STREETER, N.D. - Those pesky cattails that have provided a safe haven for millions of blackbirds in the region may suddenly start disappearing from the landscape if a project being looked at by the North Dakota Department of Commerce becomes a reality.
“Interestingly enough, there are some significant uses for cattails,” the Department of Commerce's John Mittleider told those attending the Grass-N-Beef Research Review at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center (CGREC) near Streeter.
“One of the uses is to make a very high quality paper and you can also produce ethanol from cattails,” Mittleider said. “In addition, the by-products from the ethanol and paper production can be used in a burner process to make electricity.”
Some preliminary work done by the Commerce Department indicates about 18,000 acres of cattails would produce about 400,000 tons of dry cattails, which is what it would take to run one of the facilities, and that would result in about 100,000 tons of pulp for the paper industry.
“The sugar stream that comes off the pulping process would be enough sugar to produce about 15 million gallons of ethanol every year, plus you would have the by-product to fire an electrical generating plant,” he said. “The agronomic value of a plant such as this is estimated at $116 million per year, according to our best estimates. If we could harvest every cattail in North Dakota that would be over $3 billion worth of economic value each year, but obviously that's not going to happen.”
There are several economic advantages for using cattail pulp in place of wood pulp in the paper-making process, according to Mittleider. First of all, the costs for making pulp from cattail are about one-third less than the process costs using wood chips.
--ExcerptSTREETER, N.D. - Those pesky cattails that have provided a safe haven for millions of... more
What does it mean when the Kansas City Star runs an editorial like this one???
Somebody there has had a stroke... of intelligence?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Tuesday:
Congress has tried to create a charmed life for ethanol and Midwestern corn growers in recent years.
First came a hefty tax credit for producing the renewable fuel. And in late 2007 U.S. lawmakers passed a new standard that requires quadrupling the output of ethanol and other biofuels by 2022.
But this month the federal Government Accountability Office issued a sobering report that questioned the need for the tax credit because it's not expected to boost ethanol production beyond already-mandated levels.
In reaction, Congress should scrap the 45-cent tax credit that artificially supports each gallon of ethanol.
The credit helps keep out cheaper ethanol from Brazil, boosting the cost of driving for American motorists.
More notably, the tax credit is no longer needed now that Congress has mandated such a large increase in production. Right now the credit is a source of easy profits for the industry.
The GAO report also correctly called for more rigorous examinations of ethanol's long-term impact on the environment.
That's a field ripe for study, mostly because farmers likely will be using more land, water and fertilizers to dramatically increase corn production. The GAO authors fairly point out that changes in crop yield and the use of water conservation techniques could lessen these environmental concerns.
Ultimately, new studies could help determine whether ethanol's true effect on the environment is more harmful than now thought.
In the short term, getting rid of a tax credit costly to U.S. taxpayers is a needed first step in Washington. "
OMG and WTF?!
and Hooray!What does it mean when the Kansas City Star runs an editorial like this one???... more
Biofuel developer Coskata opened a new refinery in Pennsylvania this week and says the “semi-commercial” operation will demonstrate technology the company says can turn almost any biomass into ethanol.
The demonstration plant in Madison, Pennsylvania, uses bacteria to turn almost any organic material into ethanol, and Coskata says it can be scaled up to produce 50 to 100 million gallons annually. The company hopes to open one of these large-scale facilities in the south sometime in 2012 if it can raise the capital. But its primary goal is licensing the technology to other companies.
Coskata says its ability to use a wide variety of feedstock to produce ethanol sets it apart from competitors locked into feedstock such as corn or sugar cane. The company, which is backed by General Motors, is focused on using waste materials instead of food crops, thereby side-stepping the whole food-for-fuel debate.
Wes Bolsen, the company’s VP of government affairs, told Wired.com a wide range of material can be used to create ethanol, but “from a cost perspective, municipal waste is probably best.”
