Mean Green

In this document I would like to outline some of the deficiencies in the use of ETHANOL as a proposed

“alternative” carbon-free, low-gas emission fuel.

Let’s start by taking a look at where ethanol comes from, how it is produced, and why it is being touted as an energy efficient environmentally friendly biofuel.

Ethanol can be produced as a petrochemical via the hydration of ethylene, and biologically, by fermenting sugars with yeast. In this paper we will leave aside the ethanol produced petrochemically and digest some facts relating to the field crops required to produce ethanol.

In the U.S.A ethanol as a fuel is derived mainly from maize (corn). According to the “Renewable Fuel Association, in October ’07, there were 131 grain ethanol bio-refineries in the U.S.A. with a further 72 refineries under construction. So lets ask how much maize will these refineries consume just to produce a biofuel?. Well America alone produces 270 million metric tons annually which is almost half the worlds harvest.

It has been calculated that 500lbs of maize is required to provide one full tank for the average american car; simple arithmetic will show that equates to approximately 12 tons of maize for 1 car for 1 year. If America is producing 270 million tons p.a., which is the approximate amount required to keep 20 million cars on the U.S roads for one year then ALL of America’s maize production is used on the production of fuel and there is none left to use as FOOD.

Brazil now has a policy of supporting ethanol as a car fuel which is provided from domestically grown sugar cane, which not only has a greater concentration of sucrose than corn (approx. 30% better) but is also much easier to extract.

The policies of both the Brazilian and the U.S.A. governments who supply 69% of the worlds ethanol- regarding the production of ethanol biofuels is directly at the expense of the food supply chain. Both sugar products and corn have soared up in price as a direct result of these policies and the huge subsidies paid to farmers and industrial conglomerates. In fact the Asian Development Bank stated on Monday the 21st April this year “that developed nations should stop paying agricultural subsidies to encourage biofuel production because those payments are making staple foods more expensive.”

Sweden does not help this situation either as its said that 13% of new cars sold there now run on biofuel and practically every other car maker in the world is trying to make their own version of a biofuel car.

In following their policy to produce ethanol biofuel systems they have turned their backs to the fact that this policy has a negative effect on the environment by removing crops (food) from the food chain and where it is the case (Brazil,S America) where tropical forests are being demolished to plant biofuel producing crops, they are removing those vital trees from from the land which themselves can literally absorb a ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in their lifetime.

Finally, a recent article in Science magazine states: “the use of US croplands for biofuels causes increased greenhouse gas emissions through emissions from land use change”.

Having read the above it is incredible how anyone could perceive ethanol to be an ethical alternative fuel.

There is an ethical, environmentally friendly system available NOW, but nobody in government nor anyone in the oil industry supports it. WHY, – simply because they have a vested interest in the status quo.The big conglomerates with government officials aiding them have invested BILLIONS in the aforementioned so called alternative fuels and they have made huge mistakes, but their shortsightedness in trying to protect their bad investments at all costs, is at a cost to the world’s precious delicate environment.

As mentioned we do have an alternative system that is eco-friendly and it is available NOW; it is the water to fuel conversion system which for a very small fee is yours to benefit from immediately.

What are the immediate benefits of installing a water to fuel conversion system?

a)..Your vehicle will dramatically produce significantly cleaner gas emissions thus reducing the amount of carbon dioxide discharged into the air.

b)..You will reduce the amount of land required for crops to convert to biofuel which can then be re-utilized for growing vital food crops.

c)..Reduced petrol/diesel consumption via improved m.p.g.

d)..Both a & b help to provide a better, healthier environment, and incidentally and very happily with c) you will find you have more cash left in your pocket.

ght (c) 2009 Wes Fernley

Most people are skeptical about these ventless wonders. They remember how often a chimney for a wood-burning fireplace gets clogged and how miserable it makes everyone. If anyone in the house has a compromised breathing system, the consternation is even deeper. It’s hard to believe that there can be a fire that gives out warmth and looks inviting without also spewing fumes.

Well, if the room is reasonably ventilated, the ventless fireplaces work well. You usually need to have one window open just a bit, but you’ll find that the warmth it puts out is very nice and you’ll probably not notice any fumes at all.

But wait! It gets better! If you choose a ventless fireplace that burns biofuel, there are essentially no fumes at all. There’s a little steam and a minuscule amount of carbon dioxide, not enough to be concerned about, and not enough that you will smell it.

It’s very good news that there are many of these on the market right now. You don’t need a fireplace with a chimney at all. You can even hang one of these on a wall. You can have two or three around your house to make your living spaces more comfortable and more gracious and heating them less costly. You can be certain that you are not contributing to the environmental gases that are leading us to a global-warming disaster in the not-too-distant future.

Where can you find these? Many dealers are currently marketing them. Some are dealers who are already in the fireplace business. However, there are many new dealers in the marketplace, so look around and do your research.

Just how do these wonders of the 21st century work?

Ethanol is sometimes called grain alcohol or ethyl alcohol and has a unique scent. The reason it is so apropos for a fireplace is that it’s very flammable. However, before it comes to you it will be denatured with additives and will be toxic for human consumption, so you’ll want to be careful where you store. It is ideal for fuel because of its high efficiency.

