Ethanol is just comically inefficient solar energy
Waste defined: devoting 30 million acres of prime farmland to growing fuel for cars…
Waste defined: devoting 30 million acres of prime farmland to growing fuel for cars
Similary with biodiesel, lay waste to rainforests to grow palm oil for biodiesel
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Mate, everything on earth comes back to solar energy eventually, that's not news, or even a helpful way of thinking about it.
How easy is it to produce an absolute butt load of efficient solar panels which won't just degrade in 30-40 years? How many tons of rare earth minerals do you have to mine to make that happen?
Now how easy is it to get farmers to grow corn, and stick 10% ethanol in your fuel?
Obviously it's not anything like a complete solution, but it's an easy first measure to take.
Turns out solar is easier and cheaper per kwh.
Next defense of wasting 30 million+ acres of prime farmland when people are starving in the US?
Available farmland is not the reason people are starving in the US
No, wasting resources is. And farmland is a resource.
Don't get me wrong, obviously there will be a starvation underclass in any place with any form of capitalism, but there's no reason to exacerbate the problem. Especially when you could generate the same total energy with 1/5th that land and use the rest for actual food. Or rewilding.