Outrages : Outrageous conduct as I see it.
Updated: 2/2/2006; 2:11:02 AM.

 

 
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Thursday, January 26, 2006



What Big Oil Knows About Biofuels That You Don't

I would have thought McDonalds would be all over biodiesel. Have half the cars in town running about with the smell of McFries coming out of the exhaust…..with a sign on the back saying ‘follow me to your nearest Temple of the Clown’…

As rising energy prices trigger growing concerns on the part of Americans, the energy industry is determined to maintain the status quo and stall on a major opportunity to reduce energy dependence – the production of biofuels. In Brazil, cars have been running on biodiesel for years, while in Sweden, Ford's flex-fuel models are outselling its ordinary petrol and diesel cars.

Energy industry officials have no shortage of excuses on why they can’t move forward on biofuels. In a recent BBC article, one unnamed industry official asserted that “there’s simply not enough foodstuff available and not enough land to grow it on” to keep up with the “growing demand for [grains] used to produce biodiesel.” A day earlier a New York Times article quoted an agricultural expert warning that demand for foodstuff for biofuels might mean higher food prices, instability and even corn shortages.

But the facts don’t back up their arguments. In the face of growing energy demands from China and India and global population growth, an international corn shortage isn’t possible anytime soon:

First, developing a biofuel economy can actually help reduce hunger and poverty by diversifying agricultural and forestry activities, attracting new farmers, and investing in small and medium enterprises. Increased investment in agricultural production has the potential to boost incomes of the world’s poorest people.

Second, world hunger is not the result of absolute food scarcity in the world. Hunger has more to do with inadequate distribution and income. Presently, nearly 40 percent of global cereal crops are used to feed livestock, not humans.

Finally, biofuel refineries in the future will depend less on food crops and more on organic wastes and residues. The greatest potential from sustainable transportation fuels will come from emerging technologies that produce alcohol fuels from cellulose (“cellulosic ethanol”) which unlike corn ethanol, also uses the stalks, hulls and other woody, rigid material that makes up the plants.

Ethanol, coupled with strong efficiency and smart growth policies, could dramatically reduce, if not eliminate the United States’ need for oil. Don’t let the naysayers tell you any different. In Brazil, where biofuel cars now outsell ordinary cars, a state-run bioethanol fuel programme was originally set up for patriotic, not financial or environmental reasons. It was a strategic decision taken by the military government that ran the country from 1964 to 1985, inspired by a desire to reduce its dependence on petroleum imports following the 1970s oil crisis.

Ethanol is biofuel, and it comes from plant matter/sugar in general. If you read the thread further up, you’ll see discussions about it being produced from sugars such as those in Corn and Sugar Cane (brazil uses this path), but the real future lies in converting biomass agri waste into ethanol. Unlike gasoline which burns fossilized carbon and increases greenhouse gases with new carbon sources, this uses carbon already in the current environment. It’s desirable from a global warming perspective.

And yes, the E85 cars are great - ford has been making them in brazil for years. A percentage of ‘flex fuel’ cars as they call them which will burn either ethanol, gasoline or a dynamic mix of either is required by law, and therefore common there. There’s no reason the american car companies couldn’t build these same cars in the US, other than their corporate ties to big oil.

But do not lose faith, true believers. The exhaust from Nelson's diesel-powered Mercedes smells like peanuts, or French fries, or whatever alternative fuel happens to be in his tank. Willie Nelson drives a Mercedes.

"I drove the car, loved the way it drove," Nelson said. "The tailpipe smells like French fries. I bought me a Mercedes, and the Mercedes people were a little nervous when I took a brand new Mercedes over and filled it up with 100 percent vegetable oil coming from the grease traps of Maui. I figured I'd be getting notices about the warranty and that stuff. However, nobody said anything."

"I get better gas mileage, it runs better, the motor runs cleaner, so I swear by it," he added.

While Bono tries to change the world by hobnobbing with politicians and Bob Geldof hosts his mega-benefit concerts, Willie Nelson has birthed his own brand of alternative fuel. It is called, fittingly enough, BioWillie. And in BioWillie, Nelson, 72, has blended two of his biggest concerns — his love of family farmers and disdain for the Iraq war.

BioWillie is a type of biodiesel, a fuel that can be made from any number of crops and run in a normal diesel engine.

