Seeing alot more Fl, NY and NJ plates.... (Chattanooga: relocate, property taxes)

[LeapingFaith]

I've read this entire string of post and I have decided to do as my husband says lots of time..... restraint of pen and tongue!

[Tek_Freek]

BTW, the only thing I saw that I really wanted to change when I was in Crossville was the size of the library. They're already doing it so I guess that as a transplant I'm going to settle right in.

'Course if you plop one of those trailers with the bed frames and washers and Kudzu down on the lot next to me you'll be real unhappy with the reception.
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Kiddin' folks..... I just could not resist. I really don't give a rat's patootie what you live in. If you're a good person and a good neighbor you can live in a hole in the ground for all I care.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

I live in Des Moines, IA and when I was younger it was a small big city, if you know what I mean. Now it's spreading in all directions, chewing up some of the best farmland on the planet, just so more people can have more "stuff".

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You know what I think is very interesting? With all of the talk about alternative fuels, it's the farm land that has the potential to become extremely valuable. In fact, I could envision a future where a mansion is demolished and the rich owner's property taken away under eminant domain so a farm could be placed on the property to grow crops for fuel. While I am not a person who likes eminant domain at all, there would be a certain irony to this imaginery future scenario.

[Check123]

Ethanol as an alternative to gasoline is the biggest scam since three card monte.

Producing corn and processing it into 1 gallon of ethanol requires 131,000 BTUs of energy; but 1 gallon of ethanol contains only 77,000 BTUs. So producing ethanol actually creates a net energy loss.

It takes approximately one bushel of corn to produce the equivalent of three gallons of gasoline, making it terribly inefficient to produce, especially when you consider that corn is not an infinite resource. To create significant amounts of energy from food crops would deplete the amount of land available for growing actual food for people to eat.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Check123

Ethanol as an alternative to gasoline is the biggest scam since three card monte.

Producing corn and processing it into 1 gallon of ethanol requires 131,000 BTUs of energy; but 1 gallon of ethanol contains only 77,000 BTUs. So producing ethanol actually creates a net energy loss.

It takes approximately one bushel of corn to produce the equivalent of three gallons of gasoline, making it terribly inefficient to produce, especially when you consider that corn is not an infinite resource. To create significant amounts of energy from food crops would deplete the amount of land available for growing actual food for people to eat.

That is VERY interesting. Thanks for enlightening us. And as we see from the riots in Mexico because the price of corn tortillas have already increased by 1/3 because of the demand for ethanol, we might be throwing the baby out with the bath water.

With all these supposed geniuses in Oak Ridge, surely they can figure out an alternative to petroleum that wouldn't also use up so much farm land and create food shortages.

[Check123]

Cellulosic ethanol is made from non-food products such as corn stalks, wood chips and switchgrass. It may become a viable option, but not for another 50 years.

On the lighter side of things, it may be time to invest in tortillas.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by Check123

Ethanol as an alternative to gasoline is the biggest scam since three card monte.

Producing corn and processing it into 1 gallon of ethanol requires 131,000 BTUs of energy; but 1 gallon of ethanol contains only 77,000 BTUs. So producing ethanol actually creates a net energy loss.

It takes approximately one bushel of corn to produce the equivalent of three gallons of gasoline, making it terribly inefficient to produce, especially when you consider that corn is not an infinite resource. To create significant amounts of energy from food crops would deplete the amount of land available for growing actual food for people to eat.

I noticed that you neglected to show the same set of numbers for the pumping, shipping, and conversion of oil to gas.

[Check123]

I also left out the following:

1. Even before the corn is converted to ethanol, the feedstock alone costs $0.69 per gallon of ethanol.

2. One acre of U.S. corn field yields about 7,110 pounds of corn, which in turn produces 328 gallons of ethanol. Setting aside the environmental implications (which are substantial), the financial costs already begin to mount. To plant, grow, and harvest the corn takes about 140 gallons of fossil fuel and costs about $347 per acre.

3. It takes 11 acres of corn to make enough ethanol to run just one car for one year.

With all costs considered on both sides, ethanol costs more to produce. That's why it will never be anything more than an additive in gasoline.

[fritzichic]

I just wanted to post that this migration you are worried about to Tennessee is not unique to your state. With the increase of job hunting on the Internet and ease of travel, people are leaving for new states much more than ever.

May I ask what changes you are afraid that people like me would be making? If its traffic it isn't all due to outsiders moving in. As a nation we own more cars and use less public transportation, so we see more traffic. I am sure there are more reasons but I just wanted to point out that you can't blame the changes of your beautiful state just on the newcomers when a large percentage of native Tennesseans are equally the cause of what you see.

[KC38506]

Speaking as a native Tennessean, our biggest problems with outsiders that that they usually come with an attitude of "aiding the great unwashed". In other words, they see us as ignorant hicks whom they will condescend to enlighten on the ways of the big, wide world outside our fair state. They usually come in with stereotypes of the Beverly Hillbillies or Jerry Springer. They VERY often decide that our values are narrow-minded and try to change things in a way that isn't necessarily better. Those "narrow-minded", quit-whining and straighten out your own mess attitudes are what make Tennessee a great place to be. The "behave yourself or Mom'll whoop you with a switch", or even the shame heaped on someone who behaves in an unseemly manner are what keep our society livable. There are expectations here, especially for behavior. Children are taught to say, "Yes, ma'am", and "no, sir" and to hold a door open for their elders. "Sass" isn't tolerated. Yet for those things, we are often considered backward or narrow-minded. That, in a nutshell, is the problem we have with about 10-15% of those who move into our area. The other 85-90% are looked on as assets to our community whom we welcome and embrace as our own, because they see beyond the accent to a community of decent people who, due to financial hardship, may not have the advantages of formal education but who most definitely have a Ph.D. in Common Sense from the School of Hard Times.