Biodiesel - Worse Than Fossil Fuel

[ken_behrendt]

Trev...

The rainforests have been shrinking for decades under the onslaught of logging and mining operations. Now, as the remaining supply of fossil fuels is used up, I suspect that whole forests and jungles will be scooped up to be converted into "cellulose ethanol" to power the engines of the various "civilized" nations. I feel sorry for the indigenous peoples of the lands being affected. Like the American Indians that were "relocated" so that the white man could have their land, these simple people will probably all wind up on reservations and, eventually, government welfare, as they watch their way of life disappear one acre at a time.

Perhaps, in the absence of some very significant breakthroughs in energy generation, the only future mankind can look forward to will be a series of "energy wars" as the stronger and more militarily advanced nations grab the potential sources of ethanol of the weaker nations. Again, it will be simple "survival of fittest" at work. Oh, of course, we will be told that the real reason that we are involved with a particular country is because we are trying to "liberate" its people, fight the "war" on terrorism, remove weapons of mass destruction, or "stabilize" the geopolitical situation there. But, I predict that, about a decade or so after we're done, we'll find a plethora of American "energy" corporations on the scene trying to figure out how to get access to the resources at the lowest (preferably free) price possible!

Someday we'll have a new world and a "Golden Age" for humanity wherein peace and brotherhood will reign. However, before it is reached, I fear a long Dark Ages may, for centuries, descend upon us...


ken

[graham]

Someday we'll have a new world and a "Golden Age" for humanity wherein peace and brotherhood will reign. However, before it is reached, I fear a long Dark Ages may, for centuries, descend upon us...

Armageddon and then the Golden Age.

Graham

[ME]

Nice post Ken.
Unfortunately that wisdom comes after the downfall, but that too is an uncertainty...

[ken_behrendt]

Yes, alas, we humans have trouble learning from past mistakes. We have a tendency to keep repeating past failed efforts hoping that we'll finally get it right and they will work. Well, in the past, cultures, economies, and whole empires have come and gone...often destroyed from within by their own greed or laziness. Somehow, we "modern" humans tend to think that our present world with all of its technology is immune from this.

With all of the stockpiles of nuclear weapons still in the arsenals of both the US and Russia, there is enough explosive power to reduce the world to rubble in a few hours and contaminate it with so much radioactivity that survival would be next to impossible. At any time of the day or night, we are all only few minutes away from the start of this destruction. All that prevents it is that, for today, they decided not to launch an attack on us and we decided not to launch one on them.

In this kind of world, one must not take anything for granted. We need to work for a new global system which will place an emphasis on the highest moral and ethical behavior possible and in which things like the weapons of war in all forms can be completely eliminated. When the next Dark Age comes, there's no telling how long it will last or if it will ever end. The time to plan for its avoidance is now...not 15 minutes after the missiles have launched, the value of all paper currencies is only worth the paper it is printed on, or after irreversible damage is done to Earth's precious biosphere by pollution.

Will we make it? Right now, I'd say that the entire situation is riding on the flip of a coin...let's hope it comes up heads!




On a different, less ominous, note, I saw another very interesting little news segment this morning as I wolfed down a quick breakfast.

There is a company now in operation that is pioneering the use of lithium batteries in automobiles. These have been used for years in such vehicles as golf carts and even in wristwatches.

So, why is that news? Well, apparently, the president of the company claims that with a lithium battery it is possible to replace a small U-Haul trailer full of the old lead acid batteries with a single battery small enough to fit in the vehicle's trunk!

On the news segment, they demonstrated a small, compact sized car that used one of these batteries. It had a ginger acceleration from 0 to 60 mph and a range of about 100 miles before its battery needed to be recharged. Recharging took about 5 hours, but only used a few dollars worth of electricity!

The president of the company says that they have plans to install these remarkable batteries in larger vehicles and may, eventually, be able to use them to power a SUV sized vehicle. I was so impressed with the demonstration that I almost feel like investing in any company doing research with these batteries. Oh, unlike a lead acid battery, the lithium battery is extremely long-lived. However, there was no mention made of the cost for replacing those batteries when they finally wear out.



ken