Re: new hybrid cars could get 100 mpg

Don Lancaster <don@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<snip>

The reason ag waste is ag waste is that nobody can find a net energy use
for it.

Ag waste is an extremely diffuse resource.
Gathering and processing that resource often consumes far more energy
and capital than is recoverable.

It's waste, not because nobody can find a net energy use for it, but
there are better things to invest in in the current economic climate.

If fuel becomes more expensive - in terms of money spent in the local
economy, not exported, this means that more people are employed in the
energy sector, which means that currently uneconomic means of producing
energy become economic.

To take one example - it's probably a net energy benefit to have rubbish
sorting lines, that extract all plastics from the waste stream, and burn
it.
It's prohibitive at the moment in therms of manpower.
If the economy tanks because of high energy prices, the person that was
making designer clothes may be quite happy to be able to put food on the
table by sorting garbage.
Whether or not something is a net energy source in practice depends not only on
its value in a calorimiter, but also whether it is economically viable to
extract that value.
This changes depending on the economy, technology, and politics.
For example, it'd probably be a net energy win to put in thermal
decomposition plants in crematoriums to make oil from all the
'feedstock'.
This isn't of course the whole story.
.

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