Hi Motie If you're saying that it would have been better not to grow the stuff in the first place, but since it's there you might as well burn it, I'd much agree with you. Burn it direct, or as fuel ethanol (plus DDG) or as oil for biod or SVO (plus seedcake).
Seems to be a lot of confusion that it's organically grown corn, however - if it were, then it's a premium product, not a waste by-product from livestock feed production. Tidwell seems to believe it's organically grown, and that that somehow makes it even better to burn it. I can't get my head round his thinking, if that's the right word. The Washington Post says it's "organically fertilized, no-tilled corn", which Tidwell probably told them. But the Baltimore Sun refers to "environmentally friendly growing techniques, such as no-till farming, which lessens soil erosion", and says about 80 percent of the fertilizer used for the corn is manure from the farmer's own animals, while the rest is chemical fertilizers. Not organic corn, in other words, no certification, and no premium market. His "no-till farming" almost certainly uses herbicides, and indeed he was feeding the stuff to his hogs. Hogs, yes, so his manure spreading would almost certainly not meet the organic grade either. It's probably confusion over its organic status that leads Bosley to say tilling would be "illegal". It wouldn't be anyway, "no-till" is not an organic requirement, especially not with the usual high herbicide use. He does have a point about the gasoline (sic) used to grow the corn though, IF this sort of scheme is intended to promote the production of yet more corn, as fuel. Tidwell also seems to be not very clear about that. "It's cool to burn corn," he says, but doesn't ask if it's cool to grow it. Not at all cool, except for ADM maybe, at everyone else's expense. Maybe he hasn't heard of ADM yet. So much for overnight activists. Best Keith >--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], murdoch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The folks in the biofuel groups would probably want to read this >story > > and offer their opinions also. > > > > On Mon, 18 Nov 2002 11:21:41 -0500, you wrote: > > > > >This is an example of how stupid society is. > > >More gasoline was spent to grow the corn than the btu delivered to >heat the > > >houses. > >An irrelevant argument. The gasoline or diesel fuel has already been >used to grow the corn. That is past history. Forget it! The question >remains as to what should now be done with the corn grown. Shall it >be used to heat someone's house, and displace the use of 'fossil' >fuel, or should it be left to rot for lack of market? > > > >And, how much propane was used to dry the corn. > >From the info in the story, I can't answer that question. Perhaps the >farmer burned a portion of his corn to dry the rest? > > > >The line about no till is a scam. It is illegal to till. > >We need some clarification on this statement. Where is it illegal for >a farmer to till his fields? > > > >I find it immoral to burn top quality livestock feed. > >I find it even more immoral to leave it rot in a pile while burning >fossil fuels to heat our homes. > > > >Firewood is a pain in butt to burn. > >Don't back so close to the stove! LOL In my experience, it's more of >a pain in the back. > > > Pellet stoves are better. Pellets made > > >from other less valuable stock would be the test to burning corn. > >How much energy, and from what source, would you use to process the >feedstocks to make the pellets? Corn is already pelletized by nature, >and pellet stoves seem to work well using corn. > Also, what 'less valuable stock' are you referring too? Corn that >can't be sold, and is otherwise left to rot, is pretty low valued. In >this instance, the corn seems to be a waste by-product from livestock >feed production. > > > > > >Ken Bosley > > >K.W. Bosley > >Motie Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
