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#101197 - 06/22/08 12:27 PM
Corn or other food as fuel.
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Phyllis Nilsson
Member
Registered: 05/04/00
Posts: 828
Loc: Toledo, Ohio USA
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I fully understand that I am not a scientist, nor do I know squat about the requirements of making fuel, but can anyone tell me why corn is being used for biofuel instead of switchgrass? Switchgrass grows with the use of less energy than corn, we don't eat switchgrass so it wouldn't raise our food costs, and it can be harvested more than once a year like corn.
I also understand that if speculators bid on it, the price would go up, but hopefully it wouldn't have as dire an effect on us that using corn for fuel is.
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#101219 - 06/22/08 05:25 PM
Re: Corn or other food as fuel.
[Re: Phyllis Nilsson]
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carolT
Member
Registered: 07/06/99
Posts: 1638
Loc: Canada
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I hear you, Phyllis. Switchgrass is rampant in southern Ontario, and it would certainly be great to find an actual use for it! However, what would happen is that people would start cutting down trees to grow it. Palm oil was supposed to be part of the solution to the energy problem too, but check out some of these articles:
http://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=palm%20oil%20biofuel
I think we have to ramp up our efforts to harness more of the energy from our star...
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carolT
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#101232 - 06/22/08 08:57 PM
Re: Corn or other food as fuel.
[Re: carolT]
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Glory1863
Member
Registered: 03/27/08
Posts: 186
Loc: Beyond Antares
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Any biofuel is a potential problem in regard to the food supply. Farmers look at what they can grow profitably on their land with the moisture available and length of the growing season. If a food crop can be used for something else that pays better, then that is where they will hope to sell. If a nonfood crop pays better than a food crop and can be grown on their land, then that is what they will plant. In my area, which has some of the best soil in the world, the increased price for corn has come too late for many farmers. Housing developments, with not a few homes unsold or in foreclosure, have sprouted up in what used to be fields. That was good crop land that we can't get back.
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The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. Abraham Lincoln
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#101275 - 06/23/08 12:37 AM
Re: Corn or other food as fuel.
[Re: Glory1863]
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Mike
Administrator
Registered: 07/11/98
Posts: 2668
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I saw an article in the local newspaper a few months back that said the corn used to create 11 gallons of ethanol could feed a child for a year.
There are more stats here: http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm
I guess no one in the government did the math before investing in the solution.
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#101276 - 06/23/08 12:42 AM
Re: Corn or other food as fuel.
[Re: Mike]
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ABMT
Member
Registered: 06/07/07
Posts: 836
Loc: IL, USA
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I guess no one in the government did the math before investing in the solution.
Do they ever? Seems like there is no long term thinking any more. That is why we are in the mess we are in with energy. It's not like we didn't know this would ever happen. I think that Ethanol is a terrible product too. It costs the same as gas, yet takes you only 2/3 the distance of what a gallon of gas would take you.
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Ann
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
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#101281 - 06/23/08 06:50 AM
Re: Corn or other food as fuel.
[Re: Mike]
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Agnostic
Member
Registered: 06/28/03
Posts: 3078
Loc: Chennai, TN, India
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I saw an article in the local newspaper a few months back that said the corn used to create 11 gallons of ethanol could feed a child for a year. There are more stats here: http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htmI guess no one in the government did the math before investing in the solution.
Mike,
We use a non-food plant for manufacturing biodiesel.
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Harry
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A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.
Groucho Marx
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#101285 - 06/23/08 07:57 AM
Re: Corn or other food as fuel.
[Re: Agnostic]
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JTallant67
Member
Registered: 09/22/04
Posts: 261
Loc: Oklahoma
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I like this idea.
http://www.valcent.net/i/misc/Vertigro/index.html
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18138/?a=f
"But Eric Jarvis, an NREL scientist, says that enough has changed that NREL researchers expect to restart the program within the next six months to a year. When the program was cancelled in 1996, oil prices were relatively low. Today's higher oil prices will make it easier for algae to compete. Still, Jarvis cautions that "you have to be careful because there's a lot of hype out there right now."
Quote from second link above.
_________________________
Pinky: Um... I think so, Brain, but what if the chicken won't wear the nylons?
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#101353 - 06/23/08 05:30 PM
Re: Corn or other food as fuel.
[Re: Glory1863]
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Phyllis Nilsson
Member
Registered: 05/04/00
Posts: 828
Loc: Toledo, Ohio USA
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"If a nonfood crop pays better than a food crop and can be grown on their land, then that is what they will plant."
I agree that is true, however, switchgrass will grow on land that isn't fit to grow food crops and needs less water. I understand anything can happen, but I've heard there is a place in Oklahoma that is going to grow it to see what happens. Hope it at least helps.
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