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Garbage Will Lead the Biofuel Revolution

earth2tech.com — Scientists from the Global Invasive Species Program (GISP), the Nature Conservancy and the International Union for Conservation of Nature all warned that bioenergy crops could prove ecologically and economically disastrous, as many of the proposed energy crops are in fact invasive species.

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  • slayerab, on 05/22/2008, -1/+27Mr. Fusion?
    • centran, on 05/22/2008, -0/+6Hey Doc, you better back up, we don't have enough road to get up to 88.
    • jefu007, on 05/22/2008, -0/+6Where we're going, we don't need roads!
    • Rainemaker, on 05/22/2008, -0/+7If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious *****.
    • Tripper44, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2Hey Butt-heads!
    • dafragsta, on 05/22/2008, -0/+3Marty!
  • theliamburns1, on 05/22/2008, -3/+5Poop.
    • markp93, on 05/22/2008, -1/+3James Poop.
    • rabidbob, on 05/22/2008, -1/+1Exactly - we've been able to make bio fuel out of pig's ***** for some time now. Why are we devoting crop growing space to biofuels when we could be using these crops to grow delicious bacon AND fuel?!?
      • theliamburns1, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2O i'm sorry.

        I just meant i really have to go to the bathroom
  • uptown, on 05/22/2008, -0/+11There's a company called Nanologix that's been working with Welch's Grape Juice to turn their waste-water into energy. They convert activated sewage sludge into hydrogen using bacteria, and the bacterial reaction is self-propigating because the bacteria double every 24 minutes. Very cool stuff.
  • INDOAZZ, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2METHANE power is the future. Just ask the maker of Windex.
    • BXRWXR, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2Or Taco Bell.
    • PlutoPrime, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Or my bum hole.
    • rizzo2008, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1No you still have to drill for gas and our reserves are rapidly diminishing much like oil. If you could find an economically viable way to make it from bacteria though...
  • carolinaws, on 05/22/2008, -0/+17Thank you, Shirley Manson!
  • wynja, on 05/22/2008, -0/+4Sweet, so now we need to build ships that can suck up all the garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean to be used for fuel.
    • markp93, on 05/22/2008, -1/+1it would be kind of hard... http://theoystersgarter.com/2007/10/23/why-there-a ...
      • wynja, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1mmm yeah, no it wouldn't. FFS the article you linked found the plastic by....... wait for it...... trawling the water. You build ships that do this and filter out the plastics and ***** for conversion to oil.
        • markp93, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1you'd end up killing more sea life by trawling... so, what ends up being the bigger environmental issue at that point?
  • usgovterrorists, on 05/22/2008, -9/+4Maybe the terrorist United States Government can finally stop dumping garbage in the ocean!
    • awtripp, on 05/22/2008, -2/+6You are so useless. Every comment you make is the same tin foil hat *****. I'm sick of the way the US Government is being run, too, but I don't run around shout "US GOVERNMENT IS THE TERRORISTS!" I mean, ***** man, be constructive and productive, this negative mantra you keep chanting is just alienating you. Get a clue, chief.
      • ciaran036, on 05/22/2008, -2/+2Oh right. And then the same person will be so constructive and condemn Iran - even though they don't have nuclear weapons...

        I think it's you who is talking ***** - he has facts to back up his answers. Spouting things like 'tin hat' aren't exactly constructive, are they? He does not wear a tin foil hat. Nobody does. That's ridiculous.

    • dbucky, on 05/22/2008, -1/+2you forgot to tell us to "Play Wall Street like a PONZI SCHEME!"
      I see someone has calmed down a bit.
      • usgovterrorists, on 05/22/2008, -2/+3United States Government are terrorists, war criminals, and horrific liars.

        Where's the evidence that kerosene fires melted steel?
        How did the huge molten pools of metal get under the twin towers and building 7?
        9-11 was an inside job! 9-11 official story was a lie! What happened to building 7?

        Depleted uranium is a weapon of mass destruction!

        Play Wall Street like a PONZI SCHEME!

        The elections are rigged, unsecure voting machines & ballots!

        Terrorist United States Government mandated a fivefold increase in the use of biofuels.
        • Wonderama, on 05/22/2008, -1/+1Dude, you're pathetic.
        • TheFinaleofSeem, on 05/22/2008, -0/+11. Nobody said the steel melted, numbnuts. It didn't have to. It only needed to weaken enough, and that threshold was well within the temperatures in the burning towers and well before the burning point.
          2. Molten METAL. Aluminum and zinc both melt well within the temperatures of the burning towers.

