[GRLUG] OFF TOPIC Electric Car

Jay.Hollinger at L-3com.com Jay.Hollinger at L-3com.com
Wed Nov 19 15:46:38 EST 2008


Soybeans are similar to alfalfa in what they return to the soil... So
you grow soy diesel the first year and corn ethanol the next... 

To be honest though, there are better ways. I hope that this food ->
fuel process is a short term bridge to something better.

-----Original Message-----

The problem is that "efficient" crops all probably want the same sorts 
of things from the soil. Farmers rotate things like alfalfa onto fields 
which used to grow corn in order to regenerate the soil. I doubt that 
alfalfa is good for fuel... except for powering horses and cows.

Rick Vargo wrote:
> No, you switch off to another crop that is efficient.
>
> Rick
>
>
> Collin Kidder wrote:
>   
>> Well... you have to take the land into account a bit because you
cannot 
>> grow the same crop on the same land forever. That much I know about 
>> farming. You'll deplete the soil of the necessarily nutrients.
>>
>> Rick Vargo wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>> I guess I shouldn't have assumed that you would already have the
>>> property... The $1 a gallon is for planting, growing, fertilizing,
>>> etc... They also suggest that you can contract with a farmer for
>>> product. This is not as cheap of a method but is still equivalent to
the
>>> cost of gas...
>>>
>>> Rick
>>>
>>>
>>> Collin Kidder wrote:
>>>   
>>>     
>>>       
>>>> I'll have to check out the site on using alcohol as gas... But if
you 
>>>> get 1700 gallons per acre then you need to spend only $1700 on that
acre 
>>>> including planting, watering, picking, and fermenting if you want
$1/g. 
>>>> That sounds like a tall order for $1700. But, I'm no farmer.
>>>>
>>>> Rick Vargo wrote:
>>>>   
>>>>     
>>>>       
>>>>         
>>>>> Corn is a terrible bio fuel you can only get about 700 gallons
from an
>>>>> acre. Sugar cane is the best. Around here, the best thing to grow
for a
>>>>> bio fuel is probably sugar beats. I think an acre will make about
1700
>>>>> gallons of alcohol.
>>>>>
>>>>> Rick
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Michael Mol wrote:
>>>>>   
>>>>>     
>>>>>       
>>>>>         
>>>>>           
>>>>>> On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM, Collin Kidder <adderd at kkmfg.com>
wrote:
>>>>>>   
>>>>>>     
>>>>>>       
>>>>>>         
>>>>>>           
>>>>>>             
>>>>>>> An electric motor can be made darn near 100% efficient. As a
bonus
>>>>>>> electrical lines are found almost everywhere. It's like a built
in gas
>>>>>>> station in every building you see. So, I do believe that
electric cars
>>>>>>> will end up being the way forward.
>>>>>>>     
>>>>>>>       
>>>>>>>         
>>>>>>>           
>>>>>>>             
>>>>>>>               
>>>>>> It remains to be seen how efficiently synthetic hydrocarbon fuels
can
>>>>>> be made; If those can be made sufficiently efficient, powering
cars
>>>>>> off the grid won't work.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Granted, corn doesn't appear to be getting us off to a good
start.
>>>>>>   
>>>>>>     
>>>>>>       
>>>>>>         
>>>>>>           
>>>>>>             
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>>>>>           
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