Reply #9: Corn is good food, but it can go to hell in terms of fuel

[Massacure]

There are many better crops for fuel, for example switch grass, willow trees, or suger cane. Switch grass and willows are natural to the envrionment, and don't need extensive use as fertilizer or irrigation like corn.

Currently there is construction underway that when finished will bring ethanol production capacity to 400 billion gallons a year. That would translate into about 1.09 billion gallons a day. How many gallons are in a barrel? 55? That means about 19.8 billion barrels a day of ethanol will be produced.

It would takes a little bit of restructuring, but I think the U.S. could switch to ethanol efficienctly within a decade. Make more extensive use of railroads instead of semi trucks for carrying goods. Then increase fuel efficiency of cars.