Even if you live in a small apartment, you can use one of these. The mess and maintenance of wood-burning fireplaces are a thing of the past. The ethanol fireplace is highly appropriate for the age when we live such active lives and are unwilling to allow them to be unnecessarily cluttered. They cost less to operate than the electric fireplaces that have become so popular in recent years and are bound to become more popular as the word gets out.

To find dealers online, just google ethanol fireplace and you’ll find many dealers and will be able to compare models and prices. You can also find the fuel online.

By the way, if you have an outdoor fire pit, look into an ethanol burner that will work in it. You’ll reduce the fire danger from an outdoor wood fire and you’ll have a convenient means of heating your patio.

We live on a solar powered planet.  Virtually all of the energy we use comes — ultimately — from the sun.

Fossil fuels, including petroleum, coal, and natural gas, originated from ancient biomass which relied on photosynthesis powered by the sun.

Most of our renewable energy likewise starts with the sun.  Wind power is driven primarily by convection currents created by the sun’s rays heating the sea and land.  Biofuels, including bioethanol and biodiesel, begin with plants using the sun to power photosynthesis.  Hydroelectric power — whether dams or in-stream turbines — relies on the downstream flow of water that fell as rain or snow but which originally evaporated from lakes and oceans due to heat from the sun.

More obvious are the applications of solar thermal and solar photovoltaic power.

Solar Thermal

The sun is a giant nuclear fusion reactor with a surface temperature of more than 5,000 degrees Celsius (9,000 degrees Fahrenheit).  Of course, only a minute fraction of its energy reaches the Earth, and only part of that energy is heat.  But we can take advantage of that heat simply by opening our curtains on a winter day to let the sun warm our home.  Or we may put a coil of black tubing on the roof of our house with water running through it to provide hot water.

Using the sun’s heat to produce electricity is only a little more complicated.  Focus the sun’s rays on a container of water to turn the water into steam under pressure.  Use the steam to drive a turbine, which then drives a generator producing electricity.

On a large scale, solar thermal systems often consist of hundreds or even thousands of flat mirrors focusing the sun’s rays on central towers, or long troughs of concave mirrors focused on tubes.  Such arrays can produce power in the range of 100 megawatts or more, much less than coal fire and nuclear plants, but with none of the environmental risks.

Solar Photovoltaic

A more direct method of producing electricity from the sun is solar photovoltaic.  This technology relies on the properties of certain materials to act as photodiodes.  When photons of light strike the material, they energize electrons, producing a direct current.  Although each interaction produces very little energy, the flow can be combined so that cells and arrays of cells can deliver substantial power.  Like solar thermal systems, large solar photovoltaic arrays may cover thousands of square meters and cost millions of dollars.

Putting Solar To Use

Advances in photovoltaic technology have brought solar-based electricity to the general public.  Homeowners and businesses can have their own rooftop arrays, producing their own power independent of the public utility grid.  Rooftop solar panel kits that include an inverter to convert the panel’s direct current into household alternating current are available from building supply companies and online retailers for a few hundred dollars.

To help them reach commitments made in international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many governments encourage public involvement in renewable energy projects by providing tax incentives, grants, rebates, and interest-free loans to individuals setting up their own solar and wind projects.

Smart meters may allow homeowners or businesses to produce a portion of the power they use, and even to sell excess power back to the utility grid.

Setting up your own solar power system isn’t difficult, but you should be aware of local laws governing the size and type of installation allowed.  There may also be insurance concerns if you plan on mounting panels on your roof.  Also, tracking down and obtaining government incentives can be a complex process.  Thus, it may be wise to seek the advice of a qualified consultant specializing in small-scale renewable energy systems.

The sun is an incomparable gift that shines for everyone.  All we need to do is to put it to use.

 In these days of economic strife, we are sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for biofuels to hit the corner gas station. Why it’s taking so long is another matter and we have no clear answer on how long its going to take for biofuels to be a viable option in our community. The difference between biofuels and fossil fuels is the amount of time an organic material has been dead. Biofuels can be produced from any biological carbon source. Most common sources are photosynthetic plants. Also a wide array of different fuels ranging from water to White Lightning. White lightning, of course, being Ethanol.

Using water with electrically charged metal plates submerged into the water produces hydrogen gas, which if ran into your intake manifold, can save you some gas. The internet is flooded with this hydrogen generator and manuals on how to build it and install it. Why car manufacturers are choosing other avenues is a mystery. There are cars being made that are electric and run on hydrogen fuel, however, there are not many stations around that carry hydrogen, so where ever you go, may be a one way trip. Ethanol is produced with corn. It takes a lot of energy to produce. If you went a 100 miles with a gas vehicle, you would need one-third more ethanol to go the same hundred miles. Since it takes so much to produce Ethanol it will not be cheap and it will eat up food resources and since we will be growing for fuel, not food, corn and wheat prices will increase. There is research ongoing trying to extract ethanol from non food crops. You also need a bigger tank to store the Ethanol and one that is not prone to corrosion. That coupled with stronger hoses and equipment needed to run this fuel will increase the price of the vehicle.

