I found this very interesting and if anyone knows more data on other trees and plants, I like to know. With 25 barrels per hectare, the current annual oil consumption would need more than 11 giga hectars of land.
The yield would be a rounded 2,500 barrel per square km and annual oil consumption would need 11,699,000 square km. This is more than the land mass of USA. For US internal consumption (25% of world), it would need to grow sapium sebiferum on one quarter of its land mass, or approximately on all its current agriculture land. If US average can be lowered to the current consumption for California, it only need 14% of its land mass. On Swedish consumption level, it will need 8% of its land mass. It is an extreme example, but it does send a message about the need of efficient energy usage and this includes the recent discussions about SUV, corporate greed etc. Hakan At 07:35 PM 8/10/2002 -0600, you wrote: >The outer covering of the seeds contains a solid fat known as Chinese >vegetable tallow, and the kernels produce a drying oil called stillingia >oil. Candles, soap, cloth dressing, and fuel are made from the tallow. The >oil is used in machine oils, as a crude lamp oil, in making varnishes and >paints (because of its quick-drying properties), and as a substitute for >linseed oil. The oil is also reportedly used in Chinese medicine as an >emetic or purgative, but overdoses can cause violent sickness and perhaps >death (Duke 1983). S. sebiferum may represent an industrial toxic hazard in >terms of both pro-inflammatory and tumor-promoting effects (Brooks et al. >1987). After the seeds have been processed, the residual cakes are often >used as fertilizer/green manure. A black dye can be made by boiling leaves >of S. sebiferum in alum water (Duke 1983). Tallow wood is white and >close-grained, suitable for carving and for making blocks in Chinese >printing. The wood is also used for furniture making and incense. > >In the early 1900s, the Foreign Plant Introduction Division of the U.S. >Department of Agriculture introduced S. sebiferum into Texas and other parts >of the Gulf Coast states in order to establish a local soap industry (Scheld >and Cowles 1981). In the 1970s and early 1980s, S. sebiferum was regarded as >a promising biomass candidate in the Gulf Coast region of the United States >because of its ability to resprout, its rapid growth rate, and its drought >and salt tolerance (Scheld and Cowles 1981). Field trials demonstrate that >it can produce six times as much woody biomass as cottonwoods and aspens >(Populus spp.) in Wisconsin (Scheld and Cowles 1981). S. sebiferum can be >easily grown by conventional agricultural methods and can provide woody >biomass for direct burning or for conversion into charcoal, ethanol, or >methanol (Scheld and Cowles 1981). > >Oil from S. sebiferum seeds can potentially be a substitute for petroleum. >Scheld et al. (1980) reports yields of S. sebiferum seeds ranging from 4,000 >to 10,000 kg/ha, and estimates that 25 barrels of oil per year can be >produced as a source of energy. In addition to its biomass and energy value, >S. sebiferum has been extensively planted and propagated for ornamental >purposes (Duke 1983). > > http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/esadocs/documnts/sapiseb.html > >25 barrels of oil annually per hectare is pretty impressive >Kirk > > > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Biofuels list archives: >http://archive.nnytech.net/ > >Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. >To unsubscribe, send an email to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/RN.GAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
