The Lesser of Evils. When you hear that phrase, you can bet that
'political expediency' is waiting to take the stage.
There is said to be no humor (and little sanity) in the Biofuel
arena- at least in the 'big picture' - especially if it were to
'boil down' the issue to either distilling ethanol from edible
grain, or else buying Arab oil (which among other things
subsidizes the purchasing the bombs by extremists used to kill our
troops, allies and whatever collateral damage is inevitable).
Fortunately, the choice does not 'have to' boil down to that, and
therefore, I will give it a shot (the humor aspect - at least
cynical-clinical).
Subsidizing ethanol, to be sure, is politically expedient in the
largest agriculture economy on the planet, and most instances of
political expediency are either unfair (to a segment of society
with little political 'pull') or inefficient ... or both,
except...
... when the feedstock is sugar-loaded but otherwise worthless (or
toxic) as nutritional intake [i.e. Pepsi Cola] ... <g>
There is an ethanol co-op in Los Angeles where they make fuel from
expired soda pop [of all kinds]. It cost about $2 per gallon for
co-op members. I had thought the shelf life of Pepsi was in the
decades, due to the fact that it will not support life as we know
it, but apparently not.
Speaking of extended shelf-life... in 1967 my friend found himself
in a ditch in Viet Nam surrounded by the bodies of his former
platoon, the enemy, and intense hunger on the second day.
Scrounging around for something to eat, he found a few tins of
recently issued C-rations (affectionately known as sea-rats) which
had an expiration date clearly marked: 1946. He survived both
life-threatening indignities.
Sadly, this is generally the way the Pentagon often treats our
young men who put their lives on the line for "freedom" (our
whatever other euphemistic lie we foster on them to go to a
hostile land and die) then and now... as evidenced recently by
Rumsfeld's part in the body armor fiasco.
BTW - In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan, "Come Alive
With the Pepsi Generation," came out as, "Pepsi Will Bring Your
Ancestors Back From The Dead".
Not quite as brain-dead in the marketing sense as GM-Chevy naming
an automobile "Nova" for the Mexican market (no va) but close...
Making biofuel from food crops is also a no-go. I would even say
it is morally wrong, given the number of underfed people in Africa
and elsewhere. Making biofuels from crop-land is probably morally
wrong
as well, even land which was fallow for years.
However making biofuels from trees or ag waste is not
objectionable to the majority, or to common sense. 100% of the
wood used in paper these days is grown on dedicated land for that
purpose, so biodiesel made from trees will not even raise the
price of paper. The mountains of Appalachia, Montana, and Western
Canada are the perfect place to harvest cellulose for biofuel -
but not by clear cutting. Harvesting cellulose from trees can
probably best be accomplished - eventually but soon, by robotic
pruning of natural growth in old forests - except for the
objections of the Sierra Club, a group which often sides with OPEC
on such issues. Reverse political expediency, I guess.
Transesterification of vegetable oils has been in use since the
mid-1800's for making soap. The "by-products" of this process are
methyl esters. Biodiesel is composed of these esters and can be
made directly from wood cellulose. Ethyl esters are grain based
while methyl esters are wood based. Any source of complex fatty
acid can be used to create biodiesel.
Research is also being done into oil production from algae, which
could have yields far greater than any feedstock known today.
However Algae need their own food source - most of which is found
in air and water - but what better than "predigested cellulose" to
speed up and synergize the Algae growth process?
..."predigested cellulose" now that'll keep you regular... and
allow you to fill up with regular at the pump for 2 bucks a
gallon, and provide some dose of 'political expediency' to keep
the payola flowing ... but sadly - not as much as allowing farmers
to make ethanol from corn.