          As for the rest of your drivel...Jesus Christ, get outside sometime. I'm sure that if the asylum lets you use a computer, they'll let you step out into the courtyard.
        • ciaran036, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2Oh sure... let's go out and stare at trees. Or get drunk. Real productive.
        • usgovterrorists, on 05/22/2008, -1/+1http://youtube.com/watch?v=Cx33GuVsUtE

          Has anyone a link to the official terrorist United States Government explanation of the moltel metal under 1,2, and building 7?
        • TheFinaleofSeem, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Whoa, a Youtube documentary! I'm sold! I already gave you an explanation, idiot. There would have been plenty of aluminum in the towers, and the heat was more than sufficient to melt it. Try again.
      • dbucky, on 05/22/2008, -2/+1please somebody insert that "face palm" graphic.
    • usgovterrorists, on 05/22/2008, -1/+4The U.S. Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.

      Hundreds of dolphins washed ashore in Virginia and New Jersey shorelines in 1987 with burns similar to mustard gas exposure.
      • rukeypoo, on 05/22/2008, -3/+0Then go bathe in it and get out of my face
      • awtripp, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2I'll need a source on that, because, this may shock you, but I don't believe the words that you write.
        • usgovterrorists, on 05/22/2008, -2/+2What's keeping you from using Google, and verifying it for yourself?

          I want you to think for yourself!

          Don't forget to check out HAARP earthquakes & weather, brought to you by the world's greatest terrorists the United States Government!

          Seek and you shall find!
        • ciaran036, on 05/22/2008, -1/+2I looked it up - it's reported on several websites - looks legit to me. Looks like it is the truth. The cold hard truth. It just shows you how stupid people are. Even when people are told that Iran do not have nuclear weapons, are not making any and have no intention to, they still don't believe it, despite that it is FACT.
  • fsjenkins2000, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Old News
    http://zedomax.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09 ...
  • gimianame, on 05/22/2008, -0/+9looks like Staten Island is the next Saudi Arabia
  • malex, on 05/22/2008, -0/+9WHO RUNS BARTERTOWN?
    • TheFinaleofSeem, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Not *****! Energy!

      Makes you wonder if you can turn raw sewage into biofuel. With all these advancements, it may be feasible. Looks like we can reduce our waste and run our cars for cheap at the same time. Let's hope it catches on.
  • bincoder, on 05/22/2008, -1/+5Don't peeps have to make a Lot of garbage to fuel a lawn mower, much less a 1974 4x4? I make at most 2 kitchen sized bags a week, mostly air plastic and paper. That weighs maybe 20 lbs maximum. Show me how to wave my magic wand and turn 20 lbs of garbage into 30 lbs (5 gallons) of gasoline and i'll show you the tooth fairy. Maybe it works for the owner of a landfill, if you happen to own a landfill.
    • arkaycee, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2OK so that's the garbage you throw out at home ... add in the garbage that the companies that make your cars and groceries and everything else you own, and the garbage your waiters throw out for you at restaurants and fast food places... there's a lot more garbage per-person than your 20 lb. bag.
    • pkghost, on 05/23/2008, -0/+1No, bincoder, your personal garbage output is not likely to satisfy all of your energy needs... That is not the idea. If we, as a society--god forbid as a species--, can figure out better ways to extract energy from our environment, we will all be better off in the long run.
  • bincoder, on 05/22/2008, -6/+1Don't peeps have to make a Lot of garbage to fuel a lawn mower, much less a 1974 4x4? I make at most 2 kitchen sized bags a week, mostly air plastic and paper. That weighs maybe 20 lbs maximum. Show me how to wave my magic wand and turn 20 lbs of garbage into 30 lbs (5 gallons) of gasoline and i'll show you the tooth fairy. Maybe it works for the owner of a landfill, if you happen to own a landfill.
  • alanr19, on 05/22/2008, -1/+3You mean Naples is the new Saudi Arabia. MAMA MIA!!!!

    .
  • Laura00, on 05/22/2008, -0/+0interesting!!!
  • TherealObadiah, on 05/22/2008, -4/+4"...the Nature Conservancy and the International Union for Conservation of Nature all warned that bioenergy crops could prove ecologically and economically disastrous..."

