Zenblaster's Rants of Silence

Rantings in the digital wind as your Grot Shop of the information age. "I didn't get where I am today without recognising a completely useless machine when I see one" - C.J.

Monday, December 4, 2006

Fromwhat I've read, ethanol isn't currently that cost effective, ESPECIALLY when produced from corn. Brazil seems to be the most effective producer using sugarcane and localized ethanol plants. It pays to watch the numbers and costs very closely before jumping on the ethanol bandwagon. It has its place, but the source needs to be much more cost effective. Overall, need to keep working on many solutions in many areas since there is no one-size-fits-all solution. -Jon-

Switchgrass research aims to create ethanol to power vehicles for $1 per gallon. In his 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush acknowledged the potential for switchgrass as a source of ethanol to reduce the nation`s reliance on foreign oil. Unlike corn, which is currently used for ethanol production, switchgrass can be grown on marginal soils, is useful as wildlife habitat, and requires little use of fertilizers, insecticides or irrigation. [PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news]
9:46:54 PM comment []

From what I've read, finding a cost effective way to produce hydrogen is a huge key issue before we ever want to look at the Hydrogen Infrastructure needed to fuel hydrogen cars or stationary power cells. If a safe and most critically a cost effective "on-site" hydrogen generating system could be developed, it would be world changing. The key is that it must be economically feasible in order to displace the existing oil economy. -Jon-

Unprecedented efficiency in producing hydrogen from water. Scientists are reporting a major advance in technology for water photooxidation �using sunlight to produce clean-burning hydrogen fuel from ordinary water. Michael Gratzel and colleagues in Switzerland note that nature found this Holy Grail of modern energy independence 3 billion years ago, with the evolution of blue-green algae that use photosynthesis to split water into its components, hydrogen and oxygen. [PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news]
9:38:35 PM comment []