Community Activism and the Capital Region Energy Forum (Part 2)

You ask some very important questions, April05.

While I'm no expert when it comes to energy, I do find the topic fascinating. Ethanol has become one of those tricky hot-button words that can stir serious debate. I think the examples that you've provided here are excellent, as they allow us to see that there could possibly be a right way to create ethanol.

I watched a program on Brazil and their use of sugarcane (probably on Discovery Channel?), and it is truly fascinating. The best part (for me) is that they've been working with ethanol for years, and a lot of people still don't know about it.

Nice piece, thanks for the information

Thanks for the post, april05! The production of cellulosic ethanol may not, as you say, "conflict with the food supply"; however, I do wonder about its impact on soil quality and soil erosion. Picking a field bare - stalks and all - seems like a risky agricultural practice long-term.

Hi Moose - Good point.

I was thinking in Brazil the leftover sugarcane parts would have gone to waste, but maybe they are needed in the field to replenish the soil (I have to admit my time spent on farms is pretty limited).

Maybe good agricultural practice, like leaving the field fallow or alternating with organic crops, could help with the nitrogen depletion/erosion issue. I need to learn more about how the energy farmers do this in Brazil.

- april05

April,

I wonder how many have thought about the tremendous waste in producing products for profit instead of use.

For instance, my first automobile was a 1936 Chevy Standard Coupe, bought used in 1952 for 70 dollars.

The body was made of heavy steel sheet. The engine was a 70 hp six. It had a three on the floor stick manual transmission. Todays Chevy six engines at base look much the same.

With little work, had I one today, I could easily modernize the car while leaving the basics pretty much the same.

Had I then the funds to do the necessary repairs, rudimentary things, valve job, etc., I might still be running that car.

Lift in a 100 hp engine, so you get a little more speed out of it, 70 was about top for the 36, and a little more power for air conditioning, change to hydraulic brakes for safety, etc., and forget about style, that same car would be serviceable today.

If I could get my hands on one of those collectors items today, I recently saw one on the net that looked brand new with only about 40,000 miles on it (It had been sitting in a barn unused all these years) and selling for about 18,000, I could, even if it were more worn, virtually rebuild and modernize the car for about 6 to 8 thousand dollars.

Take the later cars. I got rear-ended by a tractor-trailer so I don't have it any more, but a 1983 Accura Integra was still running beautifully on an engine with over 200,000 miles on it with a manual 5 speed transmission.

My plans had been to run it until the engine blew up and then lift in a new engine which probably would not have cost me more than 3000 dollars.

My point is we make some fantastic durable equipment in modern industry. The reason the Japanese cars, and some of the Korean ones run so long is that they are built to very tight precise parameters; ten thousandths of an inch.

The same approach can be taken to other equipment, refrigerators, cook ranges, etc. Build for quality and easy rebuild and our use of resources goes way down.

But then the fat cats, totally dependant on constant expansion, which of course includes constant expansion of population, wouldn't get so fat.

Just a few thoughts thinking out of the box.

j.

Hi Jack - If we could make green energy production just as profitable, or more profitable, as fossil fuel production, then we all win. What to do with all the stuff we consume (car, refrigerators, etc.), once we're done with it, is a good question. Smart design helps. I also think we could learn from what German manufacturers do with regard to the responsibility they take for products they make, after those products are sold to the consumer. Continuing to stuff the landfills/junkyards forever doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Thanks for your out-of-box comments. -april05

Well April, QAQC Pipeman again.

I grew up on a farm, and crop rotation is incorporated in a well managed farm.

Of course we occasionally burned the debris, but remember the root stock and stubs would stay and decompose.

How many acres in NY alone, without including the entire US, lie fallow.

More than being used.

Take a ride over toward Rochester and look at all of the abandoned orchards and get NY kicking on alternatives.

Also, take a look at the Adirondacks and the mountain forests between Binghamton and Albany dying.

I am so concerned about this and the fight with Iberdrola that I will soon be posting an entry on my Multiply Blog and sending letters to the Times Union about my concerns.

Thanks for your comments, QAQC-Pipeman. I am a big fan of the Adirondacks, having lived in the area from Potsdam to Saratoga much of my life. Happy to hear from someone who's worked on a farm - hoping some more folks who've worked in agriculture will join the conversation. - april05

Drove to Lake George yesterday to take some photos for my essay on Particulate Pollution and it's effects on Forests. It rained, as you know, spoiling that endeavor. Albany and it's particulate laden air is some of the worst I have encountered. Not being used to it, I end up coughing and choking badly after a week at the Port. By the way, the Particulates at the Port are very high and would not be accepted at any other place I have visited. Every other place with high particulate is required to at least water down at least once a day. This never happened once at Albany in 5 or 6 visits.

Extremely excited to catch this blog post.

I am presently finishing up some QA work on the Millennium Pipeline here in Albany, NY.

Ok, secret is out, I am an old Hippie, One of the original Mother Earthers before the trend went cutesy pie. We developed digesters and the like in the 60's and 70's to power homes and cars. Some pretty crude things, but interest was always there and as I progressed in my profession, I worked to provide quality, but never strayed far from those old days.

We waste so much in the way of potential resources here in the USA, that it is disgusting. I have developed a few things thru the years and wonder why we do not use the switchgrass, sugarcane dross, or even wood processing residue for cellulosic conversion. And then, the possibly best of all, hemp.

Hemp, planted in all of the dead and subsidised acreage could alleviate a lot of the need for stock for conversion.

I live near Hempfield Twp. in Westmoreland County, PA, part of George Washington's Plantations and hemp grows wild and freely in many areas there and in places where not much else except scrub trees and grasses proliferate.

Author's note: Part 3 is now available.