What is Digg?49 Comments
- hookysun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31they could also serve as windbreakers to prevent soil erosion. and to transform earth into a more wookie-friendly planet.
- friend18, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26Geneticly mutated trees. Todays natural recourse. Tomorrow's evil world dominator.
- megaloid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22*WAAAUUUGGGHHH AARRUNGGH*
(this is the sound of a wookie agreeing with you) - Pluckie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18It's good to know that lots of stuff is starting to be looked at with "How can this help to promote alternative fuel advancements?" in mind.
- Rice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Depleted soil?
- MikeSD34, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Lets not forget that trees also absorb some of the CO2 we dump into the air.
- RetroRufio, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Dude, it's spelled 'skills'
- Narpas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@ Sparc: Run, forest! Run!
- dzee, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7It's good to know that there is a focus on alternate fuel sources but this story is also good for the advancement of reforestation of land that was bastardised by loggin and in Irelands case, Cromwell.
- alnik, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I am just wandering, do we need another crisis to understand that bio is NOT the way to go... Why? 1. Expensive (relatively) to make 2. Depends on weather 3. The biggest - Soil erosion - when everyone will be driving on ethanol, how much corn will we need to grow annually? Do you think corn can grow in sand (that what the soil will become after several decades or may be even years of active harvesting... Ideas?.
Solar roofs and walls, nuclear and hydredgen are the way to go... - arestme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/HybridPoplarT2.htm
- connman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@MikeSD
That's true, but it's only a temporary CO2 sink (until the tree dies and decomposes, releasing the carbon again). And in the case of using these trees for ethanol, the carbon they absorb will just be released again once the fuel is burned. The benefit, of course, is that the net carbon change in this process would be close to zero.
In a way, you could look at the burning of fossil fuels as a widescale release of a carbon sink (carbon from plant material that has been stored as coal, oil, etc) back into the atmosphere. In any case, I hope they manage to modify these poplars to where the yield per acre makes it all worthwhile. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3There can be many other uses for these types of genetically mutated trees. For example, I think China could use these fast growing trees for their fight against desertification. They've been trying to halt the spread of the Gobi desert due over grazing of grassland and deforestation for decades now. There have been major sandstorms that spread particulate matter as far away as the West Coast of the US and increasing air pollution there. Hopefully, this is another tool the Chinese can use. The success of the Chinese in their fight against the desert means cleaner air for us.
- lazydrumhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2bamboo and kudzu are more interesting.
- 420666, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4still not as efficient as hemp, but pretty close.
- kakwakas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3He's right. Hemp grows incredibly quick and can be used to make biofuel (like biodiesel) because of the oils in the seeds and stalk.
These trees are also a great idea, though, as there seems to be a big stigma attached to hemp that no one believes it can be used for anything other than smoking... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yay for Purdue.
- nixfu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, I for one welcome our new super monster growth tree overlords.
- neggbird, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2With the amount of ***** people do, I'm sure that problem wouldn't be too hard to solve.
- abqjudy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"To me they are different in that one's a plant the other is a tree"
Last I heard, a tree IS a plant. - overlordmead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2except that corn isn't the ethanol solution. People grow it because it is subsidized not because it is profitable. Check tradrjoe's post... he knows.
- romistrub, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Maybe I'm crazy but... once the money is put into this research, I have a feeling that "tree farms" will be cheap and easily sustainable compared to "solar roofs and walls". Speaking of which, does this solar technology not also depend on the weather? Does solar panelling convert carbon dioxide into oxygen? :P... I think a biological approach will be safest to preserve the planet (if we even care about that anymore)...
Then again, I'm thinking of all the other useful aspects of such fast-growing trees... - Qenton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well I hope there is a lot of breakthroughs in the next 2 to 3 years or so. After that the economy will have adjusted so that gas is relatively cheap again and the funding for finding alternate fuel sources will dry up again.
- megaloid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@spark:
Hmm...but that would be...hasty. - mmechtley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great, trees that grow easily anywhere, and quickly to boot. Maybe they will prolifically produce pollen too, and we can have another Kudzu on our hands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu - abqjudy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But the gas, oil and coal are not easily replaceable. Once they are gone, it will take unknown number of years to replace the stores in the earth. And who know whether we could even survive the catastrophic conditions that were required to create the carbon based fuels in the first place. Learning to fit into sustainable methods of living on the planet goes far beyond the short term economy.
- CyberGlitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The nutrients are put back in the soil via decomposed leaves. All that is taken is the Carbon product (cellulose) which the plant had produced by taking CO2 and water out of the air (both of which are produced when ethanol is burned by cars).
