Hi David and All, --- David Teal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dragonfly, > Keith's comprehensive reply omitted the following > authoritative British > research report. It supports the claims of positive > net energy balances > obtained from farmed ethanol and biodiesel. It > takes full account of > farming inputs such as fertiliser, cultivation, > packaging etc. and presents > all figures net of the taxes/subsidies which are > prone to cloud this issue > in some sections of the media. > http://www.biodiesel.co.uk/levington_tables.htm > > David Teal > If you want to get the most from almost anything you have to work things as systems. Done right ethanol is just 1 product of the system. A good way would be if I was a farmer is to grow with self produced fertilizers, crop rotation, raised bed and enhancing the natural insectivores and pesticides. By not using synthetic pesticides the the insects are eaten by their natural enemies. This cuts cost and lowers energy use by 50% or more. So now the crop cost less and has a lower energy, cost hurdle to get over. Then you take the grain , fruit, ect and brew it. Using good practices just making and distilling alcohol would use 15- 20 % of the alcohol's energy if it came from there. But in a system it doesn't. Alcohol only needs low grade heat, under 200 F , that can come from many places. Now the leftover mash is even a better human or animal food because the yeast grown in the beer has a much higher food value than straight grain, ect. So now you have alcohol with the feedstock basicly for free. But it doesn't stop there. The stalks leftover have more energy than the grain,ect. These can be turned into methanol or natural gas for use or sale or turned into electricity for use and sale. The ash makes a good fertilizer back for the next crop. A farm run like this will make 3-5 times the profit with little outside input. I believe it's the future of farming. Or brew wastes, either way alcohol is viable as an eff source of energy. The petro industry has many PR co's and research flacks putting out disinformation. Reasonable priced petro fuels will be gone soon so line up another source of energy now to soften the blows, learn to use less energy or start making enough to sell for the big bucks.
jerry dycus __________________________________________________ Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~> eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups Click here for more details http://click.egroups.com/1/11231/0/_/837408/_/981117805/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]