On: Government-grade spyware hits Mexican advocates of soda tax

[yuhong]

I wonder if the technology to convert sugar to ethanol exists in the 1960s, which would probably involve yeast. Even turning it to charcoal using sulfuric acid would be better. (background: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-in...)

[gjm11 → yuhong]

The technology to convert sugar to ethanol probably existed in the 6660s. BC, that is. (And yes, it probably involved yeast.)

[yuhong → gjm11]

And burning the ethanol in say power plants would not be hard even back then and better than burning fossil fuels, right?

[r00fus → yuhong]

EROEI would have something to say about that - where's the power used in harvesting and refining the sugar vs. refining crude oil?

BioFuels, unless you're talking about biodiesel which was generally using waste byproduct, are a losing proposition.

Solar, Nuclear, Wind all provide a much higher total output than biofuels.

[1] http://www.roperld.com/science/minerals/EROEIFossilFuels.htm

[yuhong → r00fus]

The point is whether it would be better than eating the sugar, hence why I posted the nytimes link.

[r00fus → yuhong]

The point is not to invest in sugar or corn creation in the first place simply to have it turn into fuel or sweeteners.