On Wed, 11 Dec 2002 16:51:21 -0800 (PST), you wrote:
>There is way too much debate on whether on not to >use these "alternate" fuels because of >sustainability. Clearly, when American farmers >are paid to not grow crops the issue seems to be >resolved! Too much debate and not enough action! >I have been contemplating biodiesel in an older >Benz but if I wait for the testing, and the >debates and wait for the meeting of the minds, I >will be waiting a long time. >Time to brew up some fat in the garage! Well, really, I couldn't agree with you more, from a personal "get it done" perspective. The debate over sustainability is important perhaps not directly to your own project but to whether the powers-that-be vote to get over the umpteen different hurdles that are thrown in the way of alt-fuel efforts by the petrol industry, and to get the hell out of the way of legitimate competition in the fuel industry and waste recycling industry. In my estimation, of those hurdles, one of the toughest is in getting an accurate read on sustainability, alongside a few others such as backward compatability with legacy machinery, breaking through the worldwide fuel distribution in-place legally-protected monopolies or near-monopolies, new environmental issues that may come up with relatively new technologies, and a few others I guess. If petrol were sustainable and somewhat more environmentally friendly to drill, refine and use, we probably wouldn't care nearly as much about finding alternatives. It's pretty cheap at present, energy dense and useful in myriad ways. Lack of U.S. domestic availability also contributes to the search for alternatives. The payment of U.S. farmers not to grow crops doesn't settle the issue for me because if you're talking about not only feeding all U.S. citizens but also replacing most U.S. fuel needs with biofuels then the amounts needed are staggering... not at all just what is needed for one side (food). What I like to focus on is that we have waste (such as grease from homes and restauraunts) which is presently not optimally used. This, to me, is a clue in economics that something is a bit amiss. Theoretically, an enterprising person, in a competitive economy (which ours is often alleged to be) would be able to spot that "waste" and make use of it and make money from it, or at least make a go of it. MM Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
