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FUTURE OF ENERGY

‘It’s Not a Silver Bullet’

A prominent plant biologist says that biofuels are only one part of a green energy solution.

By Fareed Zakaria | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Nov 5, 2007

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  • Posted By: jlmealer @ 08/03/2008 2:38:05 PM

    Comment: Mealer Companies has a non plant based bio-fuel that maintains a constant raw fuel source.
    Our vehicles do not use this bio-fuel.. But we are thinking ahead for the people who cannot afford our new vehicles. I am dead serious folks.. Push this company and push the nation's fuel independence and a prosperous America.
    As a friend and a cut knuckled working type... We need Mealer Compnaies and we need the McCain 3R!

    It's either the McCain 3R and Mealer Companies or the option of having insane new rules enforced on Americans by the "Shape Changer for Change" himself.

    Let's spread the word and make this happen!

  • Posted By: jlmealer @ 08/03/2008 2:31:24 PM

    Comment: Mealer Companies has this under wraps... As we await full funding we are presented with the old problem of paying for fuel tax related infrastructure. We have the plan and it is a McCain plan (the McCain 3R).
    This is our last REAL chance to make it work, America. We need this plan first and foremost or the local, state and federal gov'ts will fail without the taxes.
    We need jobs and USA mfg.. We need the McCain 3R plan.
    This is beyond politics or glamour and stardom.. this is real life!
    John Lewis Mealer
    www.betterconstructed.com

  • Posted By: SeeTheBigPicture @ 12/01/2007 4:28:55 PM

    Comment: Hope all caught the story of the oil rich, pollution eating algae that promises another wonderful source of biofuel.

  • Posted By: Azaman59 @ 11/02/2007 9:41:08 AM

    Comment: COMMENT: I fully agree with Chris that the solution will be a basket of all resources, in my view the cheapest and the most abundant resource which has not yet been utilized is solar energy. Solar energy if developed on a commercial basis can be an alternate to fossil fuels specially in the torpics and sub-tropic regions. I have never heard of harvesting of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and an not aware if such a technology is available even at an experimental stage

  • Posted By: yousufhashmi @ 11/02/2007 2:16:16 AM

    Comment: One thing I fully agree with Mr. Chris is that the solution will be a basket of all resources. the future of energy supply should not be rested on one or two technologies.

    so far very little efforts are being made on conservation of energy. if 10% energy can be saved then it is equilent to 10% saving. I am not talking about fuel effeciant machines but changing our life style.

  • Posted By: MARKHEARON @ 10/31/2007 10:42:25 PM

    Comment: the one energy technology that i never hear discussed is the harvestting of carbon dioxide from the atmospher and the oceans and turning it back into hydrocarbon fuels. i think that if we could develop an economy of scale for this process that all or most of our energy problems would go away and middle east oil would become irrelivant.

  • Posted By: MARKHEARON @ 10/31/2007 10:40:38 PM

    Comment: the one energy technology that i never hear discussed is the harvestting of carbon dioxide from the atmospher and the oceans and turning it back into hydrocarbon fuels. i think that if we could develop an economy of scale for this process that all or most of our energy problems would go away and middle east oil would become irrelivant.

  • Posted By: dagobertopinto @ 10/29/2007 12:28:26 PM

    Comment: I do not understand when you say that technically US are leader in biofuels. Brazil's ethanol from sugar cane is far ahead from corn (that still needs subisidies). Economically speaking sugar fuel Is cheaper and many times more efficient than corn fuel. Besides that Brazil's program has been developed for more than 30 years what give this country good distribution and transportation advantages.

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 11:37:21 AM

    Comment: I don't often participate, but enjoyed the H outta this time.
    Promise to stay sharp, informed and opinionated.
    Y'all too!
    See U in the next blog (that matters.)

