Alcohol Can Be a Gas, Part 2

Peak Moment 79: David Blume, Founder, International Institute for Ecological Agriculture, Soquel, California

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• alcohol
• ethynol
• liquid
• fuel
• biodiesel

[alli4joe]

can any one tell me how much land would be required to fuel every car in the world, i seem to remember in roman times that eygypt was very fertile till they over cropped it

[peakmoment]

I can't give you numbers for the world, but for the U.S., it would take four times the arable land we have to fuel our cars. That means no land used to grow food. Obviously, we can't keep paving over arable land. We will need to have far more efficient transportation -- which means electric -- trains, buses, and fewer cars.

[peakmoment]

David sidestepped my questions comparing gasoline's energy-density with ethanol. That's the crux of all the biofuels: we have to grow/produce far more of it to get the same energy equivalent of gasoline. And scientist James Lovelock says a sane response to global climate change would be NOT to put any more land into production. We need to reforest (to sequester carbon), not till marginal lands.

[tomterahedrob]

great shows do you have any interviews with Negative Population Growth?

[peakmoment]

It's sure a relevant idea...I guess I haven't because it feels to me like this is such an intractable challenge, a real hornet's nest...The planet needs us to reduce our numbers, but the biological imperative overrides nearly everything, doesn't it? Sounds fatalistic, but I haven't found an approach to this "elephant in the living room" that "clicks." Saying we should reduce population doesn't cut it, true as it is.

[bearsagainstevil]

very interesting

[zstowasser]

what about using algae and kelp grown in our oceans? He mentioned this in another one of his interviews. I linked it on my blog along with this video. infopatriots(dot)org

[theShice]

@zstowasser Kelp in the ocean is a highly productive ecosystem that should rather not be harvested / destroyed for fuel, but there are some interesting ways to grow algae in glass tubes on roofs, etc.

[theShice]

@peakmoment I'm pretty sure Hans Rosling, in one of his great TED talks, pointed out that population growth automatically levels out or becomes negative once a certain standard of living is achieved in a given population (which doesn't necessarily have to be unsustainable, I hope). If you haven't, watch his talks on ted.com, he might be an interesting interview partner aswell.

And thanks for your work, peak moment is a great source of inspiration :)

[oregonmeds]

"this should force us into more highly-efficient mass transportation"

Have you ridden a bus lately? It's $5 per adult for a day pass here and not any cheaper per monthly pass than an efficient car, insurance, fuel. Motorcycle and scooters are far cheaper and more convenient.

If you want me to take the bus, trim the fat on it's cost so that it's cheaper $5 per day is a ripoff.

Personally I'd rather make my own alcohol from a crop I can grow in my yard and fuel my scooter with that.

[SamCarroll212]

Great interview. Information-packed! Although our lower-energy future may expose the earthbound limits to biofuel (and food) production, this should force us into more highly-efficient mass transportation, which could be a very good thing. And please let's pursue these new fuel frontiers with a newfound reverence for sustainability and bio-diversity. That path is not inevitable; it must be insisted upon.

[funknumber49]

Blume didn't 'sidestep' your question on energy density. He explained to you that 'energy density' in and of itself is a red herring. That's because the total chemical energy in petroleum products is not as accessible as the total energy in a similar volume of alcohol. This is because the amount of energy extracted depends on how much you can compress the fuel in the cylinder before exploding it to make it do work. Alcohol's better compression characteristics allow make it superior.

[derman077]

Does anybody else think they are warming the planet on purpose? We assume its greed or fear but maybe they have a plan we do not yet understand. I don't know if it is good or not but it seems like there is a purpose.

[youngsinfo]

Yeah- great interview. It is not that easy to get others organized- but think I will help to move this forward. If I can get some farmers to join me it will take off. Really like the vid. 

From one of the last individuals. R. young