The last line is the kind of thing that we need to hear from our world leaders. Biofuels went from the hands of people that were trying to help to the hands of the people would make the most money from it practically overnight, and without government statements people will want to keep making more money.

Biofuels will help drive the new car market as they glaze and burn out the engines of older cars, and the newer cars must be continually replaced by the same fault.

Anyone ever hear of 'planned obsolescence'?

The good thing about biofuels is that according to Robert "I love canned hunting" Bryce, the beef, hog and chicken industries are upset.

As long as they are upset that someone else is wasting resources half as bad as they do, that's a good thing.

this is such a good web site

have you heard thee biofuels son g hunry people are singing, yu must lesten to it

http://www.biofuelsong.com/music/

alos look up third world network website on gm crops, we dont want them and why we dont

What's most insane is that we think that by somehow greening the devices in our daily life, our way of life will magically become sustainable.

WAKE UP !!!

We are WAAAAAYYYY past the point that any of this will make even the slightest bit of (positive) difference in even the short run. What we need to do is to first admit we made a mistake a couple of centuries ago; find the collective will to dismantle the market economy; de-industrialize massively, voluntarily, and immediately; and SHARE what remaining resources we have left amongst ALL the people of the world.

Because, although it sounds like a cliche because it's been repeated ad nauseum, WE REALLY ARE IN THIS TOGETHER. Whatever any one person does, positively or negatively, effects all other people. The Butterfly Effect is real. So even if your desire to act is purely selfish, it is in your own best interest to act morally and with the utmost of integrity, all of the time. Even as it might be incredibly difficult sometimes. (As any addict knows, you can only deny reality for so long, and the longer you do, the more difficult it is later on once you realize you want to get back on track.)

Is it going to happen? It will take a literal miracle, I know, but what else is there? Really. Go ahead and laugh, but miracles do happen. All the time.

Meanwhile, for me, I've begun acting every day as if this really is reality, simply because it's the right thing to do. Truth IS truth. Integrity IS integrity. As the saying goes, "Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now".

And so I did. And interestingly enough, I've found that the words do ring true.

Peace out. RickHarlan

So, who ya gonna vote for? Think the lesser of two evils will change a thing?

America & the west will end the world for sure ! It is America & the west that had polluded the world by the greed and their motor cars and their destruction of the forrest & rivers. Now you in the west hog all the grains that will feed the world and turn that into biofuel instead of feeding the billions of hungry people in Asia & Africa.

What can America's US$250 million of printed US$ do for the billions of hungry in Asia & Africa ? You take all our grain and you give us in return US$250 million of printed US$ that is declining by the hour ? This is the sort of response that has driven Al Queada to try to destroy America if they can succeed.

AMERICA HAVE A HEART, just money will not get you a place in heaven ! What would Bush & Cheney do with all those billions ? Cheney has had a heart by-pass and will not live through his term as VP and Bush, he will drink himself to death; all that will not amount to a couple of millions, so what is the fuss getting more and more in billions ? What take it with you ?

yap.chongyee

China's environmental and human rights record shows no more respect for green or environmental issues either, and in many places far less. I find the Three Gorges Dam to be a brutal violation against the dignity and health of nature and man far exceeeding the engineering projects in Africa or the American west. As soon as they get the greed bug, and they're well on the way there already,the Chinese will be as bad as the evil west, - and dare I say, less apologetic even. Three Gorges reveals the Chinese are as greedy and short-sighted as the rest of the world. And there are so many of them! Unless there's a new and Green Cultural Revolution, the awakening consumerist Dragon will sink the planet at an exponentially faster rate. I see no moral superiority issuing from China any time soon. Put your little flag away.

yap.chongyee

China's environmental and human rights record shows no more respect for green or environmental issues either, and in many places far less. I find the Three Gorges Dam to be a brutal violation against the dignity and health of nature and man far exceeeding the engineering projects in Africa or the American west. As soon as they get the greed bug, and they're well on the way there already,the Chinese will be as bad as the evil west, - and dare I say, less apologetic even. Three Gorges reveals the Chinese are as greedy and short-sighted as the rest of the world. And there are so many of them! Unless there's a new and Green Cultural Revolution, the awakening consumerist Dragon will sink the planet at an exponentially faster rate. I see no moral superiority issuing from China any time soon. Put your little flag away.