That means trash may be one fuel of the future.Biofuel developer Coskata opened a new refinery in Pennsylvania this week and says the... more
There is an important nexus between water and global warming. The very energy sources that emit greenhouse gases or cause deadly pollution, also damage our water, our ecosystems and all the life on earth that depends on water.There is an important nexus between water and global warming. The very energy sources... more
The ethanol industry group, Growth Energy, is mounting a campaign to push for all fuel sold in the United States be labeled with a country of origin label (COOL), so consumers can be better informed about where their money is going after they swipe their card at the gas station.The ethanol industry group, Growth Energy, is mounting a campaign to push for all fuel... more
Henry Ford believed in using Hemp products to make cars. He was green 50 years before GREEN was cool. This article discusses the biofuel future that Henry Ford foresaw and why his plans have been delayed for more than a half century.Henry Ford believed in using Hemp products to make cars. He was green 50 years before... more
As it turns out, the whole reason for hemp prohibition – and alcohol prohibition – may have been a fuel monopoly!As it turns out, the whole reason for hemp prohibition – and alcohol prohibition –... more
Ron Paul points out the insane Hemp laws that are placed on us by D.C. and how ridiculous it has become for the government to try to control our consumption habits and personal recreation habits. He goes on to mention that Hemp cannot even get you high…..Congress is incompetent. Tell the democrats and republicans to wake up on this issue!
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***Ron Paul points out the insane Hemp laws that are placed on us by D.C. and how... more
I was just watching Jodie and Marc walking through the hemp field and I thought it would be a good time to share my hemp ethanol research with y'all!
In this day of oil wars, peak oil (and the accompanying soaring prices), climate change and oil spills such as the Exxon-Valdez, it's more important than ever to promote sustainable alternatives such as hemp ethanol.
Hemp turns out to be the most cost-efficient and valuable of all the fuel crops!
And as it turns out, the whole reason for hemp prohibition - and alcohol prohibition - may have been a fuel monopoly!
So check out my hemp ethanol research ... and leave your comments here so I can find out what you think! Here's the link:
(i)Insert from Part One: The Economics of Hemp Fuels---
THE EXPERTS:
I decided to investigate these arguments against biofuels and hemp fuels by bouncing them off people doing research in this area. I spoke with Adrian Francis Clarke of Fibre (Europe) Laboratory LTD, Don Wirtshafter of the Ohio Hempery, Tim Castleman of fuelandfiber.com, and Shaun Crew of Hemp Oil Canada.
It is important to understand that hemp provides two types of fuel; hemp biodiesel – made from the oil of the hemp seed, and hemp ethanol/methanol – made from the fermented stalk. To clarify further, ethanol is made from such things as grains, sugars, starches, waste paper & forest products, and methanol is made from woody matter. Through processes such as gasification, acid hydrolysis and enzymes, hemp can be used to make both ethanol and methanol.
I asked questions about the current prices of hemp biodeisel and hemp ethanol/methanol, and what these prices would be post cannabis relegalization. To be economically viable, these fuels would have to be cheaper than gasoline, currently priced at up to 120 cents per liter (Can.) (7) or up to 3 dollars per gallon (US) (8) Of course, petroleum prices could get much more expensive in the near future, a topic which will be covered in the third part of this article under “peak oil”...
Hemp methanol, on the other hand, does make the fuel lineup. According to Tim, hemp ethanol could be produced for 1.37 per gallon plus the cost of the feedstock, with technological improvements and tax credits reducing the price another dollar or so per gallon! (14) And the cost of the feedstock would become much more available as more hemp was grown for more products, providing more and more free (or nearly-free) feedstock as a “waste product”. Could you imagine paying under 50 cents per gallon (US) or 15 cents per liter (CAN) for your hemp ethanol?!!"
This four-fold increase in efficiency could certainly help close the gap between cellulosic and corn ethanol, or even, potentially, with fossil fuels. “There’s a lot of work to be done,” Rajagopalan says, and it’s not clear that cellulosic ethanol will be the fuel of the near future. But ultimately, he would like to be running an alternative energy company, perhaps one using this technology. “I figure it’s a good way to help the world,” he says.This four-fold increase in efficiency could certainly help close the gap between... more
This is a video I made last year when corn prices were reaching a record high point influenced by the rise of ethanol and bio-diesels.
The response to this increase in crop prices was an explosion in crop dusting or "aerial application" in order to protect the valuable crops from fungus and insect damage.
Since last year, ethanol does not seem to have as promising of a future as once believed and as a result corn prices have leveled off at a much lower price per bushel.This is a video I made last year when corn prices were reaching a record high point... more
NASA is taking to the skies to encourage a new generation of scientists to study the earth.
The agency is hoping its new Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), a six-week session that includes research aboard a DC-8 flying laboratory, will get young people excited about solving problems like warming oceans, rising carbon dioxide levels and new pollutants in the air.
