Sunday, October 19, 2008

alternative fuel


alternative fuel blogger
Sunday, October 19, 2008alternative fuel bloggerAlternative Fuels BlogTalking you through the world of Alternative Fuels…Moving Away from Food Source Ethanol – The Second Generation in NorwayInitially when countries began mandating specific ratios of gasoline to ethanol in car fuels, corn was and still is a predominant raw material of the ensuing ethanol. Although environmentalists eagerly welcomed the shift from fossil fuel to a cleaner burning, more sustainable ethanol-gasoline mix, the growing controversy over food source materials became a moral issue. Many opponents are now against using food as alternative fuels. Thus, organizations around the world are looking at ways to introduce second generation bio fuels; biodiesel and bioethanol made from sources other than food.In response to this point and also as a way to augment a deteriorating lumber industry, several groups and scientists from Norway are developing processes to turn wood chips into the oil needed to make ethanol. By the year 2010, gasoline and diesel sold in Norway will require close to six percent bio fuels in the mixture. And since there are so many timber farmers, it seems reasonable that wood chips should be used as the raw material for the resulting oil.Read More »Posted in Alternative Fuels, Ethanol Leave a commentThe Morality or Non-Morality of Bio FuelsBy allen 0ctober 19 2008One would expect the movement to find alternative fuels to be a welcomed cause. But as imminent as change is, the scramble to research and develop bio fuels has been fraught with controversy. So I decided to find out what could possibly make this topic so contentious and why so many powerful organizations are against the movement. I learned that generally speaking, the problem falls into three categories.First and foremost, politically the big players are going to squash any products that have received merit by way of government endorsements. For example, forcing gas companies to include a certain percentage of ethanol in the gas mix was not met in a welcoming manner. Moreover, car manufacturers have a vested interest in gasoline. If alternative car fuels gain a greater hold in the marketplace, carmakers will be forced to modify their equipment and their vehicles.Second, it appears that humanitarian groups feel that farmers must choose between food and non-food crops. By encouraging energy farms and the planting of crops for the sole use in bio fuels, people are being denied the needed farmlands for food. In essence, people will starve because growing and harvesting foods will not be as popular. Taking the logic one step further, they feel it is immoral to focus on fuels at all when so many people are starving. Both food stocks used for bio fuel and non-food crops are a waste because they are used to propel cars. With all the hunger in the world, why are we even thinking about bio fuels?Third, the environmentalists themselves have issues with the new crops being planted for creating ethanol. They insist that some of these crops are ruining eco-systems and the long-term environmental damage has not been properly assessed.It is true that it is impossible to please everyone.Posted in Alternative Fuels, Environment, Morality, Politics Leave a commentProduct Highlight - Heating with Java Fireplace LogsFor many years now, Brazil has been using blocks of discarded coffee beans as fuel in locomotives and as heating in factories. Apparently the country had such a surplus of coffee beans in the 1930s that they were throwing away bags of the beans into the sea until someone came up with the idea of forming the beans into bricks to burn as heat.Today, Jarden Home Brands in the US distributes Java-Log “the funky new fireplace item that has quickly become the people’s choice firelog … It offers a wonderful solution to the much detested chemical smell associated with other firelogs”. In addition to the soothing sweet smell, the logs produce fewer emissions than wood, are considered environmentally friendly as they are made from waste coffee beans, and they sound like a real wood fire.Read More »Posted in Alternative Fuels, Heating, Java Fireplace Logs Leave a commentMesquite to Power Farm EquipmentMesquite, a deciduous tree from Mexico and the US can be converted into ethanol, a grain based alcohol used in bio fuels. Today most cars and equipment using regular gasoline can actually run just as efficiently on a mix of gas and ethanol. In fact, the mix probably runs as high as ten percent ethanol without special engineering modifications. The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Texas, USA, unveiled a mesquite harvesting machine at the 2006 Range and Wildlife Field Day.Although mesquite will probably not be used in a broad sense such as fueling everyday trucks and cars, it can be used to power farm equipment and private fleets. The actual downside to a larger scale use of mesquite fuel is the cost to transport it. And some are not sure that mesquite poses the same problem as chopping down other trees. Once those forests are destroyed, what happens?Read More »Posted in Alternative Fuels, Mesquite Leave a commentWelcome to Alternative Fuels BlogBy allen marteThe world is using too much fossil fuels. We all know it, and we all realize peakoil is just around the corner. The way forward is not using our cars less, or not heating our homes — it’s alternative fuels and finding better ways to use these fuels…The Alternative Fuels Blog will be talking about these alternative fuels, and we’ll hopefully be able to start in a couple days once we settle in…Again — welcome!Posted in Alternative Fuels
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alternative fuel blogger

