Alex and Ecolog-L; Please add biomass to the list of renewable energy sources. Some forms of biomass energy (i.e. firewood) are extremely important to humans, particularly the poorest of the poor. Of course, biomass is only part of the renewable energy picture.
Biomass in the form of wood heats me and my family most of our winter. Although it can't meet all of our energy use, particularly for electricity in the house and portable fuel for cars, wood has been an effective, renewable source of energy nearly all of my life. Getting, processing and using the wood is also good exercise! In regard to portable fuel for cars, this country does use some biomass to produce alcohol and, increasingly, biodiesel for transportation. These need to receive the kinds of research and tax support that petroleum does. I was elated to live in Brazil for a year, purchase a Ford that ran on pure ethanol, and be able to buy fuel for it at any station. The car could have been a Fiat, Volkswagon, or nearly any other Brazil model. Viva Brasil! I look forward to the day I can do that simple thing in the USA. Sincerely yours, Rob Harrison, Professor Soil & Environmental Sciences, College of Forest Resources Nutrition Project Head, PNW Stand Management Cooperative University of Washington, Box 352100 Seattle WA 98195-2100 ---------------------------------------------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Email http://soilslab.cfr.washington.edu/ ---------------------------------------------------------- Phone 206-685-7463 Fax 206-685-3091 Alex Olvido wrote: >>From a purely pro-environment long-term standpoint, renewable sources (e.g. >solar- and wind-powered generators and geothermal energy) clearly rank >superior to all others. What seems to deter people from adopting the >technology associated with renewables is high up-front cost coupled with a >perceived delay in realizing profits/benefits from renewables. > >Fossil fuels and nuclear energy, on the other hand, have a different >cost-benefit relationship: Energy from these sources appear cheap and >profit-driven people know how lucrative the market is for cheap and readily >available energy. What's often not factored into this relationship are the >costs associated with processing waste material generated from these more >traditional energy sources. > >I don't know off-hand whether people have done a side-by-side comparison of >renewables versus traditional energy sources in term of their respective >"true" costs, including cost of disposing/processing/storing waste matter. >But you might find something on the EPA's website (www.epa.gov). > > >
