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the truth about ethanol

I heard someone say that it takes 25 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol from start to finish. If this is true, we are in big trouble. We need water to live and we are depleting our water resources at an alarming rate.

MPR had a discussion about this very subject. This is a few things that were said....
In Minnesota, ethanol is a favorite among alternative energy advocates. But some scientist say it is a drain on Minnesota's water resources.

As Minnesota farmers plant more corn for ethanol, they will need to apply more fertilizer. About 30 lbs. of fertilizer per acre runs off into creeks, streams, rivers and lakes. It also gets absorbed into the aquifers. That's where we get our drinking water from.

Minnesota has 16 ethanol plants. One plant used 146 million gallons of water in 2005. Thats about the amount of water that a city of 3000 people would use. About half of all ethanol plants use municipal water for some or all of their water needs. This does not include the farmers who water their crops with those huge sprinkler systems we see while driving.

In addition to Minnesota's 16 ethanol plants, eight more have been proposed and four are hoping to expand. Most of the new plants are hoping to build west of Mankato but a regional hydrologist for Minnesota DNR says that portion of the state doesn't have much water. The region isn't a good fit for a HIGH WATER DEMAND INDUSTRY like ethanol.

Draining the aquifer... that's become a problem for an ethanol plant in Granite Falls. Granite Falls Energy has drained its aquifer by nearly half in less than a year. It's pumping faster than the aquifer can refill. And they want to expand their operation.

There is a FINITE amount of water and we don't have adequate supplies of good quality water left. Is it wise to use our drinking water to make fuel? I think not.

Scheery

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H20
Posts: 3
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Help Me Help You
Reply #3 on : Sat December 08, 2007, 18:39:45
What a thought.... You're very smart.. Smart people can drink car discharged water, maybe that is what makes them smart and quick to respond to a real problem.. Hope you don't have too many kids or grandkids.. I'm sure that you would love to teach them to kneel down to drink in your driveway.... oh by the way I'm a TRUE REPUBLICAN if that really matters...
Scheery
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ethanol
Reply #2 on : Thu May 03, 2007, 17:26:42
The other night on the news they had a piece about ethanol again. This time it was how more and more farmers growing corn are doing so for the production of ethanol instead of for food. There are growing concerns that there will be a serious shortage of food due to so much corn going to make ethanol. Another ding against ethanol.
Shawn Himmelberger
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Good read
Reply #1 on : Wed April 25, 2007, 23:14:11
However, remember that matter can be neither created nor destroyed (outside of supernatural events, but most Liberals don't believe in those). The other byproduct of burning gasoline is water, you know that puddle that freezes on the driveway while your car warms up.

It's a big circle, but yes, this could cause issues, that's why I'm in favor of Hydrogen.