Comments on: Ethanol Production Glut Looming

By: Gary Dikkers

Gary Dikkers — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 05:02:52 +0000

So what are you doing to change your lifestyle?

Chuck,

* I walk to and from work (six mile round trip) each day. Logged more than 1,600 miles last year walking to and from work.

* Live in Wisconsin and keep the thermostat set at no more than 63 deg F in the winter. We don’t use A/C in the summer.

* Have converted all the bulbs in our house to CFLs or low-wattage halogens.

* I do own two cars. One is a VW Jetta diesel with a manual transmission. With that car I usually get about 46-48 mpg, and have gotten as high as 53 mpg at steady highway speeds on a no-wind day.

* My other vehicle is a light-duty pickup truck. Last year I put only 2,000 miles on the truck.

I’d say I’m doing my share.

You didn’t answer my question: Why do you think the ethanol industry being dependent on foreign natural gas would be an improvement over our already ill-advised dependence on foreign oil?

Regards,

Gary Dikkers

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:46:26 +0000

Living on the borders of an Amish community, I personally don’t want to go there.

So what are you doing to change your lifestyle?

By: Gary Dikkers

Gary Dikkers — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 04:37:01 +0000

I say be thankful we have entrepreneurs who are producing such production capacity. When are we going to really address this for what it is… a national security issue?

Yes, it is a national security issue — that’s exactly what makes the momentum behind corn ethanol so dangerous.

The truth is that industrial corn farmers and ethanol plants are just as addicted to fossil fuels as is everyone else. (The only corn farmers not addicted to fossil fuels are those who practice true sustainable agriculture such as the Amish.)

Modern industrial corn farming couldn’t exist without synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Unfortunately, those synthetic nitrogen fertilizers lead directly into a national security issue because more than 90% of that synthetic nitrogen our farmers use is made from natural gas. What’s even worse, 60% of that synthetic nitrogen is imported into the U.S after being made with foreign natural gas.

Why do you think being dependent on foreign natural gas is an improvement over being dependent on foreign oil?

The only real solution to our energy problem is to change our lifestyle and reduce our demand for all fossil fuels — both those we use for transportation, and those we use making corn ethanol.

Cordially,

Gary Dikkers