I have to say.... can't we forget biofuel?  hydrogen is right around the
corner and emissions free.  lets put all the research money into that.





On Jan 27, 2008 7:23 AM, Juergen Botz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Geoffrey Purcell wrote:
> > As for coconut being used as a biofuel, this is a well-established fact.
> > Just search online  under "oconut oil biofuel" or "coconut oil
> biodiesel"
> > and you'll find endless references(eg:-
>
>
> You're right... in Southeast Asia there seems to be quite a bit
> of experimentation with coconut oil for bio-diesel.  Here in
> South America I've seen none of that.
>
> In any case it's pretty crazy, but like Lynnet said, sometimes
> the desire for fuel self-sufficiency outweighs economic
> arguments.  But while people may try using existing coconut
> production for this, nobody is going to plant coconut palms on
> a large scale to make bio-diesel... there are too many other
> plants that are more economical and grow well in the same
> climates.
>
> As to the argument about the value of bio-fuel in general, my
> perspective is this... intrinsically, bio-fuel is a good thing.
> If I grow oil seeds on my land (more or less sustainably) to
> power my own tractor for example, it's a good thing... better
> than using fossil fuel, for all of the obvious reasons.  Also
> keep in mind that until about one or two centuries ago all
> of civilization was using a "bio-fuel" that most of the poorest
> 30% of the human population is still using for most of their
> modest energy needs: wood.
>
> But in the context of the insane way agriculture is done in our
> civilization, converting food production to fuel production is
> just an accelleration of the general crazyness that will lead us
> to collapse.  Even without bio-fuel food production and other
> energy uses are already competing because modern food production
> is so heavily based on energy inputs.  With bio-fuel we're
> only making that competition a little more explicit.
>
> So I think the anti-bio-fuel crowd is missing the real point:
> that we're doing agriculture the wrong way to begin with, and
> between soil degradation, rising energy costs, and growing
> population with growing energy "needs", not to mention climate
> change, food WILL get more and more expensive regardless of
> whether we convert some of the food production to bio-fuel or
> not.
>
> :j
>
>