Air New Zealand is planning to fill one of the four engines of a 747 with weed and the remaining three engines with normal jet fuel to test the potential of using jatropha as a biofuel. JATROPHA is the weed we're talking about folks, so quit getting all antsy. lol.
I know, biofuel is not the right answer. It puts out tons of carbon emissions to make biofuel and you become dependent on a crop of some sort. It is great this isn't so much a crop, it is a weed. But this weed can only be found in India and Africa and so it is limited.
According to the article at flightglobal.com, "Jatropha refers to several plant families that are native of Central America and are renowned for producing seeds with high oil content.
The more hardy varieties, which tend to produce more oil, are now commonly found in India and Africa because they can cope with poor soil and withstand drought.
ANZ's spokesman says the jatropha trial is in response to the rising cost of jet fuel which now accounts for 30-35% of the airline's total expenses."
CSIRO and Monash University have developed a chemical process that turns green waste into a stable bio-crude oil.
The process uses low value waste such as forest thinnings, crop residues, waste paper and garden waste, significant amounts of which are currently dumped in landfill or burned.
As you may have read on here before, or already knew, biofuel to-date has been made of corns and grains meaning a strain on the farming community which is already hurting.
However, the Sustainable Power Corporation still wants to move ahead with using feedstock to make the biofuel and then later try other components including algae. Announced today was he declaration that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (with Haytian Tractor & Equipment Co. S.A. ("HayTrac") located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Memorandum of Understanding is designed to produce Vertroleum green bio fuels that meet all ASTM specifications, including biocrude, biogasoline, jet fuel, marine fuel and other biofuels to be used in the generation of 24 megawatts of power.
While I support the idea of moving forward and finding a way to lessen our dependence on oil, I also believe it should be done in a practical and economically friendly manner. Which means finding the best avenue for making biofuel. It doesn't seem like SPC wants to wait any longer, they want to jump right in and use the feedstock regardless of the opportunities to save the feedstock for its true purpose and use green waste. Why do I care? Because if you need to grow more corn or soybeans or whatever, then you need more fertilizer and if you need more fertilizer you will actually be leaving a bigger carbon footprint in the act of trying to make a smaller one. Fertilizers release the largest amount of greenhouse gas into our atmosphere.
But since SPC has EXCLUSIVE rights to all green energy I suppose its all under their control and who am I to disagree.
Click here to order the poster you see in the image above. The poster will be printed by Greener Printer. They provide environmentally friendly printing services, featuring New Leaf Paper and Climate Cool shipping.
Of course I checked out the Sierra Club website today, it's something I try to do everyday. There was an article about biofuels, so I decided to give it a read through.
It seems that these are the days in which because are scrambling to figure out how to fix the mess that our environment is in...and figuring out other sources to make fuel from is a topic that keeps coming up. Biofuels produce less carbon dioxide.
BUT
Biofuel crops are typically grown on land which is burnt and reclaimed from tropical forests. Of course also, if you are clearing land to grow brops to make biofuel, there will be less land for farming and therefore the cost of food will rise. Like high yielding crops of corn and soy that will most likely be used to make biofuel. Corn will be the new caviar.
And I digress.
There will probably always be a Catch 22, an equal and opposite reaction...Murphys law, etc.
Back to the drawing board folks. How can we make carbon-free, renewable energy? If only the sun would shed some light on this problem...
