Sunday 12 June 2011

Biofuels and Hybrid Cars


Several years ago we heard much hype in the media about biofuels; an ethanol fuel that will completely replace gasoline.  Well here we stand today, where are the biofuels?  I’m fairly happy because it was a stupid idea to begin with.  I can imagine a conversation going something like this:

“Hey, let’s turn food (corn) into fuel for our cars!”

“Great idea, it doesn’t matter that there is a food crisis!”

It is estimated that in the past year, the increased cost of food has force 44 million people into poverty.  With this in mind, do we still want to go ahead and turn our food into fuel?  Perhaps they did it just to prove that it could be done, if so they have my full congratulations.  People in the first world are willing to pay more for fuel than people in the third world are for food.  No one expects this to end badly?  It all comes back to my favourite line from Jurassic Park:

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could; they didn't stop to think if they should.” – Ian Malcolm

Don’t get me started on hybrid cars… 


18 comments:

  1. I like the idea of hybrid cars. Well yeah.. I like everything with the word "green" hidden somewhere in. ;]
    Will follow you for more earth-friendly thingies. ;]

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  2. I don't know much about figures, but don't we still have a lot of wasted oil from restaurants and such that could go towards fuel?

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  3. Wow, nice cars, liked the blog.

    Following!

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  4. Waste of money I think. Followed!

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  5. Yeah same as 1st poster, I like the idea of them. I reckon they'll take off too given a few more years.

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  6. While I somewhat agree that their actions caused other problems, at least they are trying to solve a problem instead of just sitting around waiting for the inevitable.

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  7. Jurassic Park.. Classic!

    Following!

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  8. Yeah bio fuel seems to be an unnecessary step in terms of advancing our energy agenda. We've already got the tech to utilize less fuel. I don't see why we can't just keep the food for humans that need it and try and conserve what we have.

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  9. Quality post. Totally agree. Followed.

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  10. Soybeans are better than corn for it. Its cheaper and easier to produce.

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  11. The simple truth is that human population is just too large. We don't have enough resources to sustain our population.

    "In the long run, we're all dead" - John Maynard Keynes

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  12. I really want us to get to the point where we've got sustainable energy figured out. If the world ended, and standing houses still ran fine, that'd be pretty cool.

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  13. So... what are your thoughts on hybrids? :D

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  14. Interesting suff, i'm following you.

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  15. Interesting but a lot of fuel that could be used as a biofuel is actually wasted, so this could be a different and more productive use

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  16. Meh, forward-thinking cities have started encouraging programs where restaurants sign up for used-oil collection and then sell it for fuel creation. Benefits the restaurant and the reseller.

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