Posted by
reasonmclucus on Saturday, April 26, 2008 1:50:44 AM
Those who are criticizing conversion of corn and soybeans to fuel have
a good point. Diverting food crops to fuel doesn't do much to increase
energy resources, even though it reduces food supplies.
Corn and
soybeans have been bred for eating to provide energy for animals. Corn
and soybeans cannot be efficiently converted to fuel. Too small a
portion of the plants can actually be used to produce ethanol. Using
wind energy for ethanol plant operation provides a greater net energy
yield, but not enough to really increase energy resources.
Technology
to convert corn stalks and soybean leaves to ethanol would improve the
yield, but such technology would eliminate the need to use corn and
soybeans. Waste paper and tree trimmings could be used without
diverting food crops to fuel.
Currently algae provide a much more productive source of biofuels.
Glen Kertz
president and CEO of Valcent Products says that algae can produce
100,000 gallons of oil per acre compared to 30 gallons of oil from corn
and 50 gallons per acre from soybeans.
Unfortunately,
ignorant politicians think that the carbon dioxide that "fertilizes"
algae is a pollutant that should be prohibited. Algae production
facilities connected to coal fired power plants can increase the amount
of energy produced from the same amount of coal without reducing food
supplies.