Environmental, economic, and energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels
Negative environmental consequences of fossil fuels and concerns about petroleum supplies have spurred the search for renewable transportation biofuels. To be a viable alternative, a biofuel should provide a net energy gain, have environmental benefits, be economically competitive, and be producible in large quantities without reducing food supplies. We use these criteria to evaluate, through life-cycle accounting, ethanol from corn grain and biodiesel from soybeans. Ethanol yields 25% more energy than the energy invested in its production, whereas biodiesel yields 93% more. Compared with ethanol, biodiesel releases just 1.0%, 8.3%, and 13% of the agricultural nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticide pollutants, respectively, per net energy gain. Relative to the fossil fuels they displace, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced 12% by the production and combustion of ethanol and 41% by biodiesel. Biodiesel also releases less air pollutants per net energy gain than ethanol. These advantages of biodiesel over ethanol come from lower agricultural inputs and more efficient conversion of feedstocks to fuel. Neither biofuel can replace much petroleum without impacting food supplies. Even dedicating all U.S. corn and soybean production to biofuels would meet only 12% of gasoline demand and 6% of diesel demand. Until recent increases in petroleum prices, high production costs made biofuels unprofitable without subsidies. Biodiesel provides sufficient environmental advantages to merit subsidy. Transportation biofuels such as synfuel hydrocarbons or cellulosic ethanol, if produced from low-input biomass grown on agriculturally marginal land or from waste biomass, could provide much greater supplies and environmental benefits than food-based biofuels.
What's this "more deserving of subsidies" crap? If it's a viable product, people should be lining up around the block to invest.
WORLD ENDS: MINORITIES, SOYBEANS HARDEST HIT
I have read elsewhere that Ethanol requires 30% More energy to produce than it yields when burned.
This includes farm production (including fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides), distillation and transportation.
My daughter is one of many individuals strongly allergic to anything that has any soy in it. It paralyzes her respiratory system as well as interferes with brain functioning. What on earth will the fumes do for people like her?
If it were only possible to harness the energy, it would be found that Navy beans produce the most usable energy of anything on planet earth.
Human Hair Could be New Source of Special Adult Stem Cells for Research
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A debate??? Sounds like a two pronged exercise in futility to me!!!
I think that even if you recovered every bit of cooking oil, it probably is statistically insignifigant. Even a busy place probably won't generate more than 15-20 gallons a day. After it's processed, it's even less.
I'm not saying don't use it, definately do, but it probably doesn't amount to much.