[PLUG-TALK] Ethanol (was for some reason Debian experts?)

John Sechrest sechrest at jas.peak.org
Mon Feb 26 21:35:06 UTC 2007



 I am working with a company that is doing Cellulosic Ethanol, which
 uses the stalks as opposed to the seed. So it is important to 
 recognize that you can get ethanol out of things that are not
 being used currently for food.





Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com> writes:

 % 
 % "Jeme" == Jeme A Brelin <jeme at brelin.net> writes:
 % Jeme> Ethanol is surely storing solar energy as chemical energy.  So's
 % Jeme> oil.  All the same there.  However, on any kind of industrial
 % Jeme> scale, ethanol also requires huge amounts of oil for the
 % Jeme> cultivation of the corn (or whatever), the harvesting,
 % Jeme> processing, and shipping.  In the end, it's a net loss.
 % > 
 % On Sun, Feb 25, 2007 at 01:39:10PM -0800, Russell Senior wrote:
 % RS> I am told by advocates of biofuel that corn is a particularly bad
 % RS> example because of the "net loss" issue, and I am further told that
 % RS> other crops/materials are more viable.  Beyond "being told" I have no
 % RS> other information on the subject.  Well, okay, google found me this,
 % RS> of unknown veracity or significance:
 % RS> 
 % RS>  <http://www.harvestcleanenergy.org/enews/enews_0505/enews_0505_Cellulosic_Ethanol.htm>
 % 
 % The corn thing is interesting.  ADM corn sweetener plants are used to
 % make sugar for soda pop in summer, and would be idle in the winter if
 % it weren't for winter gasohol laws, passed by congresspukes getting
 % big donations from ADM.  This is sheer coincidence, of course. :-/
 % 
 % On a positive note, at the Beaverton/Hillsboro high school science
 % fair at Intel last week, one young fellow's project was making
 % ethanol out of blackberry brambles.  He did some clever lateral
 % thinking, and some good measurement, so we gave him first place
 % in the "energy and transportation" category.
 % 
 % Rather than poison the damned weeds with herbicide, turn them into
 % fuel.  Eat the berries first.  Sweet!
 % 
 % Keith
 % 
 % -- 
 % Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
 % KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
 % Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs
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-----
John Sechrest          .         Helping people use
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                          .            more effectively
                             .                      
                                 .       Internet: sechrest at peak.org
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                                              . http://www.peak.org/~sechrest



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