I looked at Mike's web page and I am quite ignorant about the bioenergetcs of various terrestrial crops (I work in the marine environment where plants are those little one-celled critters), but I wonder whether if grasses are so suitable for biofuels, what about the discarded parts of food crops, such as corn stalks and potato plants. I realise that there is nutritional benefit to plowing them under, but could they be used in other ways?
Another poster mentioned hydrogen and a reduced population -- I really don't see how we could get enough hydrogen from wind and solar power unless we used a lot of hydrogen fusion to greatly reduce our population. Bill Silvert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Palmer, Mike" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "William Silvert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 3:51 PM Subject: RE: [ECOLOG-L] If not Ethanol, what then? Bill, Quite a number of people are working on the use of Low-Intensity, High-Diversity (LIHD) systems (to use Dave Tilman's term). This contrasts markedly with High-Intensity, Low-Diversity (HILD) systems such as corn or transgenic Miscanthus. LIHD systems have advantages in not only being carbon-negative, but in promoting biodiversity and preventing habitat loss and degradation (see my arguments in http://ecology.okstate.edu/Libra/biofuels.htm ) ---Mike Palmer -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of William Silvert Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 8:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ECOLOG-L] If not Ethanol, what then? In the recent discussion of biofuels, there seems to be a consensus that producing ethanol from corn has serious adverse consequences both ecological and economic. However I have not seen anyone address the broader question of what alternatives we have in the long run. Fossil fuels will eventually run out - oil in a century or so at most, coal in several centuries - and while there may be some wonderous new technology to fill the gap, we cannot count on that. I suspect that combustible fuels will always be with us, and I wonder what they will be. Bill Silvert
