What is Digg?85 Comments
- galeninjapan, on 05/02/2008, -4/+29I thought big corporations like this were evil. That's what digg taught me
- cg4et, on 05/02/2008, -1/+19If the government would stop subsidizing corn-based ethanol, maybe more companies would invest in R&D to come up with more viable alternatives.
Of course, having said this, I will never have a chance of winning the Iowa Caucuses. My Presidential ambitions are forever dashed. - earlycj5, on 05/02/2008, -2/+14Isn't that kinda how the whole idea of free enterprise was supposed to work? The whole "This isn't working anymore, let's try this." idea?
- inactive, on 05/02/2008, -4/+15There's nothing like declining profits to make a corporation investigate alternative sources of energy.
- reisrocks, on 05/02/2008, -4/+11"proprietary microorganims" lol
- davewashere, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7A more aware company in a free enterprise system would have recognized the troubled road ahead a decade ago instead of churning out SUVs for the quick buck. GM is losing market share because they waited until it wasn't working anymore. People will complain about plants closing and job loses, but this is free enterprise working at its finest: the cream rises to the top, while near-sighted companies like GM sink to the bottom.
- inactive, on 05/02/2008, -5/+12It's a bad patch, but at least it doesn't cut into our food resources. Now all we have to do is find a way to make refrigeration suits cheaper. Oh and make lighter weight oxygen tanks.
- relic180, on 05/02/2008, -4/+10They may be acting in the best interests of the planet, but don't be fooled, they're still only doing it for profits. They're trying to get in on the ground floor of something that they're betting will eventually become a major industry.
- inactive, on 05/02/2008, -3/+8Despite this and the investment in Coskata (other cellulosic company), GM says they aren't in the "fuel business"... how many equity shares do you have to have in ethanol companies before you qualify as a fuel company too?
- thcobbs, on 05/02/2008, -4/+9I think Winston Churchill said it best: "You can count on the Americans to do the right thing.... after all other alternatives have been exhausted."
- TJ11240, on 05/02/2008, -4/+9They might be evil, but their not stupid. GM is running a business, and if continuing their production of high profit SUVs means finding a new source of fuel, so be it. It just so happens this time the solution is a green one. Don't expect GM, with such a bad environmental history, to suddenly become the earth's savior.
- thcobbs, on 05/02/2008, -2/+7They're a company... do you really thing they would be doing something to LOSE money?
- funk49, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4In Canada, it's most likely due to the fact that the cultivation program has been legal for only 10 years. In Mexico's case, their number #1 source of revenue is money sent back from illegals living in the US, so I wouldn't look to them to develop a cash crop program with it....they can't even figure out how to maximize what they have right now.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_50 ... - redcolumbine, on 05/02/2008, -3/+7They ought to just draft all the termites out of New Orleans and set them to chewing KUDZU.
- MarlinFische, on 05/02/2008, -2/+6I don't recommend a box, if you are going to be homeless go somewhere on the west coast with decent weather most of the year and live on the beach. I spent more than a year homeless in San Francisco and frankly it was a lot easier a single guy on the streets than it is with crappy jobs support 2 kids
- vwerf, on 05/02/2008, -4/+8No oil = good
No increased food prices = good
Use of waste materials of switchgrass and corn cobs = very good
No production until after 2010 = load of Crap
Screw them i'll just live on the street in a cardboard box until then - Vhaeos, on 05/02/2008, -2/+5When private companies do this it's good, when government does it it's bad.
Good job, GM. - fpcyber, on 05/02/2008, -3/+6This and the Chevrolet Volt, don't you think that would change a whole lot?
- trumpydumpy, on 05/02/2008, -8/+11If only hemp were legal, we could make ethanol out of it and power all of our vehicles with a highly sustainable and renewable resource, along with all the other things that can be made out of hemp.
http://www.hempcar.org/ - GreatNorthern, on 05/02/2008, -2/+5all so true. when people cry about ethanol subsidies, do they realized EVERYTHING is being subsidized right now? oil, everything? let's not act like ethanol is getting preferential treatment here in ways of extravagant subsidies.
- nicktheawesome, on 05/02/2008, -1/+4Actually, douche, ethanol is ethanol. Doesn't matter where it is from, because the end result is still the chemical ethanol. Distillation takes impurities out.
But that is besides the point, as hemp has no THC. - bigmac7669, on 05/02/2008, -4/+6Food prices are rising = less money for gas and housing
Record high gas prices = less money for food and housing
No money to pay morgage = FORECLOSURE
And yet Exxon records record high sales and profit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/business/01cnd-e ... - thcobbs, on 05/02/2008, -2/+4That would give the Southern US a huge boon in fuel.
- Kenzan, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2The issue is rather complicated and difficult to encapsulate it in a brief text.
