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Where is All That CO2 Coming From? |
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Gregory Morris, 5/15/07 9:25:22 am |
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Aha! See! It isn't driving SUVs. I'm all for saving the rainforests regardless of the CO2 issue. Yes, even if it means that McBeef will cost a little more. Hippies have been screaming about the rain forests for years now. This points at a new reason to save 'em. You see, I'm a hippie trapped in a conservative's brain. Too much logic to really be a liberal, but too much compassion to be a heartless conservative either.
I've also heard reports about the production of ethanol causing the release of massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Some reports suggest this process releases more CO2 into the atmosphere than an equivalent burning of fossil fuels. As an amateur brewer (I don't make money on it, but it is damn good beer) I know for a fact that there is a lot of CO2 produced during the manufacture of ethanol. Simply put, yeast eat sugar and poop ethanol and CO2. When I brew, the resulting delight sometimes contains 3%, sometimes 9%, but it is usually around 5%. That is because when the yeast has eaten up most of the sugar, it becomes inactive. Still, there is a lot of CO2 bubbling up while it ferments. When you produce ethanol on a large scale, you use more sugar, and a strain of yeast that is more alcohol resistant. It's kinda like moonshine, really. You just ferment whatever you can to get the most alcohol, then you distill it. Since their yeasts must be more active, and active longer, I'd guess they produce even more CO2. Just a guess.
So aside from providing more income to mega farmers, and possibly reducing the cost of fuel a bit (you can't really just burn ethanol... it is only good right now for "watering down" gasoline) ethanol isn't going to save our environment. It won't stop the so-called "Global Warming".
I'm not saying I believe driving cars produces enough CO2 to change the environment... the verdict is still out on that one. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool skeptic when it comes to Al Gore's pseudo-science. I just wanted to point out that liberals like going after whatever is convenient... they don't mind being hypocrites when the camera is turned the other way.
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