Hi Tom Great! What a good read, thankyou!
All best Keith >Hi All, > An agriculture class just left my house. Their teacher brought them over >to see my "biodiesel setup". The stop at my place was to be just a short >detour on their way to see a large greenhouse operation at the Institute for >Ecosystem Studies (I.E.S; associated with Cornell University). When Ms. >Straus asked to bring her class over, she said that she "... likes her >students to see what ordinary people can do" > I retired after teaching kids like these for over 30 years. It was fun >to have them over and address questions like: > Can the biodiesel you make be used to run farm tractors? > Do you have to use special oil to make BD? > * I heard somewhere that it takes more energy to make these fuels than it >is worth. Is that so? > * "I heard that all this fuss over alternate fuels is going to cause food >prices to go through the roof." > >* -----> Great opportunity to talk about biofuel vs agrofuel; and local, >small-scale energy production as an essential component of sustainable >agriculture. (They have visited local organic farms and they have a working >compost bin in the classroom ..... their two rabbits contribute >regularly. ) > > I found out only yesterday that Ms. Straus had been raised on a dairy >farm in California. Maybe you would like to check out their website: >www.strausfamilycreamery.com They use the manure from the cows to generate >methane gas. The methane gas runs the motor that turns a generator to >provide electricity for the farm. The heat from the motor heats the water >for cleaning the barn. They are using biodiesel in one of the tractors and >hope to have it eventually replace petrol entirely. > > It's snowing here in my neck of the woods. It is heartwarming to know >that there are enthusiastic young teachers with strong backgrounds in >agriculture that are promoting sustainability. It's also nice to know that >there are family-run farms that are able to succeed financially. I can't >help but think that an important component of their success might be the >intergration of energy production with sustainable farming techniques. >Saving $40,000/year in electric costs as well as saving on the cost of >heating water added to the savings from using the manure for fertilizer >rather than buying commercial fertilizer + savings from saying no to >pesticides, antibiotics, etc. might just be the formula for financial >success. It doesn't hurt that these practices also result in a superior >product and is triply good in that they reduce negative impact on the >environment. > > This is the last class Ms. Strauss will be able to bring to the I.E.S >greenhouses. They are going to dismantle the greenhouses because the cost of >heating them has become prohibitive. As the class was leaving, now an hour >late for their next stop, we passed by my boiler (heat and hot water) that >runs on 100% homebrewed BD. The kids wondered if they could heat the >greenhouses with BD. I commented that they could modify a burner to run on >straight veg oil. > Outside they wanted me to start up my car, a 1982 Mercedes 300SD with >over 240,000 miles on it. It had been plugged in, but I was still a bit >nervous. It was very cold. What if it didn't start? No problem, it started >right up. As they boarded the bus, they wanted to know if it was a diesel. >Does it use BD? Why not? > Bye-byes and "Thank you's". Kids are great! > Tom >----- Original Message ----- >From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <biofuel@sustainablelists.org> >Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 1:44 PM >Subject: [Biofuel] Did David Pimentel win? > > >> Hello all >> >> It seems obvious that organic farms should be producing their own >> renewable fuel and energy rather than using fossil fuels, but I think very >> few of them do so, at least in the industrialised countries. <snip> _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
