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Is ethanol lowering prices at the pump for consumers?

Despite providing the largest portion of alternative fuel in the US, corn ethanol gets a lot of flack in the circles Cleantech Blog runs in. The usual culprits go something like this: Corn ethanol is heavily subsidized (yes it is). Corn ethanol does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions (sort of, it really, really depends on your assumptions). Corn ethanol contributes to the fertilizer driven "deadzone" in the Gulf of Mexico (maybe, another complicated topic). Corn ethanol drives up the price of food (a topic for another day).

But the main argument for supporting corn ethanol production has always … Read more

Sorry, but I'm sitting out Earth Day--and the next one and the one after that

I know I'm supposed to be celebrating Earth Day and all the good vibes, but I'm sitting this one out.

Not that I'm against the spirit of the event. I'm all for saving the environment. I take quick showers, I recycle, and I drive a small energy-efficient automobile. But after the feel-good speeches finish and the politicians move on to their next smiling photo-ops, maybe we can get real for a moment.

Fact is that things are bad and getting worse. Some of the best brains are working hard at finding a tech solution to contain … Read more

Fujitsu's 'Corn' PC

LAS VEGAS--This PC is made out of corn. And no, you cannot eat it.

It's actually the third generation of the Biblo PC from Fujitsu, which showed off the laptop at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The inside is a normal PC, but the outside casing is made out of material that's 50 percent plant-based materials, and 50 percent regular plastics. To make it, they take regular ears of corn, process it down to corn starch, and turn that into a polymer alloy. Fujitsu says it cuts down on carbon dioxide emissions during the manufacturing process … Read more

Creating the world's largest corn maze

DIXON, Calif.--I am so vindicated.

Yesterday, I spent several hours deep in the middle of the world's-largest corn maze, a creation of brothers Matt and Mark Cooley in this little agricultural town about 70 miles northeast of San Francisco.

For much of my time inside the maze, I religiously followed the map that's provided, probably being a little too rigid about it, but deciding that I wanted to see if i could do the whole maze without getting lost.

I got to the middle of the maze using the map and spent some time on the bridge … Read more

Made it to the center of the corn maze

DIXON, Calif.--I made it to the center.

It's true. After about an hour, sticking religiously to the map they gave me at the beginning, I found myself at the bridge in the middle of the world's largest corn maze, looking out at 40 acres of corn. I'm pretty proud of myself.

It was hard. But, by using the map, keeping careful track of where I was going, and looking ahead and being sure where I wanted to go, I made it.

Of course, once I got to the outer ring of the center, it got hard, … Read more

Inside the world's largest corn maze

DIXON, Calif.--I'm sitting on a stairway in the middle of the world's-largest corn maze and blogging the experience. Literally.

I like to say I'm the first to do things, and of course, you never really know if it's true. But I have to say I think the odds that someone else has been blogging inside this maze, which comprises 40 acres of healthy cornfield in this small farming town near Sacramento, are pretty small. But you never know.

I'm doing it thanks to the Verizon EV-DO card I've been using, and the ability … Read more