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 11:12:55 AM

    Comment: Nice work if you can get it! Drilling for oil certainly AIN'T glamorous. Doing so IS valuable and important. Worldwide consumption of Oil and Fossil Fuel should always be necessary. Work hard near West Africa! We will always need your diligent efforts.
    This forum isn't about elimination of Oil Exploitation. IT IS simply a discussion about useful ALTERNATIVES!

  • Posted By: RMARS @ 10/29/2007 9:09:19 AM

    Comment: OK, let's take a breath and look at this thing a little closer. The middle East and other oil producing countries now hold us for ransom politically and financially. There is a race to claim land in the North Pole and Antarctica...oil is the driver. According to BP we have found all the new large discoveries that we are going to find. Oil companies are hard pressed to replace production with new reserves. The facts Don submitted are correct but the Ethanol industry and the technology are getting better. For every 1 bbl of ethanol we produce that's 1.2 bbls of oil we don't have to bring in. Got to get back to work and drill some more wells here in West Africa!!!

    • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 10:48:59

      Comment: Ping Pong! You confuse! Are we talking about the Middle East, North Pole, Antarctica, West Africa OR BP? As a Texan with oily boots, I'd love to discuss BRITISH PETROLEUM (BP) in another forum.
      EVERY oil discovery is NEW! And taunts every concern within this forum.
      The Silver Bullet is not about OIL! READ AND LEARN!!!

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 8:31:13 AM

    Comment: Why don't enough city folks (like me) see or understand the same ridiculous scenarios described by Don Dell, BigRo and Berry George?
    Will Newsweek or any other mass-media conduits understand that a few well informed persons may have a more influence upon current, practical issues?

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 8:15:53 AM

    Comment: I'll again assert the need for solutions within this discussion forum. Perfect responses and specific information has been gleaned.
    EVERYONE needs a personal solution!
    Isn't it obvious? Take EVERY conscious measure! Don't complain! Just DO IT!!!

  • Posted By: Don Dell @ 10/29/2007 8:03:37 AM

    Comment: The internal cumbustion engine is and always will be the most efficient form of power for personal transportation. One of the disadvantages of using ethanol as a fuel is decreased range, 60 percent more ethanol is used per mile compared to gasoline, this means there is also MORE carbon dioxide coming out of the tail pipe. How does this qualify as more efficient???

    • Posted By: SeeTheBigPicture @ 12/01/2007 16:31:44

      Comment: Will ALWAYS be the most efficient form of power?? That is a terribly broad and extremely short sighted statement.

  • Posted By: Don Dell @ 10/29/2007 8:00:59 AM

    Comment: The internal cumbustion engine is and always will be the most efficient form of power for personal transportation. One of the disadvantages of using ethanol as a fuel is decreased range, 60 percent more ethanol is used per mile compared to gasoline, this means there is also MORE carbon dioxide coming out of the tail pipe. How does this qualify as more efficient???

    • Posted By: A Watchmaker @ 10/29/2007 13:28:16

      Comment: I'm sure people thought the horse and cart was as good as it was going to get, not saying were going to have some brand new tech come along tomorow and change the planet, but to say that the internal combustion engine will allways be the most efficent form of power is a bit bleak. Also the idea behind bio-fuels is the majority of the carbon produced in the burning process is just what was absorbed in the growing process.

    • Posted By: dagobertopinto @ 10/29/2007 12:41:08

      Comment: You are mistaken, it's around 30 percent (at least from Brazilian sugar cane). In Brazil it's quite worth to use ethanol since the difference in price is more than that. Gas = R$2.5 ; Ethanol = R$1.5 (liter, whatever). We have flex cars (that use any rate of mixture gas / ethanol) . Besides that our gasoline has 25% of ethanol. With a flex car you have no fears.

    • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 08:07:56

      Comment: This man is certainly realistic!

