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123 Comments
- muxaulo, on 08/20/2008, -3/+43How about *cannabis sativa*, oh yea, that will increase the price of it and the smog in the city will make everyone *high*, hehe, sounds like a plan.
- games89, on 08/20/2008, -0/+32 Its high time we found something which is both eco friendly as well as commercially viable!
- Brundy, on 08/20/2008, -2/+32We already have the "biofuel miracle crop", which has been suppressed since the 1930's: HEMP
- chrissku, on 08/20/2008, -10/+36John McCain's a *****
- sarchosis, on 08/20/2008, -0/+26Seriously though, hemp would make a great source of biomass fuel if it were legal to grow.
- pierrelourens, on 08/20/2008, -0/+21Algae is better.
- highlymodified, on 08/20/2008, -0/+21^It'd also keep billions of dollars within the US that would otherwise be bled out to Canada and Mexico.
Not to mention the economic stimulus that would come from bajillions of Little Caesar's orders. - inactive, on 08/20/2008, -3/+20Great porn star name if the biofuel thing doesn't work out.
- Skwerl, on 08/20/2008, -0/+16Seeds of the cannabis plant contain large amounts of oil, it was actually used for lubrication in WWII.
Watch Hemp for Victory if you haven't already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne9UF-pFhJY - shutaro, on 08/20/2008, -2/+18***** the RIAA!
- skabyss, on 08/20/2008, -4/+19I already got me a sativa miracle crop....
- shutaro, on 08/20/2008, -0/+14Phelps can beat solar.
- Wakkyweed, on 08/20/2008, -2/+15@stagmire
Nope, not a coincidence. The kind of people who are intelligent enough to realize the falseness of anti-marijuana propaganda are also intelligent enough to realize the benefits of industrial hemp. So there! - inactive, on 08/20/2008, -5/+18Solar is still unbeatable, to have cars dependent on Biofuel really isn't the way to go.
- zadadka, on 08/20/2008, -0/+10Jeez guys, c'mon....Sativa simply means "cultivated" in a horticultural sense....it does not refer to the cannabis plant exclusively.
I like a smoke too, but how do you expect to garner any adult credibility when you respond as if a teenager to the word "boobie" (which ...incredibly...can also be a feathered seabird related to Gannets) - BoneheadFarker, on 08/20/2008, -0/+10Technically, biofuels are solar energy. Gotta grow the plant somehow...
- minion2, on 08/20/2008, -1/+10Yeah, I feel like algae is the way to go, though this seems somewhat promising as well. I think looking in all directions is a good move.
Though, as another poster said, biofuels are a stop-gap. We need to really improve our energy infrastructure. In the future, many different types of renewable methods will feed into a common (probably electric) grid. Sunny areas will use solar, windy areas will use wind. I feel like nuclear is going to have to play a bigger part...
The nice thing about biofuel is that we have the engine technology *now* to do it. And... if you buy a diesel vehicle, you can fill up at pretty much any gas station already with regular diesel. Biofuel is going to be the easiest way to make a major improvement with our *current* technology and infrastructure. - turion64, on 08/20/2008, -2/+11In the midst of WWII our government issued "Hemp Growing Certificates" and urged farmers to grow hemp because of it's usefulness. Why we can't do the same today is just an issue of corporations and big business getting in the way of common sense.
- dangermouse4, on 08/20/2008, -3/+11Finally, lets leave food for people.
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -0/+8The feasibility of help as a substitute for other industrial plants as a source of biofuels is questionable. The yield rates per hectare are relatively low, and there is a relatively narrow window for omptimum harvesting it. Swtichgrass has advantages in both these areas, and it can be grown with fewer agricultural inputs in a wider range of climates. Switchgrass is also effective at C4 carbon fixation/sequestration, and it actually improves the quality of the soil where it's grown.
Switchgrass does not have as many advocates among the dope smoking community though :( - ricoboy24, on 08/20/2008, -4/+12Ron Paul
- groo68, on 08/20/2008, -0/+8with hundreds of byproducts. used to be colonists could pay their taxes with hemp.
- thethinktank, on 08/20/2008, -0/+7biofuels don't put a strain on the world's food supply.
corn ethanol does. (to corn-fed meat prices and anything with high fructose corn syrup, which we don't export to the third world poor anyway)
biofuels like cellulosic ethanol and algae bioful do NOT EFECT THE WORLDS FOOD SUPPLY.
Might want to do some research before you recite misinformed talking points. - billbugger, on 08/20/2008, -1/+8Been discussed before, highly improbable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion - inactive, on 08/20/2008, -3/+10Maaaatt Daaamon
- thethinktank, on 08/20/2008, -0/+6Solar is never going to power our cars, nor does it have any effect on the 250,000,000 internal combustion engine cars on the road today. Switching to biofuels for the 30 years it'll take to transition to an electric car economy is the only hope of saving our economy and our environment from the evils of fossil fuels.
- Tyrghast, on 08/20/2008, -2/+8Marijuana is the miracle crop. It can solve all our ills.
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -0/+6Yeah, but then they don't make any money fighting it. It's just more profitable to fight it then to legalize it.
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -1/+7Dudes why keep looking for a miracle when hemp is the answer.
- HPCELarry, on 08/20/2008, -1/+6The "next" miracle crop? I'd be if just one "miracle crop" actually happened.