BioGas is gas produced by anaerobic digestion. Essentially, gas produced by rotting garbage. Landfills are covered with plastic then buried with a pipe sticking out to release the pressurized gas. If it is not stored or burned these gasses are a potent form of greenhouse gas. This gas can be used in a couple of different ways, such as heating and the production of electricity.

You can learn more about environmental issues and becoming green here or if this doesn’t work www.greenearthfriend.com

We live in a world eager for new resources of energy. But despite the huge progress and development of green energy and renewable resources, we did not yet reach the goal of good fossil fuels replacements.

There are several directions of research for new energy sources, but all of them cannot supply enough energy to make a real change. The real “green” resources are wind, waves, hydro and geothermal power, which are good resources, but certainly not sufficient to supply the demands.

The more promising sources of energy are:

1.Solar energy – which is for now very inefficient and expensive.

2. Hydrogen – which is hard to produce right now.

3. biofuels – that can compromise our food supply.

The question is – what is the most promising? – in what resource we should invest?

Before we all start to walk in the solar power road, we first must understand that for now, biofuels are the real solar power supply.

why is that? well, our solar harvesting devices are very insufficient comparing to engines using fossil fuels. but from where these fuels came from? well, these fuels come from ancient plants and animals that were much more efficient in term of harvesting the sun’s energy. I am talking about photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is one of the most efficient processes on earth, maybe the most competent. Cyanobacteria, algae and plants can use almost 100% of the sun’s energy to produce chemical energy. nearly hundred percents of the light captured buy the photosynthesis apparatus, is transformed to electric currents and then to chmical energy stored in sugars and fats. these sugars and fats turn to be our fuels millions of years later.

But today’s plats and algae can still produce this solar energy as good as they did millions of years ago, and we use this energy in our foods to maintain our lives. Agriculture was the driving force that first let humans to control this enormous energy supply, and probably was the main trigger for the development of the human society.

In order the satisfy the ever growing demand for energy in the modern and post-modern society, we must increase a little beat our agricultural skills. Why we need to re-invent new ways to harvest the sun’s fruit, when evolution already sis it for us, and created an amazing machinery in plants?

The real goal of the people who seek for new energy sources should be dramatically increasing the yield of the agricultural production, in order to be able to use plants sugars and fats to produce ethanol, biodiesel and other bio-fuels to use in the modern industry and transportation.

Let change our investments from traditional engineering approaches to bio-engineering, guiding our research toward more proficient production of biodiesel and ethanol, the easily accessible solar power.

Biofuel is in one respect the oldest form of man-made fuel in the world; long before industry boomed and the industrial period began, biological organic matter was the cheif source material for fuels. It was only until the relatively more powerful use of fossil fuels became dominant that biofuel found its admirers dwindling; in the age of industry, it has suffered relatively low popularity, though that point stands for most alternatives to fossil fuels, which is the source material for over 80% of annual energy production across the world.

With the rising interest in climate change affecting governments, individuals and the world’s media, though, fossil fuels are seemingly on the decline; whilst more than three quarters of energy production has conistently come from the source for a number of years, this has gone hand in hand with dangerous levels of carbon emissions, of which it is reported that fossil fuels contribute more than 20 billion tonnes anually. With experts suggesting that global natural resources can only induce half of that figure, and global warming increasingly becoming a world concern, investment into alternative energy has risen by over 140% in the two years.

Of these alternative energy types, biofuel is one of the most prominent, and it seems that man-made fuels have come full circle. Though production of the fuel is substantially lower than solar power and even hydroeletricity, it remains one of the most important examples of alternative energy.

And indeed, research into the field has reaped rewards, with new developments granting the industry a potentially greater fuel efficiency.

Experts have now suggested that the use of a bug that thrives on detritus will increase the speed at which the original biological matter is broken down and converted into fuel. It will originally be used in the production of ethanol, but it is hoped that the bug can increase efficiency of biofuels across the industry. Indeed it is beleived that the bug can also increase then range of material included in the conversion process; more hardy, it is beleived to be able to break down tougher plant and animal life that current conversion techniques cannot.

It will certainly strengthen the case for a return to biofuel as renewable energy types gain momentum, and it could perhaps do with the positive press after some controversial statistics have begun an increasingly polemical debate on the ethical standards of biofuels; the World Bank reported that the consumption of crops across the world for biofuels has resulted in a rise of 75% in world food prices.

The debate does not simply centre around economics. On their website, Friends of the Earth have questioned the actual environmental impact of biofuel production, claiming that they could actually produce more green house gases than the process reduces; it is generally argued that CO2 emissions from biofuels are offset by the consumption of carbon during the source supply’s lifetime, but the orginsation claims that the combined energy cost of planting, production, conversion and transport negates the theory.

On a similar agenda as the World Bank, they take the rising food price to be an indication that biofuel production could directly affect food supply levels for some of the earth’s most poverty stricken populations.