Global warming initiatives - Topic Powered by eve community

misty

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Posted

btw i liked hearing about this (sorry if it's old news)
sliver cells

Posts: 9999 | Location: rockdale | Registered: September 10, 2003

Ignored post by misty posted

Member

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by greendreams:
quote:
What's wrong with ethanol from corn.

what's wrong is that an acre of algae produced 100 times more ethanol than an acre of corn.

I don't know, but I don't hear of hundreds of algae distilling plants being built across the mid-west so I didn't post a link to it. Maybe when you do, you can.

Posts: 5778 | Location: London | Registered: April 02, 2003

Ignored post by Kradlum posted

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Posted

Only had a minute, hope this is a good algae link

it seems to suggest 500 times better...

Posts: 794 | Registered: July 12, 2004

Ignored post by greendreams posted

Bravus

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Posted

plus, algae is (are?) *way* more cyberpunk

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Posts: 12319 | Location: all up in ur netwurx | Registered: January 11, 2003

Ignored post by Bravus posted

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Posted

The other problem I see with turning grain into ethanol is that I'm not sure it is really carbon neutral at all. I'm no chemist but the way I see it is like this:

Even assuming your not clearing new ground to grow the grain, the grain could have been used for something else instead. Most likely it would have been eaten and most of the carbon content would have been sequestered for at least the life of the animal that ate it, but since most of those animals would have been eaten by us, it would be substantially longer. By burning the grain we're short circuiting the carbon cycle.

The same is true for algae. If, instead of being turned into fuel, the algae was allowed to sink to the bottom of the ocean, the carbon would be stored for millennia, instead of being immediately released into the atmosphere.

Both cases appear to be carbon neutral on the surface, but digging deeper more carbon is released than if the ethanol was not made at all.

Maybe someone can find a flaw in my logic.

Posts: 5778 | Location: London | Registered: April 02, 2003

Ignored post by Kradlum posted

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Posted

quote:
The same is true for algae. If, instead of being turned into fuel, the algae was allowed to sink to the bottom of the ocean, the carbon would be stored for millennia, instead of being immediately released into the atmosphere.

but what if you take an acre that usually grows wheat or corn and grow algae on it? It seems to me that you're getting a big increase in the amount of carbon fixed.

methinks the algae they use is freshwater. Think pond scum. A world covered in pond scum, now that's a positive future!

hmmm...

Posts: 794 | Registered: July 12, 2004

Ignored post by greendreams posted

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Posted

seed shortage due to growing corn for ethanol

Posts: 794 | Registered: July 12, 2004

Ignored post by greendreams posted

Boogerhead

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Posted

if these goddamn corporations actually gave a flying fuck about the environment, they'd be making their ethanol out of cannibus. It's way healthier on the environment, actually enriching the soil instead of draining it like traditional crops. The only thing is, the oil and tobacco lobbies have kept it illegal for just this reason: it'll impact their obscene profit margin to do things right.

_{As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.
-Albert Einstein}

Posts: 19176 | Location: my happy place. | Registered: February 17, 2004

Ignored post by Boogerhead posted

Bravus

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Posted

True on the relative carbon non-neutrality of ethanol, Kradlum, but given that not everyone shares your commitment to reduced energy use, the alternative is not between ethanol and no-ethanol, it's between ethanol and petroleum. And ethanol is *better* from a carbon perspective because it takes up carbon from the atmosphere in its growth proces.

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Posts: 12319 | Location: all up in ur netwurx | Registered: January 11, 2003

Ignored post by Bravus posted

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Posted

Yes, anything is better than burning fossil fuels.

Posts: 5778 | Location: London | Registered: April 02, 2003

Ignored post by Kradlum posted

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Posted

Getting geothermal would really help right now. I mean light and a video for a house is easy, it's the heat that's difficult. You don't need to dig a mile down, the coil I'm putting under my lawn is only 7 ft. down. By using 50 watts of pumping power I get about 5000 watts of heat... plus it's invisible...

Posts: 794 | Registered: July 12, 2004

Ignored post by greendreams posted

Aisha

Member

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by greendreams:
Getting geothermal would really help right now. I mean light and a video for a house is easy, it's the heat that's difficult. You don't need to dig a mile down, the coil I'm putting under my lawn is only 7 ft. down. By using 50 watts of pumping power I get about 5000 watts of heat... plus it's invisible...

Sounds interesting.

Norway's biggest tabloid had an interesting front page today:

How climate-friendly are you?
Rate yourself here.

The global warming issue is definitely climbing the agenda.

Posts: 4395 | Location: Oslo | Registered: July 18, 2004

Ignored post by Aisha posted

Gromit

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Posted

North Pole trek to raise awareness of global warming called off due to frostbite.

"My first reaction when they called to say they were calling it off was that they just sounded really, really cold."

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"It may be said with rough accuracy that there are three stages in the life of a strong people. First, it is a small power, and fights small powers. Then it is a great power, and fights great powers. Then it is a great power, and fights small powers, but pretends that they are great powers, in order to rekindle the ashes of its ancient emotion and vanity. After that, the next step is to become a small power itself."
--GK Chesterton, "Heretics"

Posts: 7495 | Location: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: February 02, 2003

Ignored post by Gromit posted

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Posted

European car manufacturers look to cut emissions.

Posts: 5778 | Location: London | Registered: April 02, 2003

Ignored post by Kradlum posted

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Posted

quote:
This winter was the warmest on record worldwide, the government said Thursday in the latest worrisome report focusing on changing climate. The report comes just over a month after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global warming is very likely caused by human actions and is so severe it will continue for centuries.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the combined land and ocean temperatures for December through February were 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the period since record keeping began in 1880.

The report said that during the past century, global temperatures have increased at about 0.11 degrees per decade. But that increase has been three times larger since 1976, NOAAâ€™s National Climatic Data Center reported.

Posts: 794 | Registered: July 12, 2004

Ignored post by greendreams posted

DataMojo

Member

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by greendreams:
seed shortage due to growing corn for ethanol

This article barely scratches the surface of one of the biggest problem in agriculture today- farmers can't grow seed crop.

The good people at Monsanto, DeKalb and Pioneer have sewn suicide genes into their plants- despite the fact that seeds from these companies will grow, for example, corn, no portion of that corn crop can be put up as seed stock for next year.

These companies (including the Pioneer, whose sales rep was quoted) have a bit more control over Americas' Ethenol Future than most folks would like.

The futurist in me predicts some sort of strategic alliance between an agricultural giant and an oil multinational. Likely one that bills it'sself as an 'energy company'.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go patent some pond scum.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DataMojo,

1x4x9

Posts: 171 | Location: Detroit | Registered: July 31, 2005

Ignored post by DataMojo posted

Bravus

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Posted

Our future, just like our present, is being held hostage by the zaibatsus.

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Posts: 12319 | Location: all up in ur netwurx | Registered: January 11, 2003

Ignored post by Bravus posted

Boogerhead

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Posted

Too many cooks in the kitchen...and it's gonna get hot!

_{As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.
-Albert Einstein}

Posts: 19176 | Location: my happy place. | Registered: February 17, 2004

Ignored post by Boogerhead posted

Aisha

Member

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by Boogerhead:
Too many cooks in the kitchen...and it's gonna get hot!

My gut feeling is that a few more cooking fires in the Developing World are unlikely to do much in the global warming scenario.
Whilst we know the industrialized countries are affecting it big time with travel.

But I know I need to think and read more about this.

Posts: 4395 | Location: Oslo | Registered: July 18, 2004

Ignored post by Aisha posted