Nitrogen Designs

I’m sure ethanol seemed like a good idea at the time, especially as a compromise among such uneasy bedfellows as farmers, environmentalists, and large “biotech” corporations such as Monsanto. Politicians from corn-rich regions were understandably positive about the proposal, and it made them and others seem ‘greener’ — not to mention that the potential of eliminating or reducing dependence on ‘foreign oil’ sells well, whether you’re a bit nationalistic, xenophobic, or simply critical of the oil industry’s influence as a whole.

However, many knew of the problems with ethanol at the time, and even more became aware as new problems developed. Large-scale deforestation and even displacement of people resulted from the increasing amounts of land needed to supply the raw materials (most often, corn). Emissions were often just as bad as oil-based fuels, if not worse (ground-level ozone is a particular worry). And we won’t even get into the thorny “food versus fuel” debate. which addresses the diversion of crops from starving people to merely fuel-hungry consumers in affluent regions.

More to the point (for our current topic, anyway) is the major increase in destructive fertilizer runoff. With these giant crops, more fertilizer is required — corn especially, as the nature of the plant requires higher levels of nitrogen than other crops. No connection implied to US online casinos, other than the fact that the traffic helps support this site, and casinos for US players should be investigated and reviewed whenever possible.

Now, it’s only fair to state that the International Energy Agency and others believe that recent developments in ethanol production may reduce a number of these effects. However, it’s always risky to depend on future developments — especially when it’s an imperfect fix to something that was an imperfect fix in the first place.

One of the most common arguments against truly renewable sources of energy (e.g., solar and wind) is that the technology is not quite there yet to make it an ideal alternative. If that’s truly a valid argument, then why would we continue to develop a ‘better’ ethanol when we could be developing a better means to the same ends?

Jonah Saunders writes on science topics and spends much of his spare time on high level enterprise seo.