I'm sure other literature goes more into depth, but Lester Brown's book "Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble" (which I highly recommend, by the way) mentions replacing coal-fired electric power and then using the electricity generated at night (when demand is lower) to produce hydrogen (I presume through electrolysis). This hydrogen can then be burned to produce more electricity during the day, or be pumped into cars for transportation, etc.
-Tim Nuttle > 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 >
