Oil independence possible according to DoE scientist

Why would I be paying $12 for a "cob" of corn? Does that fee cover the cost of someone else eating the corn off the ear to leave me just the cob? Or are we talking about burning dried cobs to fire the boiler in my newfangled 2027 Ford SteamMaster automobile?

Neither. Well be using the cobs for personal waste removal from our seats of wisdom. We won't be using those energy eating paper products anymore!

At $12.00 for the cob,I wonder what the whole ear of corn will cost.The poor folk in the world cannot afford Corn to eat today.I barely can.alfred

My understanding is that unless some new technology arrives, the US is going to use the entire corn crop in those "corn grain fed" pellet home heaters.

Mind you, it will all be GM corn, Roundup Ready, sterile hybrid, and toxic over a long period to any consumer, whether weevil, beetle, animal or person.

So what are you folks in the US going to eat then?

If you got rid of the corrupt Politicians, Military, Bankers and Businessmen, the economy may come back to a sustainable level for the ordinary people.

Please understand this is not a criticism, just an observation.

Kind Regards....

Perhaps the government scientist (or anyone else) would care to explain how the individual percentages in the 42 gallon barrel can add up to more than 100%.

Hello welderman

I do believe that single-handed, you have managed to solve the oil shortage.

I now see from that chart, each time a 42 US gallon barrel of crude is refined, 43.1214 barrels of refined products become available.

So we have finally achieved something for nothing, in the energy field.

Perhaps the refiners add water to the mixtures, because we all know that water gives free energy, just with a cheap battery and a pair of electrodes in a glass jar in a magical sort of way.

I now admit I hadn't bothered to add up those percentages in the chart.

from me for your perspicacity and diligence in bringing the aforementioned percentages anomaly to our attention.

Kind Regards....

$12 for an ear or cob of corn is just propoganda. It is indeed a fact that microalge not only yields more oil than corn or soy beens, but it is not a consumable resource now!! In addition, if placed correctly, we could have these little critters feeding on the CO2 from powerplants that burn coal or fosil fuels. Whenever you hear politicians talk about increased cost of food because of this issue, they are trying to fool us. Actually, they just don't know any better.

Or we could just use our own oil shale, ANWR reserves and all the oil to be found off the coasts in the most environmentally clean manner possible. Perhaps even make synthetic fuel from coal. Then we wouldn't need ethanol from corn and could concentrate on other methods of making alternative fuels that do not compete with food production and are more viable than using corn.

Building extended-range electric cars which use fueled engines to generate electricity as they go, would allow the use of the larger, safer, more useful and convenient cars and still save on fuel. I like the safe and clean idea of using a steam-powered generator in the cars, but a dirtier internal engine powered generator would still save fuel.

I see energy independence as being able to produce all of the fuel we use and not having to import it. Imports probably would continue, but prices would be lower.

For the DOe Scientist who thinks the U.S. can be independent of oil by 2030....I say you need to think outside of the box! I say that everyone including scientists are trying to hard to keep the old fashiioned combustion engine running. I believe that we have technology in place right now that just needs some fine tuning and we could have vehicles that will transport people and goods with no fuel!! Before you call me crazy, remember what they said about the wright brothers...

anonymous for now.....

Guest, I will not call you crazy, yet.

But I, (and I am sure others) would be interested in your ideas.

Dragon (for now)