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WSJ says cutting subsidies would make ethanol more viable. Oh really?

The Wall Street Journal ran an article yesterday on "How Brazil Broke Its Oil Habit."

The article attempts to draw lessons for the U.S. from the Brazilian experience, where sugarcane-based ethanol supplies 18 percent of the transportation market. The author, David Luhnow, seeks to apply "lessons from the sugar fields of Brazil to U.S. cornfields."

The first problem I see here -- and more scientifically sophisticated Gristmillers like biodiversivist and greenstork are invited to weigh in here -- is that sugarcane seems a much more efficient way to create ethanol than corn. Ethanol is just alcohol, right? The process of making it means converting sucrose to alcohol. And sugarcane has a lot more sucrose, on a per-weight basis, than corn. Right? Thus it would require more energy input to create a given amount of ethanol from corn than it would from sugarcane. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Secondly, Luhnow states that ethanol didn't really take off in Brazil until the government stopped subsidizing sugar farmers. This moves him to write:

The return of SOTU: Oil ‘addiction’

A post on Andrew Sullivan's blog last week got me thinking: Is "addiction" the right word?

Bush's SOTU statement that "America is addicted to oil" was treated as the Big News of the speech, as though he'd admitted to some deep dark secret. Even groups hostile to his administration lauded him for it; many of them have used the metaphor themselves.

But it strikes me as an extraordinarily poor way of describing the problem. It's imprecise in a way that serves Bush's interests in subtle but important ways.

Super Bowl hybrid commercial, warm and fuzzy edition

This one just makes me feel icky:

Super Bowl very not hybrid commercial

This, on the other hand, was vomitous:

Super Bowl hybrid commercials

The Ford commercial with Kermit got all the blogospheric press, but I think this hybrid ad from Lexus was much cooler:

Saudis heart China

By the way, elsewhere in the world -- and yes, in case you didn't notice, there is an elsewhere -- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia set off on his first trip outside the Middle East, perfectly timed to the President's desire to ditch the whole region. (And given what's happened to him there, you can't blame the guy, can you?) The Saudi king, in search of reliable allies, boarded his plane and promptly headed for... China.

This, along with much else to amaze and amuse, in today's TomDispatch.

Kicking the habit

Just released: The Center for American Progress' attempt to hold President Bush accountable for his "America is addicted to oil" line.

And for those of you thinking about rewriting Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" lyrics, Attytood beat you to it. I of course would have changed the back-up band to sheiks, but funny nonetheless.

World’s largest solar PV installation announced

This is big: 18 MW of solar photovoltaics to be installed at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

And Nevada's Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires solar as part of the state's electricity portfolio, is the driving force behind the development. In the absence of federal leadership (and yes, I am refering to the President's underwhelming and already broken promises in the SOTU address), states are leading the charge.

A final wrap-up

Yeah, so, I spent several days last week blogging about the State of the Union speech. I know you're all sick of it -- probably were before I even started -- so this will be the last one I promise think.

I knew going in that political speeches are generally empty rhetoric, particularly Bushian speeches, but even I didn't anticipate the utter vacuity of Bush's pronouncements on energy independence.

So, forthwith, here's a final wrapup post on The Unbearable Pointlessness of Being ... interested in political speeches:

Evon Peter, director of Native Movement, answers questions

Evon Peter. What work do you do? I am the executive director of Native Movement. What does your organization do? Native Movement is a collective of around 15 organizers who work on a myriad of projects focusing on youth leadership development, sustainability, protection of sacred sites, and social, political, economic, and environmental justice. We work […]