In a message dated 10/15/2012 5:36:02 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: DD; It's also difficult for me to think only about Biomass Energy when I just finished an E- mail selling my skills to a gas driller. I don't have a problem with big oil running things that are big projects, as long as they do things properly and spread the benefits to those who deserve them. Big oil is made up of a lot of small people and subcontractors. I was in line to be hired by a small driller for field maintenance services if they hit locally, just because they wanted someone " with common sense and an awareness of the environment". For the most part that is also true of big oil ,except sometimes anybody can get greedy and careless. Big oil means big mistakes. Plug in hybrids are the way to go unless you are limited to short commutes. Here in the USA I think about 6% of our electricity is now wind and solar. The big opportunity in transportation here in the USA is the rapid building of LNG fueling infrastructure for converted trucks, trains and someday ships. In remote areas LNG can be synthesized easier than gasoline from biomass for refueling. Diesel fuel is expensive and in high demand around the world, Biodiesel has it's limitations. Converting fuel oil heat to NG, biomass, geothermal or solar thermal heat for houses and buildings, will also free up distillates for diesel and jet fuel. Synthetic NG derived jet fuel is being produced in Qatar instead of just shipping LNG. There is talk of doing that on the US Gulf Coast somewhere due to the glut of gas there. A plane was being tested somewhere with a special biodiesel engine. The high sulfur and otherwise dirty steam coal is being gradually replaced by NG. New environmental rules are putting more cost pressure on very clean metallurgic type coal. I think the real opportunity lies in replacing the met coal with low ash charcoal. That is where the cleaner biofuel really pays off. I also heard someone was converting an old coal fired steam power plant on the Ohio River to co- fire biomass. Cliffs resources was developing a process to use biomass to beneficiate iron ore. There are still many uses for Biomass wherever carbon is required. Cheap shale gas will just shift things around a bit. Dan
I will hope that things will change for the better in Africa, but it is a slim hope. The irony for "Big Oil" hating environmentalists is that changing the source of fuel is not going to hurt big oil in the long run. They own the distribution and retail infrastructure. Electric vehicles are simply unworkable outside of short commutes (I could use an inexpensive, street legal golf cart, as much of my driving is under 5 miles round-trip, and on flat, low-speed surface roads that meet Low Speed Vehicle requirements) and can never replace conventional liquid fueled vehicles, unless some breakthrough is made in battery or capacitor technology that does not require rare earth elements. To keep closer to subject, I read that if biomass is mixed with coal, around 20 to 30 percent, in the gasification process, it reduces CO2 production below that produced in refining oil -- if you're keeping score. Another source of gas that can put-off the inevitable by a few hundred years. _______________________________________________
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