Yes, I remember when bio-fuel was a few creative people getting free used french fry oil from restaurants and converting it into bio-diesel.

Now it's corporations looking at the profit differential between food and fuel. I think I see the real problem here and it's the same as every other issue; "for the love of money is the root of all evil".

Rick, you raised a good point that it is in a selfish person's better interest to act morally. It's very much possible to practice capitalism in a moral way - it simply requires some constraints. Progressives need to take over the US government so we can reverse the mindless capitalist rampage by US businesses and apply pressure to other governments and businesses to do the same.

Regarding biofuels, leftists seem afraid to confront the root of the problem - the capitalists' "free market" status quo. By failing to confront the root of the problem during the capitalists' fossil fuels rampage, and instead whining that fossil fuels create catastrophic levels of greenhouse gases, leftists left the door wide open for the capitalists to shift their mindlessly destructive business plan over to exploit biofuels, with gold rush fervor.

If the capitalists yield to the new biofuels outcry, which is very doubtful, but if they do, they will simply ramp up gargantuan investments in yet another mindless boondoggle, e.g. coal liquification, compressed natural gas, or hydrogen, and when the plunderous idiocy manifests yet again in its new incarnation, we can expect the leftists to scream bloody murder all over again. They seem to like the feeling of control they get when the capitalist reacts but it's all mindless idiocy as each reacts to the other's reactionary stupidity.

So instead of making temper tantrums our primary occupation, why not join the movement to develop and implement a public policy that works? The progressive energy policy is rather complex but it is not too hard for us to handle. First, we discredit and disassemble the capitalist "free market" status quo for abundant obvious reasons. Then we develop and implement the progressive policy which requires functional markets implemented for example using full costs in retail prices. Functional markets requre all social and environmental issues be covered in market demands, so the government imposes information and responsibility on consumers and kicks the producers into their little production cages to shut up and take orders.

Full costs removes all hidden/externalized costs, e.g. forces the cost of the imperial wars and policing of oil shipping lanes into the retail price of gasoline. All of the social and environmental destruction of every product becomes visible in its retail price, so the capitalist's biofuel becomes three or four times more expensive than the small farmer's permaculture biofuel, and the latter comes to dominate the market. Functional markets policy eliminates the addiction rackets, makes energy/environmental conservation socially acceptable, and opens the way for cheap high speed rail transport, cheap healthcare & education, etc.

Hello Madusa ! Our government of the People's Republic of China only want for the people of China "A MODERATELY WELL OFF SOCIETY". That I am sure is not about becoming a Walker Bush or Dick Cheney.

On the three gorges Dam, we truct our government to know what they are doing and we do not take kindly to projections of gloom & doom ! China graduates 75,000 engineers per year, and I trust they will know what is best.

From my perspective, I truely support the Dam because when peak oil is upon us, what will our 1.3 billion people do ? I have been on the 3 gorges dam river cruise, and I got to thinking, why did ouy government give priority to this dam ? I think it could be that in time to come most industries will be nestled within the "grid" of the 3 gorges. That is only my guess and I can see that happening in the future. Our leaders think long term. Home lighting is not a priority in China and rightly so because we Chinese people know hardship and we roll with the punches.

You in the west think you know it all, and if you really know it all, why did the USA & Britain get into this shit mess in Iraq and Afghanistan ?

Solution???

