Secrets of the City

I drink a lot of biodiesel.

Most ethanol in the US is made from corn. According to the CEO of Cargill, if the entire US corn crop was converted to ethanol it would replace only 20% of motor fuel.
Doesn’t seem to be much of a solution.

The ethanol fad is pure cash infusion for Big Agriculture.

Corn is only a beginning. Other sources will be found for the necessary sugars. Brazil fuels a significant portion of their cars with sugar cane. I realize this is impractical in our climate, but other grains and sorghum and maple sap and grassses all can be fermented.

You prefer our fuel dollars go to those sweethearts in OPEC and the big oil companies, Aaron?

Fred, who you going to trust on this issue? The CEO of Cargill or Bob from ALAMN? Heck, Warren Staley isn’t even a registered MNspeak user! Seriously, you got a better idea? What’s your solution?

Max — whatever lubes your gears, man. I’m sticking to ethanol. In fact, I’m going to buy a bottle of Shakers right now as a going-away gift for Dave, our IT wizard.

Fred: Doesn’t seem to be much of a solution.

I’m not sure that the solution to the energy problem is going to come from one source. It’ll be more along the lines of hundreds of different solutions all acting at once.

I think we should burn up all of OPEC’s oil first. What else will they have to sell when they need money to buy fuel from us?

As it is, after adjusting for inflation, energy prices have risen less in the past thirty years than juct about anything else. (oddly, furniture prices are the other category tracked by the Commerce Dept that hasn’t kept pace with inflation?)

Seriously, you got a better idea? What’s your solution?

This, baby.

Love it. When the “car of the future” becomes the “car of the present,” as some gas-electric hybrids and FFVs are today, great. Until then, we will work for cleaner fuels and vehicles that you can use now.

Like “That 70’s Show’s” Red Foreman, I’m still waiting for my hovercraft.

I drink a lot of biodiesel.

Buck Owens was fueled by Ethanol, too…but he called it Corn Liquor

I want to know why they can’t (or won’t) make energy out of human and animal waste…talk about a renewable resource…

It can be done, Leigha.

You can make energy out of just about anything. It’s just that we can’t afford enough tax subsidies to make it cost competitive.

Bad movie, renewable resource.

Oh, methane, duh. Seeing as it’s seemingly highly explosive when exposed to air, odorless, and colorless, it sounds rather dangerous. On a positive note, if people were in far greater danger of their cars spontaneously combusting while they’re driving they might be far more likely to consider public transportation.

Just in case anyone thought we at ALAMN were one trick ponies on cleaner fuels, we are also members of the Upper Midwest Hydrogen Initiative.

There’s this.

And Harnessing the power of poo. Which will be the name of my new band: The Power of Poo.

Jason: some might say as a bona fide member of the MSM, you have been in the poo business for awhile.

Not me, of course….

One thing we can’t make energy out of is scientific and economic ignorance, although it would probably be worth a try?

ouch. you watch it srhcb, or I’ll just hav[KABOOM]

Sorry, Warren, I take it all back. But you could have built in Minnesota, you know.

Sure Biodiesel is hip and cool but what about the Transgender Fuel Community?

You guys go on with your clean fuels or whatever. I’ll buy all the cheap and dirty shit and be rich. Rich I tell you!

Some people are confusing bio-diesel with ethanol. Personally, I don’t think corn is the answer either, but how about poplars? Celulosic ethanol will return corn to its destiny, smothered in butter and heavily salted.

There are a number of efficient sources for biodiesel. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article that lists them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel#Biodiesel_feedstock

I saw a calculation that said that if an area only the size of Rhode Island were cultivated with algae for biodiesel use, it would supply all the transportation fuel needs of the U.S. (I can’t find the article or else I’d give a link to it. Sorry.)

In Europe, rapeseed, a.k.a. canola, is the primary source of biodiesel, which is nearly 3 times as efficient a source. The main reason I suspect that soybeans are used in the U.S. (and corn for ethanol) is that production these crops are subsidized by government.

Kidding aside, we are working on the hydrogen thang too, maz.

Oops, wrong post!