First, everyone loved it. It was suppose to help the United States take a step closer to being energy independent and stimulate rural communities throughout the Midwest.
     Then, everyone sort of loved it. It was still looked upon as a key part to our energy future, just not as amazing as first thought.  
     Today, the general public’s love affair with corn-based ethanol is over. That’s due in part to the overhype, the general limitations of ethanol and outright misrepresentations regarding the fuel by political hacks and the uninformed.
However, the love affair shouldn’t be over. Instead, it should be better understood.
     There are a number of very public falsehoods about ethanol that have, for some reason, been repeated time and time again on radiowaves, in print and across the lips of political pundits who, it turns out, have no idea what they’re talking about.
     First, ethanol is not a water hog.
     When corn-based ethanol was first produced it did consume its fairshare of water. Roughly a decade ago, it took about 10 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol. But that was  before most people in the US knew what ethanol was.
     Today, as technology and water recycling efforts have advanced, it now takes on average four gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol.
     On the contrary, it takes on average four gallons of water to produce one gallon of gasoline. In addition, it can take eight gallons of water to produce one gallon of gasoline if recovered from oil sands.
     So, the idea that ethanol is a water hog is truly unfounded when compared to other forms of fuel.
     Secondly, many believe that ethanol is a burden on the world’s food supply.
     This is untrue, too.
     Back in 2008 when food prices soared, including corn, many people blamed the production of corn-based ethanol. However, a number of reports have concluded that it was the triple-digit price for a barrel of oil that was the main culprit. The high price of oil resulted in higher transportation costs and higher food processing costs.
     In addition, ethanol production does not take away from livestock feed because ethanol production only uses the starch from corn and not the protein and fat. In turn, much of the digestible energy is preserved and used for livestock feed.
     Finally, ethanol indeed takes less fossil energy to produce than gasoline. As reported, corn-based ethanol already takes about the same amount of water as gasoline to produce, but contrary to what is generally understood, it also takes less energy to produce.
     According to a report in farmindustrynews.com, the fossil energy input per unit of ethanol is .78 million Btu of fossil energy consumed for each 1 million Btu of ethanol delivered. However, it takes 1.23 million Btu of fossil energy to produce 1 million Btu of gasoline delivered.
     Ethanol still has a main role to play in the United States’s energy future and the future of the rural Midwest. A fair representation about what it can and can not do is all that is needed.  
        
 

 
   


  

 
 
 
     
    
 
             
 

  
   
 
  

  


  



 




     
 
 
 

    

 
   
        
  
 
 

Slice of Life

by Troy Koester

(Click on the Slice of Life link to comment) 

 
Nothing today for something tomorrow

       The Editor-in-Chief of this fine publication delivered a tremendous essay some weeks back about our desire for “change” in the political circles. We elect a President because we clamor for “change.” Then 15 months into his term we are clamoring for “change.”
     And what are we left to conclude about the elected officials that lead this fine land … the more things change, the more they stay the same.
     That’s why I give serious consideration to enter the fray for the next election. Whether it’s Gubernatorial or Presidential, I give strong consideration to my candidacy as the “No Change Candidate.”
     You question if I’m serious, or capable? You question my ability to do nothing, or my inability to do something?
     Look no further than my wife. She’ll tell you loud and clear about the times she’s gone to visit her sister for the weekend, left me a small list of tasks and returned to find that I’d done nothing. I can take the heat. I define idle.
     Ask my high school Accounting 1 teacher Bob Schrupp. He might not remember as well as I do, but there was little he could do to convince me to spend an evening filling in those ledgers. He will attest, I can do nothing.
     Ask the Mayor of our beautiful little haven. He served as my immediate report for some impressionable years of my professional life. He can speak volumes of my ability to spend a long lunch talking endlessly about nothing, then spending the afternoon amidst illusions of chaos.
     I am the guy, your “No Change Candidate.”
     Back in 1980 Herb Brooks put together a team of college hockey players to compete in the 1980 Olympics. Many of these players were from the University of Minnesota and Boston University. The U of M and BU rivalry was the most intense in college hockey at the time. Brooks made these guys come together by becoming their common enemy.  They went on to win gold.
     I will be the common enemy on Capital Hill. Democrats and Republicans will spare evening news watchers the endless rants about the outrageous suggestions of the other side. There will be no more attempts to cast aside party members who merely suggest that they might not vote with the “party line.” No more long lunches scheming how to thwart this plan or that.
     How are we going to accomplish this? How are we gonna bring two sides together? To view matters based on conscience? On the best interests of the “Main Street” folks? How will we find real solutions for real problems?
We’re gonna do it by sitting idle and making sure nothing gets done. We will not cut taxes, we will not generate any new revenue, we will not cut, we will not add, we will not mandate, legislate, negotiate, regulate or compensate.
There will be no need for Congressmen and women to pen 2,000 page bills. Spare yourselves, there will no need to write any bills, because I will not sign them. There will be no change. Status quo for four years, that’s what I can promise.
     It took a long time to get where we are today, and four more years won’t set us back any further. It will allow the smart folks in the smart chairs four years to come up with some real solutions, and when my four years are up there will be a plan ready to be implemented, and I will step aside. I will sacrifice my legacy. I have been, can be, and will be “Lame Duck.”
     Sit on thou hands today, reach for the stars tomorrow.
     Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can already be putting off today.
     Contribute not and you will have contributed.
     Seek not thou for thou change today, but wait for a tomorrow that will be ripe for change.