Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mindmetoo]

I don't think anyone seriously believes corn is a good biofuel. But the american farm lobby in congress is a strong one. Switch grass I believe has been identified as the best possible source. Genetic engineering in the future will no doubt produce more efficient means of converting organic material into a fuel source.

I think the best solution in the short term is a blended solution. Truly efficient biofuels, hybrids that can be charged up, and a grid supported by nuclear, wind, and clean coal.

[BS.Dos.]

[quercus]

i have always wondered why they don't consider developing a perennial source of biofuel in america, like maybe locust seeds (nitrigen fixer!), hazel, etc. is it just the influence of the seed companies??

lower the energy you have to put into getting the energy. harvest only, no plowing, lower fertilizers, no erosion, WAY less watering. and they could be used for other purposes such as windbreaks, stopping erosion, wildlife habitat, aesthetics, etc. those palm oil plantatiosn have plenty against them but as far as comparing two bad pictures, theirs looks way better than the cornfield model. its just that those palm plantations tend to expand into endangered virgin forest and corn fields tend to extend into cornfields, then suburbs, in america anyway.

i also saw mike rowe on dirty jobs on discivery channel making biofuel. they blended fuels from several sources of oil (canola, soy, corn, etc) so many trees could be used., not just palm monocrop plantations. and the dude did it in his garage.

now i wonder how a small farm model could accomodate organic, perennial, local fuel supply?? i reckon they could sustainably produce a little extra to sell, the way farmers mistreat their lands these days.

i met a guy, carl bielenberg, who runs better world workshop in vermont, and he designed a hand pressed oilpress that turned seeds/nuts into oil and also seperated the waste that could be used as feed, etc. they pressed the previously unused nuts of plants that locals used for corral fences (this was in west africa) to make a biofuel they ran cars off of.

we couldn't accomodate our total current fuel use wit such a model. BUT we could supplement it cheaply, easily, locally and ecologically - if we wanted to be serious about it.

and as kiwiduncan said, two wheels can offer way more future energy options than most of today's fat arses will admit to, and with compounding healthcare benefits as well that are rarely added into the discussion.

decreasing our energy requirements is just as big a deal as finding better ways to produce energy, even more. in my opinion.

[quercus]

i forgot to put in that i do agree that the current models of biofuel are no good. i think corn is no good of you live outside sothwest americas or mexico though.

cities should be focusing on getting people/industry to use less energy in my opinion. rural areas may be able to sustainably produce their own.

i am biased though, i hate the top down models we are presented with. the bottom up, mcdonalds waste oil methods, have their obvious limits, but have given a better starting point in my opinion, its just time for someone else to pick up and jump the next hurdle.

[4 months left]

Fascinating yet scary article. - In a pure market, sugar cane would be the only viable biofuel with a cost of $35 a barrel (oil equivalent). The others are sugar beet ($103), corn ($81), wheat ($145), rapeseed ($209), soybean ($232), cellulose ($305).


Why the price of 'peak oil' is famine
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard International Business Editor - Last Updated: 2:54am GMT 09/02/2008

Vulnerable regions of the world face the risk of famine over the next three years as rising energy costs spill over into a food crunch, according to US investment bank Goldman Sachs.

"We've never been at a point in commodities where we are today," said Jeff Currie, the bank's commodity chief and closely watched oil guru.

Sugar cane on a bullock cart in India - the commodity is popular as the basis of biofuel, as it is a cost-effective and cleaner alternative to oil

Global oil output has been stagnant for four years, failing to keep up with rampant demand from Asia and the Mid-East. China's imports rose 14pc last year. Biofuels from grain, oil seed and sugar are plugging the gap, but drawing away food supplies at a time when the world is adding more than 70m mouths to feed a year.

"Markets are as tight as a drum and now the US has hit the stimulus button," said Mr Currie in his 2008 outlook. "We have never seen this before when commodity prices were already at record highs. Over the next 18 to 36 months we are probably going into crisis mode across the commodity complex.

"The key is going to be agriculture. China is terrified of the current situation. It has real physical shortages," he said, referencing China still having memories of starvation in the 1960s seared in its collective mind.

While the US housing crash poses some threat to the price of metals and energy, the effect has largely occurred already. The slide in crude prices over the past month may have been caused by funds liquidating derivatives contracts to cover other demands rather than by recession fears. Goldman Sachs forecasts that oil will be priced at $105 a barrel by the end of 2008.

The current "supercycle" is a break with history because energy and food have "converged" in price and can increasingly be switched from one use to another.

Corn can be used for ethanol in cars and power plants, for plastics, as well as in baking tortillas. Natural gas can be made into fertiliser for food output. "Peak Oil" is morphing into "Peak Food".

Land use for biofuels has shot up from 12m to more than 80m hectares worldwide over six years. Biofuel provides 3pc of global energy needs, which will rise to an estimated 10.6pc by 2030.

In a pure market, sugar cane would be the only viable biofuel with a cost of $35 a barrel (oil equivalent). The others are sugar beet ($103), corn ($81), wheat ($145), rapeseed ($209), soybean ($232), cellulose ($305).

Subsidies drive the business. The US offers tax relief of $1 a gallon for biodiesel. The EU has a 10pc biofuel target by 2010.

The crop switch comes just as China and India make the leap to an animal-based diet, replicating the pattern seen in Japan and Korea, where people raised their protein intake nine-fold as they became rich. It takes 8.3 grams of soya or corn feed to produce a 1g weight gain in cattle - compared with 3.1g for pigs, 2g for chicken and 1.5g for fish.

Mr Currie said investment cycles in energy typically last about 10 to 12 years as producers struggle to catch up with demand. However, this cycle has been short-circuited by politicians after barely six years.

"The political environment is extremely hostile. The world is looking like the 17th century under mercantilism when countries saw economics as a zero-sum game. They exported as much as they could to get gold, and erected enormous barriers. China looks like that, so does Russia, the Mid-East and most of Africa and Latin America," he said.

While the West has much of the skill for developing energy projects, it is blocked by nationalist petro-states from investing directly.