Bush: Not a Gristmill reader

President hails cellulosic ethanol as a panacea

Posted by Tom Philpott at 12:01 AM on 06 Mar 2008

I'm offended: President Bush evidently hasn't been following my string of posts about how cellulosic ethanol probably won't ever be viable.

Addressing a renewable-energy conference, the president fretted that the ethanol boom he set in motion is "beginning to affect the price of food." He added: "So we got to do something about it."

And what we "got to do," evidently, is throw more cash at cellulosic ethanol. Here's how The New York Times summed up his statement:

[Bush said] the solution was not to back away from ethanol, but to develop ways to make ethanol from agricultural wastes, wood chips or similar materials. The Energy Department has spent nearly $1 billion trying to incubate a "cellulosic ethanol" industry, he said.

He also marveled that Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines had flown a 747 with biofuel. "It's amazing that it helped power an airplane the size of a 747," he gushed. The audience, the Times reports, erupted in applause.

For story: Bush: Not a Gristmill reader
13 Comments | Post a Comment

I'm amazed

That the man was able to complete a sentence well enough for someone to make sense enough of it to "sum up" anything!

Good Job, Dubya! Those meda are wonderful, aren't they?

If you continue to do what you've always done you'll continue to get what you've always got. - Yogi Berra

by Matt at 4:50 AM on 06 Mar 2008

Where's a hobgoblin when you want one?

He led off that speech by noting that "America's got to change its habits. It's got to get off oil."

So we've got a simple mind in the white house. And consistency is the hobgoblin of simple minds. Would it therefore be too much to hope that this might immediately be followed by an announcement that we're going to roll back some of those oil & gas tax breaks to fund renewables and energy efficiency that keeps getting stalled in the senate? It would be consistent, no?

Hope springeth eternal...

by Sean Casten at 6:36 AM on 06 Mar 2008

Sad to say

Not many around here have followed the failing fortunes of fuel farming either.

Once and for all could we give the invisible elephant in the room a paint job? When biomass is guzzled as gas, the carbon sink activity of the soil is rendered null and void. Sugar cane, wood chips, corn, beets, whatever...

No way around it. Biomass that goes up into the atmosphere as GHG from a tail pipe does not go into the ground to build a healthy, carbon sink soil ecosystem.

And because of the late stage of addressing GHG climate disaster, not only curtailing as much GHG emmission as possible is necessary, but as much carbon sink activity as possible must also be restored.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 6:39 AM on 06 Mar 2008

Don't be silly, Tom

Dubya can't actually read.

by kmp at 6:59 AM on 06 Mar 2008

Side Benefit:

At least with sugar cane you get a high btu product that comes closer to working and you use the waste to fuel the next batch.

Not even the answer for a country that sucks up as much fuel as we do but if you use this food product and drive the price sky high on it you will get the side benefit of shrinking some large fat ass americans. Maybe then they could get more into walking and make a healthier nation.

Stop all grain sales and give away's for shipment over seas until the food prices for the american consumer goes down. When you dry up the world market then start charging OPEC $100 dollars a bushel for corn, wheat, barley. It will not take long to force some economic and environmental sanity upon the system.

You talk about soil depletion, did you ever try to raise corn in Saudi Arabia.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

by Pompey Road at 8:05 AM on 06 Mar 2008
[ Parent ]

Stop Blaming W

"W" is certainly no friend of the environment, but it's time to stop blaming him, and to start doing your part. Every time you flip on a light switch, you become part of the problem. Forget about the grandiose political speeches about the future of renewables. Our leadership says one thing, but does just the opposite. We can wait no longer for help from them. Too often we get hung up on the "payback" of a PV system. Instead of going forward, we decide to wait until the price come down. Meanwhile, our air, water, and land becomes more polluted each day. God only knows how much suffering and how many premature deaths are caused by burning fossil fuels. It's time to take matters into our own hands. When people lead, leaders follow. Let's Roll!

Solar John

by Solar John at 8:51 AM on 06 Mar 2008

Let's roll.

Maybe you rolled one too many already if you want to stop blaming duuhbya. Just say no.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 9:43 AM on 06 Mar 2008

Saudi agribizz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrigation_in_Saudi_Arabia

Lots of water abuse, GMO crops, and chemicals. It's the US model, go figure.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 9:46 AM on 06 Mar 2008

keep blaming others then....

...and you'll get nowhere.

Solar John

by Solar John at 10:49 AM on 06 Mar 2008
[ Parent ]

Not to mention, Branson didn't use cellulosic

He blended some biodiesel provided by Washington State's own Imperium (made from Canadian food crops, not American) into the kerosene jet fuel. Jet engines are not picky about what you feed them, as long as you feed them a lot.

The Head of Imperium just "stepped down" after they canceled their IPO (initial public offering for stock) for $345 million. They have also laid off employees. Something is rotten in Denmark.

Allowing the investment of millions of dollars of Seattle government employees' retirement funds in Imperium was not only questionable ethically, but is now looking questionable financially.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 10:52 AM on 06 Mar 2008

You clearly don't understand, Biod...

You're getting lost in details. Cellulosic, biodiesel, kerosene jet fuel. Who cares? The message is: BIOFUELS RULE!!!!!!!

Don't forget it.

Victual Reality

by Tom Philpott at 10:59 AM on 06 Mar 2008

it's not laws, it's the right laws.

It's not the making of biofuels that we need. We just got to pass a law saying if you fly somewhere, you can't go back for a year. That'll reduce all that fuel use.

by trock at 11:35 AM on 06 Mar 2008

My bad, Tom

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 12:20 PM on 06 Mar 2008

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