Posted on 01/16/2008 12:35:46 AM PST by Brian S. Fitzgerald
Yes, we were awash in corn so much so that there weren’t enough storage silos to hold it all. Tons of corn was literally laying in the streets of the midwest. Now, it’s the opposite. There is a famine coming to this country, soon, of our own (and God’s) making...........
I’ve heard these words for as long as I can recall.
Soylent green is people.
And where is that electricity to store in those batteries going to come from? Coal? What happens when Peak Coal comes around?
Hmm, Mr. Wagoner must have a long position in ADM stocks . . .
Or GFET. Check it out . I may be crazy but I just bought some of this stock.
Based on GM’s visionary ‘leadership’ for the last 30+ years and their laughable product offerings I’m not sure these comments amount to much.
Corn ethanol has a net of +25% gain in energy. Biofuels net 540% gain over production. Seems like a no-brainer. If I lose some money on GFET so what. Everthing else is going down anyway.
WMM
You’re right, I would add however that the surging price is going to drive the use of alternatives and the development of even better alternatives. My guess is TDP (thermal deploymerization) is going to become very well known, especially in conjunction with sewerage and waste processing. Diesel can be from many sources.
“Peak Oil”, economically, doesn’t even make sense.
If demand exceeds supply, prices go up, reducing demand, and increasing the incentive to find more (increase supply).
Oil may have “peaked” its production AT THE CURRENT PRICE, but there exists NO absolute “peak”.
You may be right but the Prius is still a green car. How do I know? Because the liberal elites say so. We are no longer capable of making rational decisions about energy usage. The market is not capable of determining economically viable technologies. Being considered green is now a market mandate. Cost and benefits are only a secondary concern.
My money would be on white mustard. American agrarian soils can produce two crops per year of mustard versus one of corn and mustard’s volume planted:yield ratio is anywhere from 1:280 under worse conditions to 1:800 in better, normal yields - some have even been as high as 1:1200. In other words, for one bushel of mustard seed sown, it would yield 280 to 800 bushels of seed, some as much as 1200. Corn is 1:120 at best, 1:60 and below at worse.
Mustard (42% oil) also produces oil at ten times the amount expressed from corn (3.5-4.5% oil) and the extract is initially volatile, meaning less energy/effort would be required to produce an end product as fuel.
To sum it up, mustard has the potential to out produce corn for an energy source by 135 times. More produce on less land resources means more land left for foodstuff production.
Corn is not produced from the oil in corn but rather the starch. You’re comparing apples and oranges.
I think GB is saying,
“SUV sales are dropping through the floor and we want to loose less than 7 billion this year”
The volt does look cool.
http://www.gm-volt.com/image-gallery/
The type of fuel is not the problem, most anything will burn. Its the efficiency of the power system that has to be looked at.
A electric power train with a generator system is just way more efficient. A generator system made to run in a small RPM range can be made a lot more efficient than a normal engine that has to make power over a large RPM range.
For in city driving, having regenerative breaking will make heavy autos get almost the same millage as light cars so we can still be safe. Yes we can have 4,000 lb SUV’s that will still pull like trains, the original hybrid.
I see large SUV’s getting around 50MPG with a all electric drive train and a natural gas generator or any type of fuel system.
GB=GM
Translation - WE are getting our tails kicked by the Japanese and are unable to compete. Therefore, GM has diversified into ethonal production plants and are seeking government help to force more people to buy ethonal vehicles.
To add to your point, there’s this: mustards can grow in much colder climates than corn.
There’s a whole family of mustards we’ve not completely explored as oilseed feedstock.
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