Sugar beets has many more times energy potential compared to corn and sugar cane many more times energy potential than sugar beets; yet we are converting little to none of these crops into biofuels but instead using corn.
When are we going to get the government out of subsidizing all these crops and let the market determine what is economically feasible as opposed to politics? Somebody needs to give an economic “I have a dream speech”.
Unfortunately, federal subsidies and agriculture have developed a symbiotic relationship. Gov’t pours huge amounts of cash into the agribusinesses and they on turn funnel their money into specifiic political campaigns.
I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but a friend of mine who is a Chemistry professor ran the numbers and told me that because it is less efficient, E-85 needs to be at least 33.33% cheaper than E-10 in order to be a cost effective alternative. If the E-85 is not at least 1/3 cheaper than E-10, you are wasting money on E-85.
“When are we going to get the government out of subsidizing all these crops and let the market determine what is economically feasible as opposed to politics?”
When the Corn Belt elects politicians that care about all of the United States of America and the rest of us elect representatives that have enough backbone to represent us in a meaningful way.
The corn belt, like every other area of the country has politicians whose elections are financed by the supporting industries. It’s not just the locals that are voting for it. Every senator/ congressman from Maine to California has dipped their finger in the well of financial support from industries that make money from this venture. If it were the farmer or corn belt alone you wouldn’t see it so widely supported. Like the politician who supports continuous military spending to make sure all money keeps pouring into their states form government contracts…
I would bet that a less expensive but less profitable option has been considered and discarded. From medicine to bullets to fertilizer, money talks.