What is Digg?95 Comments
- gothicform, on 10/24/2007, -9/+22You make more money from biodiesel than you do from food so you don't grow food. Also the idea that biodiesel is carbon neutral is rubbish. If I cut down a rainforest to plant it then obviously I have reduced the amount of carbon sinks in the earth's atmosphere. Bushco don't care though, all they care about is maintaining the profits of oil companies, corporations so self serving and greedy they would literally cook the planet alive to make an extra buck. The money should be invested in renewables and electric powered cars but thats too obvious.
- Wosat, on 10/24/2007, -1/+11Bio-diesel > Ethanol (*especially* ethanol from corn)
- elguapo1976, on 10/24/2007, -1/+10I'm just glad Biodiesel is gaining so much more momentum than that Corn based Ethanol ***** that is glutting America...talk about a cash cow.
Corn based Ethanol is evil, inefficient - though good for your whiskeys, bourbons etc :)...that's it. - greysun, on 10/24/2007, -3/+12Guys... take a look here before you start bashing Biodiesel : http://www.cityofdenton.com/pages/mygovenvironment ...
I happen to fuel both of our family cars with fuel from them... I feel all tingly inside. - Opheleum, on 10/24/2007, -0/+6Actually, in many areas of the country (Midwest in particular) there are significantly more trees now than there were before westerners came; the Midwest & plains states were predominantly just that: plains. Things like the Homestead Act in the 1800's (gave 100 acres to farmers on condition that they plant 40 of those acres as forest) had a massive impact on the number of trees in the area.
As to other areas of the country, I am admittedly ignorant about (though up here in PA, there's no lack of trees) - greysun, on 10/24/2007, -0/+6Cows are already being fed ... but their waste products aren't being utilized. Diesel is a very primative energy source and doesn't require much processing to make. You could practically grind up your trash and run a car on it... it is the closest viable thing to 'Mr Fusion' that we have right now.
- krnldmp, on 10/24/2007, -1/+6Not necessarily, at all. Expecially, there is no sulfur dioxide emission from biodiesel.
- Scruffydan, on 10/24/2007, -0/+5not all biodiesel comes from food crops, algae is super efficient an doesn't compete with food
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/bi ...
"While each acre of corn produces around 300 gallons (1,135 liters) of ethanol a year and an acre of soybeans around 60 gallons (227 liters) of biodiesel, each acre of algae theoretically can churn out more than 5,000 gallons (19,000 liters) of biofuel each year. " - Wosat, on 10/24/2007, -1/+61) You're confusing bio diesel with ethanol. (check out what's happening to the price of corn)
2) How can you be against bio-diesel and be a Bush-hater? Please pick one.
3) How does bio-diesel help the oil companies?
4) Plants ARE renewable.
5) Does everything have to be about BUSH??? I guess Bush is the reason they don't have electric cars that all run on pixie dust and good intentions in Europe, Asia, Australia...
I gotta hand it to you, you have some unique views. I couldn't come up with more absurd, contradictory arguments if I tried. Now you've got me wondering if you were trying to be funny somehow... :-/ - Ducttape08, on 10/24/2007, -4/+8That is not true, it can be created using existing resources that are currently wasted, for example Safe Renewables Corporation creates millions of gallons from chicken fat
- wootup, on 10/24/2007, -1/+5Why is he being dugg down?! He is absolutely right
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/1563575 ... - Ducttape08, on 10/24/2007, -4/+8This is a very viable source Safe Renewables Corporation in Texas along with Biofuels Power corporation provide BD and electricity from chicken fat and beef tallow, last i checked you don"t need rain forest for chickens and cows
- sdcarter, on 10/24/2007, -0/+4and you constantly smell like a french fry... but who doesn't like french fries?
- snotrokit, on 10/24/2007, -0/+4Becasue the US Government got involved, pretty much a guarantee that it will get corrupted, screwed up, and some ***** is getting rich on it.
- nixfu, on 10/24/2007, -1/+5My prediction for the year 2107...
