You are. I obviously haven’t thought the issue through clearly and it’s not something I care deeply about, since ethanol is silly for many other, larger reasons, therefore I won’t waste your time with further questions. Definitely moving the whole “energy independence” thing to the “I have no idea” column for now.
In short, we’re “independent” when the cost of importing fossil fuels exceeds the cost of domestic production. The two ways this can happen are drastic technological improvements, and subsidies/tariffs on fuel resulting in economically wasteful overproduction. In the US we tend to give lip service to the former while actually implementing the latter.
You are. I obviously haven’t thought the issue through clearly and it’s not something I care deeply about, since ethanol is silly for many other, larger reasons, therefore I won’t waste your time with further questions. Definitely moving the whole “energy independence” thing to the “I have no idea” column for now.
In short, we’re “independent” when the cost of importing fossil fuels exceeds the cost of domestic production. The two ways this can happen are drastic technological improvements, and subsidies/tariffs on fuel resulting in economically wasteful overproduction. In the US we tend to give lip service to the former while actually implementing the latter.