Posted on 11/24/2007 7:19:51 PM PST by neverdem
Use breeder reactors to turn U238 into plutonium and use the plutonium as fuel. If it's on a military reservation, we can have tight control on the fuel
That would solve two problems at once, power needs and storage needs. From what I understand, the product of the breeder reactors can be turned into a glassy substance that would not be good for a bomb unless you had some serious technological skills.
I would only have subsidies for other methods
You took my statement out of context, and then give a questionable reason for doing so.
If you were a major corporation, would you invest in other ways of making ethanol and other biofuels, and there are many, without some sort of signal from the government that they are here to stay? Tax credits, or subsidies if you prefer, are one signal that they are here to stay.
Or we can continue to trade our currency for foreign products.
If you look at the inflation in food prices, the dollar's value is being decreased either way. Subsidies for corn derived ethanol don't make sense. They need to be phased out.
The high price of corn has temporarily ended a lot of direct subsidies that farmers received and even with the tax credits, ethanol from corn is getting less profitable, hence the research into other methods of making it. Now that there is getting to be an established market for the product, the research dollars are pouring in to find new ways of making the product.
This link will tell you more about Biodiesel and what is the result from each crop. Himp produces about 39 gal per acre, rape seed is 127 gal per acre, there are many that will produce more than rapeseed, but you then need to consider the locations of production and cost of production.
I wonder how many farts it would take to power my work truck for a day (I drive for Schwans, and my truck runs off of propane).... I would guess that one singe good fart would have the energy to bring at least one piston from TDC on ignition all the way back through the cycle...
Depends on how large the farter is and how many quarts of soup beans they have consumed.
The most efficient plant is probably genetically engineered algae, which is where most of the research work on biodiesel is going on today.
Soybean oil, however, is more or less a byproduct of milling the soybeans into cattle feed.
I notice that this article plays fast and loose with the difference between biodiesel, which actually works and doesn't necessarily have to drive food prices up, and corn-based ethanol, which gives lower mileage in engines not engineered for it (= most of them) and is guaranteed to drive food prices up.
[(sort of) singing] Your trash ain’t nothin’ but gas...
Pull my finger ping.
Methane, the ultimate stock bubble.
I meant, could they take leaves from trees and do what they do with turkey guts or any other stock feed to make biofuels with ?
Oh look “the matrix” is on TV again.
How many times did they violate the Conservation of Energy in The Matrix?
Its amazing how this popular movie appeals to such an ignorant audience. “Oh golly I didn’t know you could squeeze erngy out of a human body.”
What Democrats have done to science is unforgiveable. Its also heresy. I wonder if the Catholics felt the same way about religious heresy. Anger.
I’ve worked at home for the last 20+ years.
The energy costs for my home are substantially higher as a result. Computers, lights, heating and cooling through the day.
I don’t know how those increases balance against the reduction of energy used for transportation.
The question is how many beans does it take...
It’s call science fiction...
Jeesh...
How’s that Warp thing going...
The reason I said the writing was a piece of biased trash. All seed even peanut is put under hydraulic pressure and the oil comes out, have read about the alga and the process a VT, professor has patented but they both seem to have a way to go.
Planting soybeans, or any other legume that I know of, is a good way to ‘fix’ nitrogen in the soil. In some areas, it makes a nice winter cover to get the fertilizer benefits and to hold the soil in place.
That would be biomass production, another area that a lot of research is going into.
Well, ethanol does work, what you said is something of a misnomer.. Ethanol policy based solely on corn, is doomed to failure for all the reasons mentioned above. Sugar ethanol, switch grass, etc, and any combination not solely relying on corn, however is an excellent idea. Anything less shows one to be beholden, financially or psychologically, to oil interests..
Energy policy needs to be diverse and open to multiple sources to fuel our energy needs, not bet the farm on one single source...
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