| Alex Terrell 2005-08-10, 5:21 pm |
|
Derek Broughton wrote:
> Anthony Matonak wrote:
>
>
> Sure they can, but what's not clear to me is whether or not they can be
> harvested and processed with less energy input than extraction & processing
> of fossil fuels. The oil industry, of course, would have you think that
> gasoline arrives at the fuel pump magically - whereas they're the ones who
> are building up the expense of running the tractors that will harvest the
> oil seeds.
>
Seems like humans managed to extract energy from biologocial crops for
thousands of years before mineral oil came along.
Getting more energy out than you put in is not an issue. Getting enough
out in total is an issue.
> The other important factor - and one where the oil (& sometimes coal)
> producers _do_ get a free ride is that growing crops for oil necessarily
> removes land from food production. The beauty of the fossil fuels is that
> we're not using that subsurface terrain for anything.
Though fossil fuels have more than enough disadvantages.
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