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Aug 31, 2009 - Just Eat It

Here's we go again. Yet another story about how another source has been found to make ethanol. From the NY Times:

Rejected watermelons -- those with misshapen, scarred or discolored rinds -- may soon be the newest ethanol feedstock, according to new research released this week.

That's good news for watermelon farmers, who routinely leave 20 percent to 40 percent of their crop in the field because of rind defects. Estimates say 360,000 tons of watermelons were wasted in 2007 because of blemished rinds.

"We're trying to assemble the equipment at this time, and as you know, the crop year for watermelons is on right now, so we're in good shape for next season," said Jim Rausch, president of Common Sense Agriculture.

Rausch said the traveling ethanol plant will be capable of producing up to 200,000 gallons of fuel annually.

Well golly gee. 200,000 gallons of an inefficient fuel per year that won't reduce our consumption of oil one iota. Run the numbers folks. We use approximately 385 million gallons of gasoline per day in the U.S. The yearly output of this watermelon fiasco would be 0.05% of one day's fuel use.

Food is not fuel for our cars. And with each "discovery" like this that becomes more obvious.

2:53 am | Categories: ethanol Permalink | Alert Administrator

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