[emersonbiggins]

First, here's the story in full on NGonline: After Oil

Just at first glance (of the magazine), I get the feeling that NG is uncertain about which alternative energy sources will be used, but have no doubt that society will continue on in its march of "growth."

The magazine had two renderings: one of a city with conventional hydrogen energy infrastructure and one of zero-point hydrogen infrastructure. Of course, the images both contained freeways lined with cars and glitzy glass boxes off in the distance, and the ZPE had multiple urban wind turbines and solar collectors abutting the freeway.

Typical techno-savior quotes like "Panels covering less than a quarter of the roof and pavement space in cities and suburbs could supply the U.S. with all its electricity" are littered throughout the article, with no mention of the Manhattan project that would need to take place in order for that to happen.

What do you think?

[emersonbiggins]

I did the full read through. I read nothing about curbing consumption/demand and everything about how biodiesel/solar/wind/nuclear will save us all.

An interesting tidbit on the biofuel subhead: using switchgrass to make fuel... uses less fertilizer, doubles as animal feed, can grow in many seemingly unarable places. Anybody know anything about this?

[EnergySpin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')ut technically possible doesn't mean politically feasible. From corn to sugarcane, all crops have their own lobbyists. "We're looking down a lot of alleys," says Pacheco. "And every alley has its own vested interest group. Frankly, one of the biggest challenges with biomass is that there are so many options."

[clv101]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'I') did the full read through. I read nothing about curbing consumption/demand and everything about how biodiesel/solar/wind/nuclear will save us all.

An interesting tidbit on the biofuel subhead: using switchgrass to make fuel... uses less fertilizer, doubles as animal feed, can grow in many seemingly unarable places. Anybody know anything about this?

[spartacus]

Palm oil, tallow, Canola, Rape oil.....all can be converted to diesel very readily. Unfortunately, even if you took all the oil seed crops grown in the US and converted them to fuel, you would still only reach 15% of current US diesel consumption.

Oh, and for those that believe that biofuels are for greeny whackos, ...Rudolf Diesel actual used peanut oil when he first presented his engine at the Paris Exposition in 1904....so it says a lot about foward thinking.

The answer is to reduce consumption, rather than bleat-on about the end of the world, and to promote diversification and recycling.