Re:Electric Ship Batteries Promise Compact, Cooler Power
by mrguyorama on Friday November 13, 2026 @12:01PM
(#50486351)
And?
The point is not an energy positive process. The point is a semi sustainable industry for making high density (liquid) fuels for the few systems that will need that energy density to continue functioning in an electrified future. The goal isn't "Don't burn anything ever". The goal is "Stop adding carbon to the atmosphere"
People talk about that concept like it's the future, but humans have been bulk producing a high energy liquid fuel with good stability and toxicity properties for millenia! The US produces enough ethanol to totally replace our entire commercial aviation usage right now.
Ethanol costs about $2 a gallon at that current industrial production level.
Actually that gives me pause. What stops anyone using it as a primary fuel right now if it's so cheap? I imagine the average airplane jet turbine has done a lot of testing on ethanol of course, and you always have to worry about your employees trying to drink your fuel then.
But my point is; We subsidize corn growth so that the USA will never, ever, ever experience a famine. That's the point. The corn will be grown regardless, and if there isn't a minor societal collapse that year, we should turn more of it into ethanol instead of corn syrup. Electrify agriculture and industrial process heat and you can also use that setup to essentially "Load shift" the high solar output in the summer into the winter.
The point is not an energy positive process. The point is a semi sustainable industry for making high density (liquid) fuels for the few systems that will need that energy density to continue functioning in an electrified future. The goal isn't "Don't burn anything ever". The goal is "Stop adding carbon to the atmosphere"
People talk about that concept like it's the future, but humans have been bulk producing a high energy liquid fuel with good stability and toxicity properties for millenia! The US produces enough ethanol to totally replace our entire commercial aviation usage right now.
Ethanol costs about $2 a gallon at that current industrial production level.
Actually that gives me pause. What stops anyone using it as a primary fuel right now if it's so cheap? I imagine the average airplane jet turbine has done a lot of testing on ethanol of course, and you always have to worry about your employees trying to drink your fuel then.
But my point is; We subsidize corn growth so that the USA will never, ever, ever experience a famine. That's the point. The corn will be grown regardless, and if there isn't a minor societal collapse that year, we should turn more of it into ethanol instead of corn syrup. Electrify agriculture and industrial process heat and you can also use that setup to essentially "Load shift" the high solar output in the summer into the winter.