Well, the time has come. I have been holding on to this plan for a while hoping to make some serious dough, but alas, I must let it go in hopes that it gets done. The world is more important that paying off my student loans.
ps If anyone want to make this happen, throw me a bone, or at least give me credit.
ps If anyone want to make this happen, throw me a bone, or at least give me credit.
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Well, so I might not be able to solve every problem all at once, so I'll get specific. I'm and talking about energy and transportation.
If you want the real energy/transportation solution it would require everyone living a life style that they don't like, so we'll have to do the next best thing.
I'm not talking about electric, hydrogen, hybrids, veggie oil, or biodiesel. I don't expect everyone to walk to work either. I am talking about ethanol. Oooooh, I know its a bad things, but hear me out. And I am going to call it Fuel Alcohol from this point on.
The fuel of the future is domestically produced fuel alcohol(AKA ethanol)
If you want the real energy/transportation solution it would require everyone living a life style that they don't like, so we'll have to do the next best thing.
I'm not talking about electric, hydrogen, hybrids, veggie oil, or biodiesel. I don't expect everyone to walk to work either. I am talking about ethanol. Oooooh, I know its a bad things, but hear me out. And I am going to call it Fuel Alcohol from this point on.
The fuel of the future is domestically produced fuel alcohol(AKA ethanol)
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Because combustion = carbon, and carbon = bad, thats not how you save the world.
The future is Electric cars, fueled with electricity, that comes from the SUN! YES!
(or wind, or any REAL renewable energy source!)
let me put it this way is this extra carbon going to come from?
The difference between your breath and the CO2 from burning gas/oil/other fossil fuel is that your CO2 came from your food. Which came from its food. which, depending on you diet, at some point came from the CO2 in the atmosphere. How you say?...plants breath in CO2. They turn it into O2 and hydro-carbons, like starch, sugar and cellulose. You eat it and turn it back to CO2, they breath and make HC's, you eat..CO2, HC;s......get the picture. Its a closed cycle. The same amount of CO2 is always there.
However oil, which once was plants and animals millions of years ago when there was more CO2 in the atmosphere and there were no polar ice caps and the earth was much hotter, has been stored...prevented from returning to the air, hence a cooler planet, polar ice caps and the current amount of CO2. Burning this puts "new" CO2 in the air. CO2 that is not part of our cycle. Thus increasing the amount in the atmosphere.
I do like the idea of electric cars. There are some problems...
1) most of the electricity in the US comes from burning coal
2) if all of cars were electric, we would more than likely quadruple the amount of electricity that we use
3) batteries are a dirty business, very polluting to make/dispose of
4) 240,000,000 cars on the road in the us(depending on which google search you believe). None of them can be easily or cheaply made to be electric. Thats a lot of cars to throw away and replace. Every car on the road can be quickly/cheaply/reliably made to run on ethanol or biodiesel
5) $$$ some big business man has proposed making all of our electricty from wind. at the ticket of 1trillion or so. Making ethanol plants will cost $60billion. Thats a big difference.
http://www.pickensplan.com/act/
Thanks for the comment.
http://www.alcoholcanbeagas.net/
"converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia and the United States creates a 'biofuel carbon debt' by releasing 17 to 420 times more carbon dioxide than the fossil fuels they replace."
(Reference)
It's all very well saying that the US can supply it's own needs this way, but fuel and GW are global concerns.
You are also wrong to say that the US does not import ethanol - they import it from Brazil because corn-based ethanol costs 50% more than cane-based ethanol.
Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises.
First, it has diverted grain away from food for fuel, with over a third of US corn now used to produce ethanol
(Reference)
...I have done the calculations myself...
- 2-5% of the corn...is eaten by people.
- Almost 90% ...goes to animals
- 20% ...is made into alcohol (for fuel)
So, that is how you make it work - you use 115% of the corn grown in the US.It took me about two minutes to find the data to blow you plans out of the water. I have also provided you with three more references for data than you provided to support your original claims.
My suggestion is that we do not need to plant more crops. We do not need to cut down rain forest. All we have to do is use the crops that we have in a more efficient way.
When you use an animal feed crop to make alcohol you get to use the crop twice.
This is an important part, so read it
If you feed corn to cows and do not make alcohol from it first, you are wasting the fuel, it is like dumping it down the drain. Between 2000 and 2007 the US has feed over 70 billion gallons of fuel alcohol to cows, because we did not make the alcohol first.
Also, you clearly have not read the whole Instructable, because I do not think we should use corn, it is a terrible crop. We need to grow Jerusalem Artichokes. Using JA's instead of corn to feed our livestock and making alcohol out of it first, we can supply all of our animal feed requirements and exceed our fuel requirements with the same acreage we already are farming.
The 17-420 times as much CO2 is planting on virgin land, did you read that article completely?
Also, look at where the statistics are coming from. Why would the world bank, which relies heavily on petroleum for the economy of the world say food prices are going up from oil prices, they need a scape-goat. With my plan in ten years the US would not need any petroleum for its transportation, how would that affect oil company stakeholders?
Alcohol from crops adds value to the crop...it can be sold and used twice. A fuel producer pays a little more for the corn (or JA's) because they know they can recoup when they sell the DDG's to cattle and dairy farmers. But since it is a waste produce they sell it for less than if it were straight grain. Therefore farmers can pay less for better quality animal feed and raise cattle for less money, which means.....lower food prices. Also cheaper fuel means lower food prices too.
There is only one hole in my plan, but you have to be an ethical vegan or vegetarian to see it. However, I do have a solution for that one too if anyone wants to bring it up.
BOTTOM LINE
For this plan you do not need to plant more crops, cut down rainforest, or steal food from anyone's mouth. We are only using crops more efficiently.
ps google "cornell notes" they might prove helpful
Nice, easy, exactly as you said.
Feel better?
Small thing, you demanded replies give references. Where are yours?
Try and respond without paranoia or attempting sarcasm, please.
Food prices
This article is a study that shows that fuel prices are 3 times more involved in the food prices than ethanol. It also says that the food price increase has to do with the ethanol blender tax credit, not the actual production of ethanol.
In the third world, large areas that were producing food are now producing fuel. Consequence - the locals have no food, and no money to buy it.
Fresh incidences of deforestation are also occurring because of the desire for greater crop-area devoted to ethanol.
I'm all for biofuels, but they must be sourced from agricultural wastes, not redirected foods. Ferment animal manure to obtain methane. Burn the stems of the corn. Use hydroponics to grow algae for oil, then feed the solid wastes to cattle (it's high in protein).
But corn or maize for alcohol? Bad news.