Category Archives: Biofuels

Are biofuels a sustainable and viable energy strategy?

Preface. In 2000, Melanie Kenderine at the U.S. Department of energy stated that: “This nation has abundant biomass resources (grasses, trees, agricultural wastes) that have the potential to provide power, fuels, chemicals and other bio-based products” (136). That’s a good … Continue reading

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Biofuel distribution wastes valuable diesel fuel

Biofuels can’t use the existing refined petroleum distribution pipeline system, by far the cheapest way to move fuel — 17.5 times cheaper than truck, 5 times less than rail, 2.25 times less than barge, on average (Curley), so delivery of … Continue reading

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Energy generation water consumption

[ Notice how much water biofuels use, especially soybeans for biodiesel Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer] Notes from “Working Document of the NPC Future Transportation Fuels Study. Topic … Continue reading

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Commercial scale cellulosic ethanol still not happening in 2016 – why?

Here’s Rapier’s latest column on cellulosic ethanol explaining why it still isn’t commercial yet, despite attempts since the 1900’s.  He points out that we have been able to create cellulosic ethanol since 1900, but not economically. February 13, 2016. Cellulosic … Continue reading

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New land converted to cropland to grow biofuel crops equal to 34 coal-fired power plants

Summary of article below: Between 2008 and 2012 over 7 million acres new land, much of it grasslands, were converted to croplands, damaging native ecosystems, and mimics the extreme land-use change that led up to the Dust Bowl in the … Continue reading

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GAO on why ethanol, and other non-drop in fuels, face pipeline & installation at service station challenges

[The challenges that ethanol faces in being put into new or modified pipelines and added to gas stations are issues faced by all alternative fuels (methanol, CNG, LNG, DME, diesohol, CTL, hydrogen, and so on) in a transition from gasoline … Continue reading

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Biofuels do not scale up enough to power society

Richard, T. August 23, 2010. Challenges in scaling up biofuels infrastructure. Science. (329)   Below are excerpts from this paper.  Look at the impossible scale of biomass required: 150 EJ/year = 15 billion metric tons of plant biomass = 200 billion … Continue reading

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Large agribusiness gets corporate welfare via illegal ethanol subsidies

What more proof is needed that the Energy Returned on Energy Invested of ethanol is negative?  They’re losing money and getting corporate welfare to keep the scam going, meanwhile destroying prime topsoil, poisoning the land with pesticides, and eutrophying the … Continue reading

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Germany National Academy of Sciences report: Don’t use biofuels

Preface. This German study explains why biomass doesn’t scale up to make biofuels, whether from algae, cellulose, or plants, as well as why trying to do so would harm the environment. Alice Friedemann  www.energyskeptic.com Women in ecology  author of 2021 … Continue reading

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Biofuels can be explosive

Oil and natural gas can be cheaply distributed by pipeline, but ethanol must move by very expensive truck or train. 6 Feb 2011. Ohio train derailment prompts evacuations. CNN. 7 Oct 2011. Freight Train Derailment in Illinois Prompts Evacuations.   Associated … Continue reading

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