Comments on: Biofuels Are Raising Beer Prices, Killing Your Buzz

By: Rogue Leveling

Rogue Leveling — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:33:10 +0000

This was posted quite a bit ago now. You will now see that the numbers have increased.

By: WoW Gold Farming

WoW Gold Farming — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:37:24 +0000

Sadly the figures quoted in this article has risen even further in the UK according to national reports on January 15th. Homebrew kit anyone?

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:10:53 +0000

They can raise prices on my gas, they can raise prices on my milk . . . but by god they better leave my beer the hell alone!

By: Robert "The Credit Card Debt Guru"

Robert "The Credit Card Debt Guru" — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:03:39 +0000

Interesting article. Randy is definitely right about how it takes more energy than the energy produced from the ethanol. Wow, that was an awkward sentence.

By: Rebel

Rebel — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:28:27 +0000

Hmmm, this gets me thinking about some investment strategies.

By: JadeEJF

JadeEJF — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:54:17 +0000

Hah! I read that story a while back, and thought it was entirely entertaining. I mean, I probably shouldn’t be entertained by angry Germans, but… all I picture are some lederhosen-clad men banging empty steins on picnic tables

By: JM

JM — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:50:00 +0000

I wasn’t really thinking in terms of just corn, but you are pretty much right, the biofuel industry is in its infancy. I should hope that its efficiency will steadily increase the more we figure things out. Also, I have heard that hemp is a really dense energy source, and grows like a weed…

As for farming subsidies, go to a supermarket in Japan if you want to see what its like without them. a liter of milk costs exactly double what 500 mL costs. Not like the good ‘ol USA where you are rewarded for buying in bulk. Not saying either way is better. Just interesting to think about.

By: Traciatim

Traciatim — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:38:30 +0000

Here is yet another problem. Of the many sources to make Ethanol from plants corn is probably one of the worst you can possibly produce. Of course the USA picks that one to divert to ethanol, then they can starve Mexicans by driving up corn prices causing food shortages. Good ol’ US of A.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:17:43 +0000

JM, I agree that our addiction to oil is a big problem, but biofuels are the furthest thing from the answer. Just as oil is a precious limited resource, so is land, especially land suitable for growing crops. So all this is doing is shifting the burden without really solving anything. I think Randy points this out quite well with the information on ethanol production.

And Randy, that farm subsidies information is amazing, I haven’t heard much about this before. Certainly something I’ll have to read more about, thanks for the link.

By: Randy Peterman

Randy Peterman — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:57:03 +0000

The irony of ironies is that Ethanol takes nearly as much petroleum to produce as it saves. Of course that efficiency could go up over time, but a recent article I read pointed to a 1% petroleum reduction. What’s really causing corn to be grown are tax payer funded subsidies. Check out Scottie Pippin’s great interest in farming since retiring from basketball: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottie_Pippen#Retirement