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Originally posted by cegerer
Government subsidies are not a legitimate argument when comparing petroleum fuel to ethanol or bio-diesel. One would need to factor in the enormous and on-going 'subsidies' of ‘keeping the relative peace’ in the Mideast over the past 40 years. That’s our sole interest in that part of the world – they’ve got the friggin’ oil that makes the wheels turn! How fun would it be to be completely free of Mideast oil dependancy - our military would have a literal field day over there without concerns of maintaining the flow of oil ....
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No, while you're correct that the US government has expended huge sums in various adventures in the mideast for almost 80 years, almost none of the oil used in America comes from that area. The actual level is approximately 7-8%, which has been the case for decades. The US government has wanted hegemony in the area for the purposes of empire building and for enhancing the merchantilist corporations that are entertwined with the US government overseas. In short, if the US government stopped it's mideast empire building, it would have little or no affect in America at all.
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Would it be too obvious then to suggest that a national energy policy be set to allow companies to drill for our own oil on our own land? We’ve got incredible reserves – more than we can use. OTOH, if our policy is to continue to rely on foreign oil and all the baggage that goes with that, then ethanol/bio is probably the way to go to get us through in the short term.
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The national energy policy should be to have a 100% hands off government as far as oil or any other "thing" that we use here. The last thing needed is for increased government expenditures for "directed" energy research and development. No government has ever successfully managed a national market for anything on the planet.
Further, to state it once again, it costs more in fossil fuel to produce ethanol than the fuel value derived from it. That means that ethanol makes the petroleum "issue" worse that it would be without ethanol at all. And we haven't even discussed the waste products problems of ethanol production, and there are a few, at any length.
Last, there's the lack of economy in the use of ethanol in transportation.