The right kind of biofuel source
Why is it that the so-called “civilized” world always takes the easy way out and in the end winds up shooting itself in the foot?
There’s been so much in the media recently about the rising price of corn, the domino effect that higher cost has been having on our staple foodstuffs like meat, milk, bread, etc. and all because of farmers selling their crops to biofuel manufacturers. (Though I agree that is having an effect, I would suggest some of that increase in cost is also due to $145 barrels of oil.) There’s also been a lot of print around countries tearing down the rainforest so farmers can plant sugar cane and sell it to biofuel manufacturers. Both crops by the way take about as much or more energy to make the biofuel than you will ever get from the biofuel itself. All in the name of saving the environment, we are actually just killing it faster.
If the energy ratio for biomass were to work out in our benefit, why could we not have looked at plant scourges first, like kudzu, duckweed or algae, and tried to use those as biofuel sources? These are all things that have little to no effect on the world’s food supply, will grow almost anywhere in their horticultural zones and are actually trying to be eradicated from some ecologies they have overtaken with their amazingly fast growth rates. Based on the Cornell calculation the energy associated with production of these “crops” could be nil since they are such invasive species, not sure how much of an effect that might have, but it could be worth a test or two…
