather than the arguably better alternative of using the land to grow food to feed the starving.