1. Hemp Plant Cannabis Sativa Information
——————————————————————————–
The following is excerpted from the mind-boggling and eye-opening book The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer, a must-have book for anyone who cares about the future and well-being of our fragile planet. This visionary book makes clear why it is necessary to add hemp to our individual and collective lives today and why hemp is essential to our well-being as well as that of the earth.
Hemp is sustainable clothing, footwear, shelter, foods, tree-free paper, cement, gasoline, fuel, nutritious and delicious foods, paint, industrial sealants, industrial composites, and so much more. Its beauty, usefulness, and astounding versatility truly boggle the mind! Hemp oil, for example, has the highest percentage of usable essential fatty acids of any plant, period.
Why hemp? Because it is, by far, Earth's premier, renewable natural resource. The hemp plant can single-handedly reverse the Greenhouse Effect, purify our air, water, & soil, and clothe and shelter us in a sustainable fashion.
Hemp paper lasts 50 to 100 times longer than most preparations of papyrus and is a hundred times easier and cheaper to make. It also does not yellow with age like acidic paper made from tree pulp.
If the hemp pulp paper process of 1916 were in use today, it could replace 40 to 70% of all pulp paper (from trees), including corrugated boxes, computer printout paper and paper bags. Imagine the effect this conversion to hemp paper alone would have on near-extinct species and all forms of wild life, on old-growth forests that are fast disappearing, on the quality of our water, air, and soil, as well as on our planet's sensitive ecosystem!
Hemp stems are 80% hurds (pulp byproduct after the hemp fiber is removed from the plant). Hemp hurds are 77% cellulose–a primary chemical feed stock (industrial raw material) used in the production of chemicals, plastics, and fiber. An acre of full grown hemp plants can sustainably provide from four to 50 or even 100 times the cellulose found in cornstalks, kenaf, or sugar cane–the planet's next highest annual cellulose plants.
Hemp will grow in any state in the US and most of Canada. In most places, hemp can be harvested twice a year and, in warmer areas such as southern California, Texas, Florida and the like, it could be a year-round crop. Hemp has a short growing season and can be planted after food crops have been harvested.
Farming only 6% of continental US acreage with biomass crops would provide all of America's gas and oil energy needs, ending dependence upon fossil fuels.
Hemp is Earth's number-one biomass resource; it is capable of producing 10 tons per acre in four months. Hemp is easy on the soil, sheds its lush foliage throughout the season, adding mulch to the soil and helping retain moisture. Hemp is an ideal crop for the semi-arid West and open range land.
Hemp is the only biomass source available that is capable of making the US energy-independent. Ultimately, the world has no other rational environmental choice but to give up fossil fuels.
From the farmers' point of view, hemp is an easy crop to grow and will yield from three to six tons per acre on any land that will grown corn, wheat, or oat. It has a short growing season, so that it can be planted after other crops are in. It can be grown in any state of the union. Hemp's long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for the next year's crop. The dense shock of leaves, eight to twelve feet above the ground, chokes out weeds, eliminating the need for chemicals or pesticides, 50% of which is used today on conventionally-grown cotton plant alone to produce cotton clothing products that are inferior to hemp clothing in terms of durability, thickness, softness, and sustainability. Two successive hemp crops are enough to reclaim land that has been abandoned because of Canadian thistles or quack grass
The earliest known woven fabric was apparently of hemp, which began to be worked in the eighth millennium (8,000-7,000 BC)."
From more than 1,000 years before the time of Christ until 1883 AD, cannabis hemp–indeed, marijuana–was our planet's largest agricultural crop and most important industry, involving thousands of products and enterprises; producing the overall majority of Earth's fiber, fabric, lighting oil, paper, incense, and medicines. In addition, it was a primary source of essential food oil and protein for humans and animals.
Ninety percent of all ships' sails (since before the Phoenicians, from at least the 5th Century BC until long after the invention and commercialization of steam ships–mid- to late-19th century) were made from hemp.
The word "canvas" is the Dutch pronunciation (twice removed, from French and Latin) of the Greek word "Kannabis."
In addition to canvas sails, until this century virtually all of the rigging, anchor ropes, cargo nets, fishing nets, flags, shrouds, and oakum (the main protection for ships against salt water, used as a sealant between loose or green beams) were made from the stalk of the marijuana plant.
Even the sailors' clothing, right down to the stitching in the seamen's rope-soled and "canvas" shoes, was crafted from cannabis.
Additionally, the ships' charts, maps, logs, and Bibles were made from paper containing hemp fiber from the time of Columbus (15th century) until the early 1900s in the Western European/American world, and by the Chinese from the 1st Century AD on.
Until the 1820s in America (and until the 20th Century in most of the rest of the world), 80% of all textiles and fabrics used for clothing, tents, bed sheets, and linens, rugs, drapes, quilts, towels, diapers, etc.–and even the US flag, "Old Glory," were principally made from fibers of cannabis hemp.
From 70-90% of all rope, twine, and cordage was made from hemp until 1937. It was then regrettably replaced mostly by petrochemical fibers, but at what untold costs to the environment?
Hemp is the perfect archival medium for artists' work, because it is acid-free. The paintings of Van Gogh, Gainsborough, Rembrandt, etc., were primarily painted on hemp canvas, as were practically all canvas paintings.
A strong, lustrous fiber, hemp withstands heat, mildew, insects, and is not damaged by light. Oil paintings on hemp and/or flax canvas have stayed in fine condition for centuries.
For thousands of years, virtually all good paints and varnishes were made with hempseed oil and/or linseed oil.
Until about 1800, hempseed oil was the most consumed lighting oil in America and the world. From then until the 1870s, it was the second most consumed lighting oil, exceeded only by whale oil.
Hempseed oil lit the lamps of the legendary Aladdin, Abraham the prophet, and in real life, Abraham Lincoln. It was the brightest lamp oil.
