Can ethanol be made from sugar beets efficiently?
The single most efficient ethanol producer per hectare in northern areas is the Jerusalem Artichoke. It is not as efficient as sugar cane or sorghum under optimum conditions. Sugar Beet or mangel falls in a middle range. However, even with the best use of the land, we are taking land out of food production. The limitations are land and water to grow whatever crop we use. We can do better than corn, even get more energy back than we put in, but our supply of land and water are finite. Suv’s and minivans competing for food with people does not really accomplish much. However, we do have in our oceans vast areas called dead zones… called that because so much plant material is decomposing into the ocean, removing all the free oxygen from the water that all animal life is killed. We have so much untapped vegetation there as to provide about 14% (my own estimate) of the fuel needs of the world at current rates of consumption. This exceeds the best estimate of possible bio-fuel production f
