For the most part, the earth is a closed system. Fossil fuels are a product of plants. When we burn them we return the CO2 to the environment from which the came. Releasing the so called "green house gases" that would return us to the green house effect that was responsible for the prolific plant life that created the fossil fuels in the beginning.....
----- Original Message ----- From: Appal Energy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Saturday, July 16, 2005 0:04 am Subject: Re: [Biofuel] adding carbon vs. carbon dioxide to the atmosphere > Rafal, > > Everything exerts its share. The question is what contribution do > you > wish to unite with your soul. > > Everything else and anything else is meaningless..................... > > TAS > > > Rafal Szczesniak wrote: > > >On Fri, Jul 15, 2005 at 10:06:05AM -0400, Appal Energy wrote: > > > > > >>>One thing that's not entirely clear to me is > >>>argument of biofuel not increasing amount of > >>>carbon in environment whereas fossil fuels do so. > >>> > >>> > >>Nothing "tricky" about the issue at all Rafal. > >> > >>Carbon dioxide of plant origin returns to the plants with each > growing > >>cycle. This is called "carbon neutral." > >> > >>Carbon dioxide of fossil fuel origin is not recycled annually, > as it > >>takes millions of years for coal, natural gas and petroleum to > >>regenerate. Therefore it's considered to be "carbon positive ." > >> > >> > > > >That's why I mentioned about assumption of fossil carbon included > or not > >in circulating carbon share. > > > > > > > >>There are arguments that plant-based fuels aren't entirely > carbon > >>neutral due to the fossil fuels that go into their production at > >>different steps in the process. However, they remain > considerably more > >>carbon negative than fossil fuels. > >> > >> > > > >True, agreed. > > > > > > > >>Your "trickiness" as you call it is really more of a "blind" > rather than > >>anything perplexing, revolving around gross carbon dioxide > outputs. Yes, > >>essentially the same amount of carbon dioxide is produced > annually, no > >>matter if the sources are plant-based or of fossil origin. > However, > >>global CO2 levels essentially plateau after one year's use of > >>plant-based fuels, while they continue to rise under a regimen > of fossil > >>fuel use. > >> > >> > > > >I meant "trickiness" rather as the kind of question raised in some > >talks and debates I've heard. It was the argument as to why plant- > based>fuels are not so good for warming environment because of > emission they > >introduce anyway. It was a bit like playing with facts to avoid those > >less comfortable for the speaker. > > > >Thank you! > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.o rg > > 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/