The bottom line is, the chemicals and method of production of these materials and consequentially the dumping of waste products and by-products into the enviornment by the process of creating and the burning of these substances isn't helping the enviornment as it is being sold. You are simply trading one problem for another. The solution is to invest in clean energy technologies, which Biofuel isn't You need to look at the whole picture of beginning to end of the process to assess the overall impact. - carlosglz, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2If you have seen Who Killed the Electric Car, you will understand why GM wants to continue with internal combustion engines. They could care less if it is ethanol, corn or crap burning in the engine, as long as it is an internal combustion engine. You see, electric engines and components last much longer are far less complex to manufacture. GM makes a huge amount of their revenue from replacement parts for internal combustion engines and of course all of the associated parts that eventually break down as well. Also, creating an electric car from scratch does not require as much investment/research/testing as creating an internal combustion engine car ( http://www.teslamotors.com/ ) and it would mean more and more competition for them in the future.
- thcobbs, on 05/02/2008, -2/+4Yes, the car worked.... but there was no market for it. Now, there is a huge market and it will have a ~600 mile range.
- chaosium, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Are these going to be pedal-powered ELECTRIC cars? How the hell are you going to get the efficiency up enough to make them any more useful for transporting and storing the energy?
- Kenzan, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Please read the repsonses again.
These are two different responses to two questions.
One was a comment on energy ills overall, and one was on the the reasons why Biofuels are not viable. - chaosium, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Exactly. It's massively inefficient, and doesn't in the short or long term reduce our dependency on oil, or the pollution created.
- marx2k, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Hm, properly disposing/recycling of car batteries versus all of the ***** that gets put into the air, grownd and water from current autos. Yeah, I just can't decide.
- BrainDance, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Umm, chill out?
- axis, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1Apparently we made bad comments and got dugg down, but I did find the movie and am going to check out. Thanks for the heads up, I found it interesting watching that on C-Span, so more info will be good.
- floorman56, on 05/03/2008, -1/+2n Canada, it's most likely due to the fact that the cultivation program has been legal for only 10 years.
Thats what I'm saying If its this REALLY great stuff 10 years is all you need to make it a major crop as of 2005 there are still only 22.66 hectares being grown - SilasTomorrow, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3Good job, GM. Keep doing good things, and shut the complainers up. Why hate our own companies so much, as to pooh-pooh their efforts? If Honda or Toyota did it, you all would be dumping DNA in your shorts.
- Lazydriver, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1they're* not their
- TJ11240, on 05/02/2008, -3/+4American Ad Council, is that you?
- floorman56, on 05/02/2008, -3/+4f only hemp were legal, we could make ethanol out of it
Then tell me ..If is such a good thing how come its not a MAJOR cash crop where it IS legal? How come Canada and Mexico are not the richest country's in the world from the miracle that is hemp? - carlosglz, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1If you have seen Who Killed the Electric Car, you will understand why GM and most other automakers want to continue with internal combustion engines. They could care less if it is ethanol, corn or crap burning in the engine, as long as it is an internal combustion engine. You see, electric engines and components last much longer are far less complex to manufacture. GM makes a huge amount of their revenue from replacement parts for internal combustion engines and of course all of the associated parts that eventually break down as well. Also, creating an electric car from scratch does not require as much investment/research/testing as creating an internal combustion engine car ( http://www.teslamotors.com/ ) and it would mean more and more competition for them in the future.
- WheelJak, on 05/02/2008, -0/+12010?!?!?!
I do this right now for a living!
www.Iogen.ca - br0ck, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3Obama won Iowa and he is actually a very strong supporter of cellulosic solutions. "Deploy Cellulosic Ethanol: Obama will invest federal resources, including tax incentives, cash prizes and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies with the goal of getting the first two billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the system by 2013." http://www.barackobama.com/issues/energy/
- marx2k, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1You blame a company for being successful? Food prices have not really gone up that much. Gas prices are still lower than most other countries. Relax.
- MacParrot, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Scanning...scanning...Nope, no sense of humor detected Captain
- chaosium, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1It doesn't work, but for reasons completely unrelated to whatever you're thinking.
- edebolt, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1as a follow on I would point out that all commodities have been increasing. People are trying to blame corn for all of these increases? Does that make any sense? My take as a currency and futures trader is that hedge funds have taken their positions out of the Dollar and short yen(carry trade) and throwing them into gold, oil, grains, etc etc to find some returns. IMO its just a bubble due to a huge amount of money on the sidelines looking for investment vehicles.
- relic180, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1The point was that they wouldn't do anything good for the planet or people in general until AFTER they made sure they were going to make lots of money doing it.
- Arthere, on 01/15/2009, -0/+1Silly biofuels tricks are for kids
http://www.creditcardassociate.com/gm.html - chaosium, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2Looking ahead ten, twenty years or so, sure as anything not more than a hundred.
Their shareholders DO NOT WANT them thinking about long-term goals they will never be alive to see, nor will they ever profit off of. - Bilabrin, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1I don't know about all that. The shareholders have families and legacies of their own to think about. Posterity is not limited to corporations.
- marx2k, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1The movie plainly shows there was a market for it, thcobbs
- davidryal, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1and also, this article isn't about corn-based ethanol. dumbass.
-
Show 51 - 85 of 85 discussions
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is