Ÿ U.

S Oil Consumption in barrels per day

CountryData@"UnitedStates", "OilConsumption"D

2.068 ´ 107

Thats a huge amount of oil per day.

Ÿ U.S Crop Land Area in square kilometers

CountryData@"UnitedStates", "CropsLandArea"D

20 226.

CountryData@"UnitedStates", "CropsLandFraction"D

0.0021

The crop land ratio is 0.21 %

Ÿ Ethanol Production figures

Checking on the internet I found that enthanol has 34 % less energy per unit volume than gasoline. I found two figures for
production in gallons per acre.
idealprodgallons = 6000

6000

This number is little ridiculous but apparently this method that has this yield is still under construction by a company called
Algenol using algae.
currentprodgallons = 400

400

Ÿ Conversion Factors

One barrel of oil is 42 gallons

idealprodgallons
idealprodbarrel =  N
42
142.857

currentprodgallons
currentprodbarrrel =  N
42
9.52381

And of course one acre is 0.0040468564 square kilometers.

acretokm = 0.0040468564

0.00404686

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2 Plasma Ethanol.nb

CountryData@"UnitedStates", "CropsLandArea"D
croplandinacres =
acretokm
4.99795 ´ 106

Ÿ Ethanol Production if entire U.S crop land was converted to ethanol production

The amount of barrels of ethanol produced if we converted all U.S crop land for ethanol production.

ethanolyield = croplandinacres currentprodbarrrel

4.75995 ´ 107

But let us not forget that ethanol has a 34 % less energy per unit volume.

ethanolyield * 0.76

3.61756 ´ 107

3.61756 * 10 ^ 7
CountryData@"UnitedStates", "OilConsumption"D
1.7493

This number exceeds the oil consumption for one day, but we have to remember that it takes much longer than a day to get the
ethanol out of a crop. The conclusion is that ethanol cannot hope to satisfy the energy demands of the U.S.

But for argument' s sake let us say that Algenol achieved their amazing yield amount.

idealethanolyield = croplandinacres idealprodbarrel

7.13993 ´ 108

idealethanolyield * 0.76

5.42634 ´ 108

5.426344656064397`*^8
CountryData@"UnitedStates", "OilConsumption"D
26.2396

This number might be closer to fulfilling the energy needs of the U.S if it takes 26 days to harvest all that ethanol.

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