1) Nuclear power is nearly 80% of all power sources, solar/wind/hydo will make up the rest... fission or fusion who cares. Civilian ships use nuclear like military. Nuclear powers the cities, the infrastructure, and is used to provide the electric to power trains, bus lines, and small electric vehicles(autos/trucks) that either use batteries or hydrogen which was generated via electric power as their portable fuel source.
2) Bio-diesel is used for long distance non-connected engines such as those used on Airplanes and small watercraft.
Frankly who cares if the world runs out of oil, we CAN DO IT if we want to....the world will NOT END when the oil does...we will just move on to the next cheapest alternative. If the 7-11 is out of the $3.99 BUD LIGHT, you go ahead and make due with the $525 MGD. Simple economics. - redxxx, on 10/24/2007, -0/+3Either he is just retarded, or he is trying to imply that plants tend to be grown using non-sustainable farming practices, and as such, still drain resources from the environment, making them not really renewable.
- sockpuppets, on 10/24/2007, -2/+5It is if you're a tree.
- Bodhinature, on 10/24/2007, -0/+3Its great. I love it. Now, multiply that by 600 million and lets see how viable a petrol alternative it actually is.
- greysun, on 10/24/2007, -0/+3"All those people who are praising it are actually slowing down our progress into finding a truley green and renewable source of energy"
We can't go cold turkey on energy... there has to be baby steps. There's nothing wrong with replacing dino-diesel with a renewable source until we can cut over to our solar powered hovercrafts. Biodiesel can run in 90% of the diesel vehicles already out there, so why not go ahead and do it until we come up with something better? - Scruffydan, on 10/24/2007, -2/+5There probably are, but its not a good thing. A tree farm is hardly a functioning ecosystem
- nixfu, on 10/24/2007, -0/+3I bet $20 your a YES on government run/mandated health care too!
- Bodhinature, on 10/24/2007, -0/+3That doesn't mean its viable for global use. There are 600 million cars in the world.
- krnldmp, on 10/24/2007, -2/+4*****. I'd gladly plant my whole yard full of hemp for seed rather than mow the grass.
- Scruffydan, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2working link http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/bi ...
- sallos, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2I am SOOOOO sick of the yeah lets use destroy our food supply to make gas sarcastic argument!!! I see this crap on here under every ethanol/bio diesel story.
Its not your land and its not your crops! If you want to grow corn and sell it only to people to use for food then do it. Farmers are just following supply and demand like everyone else, no one is telling you that you have to work a job that helps feed hungry children instead of making more at a different job. We live in a free market, let it work. If you are unhappy with biodiesel don't use it, and please, stfu and quit acting like we are in some sort of communist country where the govt is kicking you off land to grow crops to use for things other then feeding you. - sallos, on 10/24/2007, -1/+3I'm confused, was this sarcastic? Because I agree, plants are renewable, lets use them
- Soapdish, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2Water vapour is a product of combustion too. It's the reason exhaust is visible in cold temperatures.
- recipher, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2Not necessarily... at all? ;)
- Soapdish, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2I'd like to see them move to coal-gas fuel cells.
- BigW, on 10/24/2007, -2/+4The price of corn in America is not causing the death of millions. Before ethanol I had never in my _life_ seen real demand for corn such that it would have a market value that didn't require the government spending our tax money to prop up farmers. Now they finally get the ability to make good money on their corn crop and they're all of the sudden the enemy. Before ethanol excess corn would go to waste every year, now it doesn't.
Also, those aren't unsafe practices causing the great gains in corn yield, its actually the really good land management and crop rotation policies and biotech advances that are driving the record corn crop, not dust bowl practices. - olik, on 10/24/2007, -2/+4Biodiesel is largely a net energy loss BUT there is some low hanging fruit. It cannot replace oil, probably the best replacement for a majority of our energy needs is nuclear, but at somewhere between 5% and 10% of our energy it can be quite beneficial. What we need to avoid is dumping resources into developing this thing just to please people with a vested interest. (Google "biodiesel net energy")
- starkruzr, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2Source, please.
Oh, wait. You don't have one. - had3l, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2What I don't ***** understand is why America can't get Ethanol from something other than corn. It's easy, as soon as your harvest is done, don't crow any more corn, grow something else like sugarcane or some genetic modified supercrop.