In the early 1900s, Henry Ford and other futuristic, organic, engineering geniuses recognized (as their intellectual, scientific heirs still do today) an important point–that up to 90% of all fossil fuel used in the world today (coal, oil, natural gas, etc.) should long ago have been replaced with biomass such as : cornstalks, cannabis sativa (hemp), waste paper and the like.
Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol or gasoline at a fraction of the current cost of oil, coal, or nuclear energy–especially when environmental costs are factored in–and its mandated use would end acid rain, end sulfur-based smog, and reverse the Green house Effect on our planet–right now!
Hempseed can be pressed for its highly nutritious vegetable oil, which contains the highest amount of essential fatty acids in the plant kingdom.
Because one acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees, hemp is the perfect material to replace trees for pressed board, particle board and for concrete construction molds.
Practical, inexpensive fire-resistant construction material, with excellent thermal and sound-insulating qualities, is made by heating and compressing hemp fibers to create strong construction paneling, replacing dry wall and plywood. William B. Conde of Conde's Redwood Lumber, Inc, near Eugene, OR, has demonstrated the superior strength, flexibility, and economy of hemp composite building materials compared to wood fiber, even as beams.
Iso-chanvre (chanvre is French for hemp), a rediscovered French building material made form hemp hurds mixed with lime, actually petrifies into a mineral state and lasts for many centuries. Archeologists have found a bridge in the south of France, from the Merovingian period, built with this process.
Hemp has been used throughout history for carpet backing. Hemp fiber has potential in the manufacture of strong, rot-resistant carpeting–eliminating the poisonous fumes of burning synthetic materials in a house or commercial fire, along with allergic reactions associated with new synthetic carpeting, which may outgas volatile toxic fumes for months or even years, endangering human health.
Plastic plumbing pipes (PVC pipes) can be manufactured using renewable hemp cellulose as the chemical feedstocks, replacing nonrenewable coal or petroleum-based chemical feedstocks.
So we can envision a house of the future built, plumbed, painted, and furnished with the world's number-one renewable resource–hemp.
We believe that in a competitive market, with all facts known, people will rush to buy long-lasting, biodegradable "Pot Tops" or "Mary Jeans," etc, made from hemp grown without pesticides or herbicides.
It's time we put capitalism to the test and let the unrestricted market of supply and demand as well as "Green" ecological consciousness decide the future of the planet.
A cotton shirt in 1776 cost $100 to $200, while a hemp shirt cost $0.50 to $1. By the 1830s, cooler, lighter cotton shirts were on par in price with the warmer, heavier, hempen shirts, providing a competitive choice, thanks to government subsidies.
People were able to choose their garments based upon the particular qualities they wanted in a fabric. Today we have no such choice. Conventional cotton growing, which depletes and pollutes our nonrenewable resources, is still heavily subsidized by the government, masking the true costs of production and costs to the environment, whereas hemp is not allowed to be grown at all in the US (hopefully this is changing, for our planet's sake!).
The role of hemp and other natural fibers should be determined by the market of supply and demand and personal tastes and values, not by the undue influence of prohibition laws, federal subsidies and huge tariffs that are designed to keep the natural fabrics from replacing synthetic fibers.
Sixty years of government suppression of information has resulted in virtually no public knowledge of the incredible potential of the hemp fiber or its uses.
By using 100% hemp or mixing hemp with cotton, you will be able to pass on your shirts, pants, and other clothing to your grandchildren. Intelligent spending could essentially replace the use of petrochemical synthetic fibers such as nylon and polyester with tougher, cheaper, cool, absorbent, breathable, biodegradable natural fibers such as hemp and flax.
China, Italy and Easter European countries such as Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Russia currently make millions of dollars worth of sturdy hemp and hemp/cotton textiles–and could be making billions of dollars worth–annually.
These countries build upon their traditional farming and weaving skills, while the US tries to force the extinction of the hemp plant in the attempt to promote destructive synthetic technologies.
Additionally, hemp grown for biomass could fuel a trillion-dollar-per-year energy industry, while improving air quality and distributing the wealth to rural areas and their surrounding communities, and away from centralized power monopolies. More than any other plant on Earth, hemp holds the promise of a sustainable ecology and economy.
If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the Greenhouse Effect and stop deforestation…
Then there is only one known, annually renewable natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world's paper and textiles; meeting all of the world's transportation, industrial and home energy needs, while simultaneously reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil, and cleaning the atmosphere all at the same time…
And that substance is–the same one that did it all before–Cannabis Hemp!
Hempseed is the highest of any plant in essential fatty acids.
Hempseed oil is among the lowest in saturated fats at 8% of total oil volume. The oil pressed from hempseed contains 55% linoleic acid (LA) and 5% linolenic acid (LNA). Only flax oil has more linolenic acid at 58% , but hempseed oil is the highest in total essential fatty acids at 80% of total oil volume.
These essential fatty acids are responsible for our immune response.
In the old country the peasants ate hemp butter. They were more resistant to diseases than the nobility, who shunned hemp butter as peasant food.
LA and LNA are involved in producing life energy from food and the movement of that energy throughout the body.
Essential fatty acids govern growth, vitality and state of mind. LA and LNA are involved in transferring oxygen from the air in the lungs to every cell in the body. They play a part in holding oxygen in the cell membrane where it acts as a barrier to invading viruses and bacteria, neither of which can thrive in the presence of oxygen. Click here to continue reading about Cannabis Sativa Industrial Hemp.
http://rawganique.com/whyhemp.htm

