Unfortunately it is too late for the only genetic engineering that would
have produced significant improvements of todays situation. It will also
need several significant break through to be able to do such genetic
engineering. We are stuck with Bush, Blair and the rest of the current set
of world leaders and the voters who elected them. -:((
It is no hope for our generations, so let us hope that our grandchildren
and this planet can survive despite us.
Hakan
At 01:21 AM 7/28/2005, you wrote:
Ron wrote:
> Yet I'm not seeing nearly the traffic on this list as I'd expect
> on serious efforts to gear up mass biodiesel production:
>A- Better crop choices, including breeding or genetically engineering
> for such
So you think that genetic engineering is "better?" As for better crop
choices, perhaps you might care to take note of the soybean council's
(NBB's) position against imported palm oil methyl esters. The question has
nothing to do with sound crop choices. It has nothing to do with the
environment. It has everything to do with the economics of special
interests. Put soy in its proper place as a low oil producer and you end
up with a soybean oil glut due to the vast production of soy to feed the
enormous livestock industry. If you want an answer, "Follow the money."
> B- Better production processes, both in terms of efficiency and safety
No particular production process is necessarily better than any other,
unless you take into account start-up costs of continual processing. Batch
plants are the most economical answer. They also meet the demands of
distribution, as the fuel should be produced where the feedstock exists,
not at some central production facility after having been transported 150
miles, only to have the fuel transported right back to where the oil came from.
And what is it that you think production methods are unsafe? Commercial
plants adhere to fire, health and safety code.
> C- Better _mass_ production processes, ditto
Mass production is not the answer. In fact, it's more energy intensive
than bio-regional production facilities.
> D- Better engines, including ideas like biodiesel / electric hybrids.
Talk to George. One of his very first actions was to eliminate PNGV.
> E- Better vehicles in general
You already know the answers to this one and the rest.
> Not to mention conservation topics:
> F- Getting what's on the road to be cleaner and more
> efficient no matter what they use as fuel.
> G- Figuring out ways to reduce our use of oil, particularly foreign
> oil (using non local sources of energy is not as sustainable as using
local ones.)
Todd Swearingen
~$65 per barrel US by EOY 2005
IF this prediction holds, then ~$77 per barrel US by sometime in the
range of Dec06 to March07.
...and it is never going back down to the ~$30-$40 range unless something
very surprising happens.
These predictions are based on models I've made which include the effects
of the economic growth of China and the US-Iraq war. They do not include
what the effect would be if a substantial percentage of the world's
dino-diesel and gasoline use was replaced by biodiesel use, nor do I
claim to have any understanding as to how high that percentage would have
to be to significantly impact crude oil prices.
The Biodiesel community should be galvanized by current oil price trends
since, even without these predictions, biodiesel should be an
economically viable competitor to gas and dino-diesel (Unless Dr Pimentel
et. al. at Cornell are correct.).
Yet I'm not seeing nearly the traffic on this list as I'd expect on
serious efforts to gear up mass biodiesel production:
A- Better crop choices, including breeding or genetically engineering for
such
B- Better production processes, both in terms of efficiency and safety
C- Better _mass_ production processes, ditto
D- Better engines, including ideas like biodiesel / electric hybrids.
E- Better vehicles in general
Not to mention conservation topics:
F- Getting what's on the road to be cleaner and more efficient no matter
what they use as fuel.
G- Figuring out ways to reduce our use of oil, particularly foreign oil
(using non local sources of energy is not as sustainable as using local ones.)
and
H- where are the biodiesel mass production start up companies? Why
aren'y we hearing about more of them or more about the ones that do exist?
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