[Biofuel] Ethanol Booms, Farmers Bust
No mention of the role of subsidies and the resultant dumping on poor countries' markets, sad to say. - Keith -- http://www.alternet.org/story/52073/ Ethanol Booms, Farmers Bust By Lisa M. Hamilton, AlterNet May 25, 2007 From the news these days you'd think farmers have never had a better friend than ethanol. Headlines holler that corn prices are soaring and that at this moment farmers are planting more acres of corn than they have in the last 50 years. Reporters writing about the ethanol boom are throwing around words like gold rush, jackpot, and nirvana. But if you actually are a farmer, ethanol and the high corn prices it brings is looking less and less like a blessing -- and more like a curse. In concept, corn ethanol could benefit American farmers. Anytime we as a country look to them to supply our daily needs, it's an opportunity for rural communities to win. The problem is that the boom is taking place in the same old agricultural economy, which works to the benefit of those on top: landlords, processors, and companies selling inputs like seeds and fertilizers. It's agribusiness as usual, and like always, farmers will finish last. "Initially we all were excited by the high prices," said Troy Roush, a sixth-generation farmer who grows 2,600 acres of corn in central Indiana. "But the truth is that the farmers won't keep any of it. There's an old saying that expenses will always rise to meet revenue. It all gets built in." And that's exactly what has happened: As the price of corn has gone up, so has the cost of growing it. In just two months, the price Roush paid for fertilizer doubled. And speculation has driven land prices through the roof. "It's insane," Roush said. "In the last four months our land values have increased 40 percent. We're all sitting around wondering if it's real." While most farmers own some land, the vast majority rent part or all of their acreage. Rents already swelled in some areas for this season, and farmers are bracing themselves for an even greater increase in 2008. A study by the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers forecast that if corn prices stay high, rent for prime farmland next year will rise by 19 percent -- to 218 dollars an acre. For young farmers, something rural America desperately needs, such inflation can make getting into the business impossible. It is true that ethanol can offer farmers more control in the market through cooperative ownership of production plants. But thanks to the recent boom, corporate investors from around the world are now building plants that dwarf the farmer co-ops of the 1990s. And in the rush to meet the government's renewable fuel mandate, most incentives no longer favor farmer-owned plants. In this new marketplace many farmer co-ops have cashed out, selling themselves partially or entirely to outside investors. According to the American Coalition for Ethanol, of the 75 plants slated for construction over the next two years only 25 percent are farmer-owned, and even those are often run in part by non-farmers from Des Moines and Chicago. Without ownership of ethanol plants, farmers return to being mere workers in service of a volatile market. While the price of corn may be at a glorious four dollars a bushel now, when it evaporates farmers will likely be left to pay for costs that reflect a boom but profits that reflect a bust. Considering that much of the biofuels industry is already calling corn an archaic fuel source, looking forward instead to cellulosic ethanol, this crash is bound to happen within the next few years. To Roush and his colleagues it's beginning to feel ominously like the lead-up to the farm crisis of the 1980s, when high times led to unsustainable debt. They fear that the near future holds widespread foreclosure, not rural salvation. To make matters worse, the boom is happening in a Farm Bill year. Congress is under tremendous pressure to peel back agricultural subsidies as they write the bill, and today's high corn prices and the promise of a bright, ethanol-powered future for farmers might give them the excuse to do so. Of course maintaining the subsidy system indefinitely isn't a solution, but the fact is that thousands of family farmers rely on those payments; to remove them without adequate replacement in such uncertain times could alone cause another farm crisis. Despite all the problems it's causing, four-dollar corn itself is not the problem. In a sense it's actually a good thing, for it means farmers are getting closer to a fair price for their product. But a high price today doesn't ultimately benefit farmers if they remain in a system that allows the price to freefall tomorrow. What farmers need in order to rebuild their communities and secure their farm incomes is not an ethanol boom -- or any kind of boom for that matter. They need a system that offers a fair return for their product
