ECOLOGY

THE ETHICS OF BIOFUELS

SHARON ASTYK, ENERGY BULLETIN - The impact of biofuels on world hunger
can be reduced to simple land use mathematics. For example, were we to
convert all 179,000,000 hectares of arable land in the US to biofuel
production, we might be able to meet much of our present energy needs.
We would, however, grow no food, and we would strip our soil even more
severely than we have thus far. Worldwide, grain yields are falling (in
part due to climate change), and populations are eating their reserves.
Meat eating and biofuel production are already raising the price of
grain, a cost that adversely effects the poorest people in the world.
They already spend 50% or more of their income on food, so the 25% rise
in grain prices we are already experiencing means less food in people's
bellies.

That said, however, a blanket dismissal of biofuels ignores important
points. The first is that locally produced fuels are often preferable to
continued reliance on hydrocarbons for political and economic reasons.
Second, in many cases it is possible for them to produce less
atmospheric carbon in total than fossil fuels, and if produced carefully
and sustainably, can provide side benefits like increased levels of
humus and forestation. Perhaps most importantly, as fossil fuels are
depleted, biofuels are going to be necessary to pick up the slack.
Houses in the northern hemisphere will, for example, still need to be
heated. Cooking fuel will be required. Transportation of people and
goods will be necessary. We can certainly use and require much less
energy (indeed, we must use much less energy), but there is little
question that some of our land will have to be put to growing fuel
stocks.

But saying that doesn't change the fact that the growing demand for
biofuels potentially risks increasing hunger worldwide, as well as
further increasing basic inequities between rich and poor in both our
country and worldwide - inequities that already lead to the death by
starvation of 24,000 people every single day. And as it is being
practiced right now, biofuel production also increases soil and water
depletion, desertification, and atmospheric carbon. So it strikes me
that the thing we perhaps need most is an ethics of biofuel production
and usage, a set of useful principles and a way of thinking about our
energy that enables us to make choices that are just, and moral, and
also prudent and productive.

I offer, then, principles for the creation of a just and ethical biofuel
production. . . .

Biofuels cannot and must not be a strategy for maintaining the present
situation. . .

We must not allow people to starve to fuel our cars. . .

Forests for home heating before corn for cars. . .

Either we must address the more basic injustices that lead to hunger, or
we must acknowledge that large-scale use of biofuels will increase
hunger and inequity. . .

We must make the relationship between biofuels, meat eating and hunger
explicit, because we can't have it all. . .

Biofuel production must be both organic and small-scale. . .

FULL ARTICLE INCLUDING 12 ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
http://www.energybulletin.net/newswire.php?id=24169

ROTTERDAM INTRODUCES SUSTAINABLE NIGHTCLUB

SPRINGWISE - Kicking off in Rotterdam's Off_Corso is the Sustainable
Dance Club. . . Enviu, an environmental NGO for young people, is working
together with architectural firm Döll to create a truly sustainable
nightclub. The club [features] energy-generating dance floors (excellent
way to extract kilowatts from energetic clubbers), toilets that flush
with rain water, walls that change color as a reaction to temperature
changes, a rooftop garden and other elements . . . Some 80 Enviu
volunteers (young professionals and students) have developed the concept
over the last 8 months.

http://sustainablerotterdam.blogspot.com/2006/10/sustainable-dance-club-what-night.html


VIDEO
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzb3VFi3Sew

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

POND SCUM AS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

CNET - Mounting concern about U.S. dependence on foreign oil and about
global warming is causing a surge of interest and investment in biomass,
hydrogen, solar power and other alternative energy sources.

But bubbling beneath the surface of this wave--in more ways than one--is
a technology that, while lacking an existing market or powerful lobby to
advance its profile, may soon emerge as the most promising source of
portable liquid fuels and that can offer unique environmental benefits
to the electrical generation industry. . .

We are talking pond scum, or algae, a plant that for decades has been
prized as a possible commodity crop based on its unparalleled ability to
photosynthesize solar energy into plant biomass for food. Unlike most
plants, algae shares characteristics of bacteria, and its photosynthetic
machinery operates much faster in converting inorganic substances into
organic matter. And while plants require a lot of fuel to sow and
harvest and additional fertilizer and fresh water to nourish, algae can
be continuously harvested from closed water-based bioreactors that
require little additional replenishment other than inorganic fuel
supplied in the form of waste gas. . .

"Refiners are not committed to any feedstock source, and the market will
determine what is successful, but 10 to 15 years from now it is hard to
imagine that algae won't be a dominant source of oil for biodiesel,"
says Bill Dommermuth, plant manager for Seattle Biodiesel. . . "Right
now we're using soybean oil, because canola is more expensive,"
Dommermuth adds. "Soybeans can give you 50 to 60 gallons of oil an acre
compared to 75 to 125 gallons for canola, but algae is almost limitless
because it grows so fast, so potentially you could get 10,000 gallons
per acre."

http://news.com.com/Want+alternative+energy+Try+pond+scum/
2100-11386_3-6145197.html

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

THE LIST

Household Power Usages

45W - Outside Christmas Lights
7W - DVD player
3W - Microwave sitting idle
785W - One Side of Toaster
75W - Christmas Tree Lights
145W - Central Vacuum Brush
1250W - Carpet Cleaner With Water Heater On
1475W - Kettle
995W - Coffee Maker Brew Cycle

http://www.yafla.com/dforbes/2006/12/28.html

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||