Re: Are Biofuels the Answer?

Hi Knome,

  Good points, but saying "No fuel from food..." is even more complex than that.  It always comes back to" "show me the money".  If we were only concentrating on feeding ourselves, we could retire much of the arable land under plow and not really worry for a very long time.

  No we have to feed the world, and industrial farms are some of the best converters of high quality land, energy, seed, water, etc. into low quality cattle feed and export grain; and they do it all at taxpayer expense! 

objoke:

Interviewer: "Farmer Jones, congratulations on winning the $135 million power ball sweepstakes!  What are you going to do now?"

Farmer Jones: "I reckon I'll just keep farming until it's all used up." <rimshot>

<ba-da-bump>

  Hey, I've got a question.  How would you feel if many of the large farms in the breadbasket fallowed their fields and installed massive solar collectors?  I mean cover thousands of hectares of arable land with millions of square meters of solar panels.  I'm suggesting "amber waves of grain" become a "shimmering sea of machines" as a poor poetic image, but an efficient energy solution.

  And why am I suggesting farm land as opposed to the scrub desert?  Because the farmers are going to irrigate with millions of acre-feet of fresh water, spread tens-of thousands of tons of nitrogen containing fertilizers, phosphates, and burn millions of barrels of oil just to make a slight excess of EToH from corn. 

  The solar panels will collect 15% of all the solar energy that the land collects year round compared to 0.05% of the solar energy captured by plants during a growing season.  I did a back of the envelope calculation a few years ago, and my solar collectors would be about as profitable as growing wheat... Until the system is paid for, then the real profits kick in!

  Whaddya think?