In recent years, American students haven't exactly been flocking to the field.
But if a recent pair of flights in California is any indication, SARP could help turn that around
Just minutes after the DC-8 takes off on its second SARP flight from NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., more than a dozen students are hard at work on three different experiments to be conducted in what is scheduled to be a six-hour flight.
As the plane flies low over the inland valleys of central California, Kamil Armaiz-Nolla, 29, and Daniel Tkacik, 23, work with several other students on an air-sampling experiment. A senior scientist from the University of California, Irvine, oversees their work, but doesn't interfere.
Every minute or so, Armaiz-Nolla twists open a valve that sends a sample of air from outside the plane into a stainless steel canister the size of an overgrown cocktail shaker.
The experiment will measure gases from dairy farms a thousand feet below. Cows belch up a lot of methane. And the process used to prepare their feed can raise levels of ozone, another greenhouse gas.NASA is taking to the skies to encourage a new generation of scientists to study the... more
Hemp is the Arthur's Sword which has bin drawn from the stone... Not made from Hardened steel but Gods own creation, a gift to us ALL, a Plant that is going to Heal us, Feed us, Cloth us, Mend the Earth and provide all the Energy we need for ever. This Earths last Revolution is Not going to be fought with weapons but the TRUTH. Ethics contra Morals - Truth contra Falsehood - Light contra Darkness - Human Rights contra Suppression - Consciousness contra Corruption - Clean Nature contra Pollution and Destruction - Prosperity contra Depression - Natural Healing contra Deadly Chemical Drugs - Pease contra War and LIFE contra Death. All this and much more Will this “Sword” of Nature give us. Let us join hands around the world and unite for Pease and Universal Harmony.
How?, might your question be, Ask your self witch of those oppositions mentioned above, would You like in your and your families lives? The answer lays within you.
J.BjarmarsHemp is the Arthur's Sword which has bin drawn from the stone... Not made from... more
There is a lot of talk these days about "alternative fuels." But just what are these alternative fuels, and why is everyone so excited about them?
In the simplest terms, an alternative fuel is any fuel other than gasoline or diesel. Since many alternative fuels are also renewable — and can be produced here in the U.S. — they could reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Alternative fuels such as biodiesel, ethanol and methanol, have been produced and used on a small scale for decades. They are now being rediscovered due to the rising cost of oil and the instability of world politics. Here's where our oil is imported from — it may surprise you to read who the top supplier is.
Before we get to the specifics, let's clear up a related point. There is a big difference between "energy" and "fuel," even though the terms are used interchangeably. While it is often said that we are in an "energy crisis," this isn't accurate. Energy exists all around us in many different forms. The problem is that energy needs to be stored and transported as fuel. So, technically speaking, we should talk about a "fuel shortage," not an "energy crisis."
To help you better understand this developing area of technology, we've put together a list of the most commonly mentioned alternative fuels and given a brief description of each one.
Biodiesel is used to refer to renewable fuels that can be burned in a diesel engine. Biodiesel is most often made from the oil extracted from a variety of plants, such as peanuts or soybeans, although it can also be made from animal fats. Vegetable oil needs treatment before it can be burned in a diesel engine. Biodiesel can be used at 100 percent strength or blended with petroleum-based diesel fuel, and is used in diesel engines without any modification to the engine. It is both non-toxic and biodegradable. It is nearly free of sulfur and carcinogenic benzene — two of the components of petroleum diesel that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state emissions boards have issued regulations on because of environmental and health concerns. The main drawback to biodiesel is that it is not widely available yet.
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is widely used for heating, cooking and cooling. When it is compressed and stored in a fuel tank, it can be used as a very clean-burning fuel for cars and trucks. Gas-burning engines can easily be modified to run on CNG, but there is only one car widely available to the public that uses this fuel, the Honda Civic GX. Currently, natural gas is a cheaper form of fuel for cars than gasoline, but CNG pumps are hard to find and CNG cars don't go as far on a tank of fuel as gasoline-powered vehicles. Most CNG vehicles are part of commercial fleets (taxicabs, municipal buses, etc.) that have their own pumps on-site for convenient refueling.
Electric cars run on electrical power stored in batteries. These cars produce no emissions. However, the power plants that generate electricity are often fueled by coal, which does produce emissions that have an adverse effect on the environment. Aside from golf cartlike vehicles with top speeds of about 25 mph, the only pure electric car currently for sale is the Tesla Roadster. But some existing cars have been adapted to run on electric power. Hybrid vehicles use regenerative braking systems to charge electric batteries and, as such, are partly electric.