  • Posted By: BigRo @ 10/29/2007 7:39:55 AM

    Comment: I am curious at how easily Mr. Sommerville dismissed the issue of net efficiency of ethanol production. There have quite a few studies that warn that ethanol is a net minus when you consider the enrgy it takes to produce the corn. The more optimistic studies tend to only consider the energy necessary once the corn hits the ethanol plant gate and ignores the enrgy needed to grow and harvest. It's impossible to know who's cooking the statistics more, but continued discussion is healthy. Also, ethanol prices have fallen considerably from the $3.50/gal high. Recently, I read that prices were back down to about $1.50/gal. Doesn't this mean that the investment dollars needed to build the infrastructure necessary to make ethanol a good alternative for the marketplace may dry up? Or, at the very least, harder to get? Finally, wind power while attractive sounding, requires large governement subsidies to barely reach viability. Is there any study that shows it can generate a net-plus without subsidies? Or, perhaps more generously, where is the break even point?

    • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 08:02:56

      Comment: Net Efficiency is Absolute.
      To take a drop of Corn Ethanol to market certainly exceeds the cost to grow a single ear. Many gasoline powered endeavors will out-stretch the means. Why not eat that delicious corn and send some to DARFUR! Does our President understand or defy this reality?

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 7:17:39 AM

    Comment: Go to Brazil and fear not. They won't put sugar in your gas tank. Apparently, their Rum and Molasses aren't even slightly palatable. Their Sugar Ethanol seems cheap enough (for them) to produce in massive quantity. Have you ever sipped a drop of Brazil's Rum? DON'T. Their cars race upon and slurp it. Don't drink the water. Jamaican Rum and Coffee are best IN THE WORLD! Shall we change the subject?

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 6:27:19 AM

    Comment: Let's all agree that some alternatives are not realistic. Honda learned this and stopped making a hybrid Accord.
    Well, If it's already efficient, why bother.
    Hybrids aren't yet ready, more batteries create more hazards. Biofuels may be ready. Let's ask Brazil.

  • Posted By: Berry George @ 10/29/2007 5:14:29 AM

    Comment: Biofuels are an insane way to handle an energy crisis. Do we want to pay $20.00 for a loaf of bread ?
    Every acre of "plant growth" in the future will be needed for food to feed the human population not to "grow oil". I can't believe this is even an option considering the world's oceans will be fished out by 2050.

    • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 06:40:26

      Comment: Extreme, but righteous!
      Where in the world does is the most productive producer of food?

  • Posted By: Adnan Nour @ 10/29/2007 4:19:01 AM

    Comment: The issue of biofuel has been driving of prices increase in my country, you can not obtain equilibrium when sudden demand of one resources is high, how do you plant it for the whole world, therefore I do not believe biofuels is the answer...like the postulate...energy can not be created nor destroyed........

    • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 06:16:21

      Comment: Blabber not!
      Please offer insight and personal ideas. Solutions are also nice.

  • Posted By: fostesky @ 10/29/2007 3:01:38 AM

    Comment: Maybe instead of subsidizing big agri-biz like Monsanto and Cargill that money should go to getting the wind and solar technology to the masses. I'd have either or both in a heartbeat but setting it up is impossible. Instead $$ are sent to multi billion dollar corporations.

  • Posted By: fostesky @ 10/29/2007 3:00:24 AM

    Comment: Maybe instead of subsidizing big agri-biz like Monsanto and Cargill that money should go to getting the wind and solar technology to the masses. I'd have either or both in a heartbeat but setting it up is impossible. Instead $$ are sent to multi billion dollar corporations.

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 2:41:40 AM

    Comment: My comments and ideas are broad. Intentionally, perceived need is to make issues less constrictive. Let's all be challenged to find the best solutions. Remember, these forums aren't for us to blabber, but to discuss the best solutions. We all have opinions and specific knowledge. Obligations are extended well beyond knowledge and should be easily translated to everyone who might wish to understand.

