10-30-2007, 11:47 AM
The solution is not "biofuels"--the solution is NOT DRIVING.
I think any sensible look at the data and the ramifications of biofuels makes it look like a non-winner. As a group, it's all the same thing, burning carbon compounds and throwing them in the air. You can cook the books to sweeten the deal, but all in all there's very little if any(to my mind) ecological benefit.
Consider, really, how amazingly efficient a modern gasoline engine really is. My 15000 new toyota tacoma will deliver a ton of goods(loaded to the gills) 25 miles up the road on one gallon of gasoline. I DEFY anyone to perform the same stunt with less impact any other way. It would take 50 people at least two days to lug the same--and you'd have to feed them probably 1000 times the caloric load. A team of horses and one man could do it in 2 days, but you still have to the defer the cost of two days wages and the mainenence of the animals. Really, if viewed as a tool, that pickup is a stunningly effective powerful item, and even at 100 dollars a gallon of gas is worth its service.
But for joyriding, which is 99 percent of vehicle traffic, it's an utter waste. . .
I think any sensible look at the data and the ramifications of biofuels makes it look like a non-winner. As a group, it's all the same thing, burning carbon compounds and throwing them in the air. You can cook the books to sweeten the deal, but all in all there's very little if any(to my mind) ecological benefit.
Consider, really, how amazingly efficient a modern gasoline engine really is. My 15000 new toyota tacoma will deliver a ton of goods(loaded to the gills) 25 miles up the road on one gallon of gasoline. I DEFY anyone to perform the same stunt with less impact any other way. It would take 50 people at least two days to lug the same--and you'd have to feed them probably 1000 times the caloric load. A team of horses and one man could do it in 2 days, but you still have to the defer the cost of two days wages and the mainenence of the animals. Really, if viewed as a tool, that pickup is a stunningly effective powerful item, and even at 100 dollars a gallon of gas is worth its service.
But for joyriding, which is 99 percent of vehicle traffic, it's an utter waste. . .