DIYbanter - View Single Post - Verdict in: electric cars more efficient that biofuel-powered

dpb

wrote:
....
Replacing one car with two doesn't sound all that good for the
enviroment or economical either.

Should help the economy rebound...

I can see they can help in metro areas but won't help very much at all
if any in the wide open spaces. Hybrids may eventually, but except for
midgets or families w/o kids or other stuff to carry, at least to this
point they aren't particularly convenient, at least to the way US folks
are accustomed. Don't see either really taking off w/ wild popularity
any time soon despite wishes of "them that be" for some other alternate
universe of their imagining...

I'd have to read the actual studies, not just some summary, to have any
real input on the conclusion other than it just doesn't seem right that
there could be such a large difference if the complete cycle were
considered on a consistent basis for both. Thermodynamics generally
doesn't lead to one outcome being so predominantly favorable as that
makes it seem.

As a comparison point, there are farmer/producers here who are
converting to biodiesel from their own production enough fuel for their
overall operation from about one-eighth of their crop acreage. That
seems a pretty good input/output ratio to me. The analyses of energy
input/output between ethanol and biodiesel are also roughly equivalent
which makes me wonder if the actual costs of electric production are
fully accounted for in the cited comparison or there are added
production costs on the ethanol side that aren't comparably included on
the electric side. (The latter has been a favorite ploy of many of the
anti-ethanol bunch that add sun energy inputs on the one side but leave
out the energy content of secondary products such as the feed value of
distillers' grains on the output side thus allowing them to claim net
energy loss. Of course it is if you set the boundaries of the process
analyzed so that it must be.)

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