Originally posted by: Specop 007
Originally posted by: palehorse
Originally posted by: Specop 007
If they are working biofuels over that much I have to wonder what the overalll EROEI is?
So, so lets assume they do have a bio product that packs more grunt then hydrocarbons. Do an energy comparison in production. How much energy is used to produce 1 gallon of gas put into my car versus what is produced to make 1 gallon of his gas.
Dont forget his gas, as I have said before, is aat least partially relying on the products of my gas.
...unless he replaces
most of his production and distribution cycles with his own product, right?
At some point, it may become energy positive. The question is whether or not even a small increase in efficiency is worth the effort.
I personally believe that any such baby steps are worth it... every inch of progress we make toward a better renewable energy source is worth every penny spent getting there.
Then you have to look at scale.
i can tell you with a better then average degree of certainty I can produce enough fuel to meet my consumption needs for....well...forever. I own roughly 500 acres. Switchgrass gives an average of 1000 gallons of ethanol per acre. I dont know returns on soybeans for diesel, but lets say 300 per acre.
On about 10 acres of switchgrass and 5 acres of soy I've made enough fuel to run any car I own as often as I want and run the farm equipment to keep growing the crops.
Now scale that up to Americas usage of 25 MILLION barrels PER DAY.
We dont have enough farmland to do it. I personally think these steps arent really worth it. Its essentially buying a small bit of time till the endgame. To do these biofuels on a small scale is doable and looks great on paper. Things become drastically more complicated to go large scale. You really come down to choosing between and energy crisis or a water / food crisis. Pick your poison.