The Next Depression?

[1acrefarm]

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The trouble in the US is how the zoning laws are setup. The cities are not designed walker friendly and not all have a subway system.

 

[GwenFarms]

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I was not in any way trying to insinuate that this would solve our problems, however I do think it would send a message to the government and big oil. I do think it would bring prices down. There is alot of unnecessary mark up that is not a conservation issue.

I believe this section of BYC is for social discussion and politics are considered such, so feel free to discuss away.

 

[gritsar]

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There's just one problem with that Stevie. Bio-diesel is illegal to use in the US and will remain so as long as the big oil companies have politicians in their back pockets. If it's weren't for that, I'd be all for it. We are looking into a wind generator for our home.

 

[flip9109]

alternative fuels are terrible. they cost more to make and don't get you the same amount of miles. the worst thing we did was start using ethanol. while corn makes really good food, it turns out it dosn't make good fuel. it may burn cleaner but does the equation work when you take into consideration that it goes stale quicky, and you have to burn more of it to go the same distance. oh and lets not forget that now the wheat prices are going nuts because they are growing corn(which is hard on the soil) instead. and before you start endorsing biodiesel read a few postings about it from folks who have used it. I have a diesel van and would sooner get rid of it than use that in it. But diesel by it self is cheaper to make than gas, you can get more fuel per barrel of oil, it goes further and burns cleaner. In fack the diesel engines that are going to come out in 2011 are suposed to be so efficient that the air is suposed to come out cleaner than it went in(we'll see). So far as the price of fuel I hate to say it but we are just at their mercy (I am paying 4.25 per gal as of today). it's involved somehow in almost everything we have and use. either buy needing it to run or used in the process of making it, or delivering it. I hear people talk of using more electricly powered items but most eletricity comes from huge diesel generators. personally at this point I think more diesel cars is the answer.

I belive in being responsible and aware of our actions, but I don't belive in globel warming the way it is portrayed. Greenland is named that because when the vikings landed there in the 4th century it was green, they farmed it for 500 years and left in the 9th century because it got cold. The planted goes through warming and cooling phases there have been several ice ages to prove this.

just my 2 cts

 

[bobbieguyette]

When you drive for a living its awfully hard to say that you wont buy gas for 3 days either!

I wish I could stay home but with the way things are now you cant

 

[MRNpoultry]

I belive the earth goes through warming and cooling to. We do need to find a alternitive to oil ( bad spelling ). I really wan't to buy some cheap tobaco farm land in rockingham county, but that probaly won't happen. So I have been thinking about raising meat birds and any kind of livestock we can get on our two acres. We have got a big garden and more room to expand. Even if the despression does not happen least I can have alot of animals. Want a farm, Want a farm, Really want a farm. Mybe even need.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

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There's just one problem with that Stevie. Bio-diesel is illegal to use in the US and will remain so as long as the big oil companies have politicians in their back pockets. If it's weren't for that, I'd be all for it. We are looking into a wind generator for our home.

Are you sure its illegal? california uses it and they have tanks at the gas station. it was also used on pimp my ride with arnold shwarzzeneger. I dont like politics but I mean something has to change... I hope soon

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my moms b/f says the earth is going through another cycle.

 

[Rosalind]

*scratches head* Do you not live in the US, gritsar?

Biodiesel is perfectly legal in the US. We've got several distributors in MA. If you want to store more than a large-ish quantity, you need a permit for it, but around here something like >300 gallons can be stored before you need a permit. That's a lot of diesel to be storing. If you do want to store that much, you need a HAZWOPER license--requirements for that vary by state, it's usually a one-week course and $500. It's not a terribly difficult license to get, either, well mine wasn't. And then you need whatever town permits are required by your city. It costs less to get the HAZWOPER than to convert your car to biodiesel. There are also several businesses who sell biodiesel manufacturing equipment for garage use. Again, you'll need to go through the permitting process, but it sure isn't illegal.

Ethanol goes stale? First I've heard of it...And I'm a biochemist by profession. It's probably not the best solution, only because our current distillation methods require more energy put into heating and fractionally distilling than we get back out of the combustion. It is tough on a regular gasoline engine, will make it burn hotter. But it gets only slightly less mileage; mileage is a function of engine efficiency/mass the engine has to work against, and the engine efficiency is affected by the normal heat of operation. Maybe you didn't realize, but Indy 500 racecars run exclusively on ethanol. Engines can be built to be EXTREMELY efficient on ethanol, it's a pretty simple engineering problem, certainly lots easier than re-designing a car to run on fuel cells or hydrogen.

Actually, I have talked in person with lots of people running biodiesel cars and veggie oil cars. They love their vegetarian cars! That's why my next car is going to be a biodiesel converted classic Mercedes-Benz--I just love that German engineering. Diesel and regular gas, in terms of emissions, are now about equal. Diesel used to be dirtier, but the newer ones don't have that problem.

Maybe electricity is generated by diesel generators where you live, flip, but around here our distributor gives us the choice between natural gas/coal/nuclear and renewables. You pay a bit more for using 100% renewable sources, but IMHO not painfully more--nothing that can't be mitigated by switching every household lightbulb to LEDs. I don't think anyone uses diesel generators for anything but emergencies, although I've heard of areas where there's pretty much no utility services and everyone has to have either a local municipal generator or be off-grid.

Interesting idea you have there about Greenland. Actually the cooling/warming phase and the Viking colony's demise are very well-documented for the layperson in Collapse by Jared Diamond. It was indeed green when they got there, but there were a lot more factors to the colony's demise than just some changing weather for a few decades: soil erosion from overgrazing animals, loss of contact with Denmark (they were not a self-sufficient colony and relied on trade with Europe), faulty economic decision-making by their rulers, lots of things made them susceptible to being wiped out by one additional disaster. The general consensus, supported by archaeological findings of the rubbish heaps, barns and houses, is that they starved to death while the neighboring Inuits were healthy and well-fed. It scares me more than a little to think that maybe we're not learning from their example--that we as a culture are so afraid of changes and unable to adapt to new situations, that we will either bicker over stuff while opportunities and time windows pass us by, or that we will refuse to change at all out of commitment to our lifestyles, even if that means dying for it.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Rosalind,

best thing about bio-diesal is it can run in a regular diesal engine. My moms car is getting converted soon

 

[AussieSharon]

I spoke to my Mum in Australia last night. She is paying $1.70 a litre for gas!