My own personal anecdotal evidence is that also it does not return the same economy. Every week I make a 300km (180 mile) open road, no traffic, maximum fuel economy trip -- very easy to be exact. I had been using fuel that had 10% ethanol, but the fuel consumption increased by an average of nearly 2 litres per 100km (that's how I measure it; I don't know what that is in MPG any more). It may be cheaper, but for me it does not save money.

Not only are we missing the boat on using hemp as a biofuel source, but if we ramped up geothermal for electricity production & home heating (another missed boat), and forced production of electric cars we wouldn't be wasting lives & treasure trying to 'steal' oil resources around the world.

Check this link to see how we are being conspired against:

http://www.ev1.org/

When are our legislators going to start working for us, and get their head out of their asses

To CJM: The economics of your use of E-10 may be an even trade off. But, you are putting less CO2 into the air bu using it. And less of your money is going to the oil companies who will fight tooth and nail to keep us from using alternatives until the last barrel of oil is pumped from the ground. We in the U.S. have all of the presidents and congress' since Jimmy Carter to blame for our current situation. Had we not been lulled into a false sense of security by low fuel prices, we could have been beyond the first generation of bio-fuels which compete with the market for food, and well onto the next generation such as hemp and switch grass. The biggest mistake we can make now is to let the government off the hook and demand that we put more money into R&D on alternatives. I don't care if I drive a car that runs on electricity, hydrogen, alchohol, methane, or lawn clippings. But get us the hell off of our reliance on Middle East oil!!!