[Biofuel] Battle for biofuels drives world food prices higher
Agricultural commodities ain't necessarily "food". See: http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg68246.html Re: [Biofuel] DISTILLERY DEMAND FOR GRAIN TO FUEL CARS VASTLY UNDERSTATE http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg68542.html Re: [Biofuel] Chicken Little Strikes Again! CO2 is rising!C02 isrising!A - Keith -- http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2088808,00.html | Business | The Observer Battle for biofuels drives world food prices higher Heather Stewart Sunday May 27, 2007 The Observer America's thirst for environmentally friendly biofuels is driving up food prices around the world as farmers scramble to devote more land to corn, writes Heather Stewart. With the oil price back above $70 a barrel, biofuel looks increasingly attractive, and as more corn is grown to fill fuel tanks, the prices of other food crops are also being pushed up. 'The biggest impetus right now is the fact that the oil price is very high, and ethanol is very viable,' said Kona Haque, senior commodities editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit. 'It's a land issue: it's a competition for acreage. Countries are devoting an increasing amount of their land to fuel.' Even meat prices have been affected, as there is less land available to grow soybeans to feed livestock. Almost a quarter of this year's US corn crop is expected to be turned into fuel. Drought in Australia has added to the food prices spike, which is feeding through to world inflation. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] How America is betraying the hungry children of Africa
Food vs fuel? US ethanol and tortilla riots? Why are these people in Malawi growing maize and soy anyway? Hardly their best choice. See also: http://snipurl.com/rcij [Biofuel] Bushfood http://snipurl.com/rcik [Biofuel] Myth: More US aid will help the hungry http://snipurl.com/rcim Re: [Biofuel] US Foreign aid Food Dumping [Aid] Maintains Poverty http://snipurl.com/rcig [Biofuel] The US and Foreign Aid Assistance http://snipurl.com/rcih [Biofuel] Famines as Commercial Opportunity http://snipurl.com/rcii [Biofuel] Famine As Commerce http://snipurl.com/rcin [Biofuel] Inequality in wealth - Keith http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,2086227,00.html | Food monthly | The Observer Special investigation How America is betraying the hungry children of Africa Edina gets a free mug of porridge each day. Good news? Well, it is for the US government who dumps its leftovers in the name of charity. Read more from Alex Renton on food aid on our brand new food blog, Word of Mouth and join the debate Sunday May 27, 2007 The Observer It's early May and Malawi seems to be awash with corn. On the roads, trucks heavy with pale yellow maize heads rumble from the fields; in the villages nearly every woman and child is at work stripping the little kernels from their cobs, singing the harvest songs that give a rhythm to their work. Other women are pounding the maize with a giant pestle and mortar into flour to make the national staple dish - nzima - corn mash. (The men mostly seem to be occupied drinking the new season's maize beer.) It has been the best harvest in a dozen years or more. So why - and this is what we've come here to ask - in this time of historic plenty, is the rich world still sending its unwanted food to Malawi? This little southern-African country has had a rough decade. Staggering under the effects of an Aids epidemic that affects one in five of the population in some districts, there were famines here in 2002, 2003 and one in 2005, when a third of Malawi's 13 million people ran out of food. Until this April, over 300,000 were still being fed emergency rations by the United Nations World Food Programme. Malawi deserved a good year. But record harvests don't necessarily guarantee good times. 'We have so much maize this year - thanks be to God,' says Felicita Bailoni. 'But we have a problem over where to sell it. It's not just that the price is so low because there is so much maize, there isn't anyone to sell it to. The traders normally visit the village but they haven't come.' Felicita, 59, talks as she rubs the kernels from a cob into a basin before her. Even in the time of plentiful food she's worried. She and her husband Stephen look after her two grandchildren, whose mother died three years ago, and two other orphans. Most households in their village, Kunthembwe, have taken in the children of those who have died from Aids - which is particularly severe here around Blantyre in southern Malawi. Felicita and her enlarged family have more than enough food for today and for the year ahead - but they need cash to pay the children's school fees, for clothes and other necessities. And maize corn is so plentiful at the moment it fetches only eight Malawian kwacha, or about 3p a kilo - if you can sell it. In 2005, the price went up to 50 kwacha a kilo. The Bailonis are hoping to sell 100 50kg bags of corn ears - the cobs are lying round the back of their two-room house in a vast wooden cradle designed to keep the rats away. 