- grungemusic3001, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2Your prediction, while a favorable one, will surely not happen. 80% from nuclear? We have enough coal in the U.S. to last 300yrs, and nobody us going to shut down coal plants if they're still making money, which they will. I like your ambition though.
- Bodhinature, on 10/25/2007, -2/+4He is right! Not only that, bio-diesel takes so much energy and water to grow, harvest, refine, that the rate of energy return compared to other alternative forms of energy makes it more inefficient than electrolysis to harvest hydrogen. Biodiesel is a terrible idea.
- magneon, on 10/24/2007, -1/+3So let me get this straight. If the entire *world* switches to doing nothing but growing every inch of unused land with biodiesel crops, we'll make nearly twice as much oil equivalent energy as the USA needs? You forget that the USA uses 1/3 of the world's yearly oil, thus this is less than 2/3 of the worlds oil supply, at a huge drain to our natural resources.
Yes, the fuel may be marginally cleaner, but the plant-carbon cycle is still not supposed to occur in the atmosphere and, how much room do we have for increasing food growth. You know, to feed the starving? Yes, lets burn the food before feeding the world... ( yeah. I know that most plants used for biodiesel aren't edible, but it's still using arable land). - thebellmaster1x, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2Because, Lord knows, there's no way to change the design of the engine such that it's adaptable to biodiesel.
- robche, on 10/24/2007, -5/+7Biodiesel is not a green source of energy people, its a renewable source. All those people who are praising it are actually slowing down our progress into finding a truley green and renewable source of energy. If you look at the LCA of Biodiesel it requires vast amounts of energy to produce it. Energy that comes mostly from electricity, via coal-fire plants. It also requires vast amounts of land, pesticides etc. to grow the crops to produce biodiesel.
And yes I know you can get Biodiesel from animal fats and oils, but again this isnt a global solution, Animal fat biodiesel works like crap in cold climates and can lower engine life if not filtered properly.
Seriously, please stop touting this technology, we need more government subsidies to go into newer hydrogen type technologies.
Farm for food, not fuel! - Wosat, on 10/26/2007, -0/+2Upcoming Honda Diesels:
http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center-article_30/ - mOdQuArK, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2Most of them can grow their own food, as long as they're not competing with subsidized agricultural produce from large corporate farms in the U.S.
- dafragsta, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2I'd never spend $525 for any beer, even if Samuel Adams brewed it himself in the reserve tank of his toilet.
- elk1, on 10/24/2007, -0/+2that quote compares apples to oranges to bananas.
ethanol vs biodiesel vs biofuel (whatever that might be) - TheCasablancan, on 10/24/2007, -0/+1I just wish there was a greater selection of diesel cars here. The only ones I ever hear about are the VWs, and I think Mercedes used to have one. A small citroen would not be terrible, but I will always have a special place in my heart for the Audi A8.
- Monk22, on 10/24/2007, -0/+1thanks hippies
- jsffive, on 10/24/2007, -1/+2Ok. Where's the first MILLION barrels of it?
For that matter, where's the first FORTY MILLION BARRELS A DAY? Because that's what it's going to take to replace what we use presently. - nkthen, on 02/26/2008, -0/+1Biodiesel is definitely the future...
http://www.biodieselathome.net - kd1s, on 10/24/2007, -0/+1And here's the kicker, if biodiesel works on cars it will also work on oil burners for heating systems.
- jsffive, on 10/24/2007, -0/+1Yeah. And I swore I'd stop smoking when cigarettes went over fifty cents a pack...
However, I presently have a twenty gallon tank in my car. The last economic model that I read about projected that gas will have to get to eight dollars a gallon before the economics become feasible to switch to an alternative.
That's one hundred and sixty dollars... to fill my tank... ONCE...
THERE'S NO CHEAP ALTERNATIVE.
At least, not yet. - sallos, on 10/24/2007, -0/+1Did you copy and paste that comment from someone else out of some other story comments? Biodiesel from corn is never once mentioned in this article.
- hydroplane, on 10/24/2007, -1/+2Biodiesel is PEOPLE!
It's PEOPLE! -
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