Comments on: Biofuels: good, bad, and ugly

By: Acid Test » I told you so: negawatts work

Acid Test » I told you so: negawatts work — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:54:46 +0000

[...] Biofuel produced from corn and other food sources: Destruction of habitat to grow monocultures of energy crops (a problem with any biofuel not generated from waste). Increased food prices in a world where around one billion people are living on around one dollar a day. That leads to even worse mass starvation than we already have. That leads to even more mass migration, social dislocation, riots, and wars. Just in case I’m not being clear, this is Not Good. [...]

By: I told you so: negawatts work « The Confluence

I told you so: negawatts work « The Confluence — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:16:33 +0000

By: Acid Test » Less heat, more light: solving the energy crisis

Acid Test » Less heat, more light: solving the energy crisis — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:52:00 +0000

[...] However, even if most types of clean energy can’t be the whole solution, they can be useful as partial solutions or short term stopgaps. But then we should include them in our plans as such. (That’s if we had any plans, instead of just hoping for the best.) Biofuels, for instance, have a role to play as a transitional energy source, but they’re not worth huge environmental and human costs, especially when they’re not more than a small part of the cure. The same goes for hydropower, geothermal, and wind. [...]

By: Iculafn

Iculafn — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:45:03 +0000

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By: Acid Test » Support the Biofuels Moratorium

Acid Test » Support the Biofuels Moratorium — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:27:59 +0000

[...] And he’s also right that microbial, non-polluting!, methods to use plant waste rather than food have already been demonstrated in labs. We need some more genetic engineering to improve the microbes and tailor them to work under industrial conditions before they’ll be practical. Given the relatively small scope of the remaining issues, five years will likely be plenty … IF the scientific resources needed are devoted to the problem. (A summary of biofuels in an earlier post of mine.) [...]

By: Acid Test » Nukes can never be the answer

Acid Test » Nukes can never be the answer — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:04:30 +0000

[...] But then people go on to lobby for fuel that doesn’t reduce greenhouse gases, that takes land away from food production, and that’s already causing food crises and environmental destruction. They lobby for hydrogen made from coal, because hydrogen is so clean-burning. (No, no, don’t look at the coal plant. Look over here at the hydrogen car.) And they lobby for nuclear power. The first application in over twenty years to build a new nuclear reactor was recently submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. [...]