So really, these trees convert air into ethanol, not nutrients. Everything is recycled. - 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here's one that isn't mutated, and it works fine where it's used.
http://www.paulownia.org/ - constantskeptic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1reminds me of "Back to the Future" and the crazy idea of "breeding pine trees". Quote from the movie: "You space bastard, you killed our pine!" Very good idea though to help quell the increase in CO2. But as for me, I think we are all still doomed, cause I am the Constant Skeptic.
http://www.constantskeptic.com/wordpress - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This coming from a guy named diggsucksmynuts. Really mature.
- twiztedambience, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sure, initially it sounds great for the rainforest, but what happens when we kill off the native plants and animals by introducing these fast growing monsters which will probably outgrow and overpower anything else native.
Plus, wouldn't this just encourage forestation?
If used for fossil fuels, this would encourage more forestation everywhere since more things may demand it due to a sharp increase in supply and massive drop of price, possibly..
Anyways, despite how nice it initially sounds, this could be an environmentalist's worst enemy, as well as a conservationist's enemy. - nerditup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"in memory of a real tree" *kick*
- 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I use Kudzu in compost for my garden. Kudzu leaves makes the dirt fluffier.
That stuff is great if used properly. - pixelguru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Tulip Poplars can grow 20' in 6 years, but I'd never want one in my yard. Their height and relatively soft wood makes them very prone to storms. Sometimes the tops will get torn off, but I've also seen them frequently crack off at the base or rip out of the ground. A 100' tree causes a lot of damage coming down, and from what I've seen, they AIM at houses.
- dzee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1To me they are different in that one's a plant the other is a tree. I imagine the tree produces larger amounts of oxygen too which would make it perfect for city areas with large buildup of CO2.
- USERNAMEDSOBER, on 05/15/2008, -0/+0hello, i hate neibhors, i wish i lived on 100 acres so i didnt have any neibhors. If i had my own house and had to have neibhors i would grow lots of trees to block out the ugly sight of them. we live in a very overcrowded world. who wants to come home surrounded by people who are to close for comfort. not me. i am going to be moving to alaska very soon. i find sites that intersest me and randomly post comments. thanks for listening
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This has to be the worst attempt at humor I've seen.
- proxybot767, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i'll be more than happy to seend any one some tallow tree seeds. these thing grow just as fast and there seeds have the natural fuel source. the tree's seeds have a natural hydro-carbon
http://www.inventionconvention.com/americasinventor/dec97issue/section12.html
this would be a great source of renewable entergy. - Shansha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Good evening,
Im new at this site, just browsing around on the internet to get some answers if the topic about genetically grown trees were infact true. This topis got me really interested because I just finished watching a movie called,"Severed". It is about how trees were injected with mutated substances to produce growth, which then altered the whole environment. A logging company had log cutters or labourers we call them, anyways, they were doing their daily jobs until one of these workers had an accident and cut themselves with the same tool they used to cut-down the tree. Long story short, the sap substance from the tree, which had the genetic chemical mixed in them, got into the blood stream of the person and mutated its genes, resulting... workers that became ZOMBIES!
Now that is freakishly scary... could it happen? - AlbinoRaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Grows fast, spreads like a weed, built to be highly combustible.
I want to see how big that fire looks from space in the dry season, which seems to be every summer now. Somehow regular forests that burn down like matchsticks weren't cool enough, now you have a FAST growing firebug dream.
Maybe lighting strikes can be outlawed? Anyone here to second the nomination? - arpad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You keep track of that? Man, you need a hobby.
- Saiyanz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It's great how they are searching for producing alternate fuel quicker, but this doesn't seem very pragmatic to me. Wouldn't removing lignin have negative side affects on the trees, such as making it more susceptible to diseases or fungi which in turn use up the cellulose for their own purposes therefore the efforts would become futile. Also we need a long term solution not a quick patch to the fuel problem.
- wistar, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3But can it be applied to future NBA stars?
- romistrub, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3For once, we've got some people with some forsight AND innovation skillz running a project that might actually do something! I wonder if they've done studies on the adverse effects of so many efficient trees...
- sparc, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Remember in the movie, The Lord of the Rings (the last of the triology, I think) the trees became alive. That is they actually could walk and FIGHT. Are we headed there you think? With these genetically mutated trees...
JK...
But wouldn't it be nice to plant some trees in your lawn and know good and well that it would only be a year or two from planting that you can totally disregard (block out) your neighbors... - trdrjoe, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3Prove us wrong! Prove us wrong! Prove us wrong! There's $100,000 dollars on it.
This from http://www.jackherer.com/
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; meet 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 has done it before . . . CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA! - romistrub, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1habit... need a tampon?
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