technology colored green

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The Bush administration will not delay plans to require the use of 9 billion gallons of ethanol in motor gasoline in 2008, an Environmental Protection Administration official said on Thursday.
Some U.S. lawmakers are concerned that an energy bill signed into law this year sets unreasonable targets for use of ethanol.
Robert Meyers, principal deputy assistant administrator in the EPA's office of air and radiation, said his agency will soon issue regulations setting U.S. mandated ethanol use at 9 billion gallons for 2008, versus usage of about 7 billion gallons per year in 2007.
"We expect a notice of this action to be published in the Federal Register soon," Meyers said in testimony before the Senate Energy Committee.
Energy legislation requires a five-fold increase in ethanol use by 2022. Some 15 billion gallons could come from traditional corn-blended ethanol, but the rest is required to come from non-corn cellulosic sources like wood chips and switch grass.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the committee, said he was concerned that the current rule might be "flawed."

Am I alone in my questioning of our headlong rush to embrace technology colored as “green”…?

I don’t know about you, but the majority of the studies I have evaluated do not present an overwhelmingly positive picture for ethanol production, especially from corn or soybean. When one factors in ethanol’s production cost associated with fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, water, pollution related to agriculture run off, harvesting, storage and transportation cost, ethanol’s viability as a “green” source of alternative energy is severely compromised.

When one adds that production of corn and soybean for ethanol effects the food costs for many it’s label of “green” I find to be tarnished, what about you…?

It has always amazed me that here in the southwestern portion of the USA, where we enjoy near 360 cloudless sun filled days, we are NOT world’s leader in solar production of energy or on the cutting edge of that technology. Why not…?

It’s time “we” – that’s you and me – elect leaders who will provide an energy goal much in the same terms as JFK outlined his goal for us to place a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of that decade.

Yea, it just might mean we really don’t need ExxonMobil and the rest of them. Does that bother you…?