On Friday 19 January 2007 13:30, Jed Rothwell wrote: > The lead story in today's Yomiuri newspaper (in Japanese) says that > Bush will announce new steps to address global warming in his State > of the Union speech on Jan. 23. He will emphasize "ethanol and other > alternative fuels." > > Sigh . . . > > Well, at least there has been some anti-ethanol press lately. I saw > articles in Sci. Am., Consumer Reports, and the Atlanta Journal > calling into question the use of ethanol. One of them reported a > horrifying statistic: filling up a 25 gallon tank with ethanol fuel > uses up as much potential nutrition from corn as a human being > consumes in a year. > > That seems over the top but . . . Yikes, it is as bad as that. > Ethanol has 89 MJ/gallon. 25 gallons * 89 MJ = 2,225 MJ. That > converts to 531,788 kilocalories. Divide by 2,000 recommended daily > allowance and you get 266 days. (I am ignoring fossil fuel and > electric power input, which are ~1.7 times the total energy output of > the ethanol.) Perhaps the ethanol factories extract more energy per > kilogram of corn that human digestion does, but I doubt it. > > - Jed
I wonder about the efficiency of digestion systems. Seems some perform better than others. Now a rough....I mean really rough measure of this efficiency would probably be to look at the byproducts of the human digestion. No I do not mean portraits of certain prominent figures in the grand old (offal...I mean awful) party. How much the _ _ _ _ smells would be a measure of the volatility of it. This in itself is more than: "good _ _ _ _ stinks like _ _ _ should!". Pure physics! say that this aroma will contain methane, ammonia, and other gasses that retain some chemical energy capable of extraction. Every wastewater treatment plant worthy of calling itself that will have a 'digester' on the premises somewhere. Here is where the solids after treatment go to be fermented for methane and other aliphatics and aromatics, mostly flammable, are generated for energy recovery. In the wild, many critters like dung beatles make a living from eating _ _ _ _. Now this may be humerous for some, but try to stay focused. More focused than the writer who is ROTFL....this writer. Who can now qualify as a republican speechwriter cuz I can be a redneck and know my _ _ _ _. On the other hand, chemical processes can be quite efficient inasmuch as all reactant products can be retained and utilized. Much more than common animal processes. In truth much of this natural inefficiency is beneficial to nature as a means of spreading the wealth. Standing Bear.......or trying to....
