That is an awfull lot of corn!

Last Thursday, I was watching a show on ethanol as fuel(the show was Enquête on Radio-Canada, the french version of CBC). we were talking about the different ways to make ethanol. The one most frenquently use in Canada is to make it with corn.We get the ethanol by probably making the corn fermentated. We then mix it with normal fuel in different pourcentage.
But what chock me was what a fill-up of a car(I really said a car) with ethanol(at probably 85%) was equal to. I don't remember what was the superficy of the field needed for the fill-up, but the amount of corn use could feed me, calories wise, for a year! One fill-up could feed a person for a year! that means that what a car consume within a year could feed 50 persons into the same year!

And during the test to found out the effeciency of the ethanol versus ordinary fuel, from fossil, the ethanol(that they had to get in Ontario to have a percentage of 85%) was less efficient that the fossil base fuel! The distance run with a fill up on a close course with new car was shorter with the ethanol! I would have like them to talk about green house gas emmision during the show! With all those bad sides told during the show, would it be worth it environnementaly wise?

In Brazil, they are making sone ethanol with sugar cane. That process has a greater yield that the method using corn. And with the cane fiber(cellulose), they can make some of the energy needed to have the ethanol by fermentation enough to feed the central, but sell a little bit more of the extra energy.

So what do you think? Is ethanol a good alternative to fossil base fuel?

Jeudi passé, je regardais une émission parlant de l'Éthanol comme carburant(l'émission Enquête sur Radio-Canada). On y parlais des différentes manières dont on pouvait faire l'éthanol. Celle utilisée au Canada est à base de maïs. On tire probablement l,éthanol à partir de la fermentation du maïs. On le mélange généralement à l'essence ordinaire dans des pourcentages variés.
Mais ce qui m'a plus choquée, c'est ce à quoi équivalait un plein d'essence d'une voiture(j'ai bien dit une voiture!) avec de l'éthanol(probablement à 85%). Je ne me rappelle plus de la superficie que couvrait le maïs nécessaire, mais le maïs utilisé pourrait me nourrit, au point de vue besoin callorifique, pour une année. Un seul plein pourrait nourrir une personne pendant un an! Ce qui veut dire que ce qu'une auto consomme pendant un an pourrait nourrir environ 50 personnes pendant cette même année!
De plus, pendant le test de l'efficacité de l'éthanol par rapport à l'essence faite à partir de carburant fossiles, l'éthanol(que l'on a du aller chercher en Ontario pour obtenir un à 85%) était moins efficace que l'essence à base de pétrole! La distance parcourue avec un plein d'essence sur une piste fermée avec des voitures neuves était moins grande sur la voiture utilisant l'éthanol!
J'aurais aimé qu'ils parlent aussi du point de vue émission de gaz à effet de serre! Est-ce que tout ça, malgré les nombreux désavantages décrits pendant le reportage, vaut la peine au point de vue environnement!
Au Brésil, on fait aussi de l'éthanol à partir de la canne à sucre! Ce procédé apporte un meilleur rendement que la méthode utilisée avec le maïs. De plus, avec la fibre(cellulose) de la canne, on peut produire de l'énergie(nécessaire à faire l,ethanol par fermentation) suffisament pour alimenter la centrale, mais aussi pour vendre un peu de l'électricité produite en surplus.
qu'est-ce que voue en pensez? Est-ce que l'éthanol est une bonne alternative à l'essence à partir de carburants fossiles?

Thursday Thirteen # 57

Thirteen Things about Jill 13 places where I'll go if I could during the March Break 1.Florida...the child in me always wants to go visit Disney World. And the adult in me need the sun 2. Cancun, Mexico...The sun, the beach and the hot weather, what one could ask more for a distraction of the winter we had this year? 3.Québec...Visit my relatives up in that province, including one of my goddaughter 4. Halifax...My niece did had to go back to IWK due to a fluid built-up on her lungs, due to the wrong peniciline for someone with her disease. One of my friend just had a baby. And there is another living there, I didn't saw either of them in 2 years! And I could meet Julia at the same time! 5.California, probably LA...Shopping, Sun and beach, sounds good... And I would want a big spending budget to go with that! 6.New Orleans...There is something about that town that had always attract me since I've learn about it. 7.Paris...I would probably gain like 5 pounds during a trip to Paris trying all the bread and bakery specialty from this town. But maybe it wouldn't be enough of one week, because they say it almost takes one week just to visit all of Louvre exposition. 8. Rome...The architecture of this city has been the background of so much history classes, for somebody with an history interest, it would be like having history brought back to life! 9.London...Just to hear the british accent would be great. More seriously, I would visit Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, that big Ferris well, and probably the London tower(isn't it suppose to be haunted?) 10. Australia...I always wanted to visit the Great Reef barier, the Sidney Opera and this would be a good place to learn to surf... 11.Hawaii...Just talking about place to surf, this would be another place it would be good to learn how to surf. And since we don't have anything close to a volcano here in the East of Canada, I would probably go visit the one on the Islands... 12.Tokyo... This one would probably make me mad after like 3 days because of all the people and traffic, but I would still want to visit it! 13. Egypt...With someone one with an archeologic interest like me, visiting all those search sites, event with that vivid heat would be all worth it!

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