Earth Day :: Green Fuel, Vehicles, etc.

So since it's Earth Day I should probably write something insightful about being green. I don't have anything earth shattering but I'll try to touch on a couple things and pound home a few points I've addressed before.

First... ethanol is not the answer! E-15, E-85, E-100... they're all bunk. The basic problem is that according to some studies ethanol actually requires the use of more fossil fuels throughout the production of it than is derived from the end product. Thereby having a net negative production value. In addition to this startling fact is that since most ethanol is made from typical food sources the elimination of this food for the purpose of fuel can and is driving up the cost and availability of said food. As I type this a world food shortage is burgeoning as the prices of grains skyrocket, largely due to the production of ethanol.

Second... mild-hybrids (i.e. Toyota Prius) are not the answer! Maybe people have forgotten that these things use batteries or something. You mean to tell me that Hybrid Synergy Drive has something to do with massive batteries?! Crazy! Well, it's true and the environmental impact from producing the nickel needed for those batteries is quite astounding. In addition to that those batteries, given current technologies, will one-day fail to work as well as they do on day 1 and eventually need to be completely replace, and, GASP, disposed of by means of recycling or other.

Third... plug-in hybrids may not be the answer! So you're telling me I just put this here plug into the wall and then my car will run?! Awesome! Oh, but wait, where's the power from the wall come from? For places like British Columbia that relies primarily on Hydro Electricity taking the energy for your car from "the wall" isn't so bad a transfer, but consider areas like Texas which rely largely on Coal Powered Electrical generation transferring the burden from one fossil fuel to another, that doesn't necessarily burn any cleaner isn't exactly a great solution. Not to mention the rise in your monthly energy bill which hasn't really been a point mentioned much by the auto industry. Hmmmm. And of course with this 'solution' much like that of plug-in hybrids there's still the issues of creating and eventually recycling the batteries.

So what is the answer?! Great question... wish I knew the answer. One thing that is showing some promise though is that of the creation of diesel from nature. And in this case when I speak of creation I'm not simply referring to drilling for fuel from the ground. Two possible options (at least in the mean time) are diesel from trees and diesel from algae.

The diesel tree is something quite awesome. Much like maple syrup farmers in Quebec tap the Maple trees farmers in some of the more tropical regions of the world are tapping the Copaifera langsdorfi tree, a native of Brazil. An acre of these wonder trees can yield approx. 1250 gallons of fuel per year with virtually no further refinement needed to fuel a vehicle. The bad news is that the trees take a good 15 years to mature and they won't exactly thrive in Canada.

A more recent alternative that's still in its early stages has to do with ethanol created from a algae. The result could be more than 100,000 gallons of fuel per acre! There are still kinks to be worked out, but this certainly could be a great answer, at least to the creation of fuels. Work still needs to be done though to extend the range of vehicles.

The fuel efficiency of vehicles measured in miles per gallon has changed very little over the last 100 years. There is some explanation for this in terms of increases in safety equipment and requirements and the resulting increase in vehicle weight but the fact remains that we can do better.

James Blunt has a New Hit Single

Zimbabwe May Have Hope

victoria_fall
Originally uploaded by Zest-pk

What was once a leading Southern African nation known as Rhodesia has been driven into the ground for nearly thirty years by Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe, as it is now known, has suffered immensely under this man's iron grip. Currently the country has annual inflation rates of approximately 100,000%!!! Want to buy a newspaper? That'll cost a few MILLION!

This once beautiful nation used to be a tourist mecca of Southern Africa with many people visiting Victoria Falls and various game reserves every year. But years of internal strife have not been favourable to the country in general.

At last it seems that the tides maybe shifting and Mugabe's iron grip on the nation might be waning. Over 72 hours have passed since elections have taken place and results are still very slow to be declared. Opposition parties are warning Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party not to rig the results. From their own polls "the Movement of Democratic Change faction of Morgan Tsvangirai said he had won 50.3% of the presidential vote and Mr. Mugabe 43.8% according to its own tallies of results posted outside polling stations." (Quote from National Post Article)

Here's to hoping Mugabe will go quietly and allow this desperate nation another chance.