Here's the solution: Start with an ethanol burning internal combustion engine. Science develops a free-living chloroplast system (FLCS) that uses sunlight to convert CO2 and water directly to glucose and oxygen (the oxygen is then recycled through the engine). A fermentation system converts this glucose into ethanol and CO2 (the CO2 is recycled into the FLCS). The ethanol is used to power the automobile's internal combustion engine, producing water and CO2 as an exhaust. This exhaust is then recycled through the FLCS to produce more glucose. All this is fitted on and into a standard size automobile. The only input? Sunlight. The only output? Energy. The only drawbacks? The FLCS might have to be several hectares in size and it may take several days to produce an hour's supply of ethanol.
This whole arrangement is called Biochemical Self-Sustaining Synergism, or BS-cubed for short. Warren Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist (503)246-8613 -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of William Silvert Sent: Friday, 02 February, 2007 08:14 To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: If not Ethanol, what then? I looked at Mike's web page and I am quite ignorant about the bioenergetcs of various terrestrial crops (I work in the marine environment where plants are those little one-celled critters), but I wonder whether if grasses are so suitable for biofuels, what about the discarded parts of food crops, such as corn stalks and potato plants. I realise that there is nutritional benefit to plowing them under, but could they be used in other ways? Another poster mentioned hydrogen and a reduced population -- I really don't see how we could get enough hydrogen from wind and solar power unless we used a lot of hydrogen fusion to greatly reduce our population. Bill Silvert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Palmer, Mike" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "William Silvert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 3:51 PM Subject: RE: [ECOLOG-L] If not Ethanol, what then? Bill, Quite a number of people are working on the use of Low-Intensity, High-Diversity (LIHD) systems (to use Dave Tilman's term). This contrasts markedly with High-Intensity, Low-Diversity (HILD) systems such as corn or transgenic Miscanthus. LIHD systems have advantages in not only being carbon-negative, but in promoting biodiversity and preventing habitat loss and degradation (see my arguments in http://ecology.okstate.edu/Libra/biofuels.htm ) ---Mike Palmer -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of William Silvert Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 8:51 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] If not Ethanol, what then? In the recent discussion of biofuels, there seems to be a consensus that producing ethanol from corn has serious adverse consequences both ecological and economic. However I have not seen anyone address the broader question of what alternatives we have in the long run. Fossil fuels will eventually run out - oil in a century or so at most, coal in several centuries - and while there may be some wonderous new technology to fill the gap, we cannot count on that. I suspect that combustible fuels will always be with us, and I wonder what they will be. Bill Silvert
