Biofuel is made by fools!

[kanchavan]

It's been said that biofuels can increase global warming because they are not always carbon neutral. Apparently, many rainforests are destroyed in order to have land for biofuel-producing farmers.

It's also been stated that biofuel increases the reliance on monoculture. We would lose a great variety of plants if we focussed just on the ones that can be used to produce biofuel. This in turn can lead to a reduction in soil quality.

Are biofuels really made by fools?

[gogreensolar]

Originally Posted by kanchavan

It's been said that biofuels can increase global warming because they are not always carbon neutral. Apparently, many rainforests are destroyed in order to have land for biofuel-producing farmers.

It's also been stated that biofuel increases the reliance on monoculture. We would lose a great variety of plants if we focussed just on the ones that can be used to produce biofuel. This in turn can lead to a reduction in soil quality.

Are biofuels really made by fools?

It really depends. Biofuels made from our organic waste / alge can be an excellent source of energy. I don't agree with ethonol because it requires something to be grown and then converted into a fuel. We need to focus on turning our waste into energy because our waste is already a problem and it has ALOT of energy in it.

[Johnny Electriglide]

I think biofuels are a lose/lose situation in the fact that even doing it with waste is wrong. Organic waste should go to soil building or there will eventually be no soil to grow the organics to get the waste products. It still also detracts from the main problem which is super gross overpopulation. Human numbers alone are polluting and depleting us, and most other species, to death.

[gogreensolar]

Originally Posted by Johnny Electriglide

I think biofuels are a lose/lose situation in the fact that even doing it with waste is wrong. Organic waste should go to soil building or there will eventually be no soil to grow the organics to get the waste products. It still also detracts from the main problem which is super gross overpopulation. Human numbers alone are polluting and depleting us, and most other species, to death.

Why do you need soil when we have hydroponics =) Sure gross over population is the real problem, but that is something we cant solve. (nature will take its course to solve that problem) But at least using renewable energy is something we can achieve. Growing alge for the sole purpose of creating biofuel is a logical solution to the problem. Why throw away all that chicken fat when its got so much energy in it?

So I have brainstormed a couple ideas of renwable energy power generation, what are your thoughts about over population? What are some logical solutions?

[rc white]

For the most part bio fuels are nothing more than a convenient political fix.

In the USA they represent a way of indirectly subsidizing farmers whilst appearing to do something green and responsible.
When the worlds sugar market became saturated and sugar production in Australia was no longer viable, cane growers and there political friends experienced a miracle, they suddenly turned green, and the benefits of bio fuels was revealed to them.
After much lobbying and dark hints of adverse outcomes at an upcoming federal election, the government announced tax concessions and subsidies for its new found conversion to bio fuels.
Variations on such scenarios are being played out all over the planet.

Converting gross bio mass into fuel does make sense but at present it is the easy to get at food source sugar that is used and this is the problem.

[Johnny Electriglide]

Why do we need soil when we have hydroponics? Micronutrients are to plants what vitamins and minerals are to us, and every plant is different. The micronutrients are missing with hydroponics and show up as low nutritional values in the food produced. World farm soil, has decreased in depth about 2/3 since 1910. The area increased with less and less "rest" (and a lot of slash and burn with temporary results), then began to decrease more and more with salinized soils, citification, and erosion. What is worst is that the micronutrients in the soils are depleting without enough organic compost being put back in, because of our flush and forget societies. This is also true of over-stressed soils from overuse to keep up with the increasing population. Malnutrition (often from lack of micronutrients) leads to more diseases and starvation. The population "naturally" has a die-off.

[windy1]

Originally Posted by gogreensolar

We need to focus on turning our waste into energy because our waste is already a problem and it has ALOT of energy in it.

This makes a lot of sense, and a way to help solve the problem of what to do with waste that cannot be recycled. Perhaps in the future we will be digging up our land-fill sites and re-using the waste in them for producing energy?