Sunday, October 19, 2008

alternative fuel blogger
Alternative Fuels BlogTalking you through the world of Alternative Fuels…Moving Away from Food Source Ethanol – The Second Generation in NorwayInitially when countries began mandating specific ratios of gasoline to ethanol in car fuels, corn was and still is a predominant raw material of the ensuing ethanol. Although environmentalists eagerly welcomed the shift from fossil fuel to a cleaner burning, more sustainable ethanol-gasoline mix, the growing controversy over food source materials became a moral issue. Many opponents are now against using food as alternative fuels. Thus, organizations around the world are looking at ways to introduce second generation bio fuels; biodiesel and bioethanol made from sources other than food.In response to this point and also as a way to augment a deteriorating lumber industry, several groups and scientists from Norway are developing processes to turn wood chips into the oil needed to make ethanol. By the year 2010, gasoline and diesel sold in Norway will require close to six percent bio fuels in the mixture. And since there are so many timber farmers, it seems reasonable that wood chips should be used as the raw material for the resulting oil.Read More »Posted in Alternative Fuels, Ethanol Leave a commentThe Morality or Non-Morality of Bio FuelsBy allen 0ctober 19 2008One would expect the movement to find alternative fuels to be a welcomed cause. But as imminent as change is, the scramble to research and develop bio fuels has been fraught with controversy. So I decided to find out what could possibly make this topic so contentious and why so many powerful organizations are against the movement. I learned that generally speaking, the problem falls into three categories.First and foremost, politically the big players are going to squash any products that have received merit by way of government endorsements. For example, forcing gas companies to include a certain percentage of ethanol in the gas mix was not met in a welcoming manner. Moreover, car manufacturers have a vested interest in gasoline. If alternative car fuels gain a greater hold in the marketplace, carmakers will be forced to modify their equipment and their vehicles.Second, it appears that humanitarian groups feel that farmers must choose between food and non-food crops. By encouraging energy farms and the planting of crops for the sole use in bio fuels, people are being denied the needed farmlands for food. In essence, people will starve because growing and harvesting foods will not be as popular. Taking the logic one step further, they feel it is immoral to focus on fuels at all when so many people are starving. Both food stocks used for bio fuel and non-food crops are a waste because they are used to propel cars. With all the hunger in the world, why are we even thinking about bio fuels?Third, the environmentalists themselves have issues with the new crops being planted for creating ethanol. They insist that some of these crops are ruining eco-systems and the long-term environmental damage has not been properly assessed.It is true that it is impossible to please everyone.Posted in Alternative Fuels, Environment, Morality, Politics Leave a commentProduct Highlight - Heating with Java Fireplace LogsFor many years now, Brazil has been using blocks of discarded coffee beans as fuel in locomotives and as heating in factories. Apparently the country had such a surplus of coffee beans in the 1930s that they were throwing away bags of the beans into the sea until someone came up with the idea of forming the beans into bricks to burn as heat.Today, Jarden Home Brands in the US distributes Java-Log “the funky new fireplace item that has quickly become the people’s choice firelog … It offers a wonderful solution to the much detested chemical smell associated with other firelogs”. In addition to the soothing sweet smell, the logs produce fewer emissions than wood, are considered environmentally friendly as they are made from waste coffee beans, and they sound like a real wood fire.Read More »Posted in Alternative Fuels, Heating, Java Fireplace Logs Leave a commentMesquite to Power Farm EquipmentMesquite, a deciduous tree from Mexico and the US can be converted into ethanol, a grain based alcohol used in bio fuels. Today most cars and equipment using regular gasoline can actually run just as efficiently on a mix of gas and ethanol. In fact, the mix probably runs as high as ten percent ethanol without special engineering modifications. The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Texas, USA, unveiled a mesquite harvesting machine at the 2006 Range and Wildlife Field Day.Although mesquite will probably not be used in a broad sense such as fueling everyday trucks and cars, it can be used to power farm equipment and private fleets. The actual downside to a larger scale use of mesquite fuel is the cost to transport it. And some are not sure that mesquite poses the same problem as chopping down other trees. Once those forests are destroyed, what happens?Read More »Posted in Alternative Fuels, Mesquite Leave a commentWelcome to Alternative Fuels BlogBy allen marteThe world is using too much fossil fuels. We all know it, and we all realize peakoil is just around the corner. The way forward is not using our cars less, or not heating our homes — it’s alternative fuels and finding better ways to use these fuels…The Alternative Fuels Blog will be talking about these alternative fuels, and we’ll hopefully be able to start in a couple days once we settle in…Again — welcome!Posted in Alternative Fuels

