tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post3797481141699066920..comments2024-03-21T05:30:03.220-04:00Comments on Science teacher: Developing students with attitudedoylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-30925373813791175182012-07-11T17:16:25.650-04:002012-07-11T17:16:25.650-04:00Dear Jeffrey,
Switchgrass would be a lot more eff...Dear Jeffrey,<br /><br />Switchgrass would be a lot more efficient than corn, true, and it looks like we're close to commercial success with it.<br /><br />It may be possible to get get more calories out of the ground than we put in--heck, the Amish do it every year, and we did it before we became dependent on petroleum. Ethanol gives less mpg than gasoline, and we need some a reasonable return of oil to ethanol to make this make sense.<br /><br />You're right that corn has been subsidized to ridiculous levels--the return for corn used for ethanol was higher than that used for feed (at least to those producing the ethanol). If we didn't subsidize the EtOH industry, though, I bet we'd've grown less corn.<br /><br />Bottom line is we're living on borrowed time with petroleum--hundreds of millions of years of borrowed time that were burning quickly. I know you know this, but most of my lambs haven't a clue, and this will affect them more than me.<br /><br />I'll be dead by then.doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-11715247761002668612012-07-10T22:00:36.801-04:002012-07-10T22:00:36.801-04:00I'll have to have a look, too.
By the way, I ...I'll have to have a look, too.<br /><br />By the way, I heard the energy-to-produce-etOH-vs-energy-in-etOH reported on by NPR a year or two ago. Seems that the technology is NOW such that we get more out than we put in--can't say by how much. (Gets even better if we can use switchgrass instead of corn.) Of course, area under corn is area not available to most of the other 10 million-plus species we're crowding of the planet. And also of course we do this because corn is subsidized to production levels we simply can't keep up with by eating it--even after it out-competes much more healthful fare and makes waistlines bulge and lifespans decline. But we have to do SOMETHING with it until we really DO need it to help feed the world's burgeoning population.Jeffrey Michals-Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11875231268940338643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-68489586556871891122012-07-02T20:13:39.996-04:002012-07-02T20:13:39.996-04:00Dear Mary Ann,
Kate Tabor sent me her copy a yea...Dear Mary Ann, <br /><br /><a href="http://tabor330.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">Kate Tabor</a> sent me her copy a year or two ago--and it's been near my side since.<br /><br />Colonel Parker makes Arne <i>et al.</i> just look silly.doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-7870178437680653872012-07-02T19:46:11.921-04:002012-07-02T19:46:11.921-04:00I downloaded Talks on pedagogics. Thanks.I downloaded Talks on pedagogics. Thanks.Mary Ann Reillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14349201167828984708noreply@blogger.com