vboring

Jatropha Being Developed as a New Biodiesel Source

this is a boring story until it includes economic analysis of harvesting and processing costs and the risks of movement towards an electric transportation scheme using a mix of renewable electric energy sources.

essentially, why would i grow trees, harvest and process the nuts, transport the oil across the country, just to burn it in an inefficient internal combustion engine?

wouldn't it make more sense to increase the production of renewable energy nationwide and use this to charge batteries or fuel cells or ultracapacitors or who-knows-what?

Is EPA Ethanol Mandate a Joke?

the current generation of ethanol is so energy intensive to produce that some studies have claimed it actually increases CO2/mile, that 1 barrel of fossil fuel produces less than 1 energy equivalent barrel of ethanol fuel.

biodiesel is energy positive, but not by much.

ethanol is a great subsidy for Midwestern states, but pretty useless for anything else