Fossil Fuel vs Bio-fuel
Speaking of corn, what is 5800 ears of gasoline? 15 gallons.
For some time, I’ve been thinking about our use of ethanol, and bio-diesel. Often I hear folks proposing that they be part of the energy mix. It surely sounds like a good idea. However, I doubt that most folks have any idea what the relative energy content of bio-fuel is, compared to gasoline.
For ethanol to be a significant contributor to our energy, it would have to take away from food. Consider, you consume 2000 Calories a day. Your car uses millions. Put another way, your car uses in 1 day, what you consume in a month or two - more if you drive a lot. It’s just not going to work.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/question670.htm
“a gallon (about 4 liters) of gasoline contains about 31,000,000 calories. You could drive a car 22 miles (35 km) on the calories in 217 Big Macs.”
WRONG, food's in Kcals, so it's 31,000 calories, or 54 big macs per gallon. However, keep in mind that Big Macs are probably the most calorie intensive food many folks consume. How 'bout we do the same calculation using corn.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/corn.htm <== nice page, btw.
"1 medium ear (90g) Calories 80"
So, 31000/80=387 ears of corn per gallon, or 5800 ears for 15 gallons of gas. (Yeah, yeah, I know they use the rest of the plant when making gas. Lordy, at least I hope so.)
Some propose we use garbage to make fuel. I think in one week, I produce enough garbage to power my car about 2 to 5 miles. (That’s 5 - 10 big macs.) That’s not going to help much. In addition, we already separate our garbage, and it gets composted (I think). Presumably that contributes to plant growth / food production.
I think that there are relatively few of us who comprehend the actual amount of energy that we get / use from fossil fuels. (Remember, 1 gallon = 54 big macs -- and my tank holds 18 gallons or nearly 1,000 Big Macs.) Replacing all that energy is a Herculean task. Bio-diesel and ethanol just are not going to make it.
OH, I KNOW, I KNOW, we need to measure gasoline in BIG MAC EQUIVALENTS. "Hey, I just got 800 Big Macs (or 5800 ears) of gasoline." Go ahead, laugh. That would do more for energy education than a year of high school physics.
Oops, seems I made a bob boo. But I’ve fixed it now (I hope). However, while doing more work, look what I found. Cars and people are equally efficient.
http://www.rwjuhr.com/new/article_fitness_center_1.html
Keep in mind, a car weighs 10-20 times as much as a man, so: "Diesel fuel and cooking oil have roughly the same amount of calories per gallon. While a Mercedes Benz diesel engine strains to get 35 miles per gallon from soybean oil, a 150-pound human should be able to walk about 350 miles, or 10 times as far, on a gallon of soybean oil."
That’s good news. If we make cars light enough, it'll be cheaper, energy wise, to drive, compared to walking. (That is, if I haven’t been lead astray by an incorrect article again.)
Orange you glad you asked? :-)