Posted by Mike (WA) on December 13, 2007 at 08:56:32 from (69.10.197.227):
In Reply to: Save the world???? posted by Nebraska Cowman on December 12, 2007 at 16:10:53:
Everybody is bleating that it takes more fuel to produce biofuel than you get out of it. WELL, OF COURSE IT DOES! It also takes more fuel to produce a purse, or a pickup truck, or a house, than the end product produces! The laws of thermodynamics wouldn't have it any other way! If you grow an acre of corn and sell it for feed, you have all the same fuel inputs everyone is talking about, and how much fuel have you ended up producing? NONE! So there has been no impact on the oil needed to run our society. You used 5 gallons of oil to produce your crop, I used 5 gallons to fuel my car, 10 gallons pumped out of the ground. But if you produce some biofuel with it, you have reduced the amount of oil we need for society, resulting in less pumping out of the ground. You still used 5 gallons of oil, but you produced 4 gallons of ethanol or biodiesel. I USED YOUR 4 GALLONS OF BIOFUEL in my car, so I only needed to use 1 gallon out of the ground. So for the same "system", 4 less gallons of oil was pumped out.
Naturally, if we had an earth full of free (for the pumping) fuel, turning to biofuels would be nonsensical. But we don't- evidenced by the rise in gas prices from 34 cents to 3 bucks plus in our lifetimes. The oil's getting short, folks, and will eventually run out. The best we can do is stretch things for as long as possible. Of course, the food vs. fuel thing will work itself out as the two compete for farmland use (and as petroleum vs. biofuel compete on cost). If we keep demanding fuel despite rising costs, then food costs will increase until everybody finally decides they'd rather eat than travel. How's it all going to end up? Not well, I'm afraid- there will be a serious redistribution of wealth, either peacefully through government, or forcefully as the masses decide they must either steal or starve. It ain't gonna be pretty.
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Today's Featured Article - Grain Threshing in the Early 40's - by Jerry D. Coleman. How many of you can sit there and say that you have plowed with a mule? Well I would say not many, but maybe a few. This story is about the day my Grandfather Brown (true name) decided along with my parents to purchase a new Ford tractor. It wasn't really new except to us. The year was about 1967 and my father found a good used Ford 601 tractor to use on the farm instead of "Bob", our old mule. Now my grandfather had had this mule since the mid 40's and he was getting some age on him. S
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