    Oh baloney. The Enviro-nuts were nearly in complete support of crop-based ethanol to replace evil oil. These same Envio-nuts are the ones almost single-handedly responsible for the high cost of fuel and food. They want fuel to be as expensive as possible so they can force everyone to bicycle to work each day.
    • pkghost, on 05/23/2008, -0/+2The cost of oil is, in reality, incredibly low. What we are not paying for now at the pump we will pay for later (and are already paying for) in CO2 countermeasures and other environmental repair efforts. The cost of using oil is not just in the dollars and cents, it is in the damage its extraction and use does to our environment, but thanks to short-sighted energy policies, we don't pay for that damage! We're just going to leave it to the rest of the world and its future generations. Great strategy, moron.

      One more thing. You think this is bogus because the enviro-nuts were in favor of it and are now against it? It's called UPDATING YOUR MOTHER F***ING WORLD VIEW based on new information. (Our President would do well to take note.) Furthermore, the enviro-nuts are not the ones running oil companies, investing in ethanol fuels, and driving up food prices worldwide... They're the ones riding their bikes to work, and they're happier, healthier, and more productive for it. Get a clue.
      • TherealObadiah, on 05/23/2008, -1/+1Typical Digger reply. It's "Big Oil", right? They're out to get us, huh? Sheesh. Globull warming is a complete fraud, but I know there are those who believe it with religious zealotry. Algore is getting rich selling carbon credits while he heats his Olympic sized pool and mansion and then jets off to some seminar on globull warming to collect more cash.

        The Enviro-nuts prevent drilling in ANWAR. The Enviro-nuts prevent drilling off the coasts. The Enviro-nuts oppose nuclear power. Bill Clinton closed off millions of acres of federal land to prevent access to hard, clean coal which could be used for gasification. The fuel crisis is all because of recklessly misguided Eco-nut policy demands.

        Final point. Updating one's world view is fine, but the article clearly states that the Enviro-nuts opposed crop-based ethanol, and that is utterly false. They supported it and pushed for it, they did not warn against it as the article clearly states.
        • pkghost, on 05/23/2008, -0/+2Typical moron reply. No, "Big Oil" is not out to get us, they're out to make as much money as possible. They will tell you that themselves. I'm not even sure why you brought them up considering I didn't make any judgements of big oil in my comment. Actually, I do know why you brought them up -- it's called an ad hominem attack. You want to damage my credibility by putting words in my mouth. No, thank you.

          Secondly, there is no fuel crisis. Reserves are up and consumption is down. High prices are caused primarily by HUGE increases in speculation on the oil market over the past 6 years and also the weak dollar, which is responsible for about a third of the increase in gas prices lately. Use Google, educate yourself.

          Finally, if the article is wrong, the article is wrong. Unfortunately, that doesn't help your argument that this all the fault of the enviro-nuts. If you want to toss around stereotypes and unqualified generalities, do it someplace else.
  • qaziop, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Quickly!!! Everyone make more garbage!
    • orangefly, on 05/22/2008, -0/+3did you find something with the smelliscope....???....
  • Rainemaker, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2Or... we can make like Dr. Brown and get our "trash" from Libyan Nationalists.
  • MikeFallopian, on 05/22/2008, -2/+0The biofuel revolution, like the hydrogen economy, is an overhyped myth. The real future of energy in the US is going to be a combination of solar, wind, nuclear and coal, with coal comprising a steadily shrinking share of energy production. Eventually fusion will become viable and it will replace fission in the very long term. Biofuels in their present form are driving up food prices and wasting government money in subsidies, and while there are some promising areas of research, they will never be a major part of our fuel economy.
    • TheFinaleofSeem, on 05/22/2008, -1/+1And how exactly are solar, wind, and nuclear going to power your car? Batteries simply aren't good enough to run your car as far or as fast as liquid fuel, and on top of that, how long does it take to charge your plug-in car? Not very feasible for long trips. Biofuels in their present forms are not feasible. That is a given. However, if these guys can make waste materials into biofuel, why the hell not? It reduces waste and gives us something productive from it. I fail to see the problem here.
      • MikeFallopian, on 05/22/2008, -0/+0Battery technology isn't stagnant - nanowire batteries with 10x the current energy density will probably be available within a decade, and as for speed, electric cars can deliver easily the same power as combustion cars, at a much higher efficiency.
  • LZeppelinJ0, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1"The company estimates that municipal waste could be used to produce 8-10 billion gallons of fuel annually. The untapped market of industrial waste could double that."

    Insane! Sounds like the ultimate solution to me, using what's causing the problem in the first place to create the fuel we're so dependent on. Hope this holds up :)
    • LilRabbitFooFoo, on 08/11/2008, -0/+2Since we use 80+ billion per year, this would account for 10% or more...though the energy costs of turning this into a biofuel would eat into that substantially. And, well, this estimate is talking about a best case scenario involving everything we throw away, which we'll never tap.