Global warming will never be stopped as long as we continue using internal combustion engines.

We must develope electric vehicles. We are just one step away from developing a new battery technology that will make internal combustion a thing of the past. Lithium is too expensive to mine, and has run away thermal problems that make it catch fire. But soon... there must be a new battery technology like non chemical super capacitor batteries.

Put money into battery technologies. And put money into solar, wind, tidal energy. Driving as directly from sun power as possible is the only 'clean' option.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/

Check it out... fantastic movie about the technology that is already available to solve the global energy problems, and how it was killed by big interest oil and auto.

And what happened to the Sarich Orbital Engine whilst we are at it...

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Sarich+orbital+engine

CJM: I was wondering why the mileage of my Impala went from 29 to 27.5 mpg. Its partly just getting old, but we went from the oxygenated additive MTBE (bad stuff!) to ethanol over the lifetime of this car. It isn't the least bit cheaper, either. Ethanol is actually much more expensive than gasoline.

I think corn based ethanol was an unfortunate accident because the big ag companies had something promising for sale even before we were sure we needed it. Its a subsidy hog and a loser for energy independence AND greenhouse gas reduction, while it drives up food prices.

Mr. Yap (ChongYee)

You trust your government? Really??

Paul MS
www.theaircar.com I have been talking about this for months and am signed up to buy one. The nice thing about the compressed air car is the air is filtered before it is used and is the same when it comes out the tail pipe. So the car has a negative impact. You can refill the air tanks ( made by AIR BUS) using the motor that runs the car and is hooked up to an electric motor. You can get that electricity from wind, solar you name it. Plus at the end of the life of the tanks you replace them and not have messy environmental problems with what to do with the batteries. Range for the air only is about 125 miles ( just over 200 KM) and top speed is about 65 MPH ( 110 KLH) Wouldn't that fit you local driving needs? The hybrid is in the hundreds of miles per gallon.

Yap.chongee- The Gobi desert is 70km from Beijing and closing. Vast areas of former cropland are now desert.

How's that glorious peoples revolution coming?

"To CJM: The economics of your use of E-10 may be an even trade off. But, you are putting less CO2 into the air bu using it."

Are you sure about that? Add up the whole cost of producing ethanol, and I think you'll find otherwise.

Biofule is a feel good fuel. What more do you want?

"Three Gorges Dam to be a brutal violation against the dignity and health of nature and man far exceeeding the engineering projects in Africa or the American west". But what about Diego Garcia and its native peoples?

If it is bio, it produces CO2. Livging things are made of carbon. That's the way it is. Bio means living so bio means CO2. Is it unrealistic to think we can get energy from the sun, the wind, the tides, the waves, and temperature differentials? What are the economics of these things. Why not electric? Why the fixation on biological energy sources? Am I missing something?

The millions of people in Asia and Africa are probably doomed in any case. Even if sufficient food could be provided to feed them all, there seems little chance this food would be got to where it's needed. As for the conflict generated by use of grains for biofuel, this simply makes an already difficult situation worse.

There are just too damned many humans on the planet. The UN has noted that even under present conditions, without the problems likely to result from global warming, were way short of being able to provide food for even the present global population using present arable lands. Humans seem to be unique among lifeforms in their inability to limit their own procreation and reproduction. The result is, at least in terms of the dictionary definition, a human infestation. I'd love to be able to suggest answers, but don't have any.

This issue has been solved. Next!

The people of Africa are capable of growing their own food. Corruption and market tricks prevent them from doing so. The Europeans, like the Americans, subsidize their agriculture to such an extent that they make it impossible for others to compete even in their own country. The world doesn't need the help of the white people as much as it needs for the white people to stop undermining their efforts by fomenting corruption, tyranny, and exploitation. The racket is the problem.

yap.chongee

Well, you keep believing, then - didn't one of your fearless leaders lead the biggest pogrom against his own people in the 60'sand70's, killing millions? Your dear leaders will turn on you again. And the first to go will be the educated ones - so don't wear your glasses when the new Cultural Revolution starts.

