As you may know, there's a fire heating up over energy matters - off-shore oil exploration/inventory, nuclear, renewable, ANWAR, natural gas, etc...
What do you think? What kind of energy should we look to in the future? Should we build more nuclear power plants? What about off-shore drilling? Where should the money go for that - to the individual state that the rig sits in front of, or all the states as it is set up now? Will solar work?
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They currently make some extremely reliable, efficient and "good looking" solar panels.
work on getting the price down and plop them on every house top. Depending upon the size of the roof you can be 100% energy self sufficient (electrically) with these panels.
I also think that we should look into expanding bio-diesel
They currently make some extremely reliable, efficient and "good looking" solar panels.Â*
work on getting the price down and plop them on every house top. Depending upon the size of the roof you can be 100% energy self sufficient (electrically) with these panels.
I also think that we should look into expanding bio-diesel
Solar panels would have to greatly exceed the 3-8% energy efficiency that they currently work at for them to be practical at all , silicon cells just ain't very efficient . I saw a blurb in a science mag about a guy who has developed an experimental flexible superconductive panel that can achieve 20% peak efficiency , but the cost would be prohibitive at the moment . Most folks won't buckle down and do the work that a solar powered system requires anyway , too much work compared to having the grid's ring in their noses .
I favor biodiesel too .
Hempseed oil , a vegetable form of petroleum , would require minimal refining making it a great fit with our petrochemically based culture . You can make anything from hempseed oil that you can make from regular petroleum except gasoline . It wouldn't be nearly as expensive to convert the country to biodiesel as it would to retool our infrastructure for hydrogen , and when you consider that hemp grows in the wild in every single state this means that what is now wasteland could be generating unlimited cheap petroleum and the strongest natural fiber known to man . Low cost and no further dependence on the unstable Middle East forever , I like it .
For the naysayers who will be afraid that hippies will grow weed in those fields consider this: Industrial hemp has no value as a drug since it contains virtually none . Any "good stuff" planted anywhere near a hemp field will be cross pollinated by it and therefore rendered useless .
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Kevin Haendiges
NAHC Life Member
NRA Member
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GOA Member
Buckmasters Member
http://hunting-indiana.com
Solar panels would have to greatly exceed the 3-8% energy efficiency that they currently work at for them to be practical at all , silicon cells just ain't very efficient . I saw a blurb in a science mag about a guy who has developed an experimental flexible superconductive panel that can achieve 20% peak efficiency
nah, commercially available solar panels have efficiency ratings of 50%. I recently read where some people get enough juice off them that they actually sell energyto the power company.
re: biodiesel -- think of the sources aside from hemp etc. I mean, even smaller venues such as grease traps at restaurants are a great source for the raw material.
Then all you need is a filter, NaOH, methanol, a little water and you're good to go.
Oops ! Sorry I wasn't more current on solar panels . Last I looked they weren't all that great , and folks just wouldn't like the upkeep . Great for remote cabins though , and more reliable than the wind .
The sources you mention such as grease traps are all recyclable sources and worthy of consideration . Hemp is a renewable resource . Acre for acre it outproduces trees for paper yield . It yields plastics , polymers , lubricants , anything that petroleum does . Hemp fiber is renowned for it's strength , many countries less anal about low end drugs still use it . Manila for example is hemp . Ever try to break a manila hemp rope ? I mainly like the fact that it could easily supplant gasoline as our fuel of choice , that's what nearly half of a barrel of oil gets converted to , and the infrastructure is already in place . Think about it , NO MORE ARABS ! Gawd that sounds sweet !
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Kevin Haendiges
NAHC Life Member
NRA Member
Wildlife Forever Member
GOA Member
Buckmasters Member
http://hunting-indiana.com
The sources you mention such as grease traps are all recyclable sources and worthy of consideration . Hemp is a renewable resource . Acre for acre it outproduces trees for paper yield . It yields plastics , polymers , lubricants , anything that petroleum does . Hemp fiber is renowned for it's strength , many countries less anal about low end drugs still use it . Manila for example is hemp . Ever try to break a manila hemp rope ? I mainly like the fact that it could easily supplant gasoline as our fuel of choice , that's what nearly half of a barrel of oil gets converted to , and the infrastructure is already in place . Think about it , NO MORE ARABS ! Gawd that sounds sweet !
Oh I know... I could never figure out who was lining whose pockets to prevent non-psychoreactive hemp from being grown...
It's akin to outlawing the growing of corn in my mind.
Im pretty sure there going to build a biodiesel plant here in Wy in the next few yrs from rumors i hear. I was wondering what they planed on using for the bsic raw miterials.( seed crops to i guess- but those do still need irragation far as i know- just like anycrop does here(it wont grow on its own waterwise) I think theres plenty we can do with what we have now solar & other things- just a matter of doing it...
I saw at least one cheap biodiesel seller in nebraska passing thew there recently- but they has no sign up telling of there 170 a gallon prices(no one knew about it- it seems)....most everywhere elsereg. diesel was going for $2 or more a gallon.
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Oilseed R & D differentiates Blue Sun from other producers in the biodiesel industry
Blue Sun"™s agriculture research and development plan is focused on developing low-cost oilseed crops that are well-adapted to the hot, arid growing conditions of the High Plains.
Blue Sun estimates that these new types of oilseed crops -- our R&D includes dryland mustard, false flax, canola, and rapeseed varieties -- can reduce production costs of biodiesel feedstock by 40%. This is crucial since the cost of feedstock (usually made from more expensive soybean oils) represents 75% of the total cost of biodiesel fuels. The social, economic and environmental benefits of biodiesel will not be realized until the price is competitive with petroleum diesel. Thus the Blue Sun strategy represents a significant opportunity to increase biodiesel use in the Rocky Mountain region.
[ul][*]Blue Sun harvested 6,000 commercial acres of innovative oilseed crops in Colorado and Nebraska in 2004.[*]Blue Sun maintains research plots of 48 oil seed varieties at 10 university research stations at Kansas State University, Colorado State University, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Nebraska. [/ul]
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Energy
Oilseed R & D differentiates Blue Sun from other producers in the biodiesel industry
