We have discussed the implications of ethanol subsidies on American workers, taxpayers and consumers. We can’t say, excerpt or link enough about the implications for the poor worldwide.
Excerpts from a very compelling article by Peter Suderman writing at Reason Magazine.
The Ethanol Disaster
America’s renewables policy is bad for consumers, the environment, and the global poor
The environmental evidence against ethanol seems to mount almost daily: Another study published last week in Nature Geoscience found that in São Paulo, Brazil, the more ethanol that drivers used, the more local ozone levels increased. The study is particularly important because it relies on real-world measurements rather than on models, many of which predicted that increased ethanol use would cause ozone levels to decline …
Ethanol requirements at home have helped drive up the price of food worldwide by diverting corn production to energy, which dramatically reducing the available calorie supply. A 25-gallon tank full of pure ethanol (ed. note: roughly ten fill-ups if using 10% ethanol) requires about 450 pounds of corn—roughly the amount of calories required to feed someone for a year. Some 40 percent of U.S. corn crops go to ethanol production, which in effect means we’re burning food for automobile fuel rather than eating it. Studies by economists at the World Bank have found that a one percent increase in world food prices correlates with a half-percent decrease in calorie consumption amongst the world’s poor. When world food prices spiked between 2007 and 2008, between 20 and 40 percent of the effect was attributable to increased global reliance on biofuels. The effect on world hunger is simply devastating.
Read the entire article for more revelations and supporting links regarding the negative environmental effects of cellulosic ethanol (corn residue bio-fuels) and other aspects to The Ethanol Disaster.
Save the Environment – Oppose Wind Subsidies
Among other elements in an article in the Wall Street Journal last week chastising continued wind energy subsidies, Senator Lamar Alexander referenced a very interesting occurrence, if not alliance:
On April 28, environmental groups, including the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and Nuclear Matters, announced—they held an event in Washington at the National Press Club— that they were concerned about losing clean nuclear power, which provides 60% of America’s air-pollution-free electricity. And, in a country that consumes 20% of the world’s electricity, relying on windmills when nuclear power is available is the energy equivalent of going to war in sailboats when nuclear ships are available.
Alexander makes other points about the need for “base load energy” – due to the only intermittent usefulness of wind energy, as it is perhaps only 30% productive — and that the turbines are hazardous eyesores. If the link to the WSJ is not successful you might view the text here.
Ill Wind — Save Your Country’s Wealth — Save Your Health — Oppose Wind Turbines
A rather pithy comment and news item appeared in this energy and climate oriented blog No Tricks Zone , posted by P Gosselin on April 27, 2014
The green energy orgy in Germany is over. The music has stopped and the wine that once flowed freely has long run out. The green energy whores and pimps can go home.
In a stunning admission by Germany’s Economics Minister and Vice Chancellor to Angela Merkel, Sigmar Gabriel announced in a recent speech that the country’s once highly ballyhooed transformation to renewable energy, the so called Energiewende, a model that has been adopted by a number of countries worldwide, is “on the verge of failure“.
Oh yes, and those subsidized monstrosities can make you sick.
Many people living within 2 km (1.25 miles) of these spinning giants get sick. So sick that they often abandon (as in, lock the door and leave) their homes. Nobody wants to buy their acoustically toxic homes . . .
Dr. Nina Pierpont explains in simple, layman’s terms how turbine infrasound and low frequency noise (ILFN) create the seemingly incongruous constellation of symptoms she has christened Wind Turbine Syndrome.
