Two years of B100 in my 240D - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

F18 · #31 07-10-2007, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WINGAS

fwiw, canola beans produce the highest yield of oil/bshl. Still compete somewhat with the food supply, while something like switch grass is ideal.

I'm hopeful for Uncle Sam to be running huge hemp farms!

Kidding, of course....

I agree, our agri. infrastructure has to change to consider high yield biofuel crops.....but the farming culture has been widely influenced by government programs ($) to grow corn and or soy beans for the last 100 years. The struggling US farmers are not going to be the guinea pigs to make a switch to address an emerging market for new crops without some assurances or a safety net. Change will be slow and it will cost us some more at the pump and in tax revenue.

Aaron Bedford · #32 07-10-2007, 01:29 PM

You guys aren't quite cynical enough.

The causal relationship is, chaos in the middle east = record profits for US oil companies. We're not there to get the oil, we're there to keep it off the market. Our current policies have had a direct and attributable effect on the bottom lines of the oil companies by making the supply chain shakier.

In the short term, I'm all for biodiesel and biofuels. But it's just a band-aid prolonging the inevitable fate of internal combustion as a source of power for transportation, electricity, heat, etc. Reducing our addiction to fuels (fossil and otherwise) is going to take massive changes in human behavior. Just growing some of your own food and buying locally produced goods will reduce an individual's carbon footprint immensely. But everyone will have to do it to make a difference. And we all know how hard it will be to change the behavior of a consumer driven culture. The fact that folks living now will probably be dead before this becomes a crisis has a lot to do with resistance to change.

patbob · #33 07-10-2007, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Bedford

You guys aren't quite cynical enough.

I dunno.. I figure we're looking at a scenario that resembles a cross between "Mad Max" and "A Boy and his Dog", without the nuclear bombs though. That cynical enough for ya?

I just try to water it down enough to not sounds like a crazy here