Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (24079)	10/14/2007 2:55:22 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 217900

Food? Food is cheap and nowhere these days are there famines other than as induced by political carnage such as Zimbabwe. Humans have moved up Maslow's hierarchy of needs. There's so much food, we even burn it in engines instead of eating it, even though there is perfectly good crude oil for sale around the world, which is a perfectly fine and very cheap way of fueling engines. I note that burning crops to propel engines produces a LOT more CO2 than does burning crude oil. Crops take a LOT of effort and produce loads of CO2 even before they make it to the vehicle's fuel tank. It's ridiculous that biofuels are considered a way of cutting down on CO2 emissions. Crude oil can be pumped out of the ground, run through a distillation process, shipped to a petrol station and burned in a car. To get a crop into a fuel tank takes a lot more effort, produces a lot more CO2 and costs a lot more money. The crop has to be planted, fertilized, harvested, chopped up, fermented and processed, then shipped to the vehicle tanks. Oil is in one big convenient puddle. Farms are spread everywhere. Somebody has no doubt added up all the costs and CO2 balances. I bet that less CO2 is produced by fossil fuel being used in vehicles than by crop fuel being used. The justification for crops is that carbon in the ethanol comes from CO2 in the atmosphere, so the amount in the air is reduced before it is put back in. I suspect that the process results in more total CO2 being produced than if fossil fuel is used. The tractor to harvest the crops produces CO2 too. And so does the steel production used to make the tractor. And the construction of the mines to get the coal to fuel the steel mill. No, I don't have information on China's gold production, but I guess Google has. As gold goes up in price, production of it will increase as it becomes more economic to extract it. Mqurice