'But if we wait till the price goes up, the weevils will spoil our maize,' says Felicita. 'We can only sit and worry.' 'The price is so low,' says Charles Rethman, a Malawi-based analyst of what the NGOs call 'food security', 'that we have a concern now about next year. Farmers will be put off growing maize, and they won't have the cash to buy the seeds for the next planting. So in 2008 we're looking at the possibility of another food crisis. So it's really important that we do everything we can to get the price up to a level that rewards the farmers.' With so much cheap corn available Rethman is bemused by a US government deal, announced in April, to ship $19.5 million of American corn and soya to Malawi as food aid. 'It's a nonsense,' he says. Everywhere I go in the little villages in the shadow of Michiru mountain I hear the same story. Plenty of maize but no market. This affects the very poorest. In one village I meet Lena Butao, a 24-year-old whose mother died last year, her father in 2003. (Aids has brought a collapse in life expectancy in Malawi to just 37 years). She looks after her three brothers and sisters, the youngest only 10. They managed to harvest 18 bags of maize from their parents' field, but it won't see them through this year. Lena needs to raise money to pay for school fees, soap, clothes and for medicine. She's in the middle of a bout of malaria; she shivers in the sunshine
Re: [Biofuel] protect your identity
On Sunday 27 May 2007 06:23:51 am Keith Addison wrote: > Hi Kirk > > Have you been having security/virus/whatever problems? Hope not. > > Best > > Keith & another good reason to go Linux or Mac. (as well as all the new virii & Trojans that Redmond products attract) The good news is that the new version of PCLinuxOS is released. For those interested, download (or procure) the CD & try it. I love it because everything just works! (with a small rider...). PCLOS has all the addons that other versions of linux do not include: much easier for a newbie (new user). Remember: Use MS products & you attract viruses! regards Doug ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] How America is betraying the hungry children of Africa
Let Them Eat Promises > Food vs fuel? US ethanol and tortilla riots? > > Why are these people in Malawi growing maize and soy anyway? Hardly > their best choice. > > See also: > > http://snipurl.com/rcij > [Biofuel] Bushfood > > http://snipurl.com/rcik > [Biofuel] Myth: More US aid will help the hungry > > http://snipurl.com/rcim > Re: [Biofuel] US Foreign aid > Food Dumping [Aid] Maintains Poverty > > http://snipurl.com/rcig > [Biofuel] The US and Foreign Aid Assistance > > http://snipurl.com/rcih > [Biofuel] Famines as Commercial Opportunity > > http://snipurl.com/rcii > [Biofuel] Famine As Commerce > > http://snipurl.com/rcin > [Biofuel] Inequality in wealth > > - Keith > > > > http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,2086227,00.html > | Food monthly | The Observer > > Special investigation > > How America is betraying the hungry children of Africa > > Edina gets a free mug of porridge each day. Good news? Well, it is > for the US government who dumps its leftovers in the name of charity. > Read more from Alex Renton on food aid on our brand new food blog, > Word of Mouth and join the debate > > Sunday May 27, 2007 > The Observer > > It's early May and Malawi seems to be awash with corn. On the roads, > trucks heavy with pale yellow maize heads rumble from the fields; in > the villages nearly every woman and child is at work stripping the > little kernels from their cobs, singing the harvest songs that give a > rhythm to their work. Other women are pounding the maize with a giant > pestle and mortar into flour to make the national staple dish - nzima > - corn mash. (The men mostly seem to be occupied drinking the new > season's maize beer.) It has been the best harvest in a dozen years > or more. So why - and this is what we've come here to ask - in this > time of historic plenty, is the rich world still sending its unwanted > food to Malawi? > > This little southern-African country has had a rough decade. > Staggering under the effects of an Aids epidemic that affects one in > five of the population in some districts, there were famines here in > 2002, 2003 and one in 2005, when a third of Malawi's 13 million > people ran out of food. Until this April, over 300,000 were still > being fed emergency rations by the United Nations World Food > Programme. Malawi deserved a good year. > > But record harvests don't necessarily guarantee good times. 