[Cob] sustainability

[Jon Kerr]

On Oct 22, 2005, at 7:22 PM, Amanda Peck wrote:

>
> We wish.
>
> We wish that all the biodiesel in the world was coming from  
> leftovers.  It's true the people I know who are running biodiesel  
> are making it from recycling fryer oil.  But.....
>
> But....  Look for rape-seed/canola oil prices to rise as the EU  
> mandates x percentage of the diesel fuel to be biodiesel.  The  
> supply right now is very tight because of just that, I read in an  
> article in Planet Ark (Reuters news stories more or less about the  
> environment, published out of New Zealand I think) the other day.
>
> The ethanol used in gasoline/ethanol mixures isn't going to come  
> from a corn crop?  Ummmm.  It is now, and you can also buy dried  
> corn off the cob for burning in specialized stoves.
>
> Even something like Jean Pain's biogas, expanded to include a fair  
> proportion of an area will rob the forests there of organic matter-- 
> fertilizer.

Well, crap.  Maybe the Elf is right then. Sorry you guys. I'm still  
not sure we shouldn't bother, which kind of seemed to be the point of  
his original post, but jeez, everywhere you turn it just looks more  
and more like we're all doomed. Maybe the species that replaces us  
will be more enlightened.

Jon