Re:BHP says battery electric cheaper than hydrogen as it dum...
by _hypx on Monday July 31, 2023 @01:34PM
(#36946079)
Government subsidized corn ethanol is an environmental disaster. If you hear it being brought up, you automatically assume the person is either confused or working for the corn lobby.
Cellulosic ethanol is any idea brought up as an alternative to the problems of corn ethanol. Ironically, by the George W. Bush administration. Unfortunately, nothing has materialized in any meaningful quantity.
And FYI, they’d be subsidizing it heavily if any meaningful quantity of cellulosic ethanol could be produced. So bringing up that part doesn’t mean much. But cellulosic ethanol production never happened and so far there is no reason to believe it is possible.
Re:BHP says battery electric cheaper than hydrogen as it dum...
by _aavaa_ on Monday July 31, 2023 @01:52PM
(#36946332)
> And FYI, they’d be subsidizing it heavily if any meaningful quantity of cellulosic ethanol could be produced.
I'm not so sure. That would introduce competition for the corn ethanol, and there's a fairly large constituency (those having their corn production subsidised) that would oppose this kind of measure.
I was merely stating why cellulosic ethanol is not the major source of biofuel; because corn is heavily subsidized and produces a cheaper product, hence nobody wants to buy the more expensive product.
That's not a technical problem, it's an economic one. And the subsidies where to change we would see less from corn and more from other sources.