'We have > so much maize this year - thanks be to God,' says Felicita Bailoni. > 'But we have a problem over where to sell it. It's not just that the > price is so low because there is so much maize, there isn't anyone to > sell it to. The traders normally visit the village but they haven't > come.' Felicita, 59, talks as she rubs the kernels from a cob into a > basin before her. Even in the time of plentiful food she's worried. > She and her husband Stephen look after her two grandchildren, whose > mother died three years ago, and two other orphans. > > Most households in their village, Kunthembwe, have taken in the > children of those who have died from Aids - which is particularly > severe here around Blantyre in southern Malawi. Felicita and her > enlarged family have more than enough food for today and for the year > ahead - but they need cash to pay the children's school fees, for > clothes and other necessities. And maize corn is so plentiful at the > moment it fetches only eight Malawian kwacha, or about 3p a kilo - if > you can sell it. In 2005, the price went up to 50 kwacha a kilo. The > Bailonis are hoping to sell 100 50kg bags of corn ears - the cobs are > lying round the back of their two-room house in a vast wooden cradle > designed to keep the rats away. 'But if we wait till the price goes > up, the weevils will spoil our maize,' says Felicita. 'We can only > sit and worry.' > > 'The price is so low,' says Charles Rethman, a Malawi-based analyst > of what the NGOs call 'food security', 'that we have a concern now > about next year. Farmers will be put off growing maize, and they > won't have the cash to buy the seeds for the next planting. So in > 2008 we're looking at the possibility of another food crisis. So it's > really important that we do everything we can to get the price up to > a level that rewards the farmers.' > > With so much cheap corn available Rethman is bemused by a US > government deal, announced in April, to ship $19.5 million of > American corn and soya to Malawi as food aid. 'It's a nonsense,' he > says. > > Everywhere I go in the little villages in the shadow of Michiru > mountain I hear the same story. Plenty of maize but no market. This > affects the very poorest. In one village I meet Lena Butao, a > 24-year-old whose mother died last year, her father in 2003. (Aids > has brought a collapse in life expectancy in Malawi to just 37 > years). She looks after her three brothers and sisters, the youngest > only 10. They managed to harvest 18 bags of maize from their parents' > field, but it won't see them th
[Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House
http://enertia.com/Science/HowItWorks/tabid/68/Default.aspx Swiped from Digg ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House
I have a book published in 1983 called "Sun/earth buffering and superinsulation" by Don Booth. It talks all about envelope houses, which seem to be much the same as the Enertia concept -- have a double envelope with thermal mass in the inner space and solar heated air circulating around between them. Z On 5/28/07, Mike Weaver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: http://enertia.com/Science/HowItWorks/tabid/68/Default.aspx Swiped from Digg ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House
I've used the cooling component's operating principle in roofs, with mixed success because builders don't take it seriously and leave out the exhaust vents *sigh...* But even an unexhausted but accidentally-leaky convection space helps a lot with cooling.-D - Original Message From: Mike Weaver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Monday, 28 May, 2007 4:25:18 PM Subject: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House http://enertia.com/Science/HowItWorks/tabid/68/Default.aspx Swiped from Digg ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less, sign up for your free account today http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/mail/winter07.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House
Hi Mike & all, i had a quick look at the Website of enertia,there are some very good aspects in their aproach,but i think this is a kind of overkill! We talking here of basically two Housshells wich are probably very costly and not ment for everybodys means! A significant aspect of full Woodhouses is not even mentionned in this website< the ability of wood to even out differences of humidity and therefore act as a catalizer. Everone owns a Loghome would be able to tell that the Klimate in a Loghome is much more natural and better than in conventional built studdwallstructure with all kind of windbarriers and vaporbarriers! The only disadventage,Loghomes are very labourintensive and therefore expensive. I am working since a while on a constructionmethod with double Woodwalls insulated with natural fiber insulation,not using vaporbarriers at all,so the whole wall is considered as a full Logwall. This method is costefficient, easy to assemble for homebuyers and ecological,since the protection of the wood is mainly to constructiv means! My Modelhome should be up by the end of this summer! Fritz - Original Message - From: Mike Weaver To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 10:25 AM Subject: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House http://enertia.com/Science/HowItWorks/tabid/68/Default.aspx Swiped from Digg ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] Remember
