CORN PRICES !!!!!

[DIRTYDUCK]

You boys are really letting me down on this one. You know damn well after the farmers pay too much for seed (275.00 per 80000 kernnels already)too much for fertilizer, too much for labor, and too much for new equipment to plow the duck factories under to plant this corn, the ragheads and other oil barons will drop the price of oil so low, that we will be buying gas for $ .99 a gallon by late fall and the corn prices will fall to the point it will rot on the stalk. Because the oil barons will not allow a sustained effort to replace their product. Mark my words "low oil prices removes the potential for capital to be invested in alternative energy sources". They will simply raise them as soon as the threat is gone as they have in the past!!!!
But if this crap affects the price of beer I'm gonna be pissed!!! [img]graemlins/piss2.gif[/img]

[JABIII]

DD, environmental mandates will see ethanol production sharply rise regardless of the price of oil.

Just how high this will push the price of corn is anybody's guess but I I hope the days of $2Bu corn are long gone...

[Candor]

The whole ethanol from corn business is silly. It takes more energy in fuel to grow and process the corn than what is derived from it. Ethanol is a smoke screen.

Cellulose may work but ethanol from corn is simply a diversion.

You cannot ignore the laws of thermodynamics and think that something which requires more energy to make than what it produces is going to be a long term option.

The answer is ANWR and the oil sands of Canada. The oil equation is very elastic. Introduction of an extra 500,000 barrels of oil per day (probably a lot less) can have a dramatic impact on the price of oil.

Long term going towards alternative energy sources like wind, tidal movement, and electric vehicles - like this bad sunnofbitch:

All Electric Car

Being released this summer. All electric (not a hybrid), 0 to 60 mph faster than any production Porche, range of 250 miles, slick design (by Lotus), priced under $100K. COOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL


The guy that started this company is the guy that sold Paypal for $1.5B. He has another company that takes over servicing of the space stations in 2011.

Change is on the horizon but it will only fly in-so-far as economics and sound engineering will allow. Ethanol from corn does not fit into that reality.

[Swamp Rat]

We need an all-electic AWD SUV that's under 30K. THEN you have something that is closer to what the average Joe can afford. 90K+? Won't be seeing many of those in the Rush's parking lot waiting on a burger.

The technology is coming. It isn't there yet, but it's coming.

Fuel cell technology may be the best ticket in the end, if they can get the safety and logistics issues of hydrogen worked out. I like the idea of a vehicle that I don't have to plug in every 200 miles that has nothing but water vapor for an emission.

[DuckEE]

One reason why proven oil reserves are greater now than at any time in the past is that our technology to find & extract oil has improved. A good example of this is the recent deep water oil field discovery in the gulf of Mexico. As long as the economics says its cheaper to drill for and use oil versus other alternatives, we will continue to use it. To force people to use more expensive alternatives is the same as stealing from them.

[JABIII]

Sure it is EE, but the environmentalists and their "mankind generated" global warming bullshit is going to see feel good initiatives like ethanol mandated. America simply lacks the balls to stand up to the fraud.

[DIRTYDUCK]

I know nothing of the technology behind it but:I was at a conference in Atlanta and there was a guy speaking on a brand new process for the gasification of biomass that would yeild a both high quality cellulose fiber for industry and a never before realized percentage of energy transfer. And to top it all off it would be able to process this from the waste that is now left in the woods after traditional logging is done not to mention storm debris and highway median grass clippings.

[BOGSTER]

Originally posted by DuckEE:
One reason why proven oil reserves are greater now than at any time in the past is that our technology to find & extract oil has improved. A good example of this is the recent deep water oil field discovery in the gulf of Mexico. As long as the economics says its cheaper to drill for and use oil versus other alternatives, we will continue to use it. To force people to use more expensive alternatives is the same as stealing from them.

well said EE!

[SCTIMBER]

Good post DirtyDuck, my old mentor/professor from college had been preaching that for years on going around the log decks and collecting debris for biomass projects to make energy for companies such as Duke Power.