Here in Alabama, we recently heard a news story of a biofuel plant (Perihelion Global) being opened in Opp, Alabama. This plant is planning to make biofuel from peanuts, which is obviously a boon to peanut farmers down in the south. Originally, I thought that they were going to use the wastes from peanut crops (e.g. shells) which is why Bill's email (below) prompted me to respond, but after re-reading the news story just now, I think they will be using the peanuts themselves:
http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?s=6006238 I guess there will be some of the same issues here as with corn (monoculture, food crop), though I don't know how the energetics will work out in this case. Here also is an article about research being done at Auburn University, also in Alabama, concerning the use of switchgrass (high-yield, low-input, drought-tolerant, etc.) as a potential biodfuel crop: http://www.ag.auburn.edu/adm/comm/news/2006/bransby.php Kristina Pendergrass Research Associate Auburn University, AL 36849 334.844.5574 > 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 >