- TheCasablancan, on 08/20/2008, -0/+5@trickyt
You must have forgotten those "ribbon" power generators from not too long ago. They could easily be placed on a... roof scoop or where your spoiler would go, etc.
http://www.humdingerwind.com/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industr ...
Also, I remember a mythbusters episode where they put a PVC pipe on a power line, then wrapped the pipe with copper wire, making use of the electromagnetic radiation (Eddies) to power some device. I don't remember how it affected the output voltage/current of the line though. I'd imagine they don't harvest the EMR because it is too expensive.
I try to remind myself that those who say something can't be done are often left aghast by those doing it. - revjustin2, on 08/20/2008, -0/+5Not if we all had recumbent bikes!
- sHockz, on 08/20/2008, -5/+10electricity is what we need to focus on....energy in its purest form. and it can be used with the little repercussions. solar is a great way to obtain electricity. combined with wind power (from a moving vehicle) plus a couple alternators, you could probably have a totally self sustained car once it starts moving.
one thing we tend to lose focus on is all the potential energy around a moving vehicle. all that energy CAN be harnessed and used, instead of just pushed through and forgotten. - Wakkyweed, on 08/20/2008, -0/+5Cannabis sativa would make an excellent weapon in the fight for fuel independence! You see, if everyone was stoned they would all hang out around the house all day instead of driving around and burning gasoline.
Except for the trips to the store for ding-dongs and Cheetos. Those would burn gas. - pixelguru, on 08/20/2008, -0/+5I heard of a company that is trying to make biofuel out of tobacco plants... 2nd hand car exhaust might be a bit tough on the lungs though.
- dizilbdog, on 08/20/2008, -1/+6Oil companies won't allow it. Remember the EV1 perfect electric car, and they destroyed it. I think electric is the way to go. Solar panels wind power on your house use that to charge your car at night no work at all, it's all done by the planet and the sun.
- Kumah, on 08/20/2008, -3/+8( o )( o )
hehe, boobs : ] - rizzo2008, on 08/20/2008, -0/+5Until battery technology reaches the same energy density, size, and weight of a typical 15-18 gallon gasoline or diesel tank Internal combustion engines will still be needed. Remember its not a question of energy efficiency but rather energy density which for the time being only liquid fuels can achieve.
- shawnanigans, on 08/20/2008, -0/+5Anything is better than corn. Unfourtunately nothing is better lobbied for than corn.
- thethinktank, on 08/20/2008, -0/+4Not sure if you're aware, but you're just reciting the talking points of the Big Oil industry and industrialized meat farmers.
In the year 2000, 80% of our corn crop didn't go to humans, it went to animal feed. Much of the rest went to high fructose corn syrup and corn ethanol, and THEN corn at the grocery store.
Corn ethanol is now taking away a larger amount of the corn crops that go to animal feed, not having a meaningful impact on human corn consumption. However, the costs of cattle and chicken feed go up, as well as the cost of high fructose corn syrup. So the only prices that corn ethanol DOES have an effect on are luxuries that we buy at the grocery store in the US, not food for the starving third world poor.
By saying ignorant ***** like "finally, let's leave food for people", you're completely ignoring the facts about biofuels and corn ethanol. Who wins when you do that? OPEC, the oil companies and the inhumane, industrialized meat farmers. - trickyt, on 08/20/2008, -0/+4Lol did you really just say wind energy from a moving vehicle? Why not just harvest electrical energy from all those power lines running all over the place?
- Rawler, on 08/20/2008, -0/+4I do not want to misunderstand what you are saying. Do you mean to say that if we place a 'windbelt' on a car and propel the car normally, the air moving across the windbelts would create electrical energy? The drag from the device(s) would equal the amount of energy output from the engine (in still air, and on level ground). It is more probable that you meant that the wind on roadways and in parking lots would provide energy for a parked car or on windy roadways. But there are numerous calculations involved, especially when including fluid dynamics, that would throw off the entire efficiency of the device. 'Windbelts' sound great for their intended purpose, though, providing micro-wind generation.
- Akufen, on 08/21/2008, -0/+4Hemp has a whole list of uses beside those you've just mentioned though. And narrow window for optimum harvesting? It can be grown almost anywhere, every 15 weeks, as long as the plants don't freeze in their early stages. So how is that narrow? (I'm no expert)
And according to wikipedia:
"[Hemp] does, however, produce more energy per acre per year than corn, sugar, flax, or any other crop currently grown for ethanol or biodiesel." - rizzo2008, on 08/20/2008, -0/+3Or genetically modified bacteria. Look up the video about craig ventor and Synthetic Genomics
- billbugger, on 08/20/2008, -0/+3It can be used to fuel power plants, and the CO2 from the plants can be used to fuel Algea. There is a company i believe in Arizona that is experimenting with this with great success.
- statrick, on 08/20/2008, -0/+3umm im pretty sure the sun gives out more than enough energy, more then we could even need atleast.
- inactive, on 08/20/2008, -0/+3How about we figure out the FIRST miracle crop before we go running our mouths off about the NEXT.
- bullhead2007, on 08/20/2008, -0/+3How so Charlotte?
- LtXenodite, on 08/20/2008, -1/+4I saw "Carmelina Sativa Could be The Next Beautiful Miracle something..."
- czarr, on 08/20/2008, -0/+3Think about the drag.
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