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The Problem with Biofuels

12 videos recommended on HN
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2 HN users recommended this explainer1 month2021–2023 score 1.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Linked in fuel and aviation threads as the full story on why ethanol and biofuels are energy-negative or inefficient.

Real Engineering explains why biofuels, especially corn ethanol, are a poor energy source, looking at energy inputs, efficiency and carbon cost.

“But watch the video for the full story” (HN, 2021)

1 strong recommendations · 1 recommendations · 3 citations · Explainers

5 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@lathiat Jul 2021 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Unleaded Avgas Approved
This video was crazy, making ethanol from Corn provides something like 1% of the power of the sun hitting the square meter of farm used for it. Meanwhile using tonnes of water, space, and other things. It's basically a terrible idea over-all given alternatives like electricity and solar power. And it mostly only works because its government subsidised. But watch the video for the full story: Real Engineering - Why Biofuels Are Terrible [this video]
Shows ethanol from corn is a poor energy source.
@dharmab Jul 2021 Recommends
on HN thread EU draft exempts private jets, cargo from jet fuel tax
The energy put into the process to grow and ferment the plants or algae is high enough to outweigh the offset use of fossil fuels. It's an energy negative process. The same creator has a 15 minute video on that topic: [this video]
Explains that biofuel production is energy negative.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@exabrial Dec 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Porsche Working on Synthetic Fuel to Make ICE Cars as Clean as EVs
There are no efficient ethanol operations both financially and carbon wise. Even it the best case scenarios, it results in a break even in many years of the future but at a major loss of habitat. Corn is a huge problem, but there are literally no crops that solve the problem. [this video]
Supports claim ethanol operations are inefficient.
@runarberg Dec 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Why Electric Airplanes Face Such a Tough Haul [video]
I think the fermentation process of getting the bioethanol is not as carbon-neutral as we hoped. Then there is the issue of monoculture (although that is a problem with more industries). [this video]
Supports claim bioethanol isn't carbon-neutral.
@Lord-Jobo Nov 2023 Cites it
on HN thread Rolls-Royce calls off bets on electric planes, says low-carbon fuel is future
I think this may be wise given the rapid pace of development that batteries are still undergoing. Pretty hard to create a design around a battery when you dont even know what chemistry you are working with. And there is a bit of a revolution happening with lower carbon fuels, even though it sucks compared to pure electric, and it still has a lot of work to make sense( [this video] ). I was under the impression though that this was a potentially good area for hydrogen fuel? can anyone confirm? Edit: the more directly relevant source [this video]
Source on low-carbon fuel's remaining challenges.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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