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Old 05-01-2009, 12:28 AM   #10
tw
Read? I only know how to write.
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,933
Quote:
Originally Posted by sugarpop View Post
I have brought up the whole biofuel from algae thing before and posted a link. Brazil makes fuel from sugarcane, so we know it can work.
It works for Brazilian biomass because they grow in temperatures above 70 degrees F. The process to obtain energy from biomaterial grown at lower temperatures (ie corn) is so inefficient as to probably consume more energy than it creates.

The concept works in theory. In practice, it has been a grand and expensive disappointment.

So how did we solve the problem? A technically ignorant admistration solved it by putting a $0.50 per gallon tax on Brazilian and other imported ethanol. Biofuels were really only welfare to midwest farmers.

For your proposals to work, first they must work in science. None have yet shown anywhere near the promise or success that must exist today for them to work in years future.

A glaring fact makes the most viable solution obvious. In ten gallons of gas maybe one and never more than two gallons do productive work. That other eight plus gallons gets wasted completely as heat or pollution. That is where solutions can be implemented, already exist in some examples, and are still being routinely stified by the companies who could best implement them and be profitable for doing so.

Everybody likes Sara Lee - even though she routinely stifled battery innovation? General Motors remains unscathed by your contempt?
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