Converting agricultural land to produce corn and soy for biofuels has driven the price of rice so high that millions of people, literally millions, are now starving. I'm not arguing specifically against biofuels here, but this is something not many people are talking about and I think people should know about while all this new Green craze is going on.
Well, I have to write more to make 200 words...so, I will reiterate: millions of people starving to death for biofuels- many of these live outside the areas where the biofuels are grown. I guess I'll throw in, since I have to write something, that we can't get into a Green-hysteria, finding sensible, succesful solutions is obviously good, but we're contributing to world famine. Call me crazy, but I think that's an issue. Beyond that, this Green craze is opening up alot of discussion of policies that will effectively limit personal freedom in America even more than it already has been. let's just not panic and go into knee-jerk reaction mode here, yes, oil is running out, the environment is hurting, but we can still apply rational thinking here. Is this the only way to post a new thread? Is there a simpler way where you don't have to write 200 words?
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There are a lot more than 200 words to say about the topic! I wish you had gone on longer.
Ethanol just isn't the answer. It's a stopgap that happens to work well for the U.S. because of corn subsidies. The production of ethanol is incredibly wasteful.
A University of Minnesota researcher just came up with an relatively efficient way of producing biofuel from waste oils. That could be interesting...
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I know there was more to say, but I was just hoping to get people to look around more at a news thread that isn't getting much attention. Ethanol is a terrible idea, I still want to know what happened to the hydrogen engine. Maybe I heard total BS, but I thought someone had actually developed such technology some years ago. One thing I know is true: a waitress at a place across from me had her engine converted to use french fry oil- and it works well!
A friend of mine did that too!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
It's not that difficult to use regular oil in cars... you just need a regular diesel engine, and you have to have purified oil (you can't have the gunk present after you've fried a lot of stuff).
~C
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell
When you use a fuel Cell to combine (Burn) Hydrogen and Oxygen you get H2O (water) and Electricity. No polution. The hydrogen really is more of a storage since it takes energy to produce it, then you have to have an infrastructure of refueling stations. The engineering on the power plants for cars and trucks though is ready to produce more power in the same space a conventional IC engine occupies.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fuelcell.shtml
It is more a matter of money, so $100+ oil is likely to speed things along.
Truth is a demure lady, much too ladylike to knock you on your head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but people must want her, and seek her out.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
And, of course, there's the small problem of the EXPLOSION risk. Hydrogen, especially when mixed with oxygen, is not pretty. A balloon filled with it sounds like a bomb going off when it's popped in a controlled environment. I shudder to think what that could do to a car, with a person inside.
~C
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http://www.hydrogenhighway.ca.gov/facts/einsafety.pdf
Your grandkids may marvel at your having driven in one of those gasoline burning death traps.
Truth is a demure lady, much too ladylike to knock you on your head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but people must want her, and seek her out.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
You could post a forum topic, but that won't earn you any points. One of the best ways to get people to read those other news articles is to actually post them in your blog. People will read them, and if they don't, you can at least provide some basis for their information about any given subject.
Corn and soy are not the only sources of biofuels. There are many others, including the one ediblewoman mentioned above, as well as one that would take dried bacteria from landfills and burn those. As for the hydrogen car... can you imagine what would happen if that car got into an accident? At least with our gasoline now, you have a chance of getting out before it ignites. Hydrogen is extremely flammable and would just blow up... there wouldn't be anything of the cars left.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
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