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There is one issue about biodiesel that bothers me.  I'm not convinced there 
is enough land to grow enough corn to make enough biodiesel to satisfy the 
needs of everyone here in the USA.  Furthermore, in order to grow that corn, 
farmers must use tractors, which run on fuel.  And the fields must be 
fertilized, using chemical fertilizers that are made from...oil.  Now we 
could use the slurry from dairy barns, or the manure from hog-feeding 
operations, but then again, large trucks will be needed to haul that manure 
to the growing corn fields.  That takes time and man-power in excess of what 
it takes now to haul sacks of chemical fertilizer and distribute them onto 
the fields.  It would also take fuel to transport the larger number of 
trucks that it would take to haul the manure, as opposed to the number it 
would take to haul chemical fertilizers in sacks.  Does anyone think 
biodiesel will really solve our energy problems?  Think about it.  With the 
nation's current population, we couldn't even go back to driving horses for 
transportation, should anyone be willing to do this.  Where, and how, would 
the nation grow enough hay to feed all those horses?  And can you see anyone 
but us endurance riders nowadays putting up with the smell, flies and horse 
poop on the streets?  No way.  This issue makes a really interesting game of 
trying to think how to make alternative energy sources work.

Barbara




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "LaFollett, Megan" <meganl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 10:18 AM
Subject: RE: [RC] Diesel at $3 a gallon


> Two points...
>
> 1) One of the reasons the price of diesel has gone up recently, and is
> going to go up sharply again in the next two months, is a new Federal
> low-sulfur diesel requirement...the result of which is that diesel
> processing facilities have to decrease the sulfur content to about 1ppm.
> The chemical used to extract the sulfur is very expensive, so this is
> reflecting directly in the cost to the consumer. The first phase of the
> regulations went into place in January, and the last phase takes place
> in June...so the "jump at the pump" this summer won't simply be due to
> the usual summer increase.
>
> 2) If you'd like to know more about a fuel alternative that could
> actually supply ALL of our country's fuel needs, you should look into
> algae-derived biodiesel. Michael Briggs of the University of New
> Hampshire has some good info on his biodiesel group site:
>
> http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
>
> Also, last term I was involved in a very in-depth project focused on
> using protein biotechnology to improve the oil production of algae. So I
> have some very good information if anyone would like a copy of my
> project. We would have loved to actually implement our ideas, but we're
> all a little too involved in getting our PhDs :-). However, anyone is
> welcome to use our ideas...I'd love to see this happen.
>
> ~Megan
>
>
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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

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