I'm sending this out to a whole bunch of folks, so please forgive me if I don't speak to you more personally. Maybe you think I'm a fool for sending this along. Maybe it will be just what you need. However you receive it, please know I send it because I care about you and wish for you only the best. Your experience will be enhanced with your audio on. Mike http://www.rememberingwholeness.com:80/___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] Fwd: Re: Growing canola for conversion to biodiesel - how is it done?
Fwd from Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group. Interesting for monocroppers maybe. >and could cause problems in your vehicles. Many farmers around here >ended up selling their canola oil and buying their fuel as they were >getting about the same price as fuel cost last year, and making enough >biodiesel for the farm is a big, messy, exacting process. That depends on what you call a farm. That might be true for 1,000-acre-plus mechanised monocropping agribiz deserts, not for real farms, IMHO (where you'd most likely be using other renewable energy sources as well, eg biogas, wind, solar, or should be). So you brew up a batch of biod once a week, no big deal. Best Keith >From: "Painter, Kate" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: Growing canola for conversion to biodiesel - how is it done? >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 08:41:20 -0700 > >Canola is grown as a field crop much like wheat. It's harvested with a >grain combine, which must be adjusted to deal with the small seeds and >the taller crop. It can be grown in fairly dry regions, particularly >winter canola, but it needs moisture to get established. We can raise >winter canola in an area with 10" annual rainfall but better crops are >achieved with higher rainfall. Spring canola can be grown in 15" or more >annual rainfall, but yields improve with higher rainfall. Canola likes >cool climates; temperatures over 85 degrees shut down the blooming. >There are many canola growing guides online. I have written a bulletin >for dryland spring canola production as well as several spreadsheet >production guides for winter and spring canola production at different >production areas in Washington and Oregon. They can be found at: > >http://cff.wsu.edu/Publications/index.html#budget > >After you have produced the crop, the seed will need to be crushed and >then the oil needs to be converted into biodiesel. ON average, you can >expect to get about 100 gallons of biodiesel per acre of canola but that >will depend on your yield, of course. Making biodiesel is not horribly >difficult but it needs to be done well or your fuel will be substandard >and could cause problems in your vehicles. Many farmers around here >ended up selling their canola oil and buying their fuel as they were >getting about the same price as fuel cost last year, and making enough >biodiesel for the farm is a big, messy, exacting process. > >Hope this helps. >Kate Painter > >-Original Message- >From: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lawrence F. London, >Jr. >Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 8:02 PM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [SANET-MG] Growing canola for conversion to biodiesel - how is >it done? > >Growing canola for conversion to biodiesel - how is it done? > >On a tract less than 100 acres, people I know want to grow >canola to augment their supply of oil for biodiesel production. > >1) what kind of soils and soil conditions and fertility are best >2) is it drought resistant >3) is it grown on flat land, row cropped or can it be grown in wide >raised beds >4) how is is harvested >5) what kinds of harvesters are available >6) is there a small harvester/combine available that could be used with >wide raised beds >or is there another type that could be modified for this purpose > >Thanks for any feedback. > >LL >-- >Lawrence F. London, Jr. >Venaura Farm >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://market-farming.com >http://market-farming.com/venaurafarm >http://venaurafarm.blogspot.com/ >http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Fwd: Re: Growing canola for conversion to biodiesel - how is it done?