Ethanol is a form of alcohol often produced from corn or sugar cane, and has a higher octane rating than gasoline. Like other alcohols, ethanol can be used as a fuel in gasoline engines. Ethanol is blended with gasoline and used in cars with little or no modification of the engine. Gasohol is a mixture of about 10-percent ethanol and 90-percent gasoline and will run in an unmodified car. In fact, when you fuel up at a gas station in many U.S. states,
VISIT LINK FOR REST OF ARTICLEThere is a lot of talk these days about "alternative fuels." But just what are these... more
1) Use algae to produce oxygen and Ethanol. 2) Feed oxygen to coal plant - get CO2 in return. 3) Feed C02 to algae to get more oxygen and Ethanol. 4) Profit - ethanol costs $1/gallon.1) Use algae to produce oxygen and Ethanol. 2) Feed oxygen to coal plant - get CO2 in... more
I suspect they are doing this because most of the comments previously were against it, so they redo their risk assessment and open comments again. They can't wait to release yet another environmental time bomb on the planet as if there isn't enough transgenic contamination already to go around. And in this case, GM corn for ethanol means it is definitely not fit for human consumption. But who cares, right? Let's just grow it in open fields for the wind to carry its toxic dust onto our food and in our water while they continue to tell us there is no difference between this frankenstein corn and natural food. All for the profit margins of Monsanto and Syngenta. And once again it will fall on deaf ears.I suspect they are doing this because most of the comments previously were against it,... more
With summer just around the corner, it won't be long before we can once again quench our thirst with a juicy slice of watermelon. But of the 400 billion pounds of watermelons grown each year, 800 million pounds are rejected because they are either blemished or deformed.With summer just around the corner, it won't be long before we can once again quench... more
"As the debate over ethanol heats up with creation of a federal biofuels working group and a new Renewable Fuel Standard, a Texas company has made it easier for businesses, farms and municipalities to produce their own.
Dallas-based Allard Research and Development LLC unveiled the mini refineries capable of producing 100, 200, 500 or 1,000 gallons of ethanol per day, depending on the model. The systems are available in either automated or manual versions.
The fully automated versions include 15-inch touch-screen LCD monitors and iPhone remote control monitoring capability. The systems include stainless steel fermentation, output collection and cooling water tanks, as well as a feature that captures and stores carbon dioxide produced from the fermentation process.
Advanced sensors track temperature, pressure, and liquid levels; the systems also have integrated fire suppression technology.
The company said its philosophy is rooted in self-sufficiency, which fuels its drive to create closed-loop systems for growing food and producing fuel. Allard is working on a book that describes how a 300-square foot swath of land can sustain one person utilizing in-ground fish tanks, hydroponically grown vegetables, a greenhouse, and other technologies.""As the debate over ethanol heats up with creation of a federal biofuels working group... more
A recent book by Mark C. Henderson proposes a new strategy for carbon emissions and global warming. It focuses on the causes of problems rather than their symptoms.
The approach could be more efficient and powerful than cap-and-trade and deliver change quickly and on the scale that we need. It would also be applicable to many other environmental issues. A comparison between his strategy and a cap-and-trade approach is available the publisher's website.
The book was positively received by David McCorquodale, Co-chair of Green Pages, the US Green Party quarterly. The review, the introduction, and details about the strategy are available at the publisher's website listed below.
Henderson, M. C. (2008). The 21st Century Environmental Revolution: A Comprehensive Strategy for Conservation, Global Warming, and the Environment.
Waves of the Future is a publisher which focuses on global and environmental issues.
Waves of the Future
Email: See our “About Us” page.
Website: http://www.wavesofthefuture.net/
Tags: cap-and-trade alternative solutions,
### END OF PRESS RELEASEA recent book by Mark C. Henderson proposes a new strategy for carbon emissions and... more
The California Air Resources Board Thursday approved a landmark regulatory proposal governing carbon emissions that will likely serve as a model for the nation and the world.
The “Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) proposal requires all fuel producers in the state to decrease their impact on global warming by effecting a 10% reduction in the carbon footprint caused by the state’s motor fuels by the year 2020.The California Air Resources Board Thursday approved a landmark regulatory proposal... more