And I bet the beloved leaders have chandeliers in their mansions, while the rest of you live in shacks with no lights.

There is no doubt that the Chinese work hard and excel at much - but have you noticed, it's all Western stuff? Anyway, I'm sure the Chinese are no smarter than the rest of the human race - they won't learn either.

To answer the question directly, nothing.

Nice to see the posts about hemp. It seems to be often dismissed or tossed aside as pro pot rhetoric, but from what I have read, Hemp provides the answers to many of the Earths largest problems. Food, fuel, fiber, paper, textiles, and medicine....all from one plant source, which is extremely hardy, grows in weighty abundance in a multitude of climate conditions, and of course was made illegal right here in the land of the free. The more we find out about hemp, the better. Here is a good site as well. http://www.hempest.com

The article is in error when it says "biofuels, far from reducing greenhouse gas emissions, actually have a negative environmental footprint." The point of difference between bio-fuels and fossil fuels is: Fossil fuels release carbon back into the atmosphere as CO2 that has been tied up in a geological formation for millions of years, so it is releasing new CO2. Whereas, bio-fuels extract CO2 from the atmosphere as the source plant grows, so when the bio-fuel is burned it only releases CO2 that was just recently extracted from the atmosphere thus no "new" CO2 is releases.

Yes, it is true that greed-driven economics is diverting agriculture toward fuel production and away from food production. However, many of the byproducts of bio-fuel production could easily be turned into food. For instance: the brewer's mash that comes from fermentation of grain to produce alcohol for the table and for bio-fuels could be dried and sold as either animal food or human food, and that brewer's mash is far more nutritious than the original grain, because fermentation will convert the grain into a complete protein through the fermentation process. Also, the press-cakes from extracting oil for bio-diesel is still nutritious and could be fermented to make alcohol for automobile consumption, then that brewer's mash could be dried, and sold, or distributed to the poor, as a very nutritious food. Also, all of the byproducts of the bio-fuels industry that are fed to animals for slaughter, are growing food for people. And, if the manure from feed lots was run through a methane digester, then more fuel could be extracted from the bio-fuels process, and further displace fossil fuel consumption. Then the residue of methane digester could be sent back to the farm as fertilizer, thus closing the loop in food and bio-fuel production.

Thus, the byproducts of the bio-fuels industry could feed the world's hungry, if people thought about recycling everything and had more generosity toward the poor. For more information on this topic please see this essay:

Waste to Fuel. Today's waste products can be tomorrow's fuel sources, while feeding the hungry
http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/rightlivelihood/fuel/wastetofuel.htm

Best regards, Jeffrey S, Brooks

Oh that's just dandy, not only do biofuels raise food prices, they destroy your automobile. Wow, great solution.

yap.chongyee said 'On the three gorges Dam, we truct our government to know what they are doing and we do not take kindly to projections of gloom & doom ! China graduates 75,000 engineers per year, and I trust they will know what is best.'

You TRUST your government? Really?

This is the BIIIIIIiiiiig difference between you and the rest of the many posters here at CD.

By the way, those 75,000 engineers have unanimously concluded on the 'good' produced by the Three Gorges Dam, right? None ever expressed a dissenting opinion or pointed out any niggling little problems or inconveniences like the flooding of historically important sites or the emerging ittybitty inconveniences of earthquakes and landslides?

Corn ethanol biofuel production = Terrorism.

Plight Of The Pollinators

Congress is mulling a bill that will boost industrialize crop production by cutting existing farm conservation programs. The legislation, experts fear, may speed to the demise of Calif. honeybees that have been mysteriously dying.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/19/MNBR107C59.DTL

It seems like some people can find a cloud outside every silver lining. Bio fuels are not the savior of human kind and no one ever said that they were. It is up to every country to police what goes on in their country, whether it be diamond mining or bio fuels. We harness hydroelectric power and then people complain about the fish. We harness wind power and then people complain about the birds. Yes, we would all like a perfect world, but there is NO such thing....live with it!

lizard: Why not electric? Why the fixation on biological energy sources?