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 2:31:13 AM

    Comment: When will the already developed 'roll-out' solar collecting (affordable) roofing material be offered to the consumer market? PBS NOVA 'Saved by the Sun' program (reported a few years ago) describes developed Corporate and consumer-level solar technologies. Also described is an experimental paint-on roofing technology. Consumers need these cheap solutions. Surely, private funding (of these) be available NOW!
    Back to my description of consumer driven incentives. We deserve these cheap solutions.

  • Posted By: beanpoll @ 10/29/2007 1:27:04 AM

    Comment: Good information in this article. Future technology will help. NOW, focus should be upon efficient, EASY solutions. Green Building, recycling, etc. Sensationalism of Global Warming confuses. General public already know that waste MUST be minimized, but don't do it. Enlist 'Sin Tax' to wasteful consumption. Subsidize consumer-level conservation. Let Gasoline and garbage be VERY expensive! Water too!

  • Posted By: Sarcaustic @ 10/29/2007 1:02:24 AM

    Comment: Are 'biofuels' the future of energy?

    Only if they're derived from people.

  • Posted By: Sarcaustic @ 10/29/2007 1:00:57 AM

    Comment: Are 'biofuels' the future of energy?

    Only if they're derived from people...

  • Posted By: sosebee2 @ 10/29/2007 12:16:18 AM

    Comment: I agree with Mr. Somerville when he says, "...the future is a basket of technologies". He also points out that the United States is far behind Europe. That's obvious and you don't need to have a degree to see that. Go to Israel and there is hardly a rooftop without a solar panel. But when he says that there is "...no crises...", I have to disagree strongly. Herman Scheer concludes in his thesis, "The Solar Economy" that: "In general, the danger of ecological destruction resulting from energy generation and manufacturing processes is more immediate than that of irrevocable exhaustion of resources." I am no Cassandra but I would bet that the issue of Global warming will eclipse Iraq, Iran, 9/11 and every paraniod terrorist plot you might imagine within the next ten years. Climate change has the potential to make human life impossible.

    There is one resource that is hardly mentioned in his article. Rooftop solar panels. By harnessing the power that exists on the rooftops that are already here for business and residences we could solve all of our energy dependence in a decade. People need to be profoundly suspicious of any large venture like national ethanol programs. Once again the corporations "retain the power of production". Solar panels empower people in ways that frighten corporations.


    "Economic globalization can only be made environmentally sustainable through targeted replacement of fossil fuels by solar energy sources (wind-solar-bio-mass). This is the only way to rein in the destructive imperative of the fossil economy and call a halt to the creeping homogenization of economic structures and cultures. It is the only way to make economic development diverse, sustainable and of lasting benefit to both individuals and society."

    The Industrial Revolution and the current gloablization that appears sacrosanct is a continuation of this gloabal World Order that has been in place for almost two hundred years. The Internet is a threat to this World Order for obvious reasons. It empowers all of us and that is revolutionary. The solar panels, wind turbines and solar heat are equally dangerous to this world order.

    Consider the futility of the Kyoto Protocol. Carbon credits and complex treaties are about protecting the turf of the current world order who seek compensation for their "loss". Technological revolutions have happenned throughout human history and there are always losers and change comes with great struggles.

    GO SOLAR!

  • Posted By: Billmosher @ 10/28/2007 11:08:38 PM

    Comment: Shifting our dependency from oil to biofuels isn???t necessarily improving our energy security. An article published in Energy Policy (Eaves and Eaves 2007) and summarized in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100201983.html) shows that biofuels could be even more unpredictable than oil do to increasingly volatile weather conditions. We are simply shifting the risk from geo-political to the weather and with climate change that???s not such a great trade.

  • Posted By: Billmosher @ 10/28/2007 11:08:21 PM

    Comment: Shifting our dependency from oil to biofuels isn???t necessarily improving our energy security. An article published in Energy Policy (Eaves and Eaves 2007) and summarized in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/02/AR2007100201983.html) shows that biofuels could be even more unpredictable than oil do to increasingly volatile weather conditions. We are simply shifting the risk from geo-political to the weather and with climate change that???s not such a great trade.

 
 
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