Eric G Holthusen, Fuels and Technology Manager for Royal Dutch Shell, says that it’s “morally inappropriate” to use food stock to produce Ethanol.  Good greif!

Shell says biofuels from food crops “morally inappropriate” - Yahoo! News

Ethanol, mostly used in the United States and Brazil, is produced from sugar cane and beets and can also be derived from grains such as corn and wheat. Biodiesel, used in Europe, is extracted from the continent’s predominant oil crop, rapeseed, and can also be produced from palm and coconut.

Mind you, anyone whose read my stuff knows that I’m not all that keen on Ethanol, per se.  Still and all, to wave the flag of moral rectitude on a subject like this is just plain disingenuous.  The corn currently being produced in the United States is not going to feed the hungry around the world in the first place, and in fact is largely contributing to the fattening of America.  Moreover, those places that need food probably need the tools with which to grow thier own food more than they need the fuel anyway.

In short, the problem of hunger on this planet has more to do with crop distribution across the globe than it does with an actual planetary food shortage.  Meanwhile, shipping dried grain across the globe has limited benefit for those that recieve it.  And at the same time, an oil company is telling us that they’re developing ways to get Ethanol out of wood chips?  How long will it take before that’s a viable solution?

No, this is not anything more noble than a company trying to hold on to its failed and dwindling business model.

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