      Um, why don't we just put solar panels on every building's roof and become a net exporter of energy? We could have done that for the price of invading Iraq and we would never have to have given a damn about what happened in the middle east ever again.

      Oh yeah, I forgot, then there would be no huge profits to be made in processing, refining, and transporting whatever liquid fuel we are still dump enough to be using.

      Better profits to be made by a few dollars charged to every citizen day after day than to solve the problem once and for all...ahem.
      • LZeppelinJ0, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Bleak outlook but I totally understand your point of view, maybe "ultimate solution" was a bit too strong of a phrase, but it's a step
  • WatchDragon, on 05/22/2008, -0/+0How will a alterntive rock band lead the biofuel revolution?
  • camaroz06, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Damn people already made Garbage jokes...

    Always the bridesmaid never the bride when it comes to digg jokes.
  • Beanbones, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1"Garbage will lead the biofuel revolution."

    That's funny, I thought this was already the case.
  • leerayIG88, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Hello Mr. Fusion, will you be powering my high tech flying car?
  • snapple232, on 05/22/2008, -2/+0I don't believe it. What rubbish.
  • wertach, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2This is something I don't understand. WE have landfills and sewer plants with methane burners to get rid of the natural gas produced from them. It is just burned and could be used to produce electricity, ETC. Why isn't someone using this resource?
    • Beanbones, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2The more modern landfills already do this. The Penn & Teller episode on recycling also features a rep from one of these landfills. Worth checking out.
  • jasoninoakland, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1There's a company called Changing World Technologies that's been creating fuel oil from turkey processing waste. But it creates a stink:
    http://tinyurl.com/39njf5
    There's still work to be done, but the basic premise that there's potential energy captured in waste worth extracting is sound.
  • n3demonic, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2Take that Captain Planet
  • Zabbawack, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Like the DeLorean in back to the future!!! We don't need roads where were going!
  • 4abtrlife, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1This is great news. There's another company doing something similar. The founder is named Dr. Santilli, and he patented the gas he produces by organic wastes called MagneGas and he even renamed the molecules, magnecules. Not only is this clean energy but vehicles using MagneGas to power them produce oxygen while running. This is similar technology to HHO as described on http://www.SaveGasSaveEarth.com
  • JPOOPOO, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2Why isn't anyone talking about HEMP?
    • rizzo2008, on 05/26/2008, -0/+2hemp is much better than other crops for producing bio-fuels but getting oil from algae works even better. I agree the laws restricting the farming of hemp need to be repealed since you can plastics, clothing, and other things out of hemp that we will need when oil reserves dwindle.
  • pwr4, on 05/22/2008, -0/+2There's another company based in Long Island, NY that been working on turning not only garbage, but medical waste, biowaste from turkey processing plants, basically, anything that's not nuclear waste. And the "brewing process" is 85% efficient, only 15% of the oil that's produced is needed to sustain the brewing process. The heat generated from the process kills off anything harmful.

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/11 ...

    http://www.changingworldtech.com
  • lnahinu, on 05/22/2008, -0/+3I'll take the Delorean for a spin since garbage is the only thing that fuels it.
  • GRIMREAPER187, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1Garbage Will Lead the Biofuel Revolution and us back to the future!
  • neptuniac, on 05/23/2008, -0/+1Landfills are much more valuable than anyone realizes. All that plastic waste, for instance, is just sitting there waiting for us. Once oil is expensive enough, someone is going to find a way to turn those hydrocarbons into fuel, new plastics or whatever.
  • Amadeus2490, on 05/23/2008, -0/+1Okay, when I read the title I thought about two things:

    The Garbage Ball from Futurama

    The Band Garbage; Shirley Manson; I'm Only Happy When It Rains.

    I like Futurama, but I like Shirley Manson a lot more. Either way, you got my hopes (and other things) up for nothing.


  • Haoie, on 05/23/2008, -0/+1Right now biofuels are really hurting food prices worldwide. This is a good step.
  • luckyguy2000, on 05/23/2008, -0/+1italy is the richest country on earth!
  • neofreakiii, on 05/23/2008, -0/+1Yay! Go!Go! Garbage!
  • kingsaliva, on 05/23/2008, -0/+1Thanks Digg. For making a bad comment system worse.
  • rizzo2008, on 05/26/2008, -0/+1Actually making biofuels from algae is even better. It doesn't cut into the food supply and can produce up to 30 times the oil yield per acre compared to any other crops including hemp and switchgrass.

    http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/14/technology/perfect ...
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