Recently the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran some articles, with alarming headlines, about pollution created by one alternative fuel, ethanol made from corn.
The panicky folks at the Post need to take a deep breath and a look at the bigger picture. No one solves problems by just panicking.
Corn ethanol is hardly the perfect replacement for oil and other fossil fuels but much of the pollution cited by the Post is due to agriculture run-off, a consequence of petroleum-dependant big agriculture practices, whether we use the corn for ethanol or animal feed.
Solving the global warming crisis and weaning ourselves from oil dependency is going to take a number of approaches. We will have to weigh the trade-offs for each step and work with the whole big puzzle to solve this.
Agricultural run-off was a problem before corn was being converted to ethanol on the present scale. One solution to that is to switch to more sustainable agriculture practices.
Growing food organically, on smaller farms, which means the old-fashioned way, means less chemical burden on water resources.
If we all make an effort to buy our foods locally and in season, as we can do in this area easily this time of year, we not only support local farmers and the local economy but reduce our carbon footprint by not shipping produce across the country or across borders.
It is one of the many little things we can all do to reduce consumption, a big key to solving the global warming crisis. No need to wait for governments or industry. The point is to get moving on solving the bigger problem.
But let's also look beyond corn ethanol. Corn ethanol is a renewable biofuel, but it is not the only one. In Brazil, they make ethanol from the waste of sugar cane processing, while we are using the food portion, not the waste. We can do better.
In Germany, they have done a lot to convert to biodiesel, which can be made from waste cooking oil or other vegetable oils. Little is being done on this biofuel here but it is relatively easy to adapt diesel engines for biodiesel. How about some consumer incentives to kick start the process?
Nearly all energy substitutes have their downsides. One of the few that does not is solar power. A limiting factor is short supply of solar panels. Another is battery technology. Supply and demand, anyone? It is not an exotic technology and entrepreneurs should be saying "I smell opportunity." A little government incentive would help there too.
Most technologies to solve the global warming crisis already exist, however they just need further refinement. Hydrogen power is different. It may eventually play a role, but right now, it is too expense.
In the 1990s, American car manufacturers produced plug-in electric cars for the California market. Why not bring them back, especially since batteries have improved? Speaking of batteries, students at MIT and other universities think batteries are the limiting factor in alternative energy, so they are working on better ones.
Europe is far ahead of us in the use of wind power. A few problems with placement issues and impact on wildlife are problems that can be worked out, rather than throwing up our hands and saying we have to stay with oil and coal. They have plenty of impact on wildlife too. Once again, individual communities can act on this, as they have in the Netherlands, without waiting for the federal government or big business.
Other energy choices come with a higher cost. Nuclear power is one. If someone could solve the serious problem of how to permanently deal with the deadly waste of nuclear power plants, it could play a role in the energy picture too.
As it stands, there is to permanent way deal with radioactive waste that will be deadly for centuries. Temporary storage and pushing the problem off on a future generation, hoping they can solve it, is no good solution. There is also no real way to de-couple nuclear power from nuclear bombs, which makes it risky for other reasons.
The truth is that this is a critical challenge, which we have a small window of opportunity to meet. Solving the challenge of global warming should be our moon shot. The stakes are too high for us to do otherwise.
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