alternative fuel blogger

Alternative Fuels Blog
Talking you through the world of Alternative Fuels…

Moving Away from Food Source Ethanol – The Second Generation in Norway


Initially when countries began mandating specific ratios of gasoline to ethanol in car fuels, corn was and still is a predominant raw material of the ensuing ethanol. Although environmentalists eagerly welcomed the shift from fossil fuel to a cleaner burning, more sustainable ethanol-gasoline mix, the growing controversy over food source materials became a moral issue. Many opponents are now against using food as alternative fuels. Thus, organizations around the world are looking at ways to introduce second generation bio fuels; biodiesel and bioethanol made from sources other than food.
In response to this point and also as a way to augment a deteriorating lumber industry, several groups and scientists from Norway are developing processes to turn wood chips into the oil needed to make ethanol. By the year 2010, gasoline and diesel sold in Norway will require close to six percent bio fuels in the mixture. And since there are so many timber farmers, it seems reasonable that wood chips should be used as the raw material for the resulting oil.
Read More »
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Ethanol Leave a comment

The Morality or Non-Morality of Bio Fuels

By allen 0ctober 19 2008
One would expect the movement to find alternative fuels to be a welcomed cause. But as imminent as change is, the scramble to research and develop bio fuels has been fraught with controversy. So I decided to find out what could possibly make this topic so contentious and why so many powerful organizations are against the movement. I learned that generally speaking, the problem falls into three categories.
First and foremost, politically the big players are going to squash any products that have received merit by way of government endorsements. For example, forcing gas companies to include a certain percentage of ethanol in the gas mix was not met in a welcoming manner. Moreover, car manufacturers have a vested interest in gasoline. If
alternative car fuels gain a greater hold in the marketplace, carmakers will be forced to modify their equipment and their vehicles.
Second, it appears that humanitarian groups feel that farmers must choose between food and non-food crops. By encouraging energy farms and the planting of crops for the sole use in bio fuels, people are being denied the needed farmlands for food. In essence, people will starve because growing and harvesting foods will not be as popular. Taking the logic one step further, they feel it is immoral to focus on fuels at all when so many people are starving. Both food stocks used for bio fuel and non-food crops are a waste because they are used to propel cars. With all the hunger in the world, why are we even thinking about bio fuels?
Third, the environmentalists themselves have issues with the new crops being planted for creating ethanol. They insist that some of these crops are ruining eco-systems and the long-term environmental damage has not been properly assessed.
It is true that it is impossible to please everyone.
Posted in
Alternative Fuels, Environment, Morality, Politics Leave a comment

Product Highlight - Heating with Java Fireplace Logs

For many years now, Brazil has been using blocks of discarded coffee beans as fuel in locomotives and as heating in factories. Apparently the country had such a surplus of coffee beans in the 1930s that they were throwing away bags of the beans into the sea until someone came up with the idea of forming the beans into bricks to burn as heat.
Today,
Jarden Home Brands in the US distributes Java-Log “the funky new fireplace item that has quickly become the people’s choice firelog … It offers a wonderful solution to the much detested chemical smell associated with other firelogs”. In addition to the soothing sweet smell, the logs produce fewer emissions than wood, are considered environmentally friendly as they are made from waste coffee beans, and they sound like a real wood fire.
Read More »
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Heating, Java Fireplace Logs Leave a comment

Mesquite to Power Farm Equipment


Mesquite, a deciduous tree from Mexico and the US can be converted into ethanol, a grain based alcohol used in bio fuels. Today most cars and equipment using regular gasoline can actually run just as efficiently on a mix of gas and ethanol. In fact, the mix probably runs as high as ten percent ethanol without special engineering modifications. The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Texas, USA, unveiled a mesquite harvesting machine at the 2006 Range and Wildlife Field Day.
Although mesquite will probably not be used in a broad sense such as fueling everyday trucks and cars, it can be used to power farm equipment and private fleets. The actual downside to a larger scale use of mesquite fuel is the cost to transport it. And some are not sure that mesquite poses the same problem as chopping down other trees. Once those forests are destroyed, what happens?
Read More »
Posted in Alternative Fuels, Mesquite Leave a comment

Welcome to Alternative Fuels Blog

By allen marte
The world is using too much fossil fuels. We all know it, and we all realize peakoil is just around the corner. The way forward is not using our cars less, or not heating our homes — it’s alternative fuels and finding better ways to use these fuels…
The Alternative Fuels Blog will be talking about these alternative fuels, and we’ll hopefully be able to start in a couple days once we settle in…
Again — welcome!Posted in
Alternative Fuels