Re: biofuels
D. Eric Hanson (hansonde@ccmail.orst.edu)
Tue, 20 Feb 96 14:12:13 PST
An interesting debate. From a New Zealand perspective, and as a part
time beekeeper myself, one of the obvious regenerative sources of
ethanol is honey. In NZ whenever I drive the State Highway at this
time of the year I am staggered at the extent of nectar plants
(primarily dandelion allies and clover) growing on the road verge. i
have yet to do any sums but my guess is that the honey potential is
staggering. A truly renewable source too.
Any comments?
Perhaps I'm missing something but doesn't entropy need to enter into this
discussion somewhere? Using plants to harvest sunlight via photosynthates,
which are then converted in petroleum substitutes is all well and good but
it does require two conversions where energy (and a great deal of it, I
suspect) can be lost. Any added conversion (e.g., photosynthate to honey
by bees) magnifies the losses, ala a trophic cascade. I recognize the bees
do serve as a harvesting mechanism for a readily available resource but
there is a (hidden?) cost. It seems a physicist or ag. engineer worth
their salt would be able to put some numbers to this problem and make an
assessment.
TTFN - Eric Hanson
Oregon State University