I knew we needed to have something that would keep us from being so dependent on foreign oil, and when I heard about biodiesel, a light come on, and I said, 'Hey, here's the future for the farmers, the future for the environment, the future for the truckers," Nelson said in an interview earlier this month. "It seems like that's good for the whole world if we can start growing our own fuel instead of starting wars over it."

In some ways, it is a return to the origins of the diesel engine; some of Rudolf Diesel's first engines ran on peanut oil more than a century ago. Biodiesel can cost as much as a $1 a gallon more than regular diesel when pure, though it is typically sold as B20. Prices vary depending on volume and region, and new tax incentives are aimed at closing the cost gap. In fact, BioWillie was selling for $2.37 a gallon on Thursday in Carl's Corner, Nelson's own truck stop in Texas that serves as headquarters of his year-old company, Willie Nelson BioDiesel. That was just 4 cents more than the conventional diesel selling at another station nearby.

The best practical advise I have seen in a long time. Personally I have started gardening and collecting useful non-electric handtools (and learning how to use them!!). I have some ideas about being a blacksmith, but where would you get decent coal post-PO? Never mind Iron. I think it might be better to learn how to handle a horse. It gets pretty chilly up past the 45th parrallel and hauling firewood can be a task. Mules or even dogs can be used to pull carts. Dogs have the advantage of being able to eat intruders.





categories: Outrages
Other Stories according to Google: Make your own biodiesel: Journey to Forever | Straight vegetable oil as diesel fuel: Journey to Forever | AlterNet: Over the Peak | Other Biofuels | Too sexy for my tank | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Oil independence and the electorate | Gristmill: The environmental | Breakthrough in Biodiesel Production | Record Oil Prices | Vegetable oil Benz - hack a day - www.hackaday.com _ | BioDieselNow Forums - Biodiesel not so energy efficient?

4:11:08 PM    



Pat Robertson's Counts His $14.4M Federal Blessings

Jesus was all about sucking up vast sums of money, casting stones at the lifestyles of others and waging war for oil. Have any of Robbersin’s & Fartwell’s followers ever even cracked the New Testament?


Under President Bush, right-wing fundamentalist Pat Robertson’s international “charity” Operation Blessing has increased its annual revenue from government grants from $108,000 to $14.4 million.

Operation Blessing, with a budget of $190 million, is an integral part of the Robertson empire. Not only is he the chairman of the board, his wife is listed on its latest financial report as its vice president, and one of his sons is on the board of directors.  Back in 1994, during the infamous Rwandan genocide, Robertson used his 700 Club’s daily cable operation to appeal to the American public for donations to fly humanitarian supplies into Zaire to save the Rwandan refugees.  The planes purchased by Operation Blessing did a lot more than ferry relief supplies.

An investigation conducted by the Virginia attorney general’s office concluded in 1999 that the planes were mostly used to transport mining equipment for a diamond operation run by a for-profit company called African Development Corp.  I guess he Bush Administration never got the memo about the Virginia attorney general's investigation.

At least buying votes from the evangelical community gets you a second term. The Pharisees spun capitalistic profits from their religious order back in Biblical times and Jesus rebuked them. I’d really like to get my hands on Robertson’s books…see if his association is TYCOING the evangelical right at all — then create a plethora of negative publicity rebuking Robertson’s association!

At Agitprop, we're going to try to get him to give it to Katrina victims. For real.

Our tax dollars helping Pat (and pal Mobutu Sese Seko) mine diamonds and call for the death of Hugo Chavez and the destruction of Dover, PA? No no no no no! Write to Pat and tell him to pray that someone or something will cause him to give the money to Katrina victims. We did!

So let's go back a couple of months to the budget debate in Congress. Back then, Dems were called irresponsible and not serious about trimming the budget because they opposed taking food out of the mouths of poor families and school children. The GOP did it anyway. Anyway, where was this $14 million during that discussion? How many families would that money put BACK into the food stamp program? How many school lunches could it buy for how long? And most importantly, what on earth is Robertson doing with the money? Is HE feeding and providing healthcare to the poor? I doubt it.


categories: Outrages
Other Stories according to Google: Politics Coming Out Your Ears: September 2004 | | Calibre Macro*World

2:32:20 PM    


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