12-28-2013, 04:27 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Justin
I can't speak to the specifics of this particular plan, but in general I'm against bio-fuels, particularly here in Hawaii. Reason being, after traveling to areas that make a lot of biofuels (Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia), it's really replacing taking one scarce resource (fossil fuels) with taking another scarce resource (native rainforests). Most if not all of the biofuels are grown in areas where native rainforests are cut down to plant crops (corn, soy, oil palms) that are used for biofuel. Well, I'd prefer to take oil out of the desert than trees out of the rainforest, particularly so in Hawaii where the rainforest is so small.
Perhaps you should speak about this particular plan then. It involves using the old sugarcane land in Kau to grow grass to process the cellulose into biodiesel. It's a relatively new technology (and from the sound of it probably consumes a fair bit of energy itself), which is probably why it's so expensive compared to oil.