Canola is just a low-erucic acid variety of rape, which is itself closely related to mustard and the other Brassicas. It's pretty fussy compared to, say. brown mustard (B. juncea) or black mustard (B. nigra), and its only advantage is that animals can eat the oil and seedcake, which in the case of mustard can have some ill effects due to erucic acid. (Tell that to the Indians who use mustard oil all the time). Mustard and rape are fine candidates for biodiesel production. The seeds are small, which requires some seedpress modification, and the plants, like all Brassica, are hard on the soil and prone to mildew and fungus. In their favor, they are often available by the acre as weeds along the road. Canola, OTOH, is always monocropped and is basically an invented plant which is not, IMO, compatible with the "appropriate technology" angle of small scale biodiesel. Check it out: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Brassica_juncea.html -K ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House
sheetrock does absorb water as does furniture etc. I know because when I lived in the Coachella valley (Indio - Palm Springs) I used evaporative cooling until humid air moved north from the gulf. For the next couple of days the ac condensate line ran water as the house dried out and the ac didnt pull down fast. Then once dried ran normally. Kirk Fritz Friesinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Mike & all, i had a quick look at the Website of enertia,there are some very good aspects in their aproach,but i think this is a kind of overkill! We talking here of basically two Housshells wich are probably very costly and not ment for everybodys means! A significant aspect of full Woodhouses is not even mentionned in this website< the ability of wood to even out differences of humidity and therefore act as a catalizer. Everone owns a Loghome would be able to tell that the Klimate in a Loghome is much more natural and better than in conventional built studdwallstructure with all kind of windbarriers and vaporbarriers! The only disadventage,Loghomes are very labourintensive and therefore expensive. I am working since a while on a constructionmethod with double Woodwalls insulated with natural fiber insulation,not using vaporbarriers at all,so the whole wall is considered as a full Logwall. This method is costefficient, easy to assemble for homebuyers and ecological,since the protection of the wood is mainly to constructiv means! My Modelhome should be up by the end of this summer! Fritz - Original Message - From: Mike Weaver To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 10:25 AM Subject: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House http://enertia.com/Science/HowItWorks/tabid/68/Default.aspx Swiped from Digg ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ - Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta.___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House
Hi Kirk, sheetrock is known to make Livingaereas very dry as its absorbs lots of humidity from the air with the disadventage of creating mildue! Furniture absorb very little humidity in compare. Evaporativ cooling does not harm furnitures but is not suitible for drywallconstruction Fritz - Original Message - From: Kirk McLoren To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 10:11 PM Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House sheetrock does absorb water as does furniture etc. I know because when I lived in the Coachella valley (Indio - Palm Springs) I used evaporative cooling until humid air moved north from the gulf. For the next couple of days the ac condensate line ran water as the house dried out and the ac didnt pull down fast. Then once dried ran normally. Kirk Fritz Friesinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Mike & all, i had a quick look at the Website of enertia,there are some very good aspects in their aproach,but i think this is a kind of overkill! We talking here of basically two Housshells wich are probably very costly and not ment for everybodys means! A significant aspect of full Woodhouses is not even mentionned in this website< the ability of wood to even out differences of humidity and therefore act as a catalizer. Everone owns a Loghome would be able to tell that the Klimate in a Loghome is much more natural and better than in conventional built studdwallstructure with all kind of windbarriers and vaporbarriers! The only disadventage,Loghomes are very labourintensive and therefore expensive. I am working since a while on a constructionmethod with double Woodwalls insulated with natural fiber insulation,not using vaporbarriers at all,so the whole wall is considered as a full Logwall. This method is costefficient, easy to assemble for homebuyers and ecological,since the protection of the wood is mainly to constructiv means! My Modelhome should be up by the end of this summer! Fritz - Original Message - From: Mike Weaver To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 10:25 AM Subject: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House http://enertia.com/Science/HowItWorks/tabid/68/Default.aspx Swiped from Digg ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ -- Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. -- ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House