Internal combustion engines are useful for industrial applications in areas lacking renewable electric sources and where batteries and recharging are scarce. Compared to a solar/wind charged battery-electric vehicle, the biodiesel-electric hybrid has low land area to miles driven efficiency but it's higher than an ethanol engine in the same production climate. How to achieve best efficiencies for a given climate and application, with reasonable convenience/safety (limiting vehicle reserve power and weight), should be the subject of a well-organized public discussion & policymaking. Most of the technology is now mature. Biofuel production has a way to go toward its potential efficiencies and sustainability. Plant varieties that maximize oil yield and purity, replenish soil, water efficient, intercropping, harvest methods all need work. Land, water and food security for everyone. Small farmer to local consumer production contracts. Consumption limits and enterprise size limits. The capitalist will refuse these approaches because they squish all of his opportunities to enslave the people and plunder the earth.

shokulan They wouldn't dare!

We need to know more about water fueled cars:
http://waterpoweredcar.com/stanmeyer.html

~LIZARD~ You ask if you are missing something.
Since you are an MD, you might consider writing yourself a prescriptin to have a brain scan.

I can barely believe it when someone writes as you did, that it is unrealistic to believe we can garner energy from the sun, wind, tides, geothermal etc. You are a nutcase.

I'm a quite surprised that only one person replied to the very informative comments on hemp that Paul M Smith posted at 5.19pm April 18. That is a subject we should all get educated on and see if we can involve our legislatures help remove the ridiculous stigma attached to thewonder crop.

yap.chongyee. I hope for the best in China -as well as I hope for the best for any country that is attempting to improve the lives of their people. So let's stop hurling insults and find common ground to create the possible.

I have followed events in China and I was happy when one day many months ago, I read that China was truly going to make an effort to utilize alternative forms of energy. The Chinese government is also planning on building a score or so of eco-friendly cities.

In a sense, comparing China with the USA is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. China has such a huge population that drastic measures are difficult to impliment, as there are so many people involved. So I understand why the Chinese government must take slow and cautious steps.

Let's all join together in this common dream of a better, more just world.

We could critisise each other until the end of time. No country is perfect. Let's change the old words of Rudyard Kipling and move away from the thought that "East is East and West is West and the twain shall never meet." In the upcoming olympics, the "twain" shall indeed meet. I hope it is free of political issues and that it focuses instead on these incredible, dedicated, athletes who have sacrificed their lives to get a chance to be one among many of each countrie's finest athletes.

Peace, yap.chongyee

hybridoma2001 -- Yes, YES. We are far more alike than ever are we different - no matter what the MIND says, the HEART doth know better, me "feels". (I could not quite get that usual "think" to fit in this context)

It the _ B R A I N _ that "knows" of mere compass directivity,
while it is the _ H EA R T _ that innately follows the TRUTH

Namaste

lizard...I'm for using hydrogen in internal combustion engines.
1) give protability to electrical storage
2) can use same engines in existance (merely a fuel and air-mix timing change.
3) totally destroy's the necessity for oil, long supply chains of fuel, etc.

I have sent letters to editors and talked to a whole lot of people about the evils of ethanol, to wit:

1. Ethanol costs more to produce (in terms of natural gas) and is therefore a losing proposition.

2. Ethanol is a sure-fire way to ruin your car's engine due to the collection of water deposited in the firing chambers.

3. You get about 65 to 75% of the mileage on your car using ethanol than regular unleaded gasoline. How does that save oil when you have to fill up with a 15% mixture of ethanol so much more often? There is still gasoline being wasted, that is for sure. And what happens when you have to go to 25% ethanol, or 50%?

As some of you have said, the only viable improvement is to switch to 100% hydrogen-fueled engines. This cannot be done, however, until the big oil companies have title to all the world's atmosphere.