This blog is a random collection of information, partly in support of my quotations web site. Other topics include wine, military news, economics, history, libertarianism, and other random things which happen to strike my fancy. Backup site is at http://quotulatiousness.blogspot.com/ (if there are no posts showing, hit the backup blog for explanation). Comments have been turned off, as the spam was getting too much to handle. Comments can be emailed to me for posting.

February 02, 2006

Trading one problem for another?

Jon sent along a link to this article by Robert Zubrin (h/t to Instapundit), which Jon sums up this way:

However, we'll be in the same place we are now in a century: instead of being held hostage by oil producing countries, we'll be held hostage by the countries from which we import the biomass to make the alcohol.

[. . .]

What's the difference? Petroleum oil or flax seed oil — as long as you're relying on the third world for the lifeblood of your civilization, you're doomed.

Doomed!

Posted by Nicholas at February 2, 2006 11:23 AM
Comments
What is the biomass required to replace the oil demand of North American after the Alberta tar sands and wind power (both now practically cost effective former marginal power sources) are factored in. Factor in also all the unused spend vegetable oil. One thing about biomass is that it uses resources now thrown away. Diesel was originally created as vegetable oil based power and it was only the oil interests that got it switched in the market to mineral oil. Our city buses use biomass oil and give off the smell of a french fry vat because that is the reprocessed stuff we are using. MacDonalds may hold us hostage one day for the fry oil but if by then we can make oil from corn stalks and weeds as opposed to the kernal and the grain the real problem may be only with a lack of good compost. Posted by: Alan at February 2, 2006 01:12 PM


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