Sheetrock is as American as Chevrolet. Easily 95% of the houses around here are sheetrocked. I only lived in one house with mildew and that was a rental in California. It actually had standing water underneath it when it rained. Had a moron for a landlord. Kirk Fritz Friesinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Kirk, sheetrock is known to make Livingaereas very dry as its absorbs lots of humidity from the air with the disadventage of creating mildue! Furniture absorb very little humidity in compare. Evaporativ cooling does not harm furnitures but is not suitible for drywallconstruction Fritz - Original Message - From: Kirk McLoren To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 10:11 PM Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House sheetrock does absorb water as does furniture etc. I know because when I lived in the Coachella valley (Indio - Palm Springs) I used evaporative cooling until humid air moved north from the gulf. For the next couple of days the ac condensate line ran water as the house dried out and the ac didnt pull down fast. Then once dried ran normally. Kirk Fritz Friesinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Mike & all, i had a quick look at the Website of enertia,there are some very good aspects in their aproach,but i think this is a kind of overkill! We talking here of basically two Housshells wich are probably very costly and not ment for everybodys means! A significant aspect of full Woodhouses is not even mentionned in this website< the ability of wood to even out differences of humidity and therefore act as a catalizer. Everone owns a Loghome would be able to tell that the Klimate in a Loghome is much more natural and better than in conventional built studdwallstructure with all kind of windbarriers and vaporbarriers! The only disadventage,Loghomes are very labourintensive and therefore expensive. I am working since a while on a constructionmethod with double Woodwalls insulated with natural fiber insulation,not using vaporbarriers at all,so the whole wall is considered as a full Logwall. This method is costefficient, easy to assemble for homebuyers and ecological,since the protection of the wood is mainly to constructiv means! My Modelhome should be up by the end of this summer! Fritz - Original Message - From: Mike Weaver To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 10:25 AM Subject: [Biofuel] Hybrid Solar House http://enertia.com/Science/HowItWorks/tabid/68/Default.aspx Swiped from Digg ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ - Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. - ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ - Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Remember
Right back at you bud. Beautiful. Kirk M&K DuPree <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I'm sending this out to a whole bunch of folks, so please forgive me if I don't speak to you more personally. Maybe you think I'm a fool for sending this along. Maybe it will be just what you need. However you receive it, please know I send it because I care about you and wish for you only the best. Your experience will be enhanced with your audio on. Mike http://www.rememberingwholeness.com:80/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ - Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains.___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Battle for biofuels drives world food prices higher
Hay prices are up 50% Kirk Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Agricultural commodities ain't necessarily "food". See: http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg68246.html Re: [Biofuel] DISTILLERY DEMAND FOR GRAIN TO FUEL CARS VASTLY UNDERSTATE http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg68542.html Re: [Biofuel] Chicken Little Strikes Again! CO2 is rising!C02 isrising!A - Keith -- http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2088808,00.html | Business | The Observer Battle for biofuels drives world food prices higher Heather Stewart Sunday May 27, 2007 The Observer America's thirst for environmentally friendly biofuels is driving up food prices around the world as farmers scramble to devote more land to corn, writes Heather Stewart. With the oil price back above $70 a barrel, biofuel looks increasingly attractive, and as more corn is grown to fill fuel tanks, the prices of other food crops are also being pushed up. 'The biggest impetus right now is the fact that the oil price is very high, and ethanol is very viable,' said Kona Haque, senior commodities editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit. 'It's a land issue: it's a competition for acreage. Countries are devoting an increasing amount of their land to fuel.' Even meat prices have been affected, as there is less land available to grow soybeans to feed livestock. Almost a quarter of this year's US corn crop is expected to be turned into fuel. Drought in Australia has added to the food prices spike, which is feeding through to world inflation. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ - Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. Check it out.___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
