Apparently Biodiesel, which is carbon neutral as it contributes no net carbon greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere
(William Kemp - The Renewable Energy Handbook) does not need to be made from feed crops, such as corn or soy. It can also be made from recycled vegetable oils!
Think about what that means … we could be making fuel from an ingredient which is considered a waste product, something every fast-food and 5 star restaurant currently pays to have removed and disposed of.
So, do we grow an ingredient from seed (water, apply chemical
s, harvest, process, repeat …), a crop which could feed people, or do we re-use a product which currently exists in large quantities, which folks would finance to have utilized? Hmmm
To make matters more confusing, there is a product called Cellulose Ethanol. You’ll love this. It is made from corn stover (stalks and husks), wood-processing by-products or even fast-growing switch grass. And, unlike grain-based ethanol production, the manufacturing process does not consume fossil fuels for distillation, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions (W.H. Kemp).
So, I guess now the only thing that’s really confusing is … how come we’re making all the wrong choices?
(William Kemp - The Renewable Energy Handbook) does not need to be made from feed crops, such as corn or soy. It can also be made from recycled vegetable oils!Think about what that means … we could be making fuel from an ingredient which is considered a waste product, something every fast-food and 5 star restaurant currently pays to have removed and disposed of.
So, do we grow an ingredient from seed (water, apply chemical
s, harvest, process, repeat …), a crop which could feed people, or do we re-use a product which currently exists in large quantities, which folks would finance to have utilized? HmmmTo make matters more confusing, there is a product called Cellulose Ethanol. You’ll love this. It is made from corn stover (stalks and husks), wood-processing by-products or even fast-growing switch grass. And, unlike grain-based ethanol production, the manufacturing process does not consume fossil fuels for distillation, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions (W.H. Kemp).
So, I guess now the only thing that’s really confusing is … how come we’re making all the wrong choices?
1 comment:
Hey Neil!
Glad to hear you like Bill Kemp's book "The Renewable Energy Handbook". Bill went on to expand on the topic of biodiesel in his next book "Biodiesel: Basics and Beyond". It's an amazing book and now he has taken it one step further... he is using biodiesel to run a generator in a plug-in hybrid car that he has designed. So it is a zero-carbon car! The book "The Zero-Carbon Car will be out in early December!
P.S. I'm his publisher and I live (and work) off the grid like he does!
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