http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles^l2634&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Technology&
There is still a major issue of land usage and how it will impact food prices. From the Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121797838304214973.html?mod=rss_opinion_main While it's a step in the right direction, there is still a long long way to go in this area.
That reminds me that algae can be converted into biofuel. Using this method to increase yields could go a long way. This is something that I've posted before. The thing about algae is that you don't need to have large tracts of land to grow it. You can grow it in your kitchen if you want. In terms of land usage you can grow it in a high-rise hothouse in an industrially-zoned location and thereby maximize land-use efficiency.
all this biofuel stuff does is make the money we give away a bigger number.. The farm bill is one of the most pork laden bills in America.. just look at big sugar.. and corn is following their blueprint for corporate welfare.
We don't give away money for oil? The thing is that it doesn't have to be used for food crops. It's hard for me to believe that Florida, the world's favorite hothouse, hasn't taken the lead in developing algae-based biofuel, not only for it's own needs, but for export. Eventually, Florida could topple Texas as the nation's main fuel supplier. This technique doubles the oil output. What is holding Florida back? Is Jeb still pulling strings?
Personally I am hopeful on biofuels but very skeptical...Castor has a lot of unusual characteristics....for example it has a unique hydroxyl group in it's structure that gives it unique characteristics.....I would love to see more information based on other non edible plants that do not have the the hydroxyl structure in its molecular structure....there are also some interesting things about castor in that it is very climate oriented and does not do well based on climate and not soil nutrient values....also I do not think castor is the plant you want growing in an open field in West Texas...ricin is very easily distilled is made from castor beans. Personally I am higher on Jatropha and even algae more so than Castor...too many things that make me cringe including extraction cost....BTW that is another issue...you can mechanically or chemically extract castor oil......the main solvent extraction method uses hydrocarbons (about that tax.....), nechanically the Ghani method is way outdated and I am not sure how much more oil regardless of fuel value you can have....also as Castor is climate sensative I am not sure you want to be reliant on the Indians (and their cartel) any more than the Saudi's for Oil if you cannot grow it domestically...and for the record they tried that and it was a miserable failure. Jatropha is an inedible weed that grows anywhere and IMHO offers the better long term value..problem with Jatropha is it is very labor intensive to harvest.....and has a C8 content and lower C16 in what amounts to a fairly low oil yield...so you have to have a huge plantation....still Castor scares me.....and Jatropha does not so much..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha
If it was easy it would have been done....Chemically, operationally and even administratively there are issues with all of these bio fuel wonder drugs that people do not take into account when they hop on the bandwagon with both cheeks......... that sounded bad so I am editing it...for example...Jatropha oxides very quickly so you have to immediately put it under a nitrogen blanket on site so you do not "lose" the extracted oil...then it has to be shipped under nitrogen blanket...it requires stainless steel piping, SS reactors and has to be shipped in SS because it is so corrosive...so in essence you have to produce the bio fuels where you harvest which is a challenge...from a cost standpoint the delivery systems and production as required by SS reactors and firing mechanisms make it ...probably more expensive than Gas right now.....Castor has it's own issues...algae even more although algae can be produced in such quantities as smaller locations that it is interesting... My point is that all these wonder drugs have issues and because you read one article IMHO only I would not swallow the hook the line or the sinker just yet................
I'm not suggesting that it would be easy. There's very little worthwhile that it is. I defer to your expertise here, but part of me thinks that the well-connected in Big Oil do want to see this go.
IMHO you are right on....... There are sadder stories to the bio fuel issue....The USG until 12-08 subsidizes 1.00 per gallon of bio fuel produced in order to incentivize BF production (to encourage US use of bio fuels) since it is currently unprofitable ...good.....bad news is Brazil has a 15% biofuel mandate by 2012...so what did our opportunistic business men and women do...they exported to Brazil at higher margins than the US was getting....AND took the 1.00 per gallon incentive ...so...in essence we good tax payers paid US companies 1.00 per gallon for biofuel so that some Brazilian could buy low cost biofuel.............so due to public outrage our government ended the subsidy in 12-08...and reinstalled and hid it in another program.........so the last two administrations get full credit for being either A dirty or B unbelievably STUPID. http://www.epa.gov/OMS/renewablefuels/ http://www.epa.gov/OMS/renewablefuels/ This whole issue is run by the government so it is FUBAR from the get go......it is run by Russian style standards and the most corrupt will benefit...there are a ton of Biofuel issues....operational to administrative and the whole thing is beginning to look like alcohol during prohibition.......... But with all that Said I agree Big Oil is somewhere behind this...notice Exxon is advertising they spent a whopping 2 million on algae research...uhhhh oh wow...that ought to cause their exec's to miss...oh maybe one lunch..........
