Wheres the Water
Let me tell you one thing, it's been a blast doing the research for my blogs and finally writing them. There isn't anyway I can get the point across to U about how much garbage is being thrown in our face. It doesn't matter if it's an environmental issue or something to do with energy or bio-fuels, someone has to say something and more often than not it's wrong or not even part of the question.
First let me hit on ethanol. Most people know this isn't a great product in it's present form considering the amount of fuel needed to produce a gallon of product. Other energies exist that would change this situation but that would mean we messed up the first time. The sun and methane would be excellent replacements for natural gas to produce alcohol and even produce power for our cities. I believe some of this type of generation is running today but it would only be a very small amount. The best thing about ethanol is it's portable you put it in your tank and drive.
Ethanol doesn't have to be made with straight corn. Other processing systems are coming on line but I also mentioned in a past blog that corn from the production plant is excellent feed for cattle. Food grade corn is usually contracted by a company who will want a certain type corn or even popcorn. This process does not interfere with human corn consumption, but it does produce more food (BEEF). In-other-words, U and I most likely don't eat cow corn! Now U may start to see that alcohol isn't the worst thing!
The UN says if we continue to use corn for fuel were all gonna starve, cows are polluting the atmosphere and drink something like 80% of the fresh water. OK this set me off! How many cows would it take to suck up one of our Great Lakes? How about the Mississippi? The problem is with how we distribute things. We have cities gobbling up vast amounts of prime farmland for new homes and businesses and sucking up huge amounts of water we could use to grow what ever we need. We have investors building ethanol plants in crazy places. My closest plant may fall victim to a water war, that is now causing a war between end users and irrigators.
Of course cows will still pass gas and so do other living creatures, but we can collect waste from both humans and animals, turn it into methane, run power generators, use the slurry for fertilizer, build alcohol plants by the water, stop building cities on prime farm land and a number of other smart items we often over-look.
So, in this complex ongoing debate I ask "Where's the Water".
