I think the main hurdle to using biofuels is reducing the cost of enzymes used
to break down cellulose. ("cellulases").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulase Plenty of biomass is available, but
it is necessary to break down cellulose. That's hard, because nature has
evolved cellulose to be very resistant to breakdown: (Why else can 1000+ year
old trees exist; their central cellulose lasted that long without breaking
down.)
This is first done by mechanical crushing, and then by breaking down some of
the cellulose bonds employing inorganic acids, such as hydrochloric and
sulfuric acid. At that point, enzymes (organic catalysts) can be used to
further break down the cellulose into simple sugars, which are then converted
(by yeasts) to ethanol and other simple fuels.×
In other words, a lot of biochemistry.
Jim Bell
On Friday, July 13, 2018, 8:24:53 AM PDT, Steven Schear
<[email protected]> wrote:
>A possible alternative is to transition to biofuels, which harvest all their
>carbon from the atmosphere, and can be net carbon neutral.
On Fri, Jul 13, 2018, 8:10 AM John Newman <[email protected]> wrote:
On Fri, Jul 06, 2018 at 05:20:30PM +0000, jim bell wrote:
> This article sure sounds foolish. As I see it, the main driver in the
>increase in "growth" (other than population) is productivity. Productivity
>tends to be driven by gradual adoptions of automation, which has been a major
>factor for 50+ years, and actually far larger. Automation isn't going away,
>and will only increase in effectiveness for decades
> Energy is a factor, but society is well on its way to the widespread adoption
> of solar and wind energy. Solar is useful in most locations, and wind will
> eventually be useable just about everywhere, 24 hours per day, with the use
> of low-resistance materials to conduct that energy, for example metallic
> carbon nanotubes. (MCNTs).
> Jim Bell
>
Personally I wish the "progressive left" could get over its deep fear of
nuclear energy, and we could build some modern reactors. Maybe when (if)
they ever get a fusion reactor that can substain a reaction...
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/iter-nuclear-fusion-reactor-halfway-complete/
Of course, solar and wind power is great :) Anything to stop burning
more fucking carbon..
-
John
>
>
>
> On Friday, July 6, 2018, 9:15:13 AM PDT, Steven Schear
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
> "If we extrapolate this trend forward, labour productivity growth would
>reach zero by 2028."
> https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/govt-economic-advisor-warns-british-defence-planners-that-growth-is-ending-abf806f17845
>
--
GPG fingerprint: 17FD 615A D20D AFE8 B3E4 C9D2 E324 20BE D47A 78C7
