Silver Buckshot: EIN’s Philosophy for Alternative Fuels
“EIN’s Executive Director, Daniel Emmett, recently had a piece published in the Summer 2007 edition of Waterkeeper Magazine. In the piece he elucidates EIN’s view of the roles of all alternative fuels and vehicles in the broader effort to reduce our nation’s dependence on petroleum and fossil fuels.”
Click the graphic below to read the article.
I agree with your philosophy concerning energy independence, but you need to use better shot in your shotgun. Hydrogen is OK for STATIONARY fuel cells but Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells are much superior for vehicles. Ethanol is OK as an oxygenate and octane enhancer, but BUTANOL is far superior as a replacement for gasoline and can be blended with diesel fuel to improve its combustion and butanol isn’t nearly as volatile a fuel as ethanol or gasoline. The bacteria that is used to ferment butanol can digest cellulose directly without having it converted to the various sugars which it can also digest.
Algae is an acceptable source of vegetable oil for biodiesel but conventional crops are not because of their tiny production of vegetable oil per acre. Fischer-tropsch technology using biomass to produce syngas is also far superior to conventional biodiesel. It can be produced using the waste biomass from cellulose to butanol or ethanol fermentation. The Modern Butanol fermentation process also produces 18% of its energy as Hydrogen gas which could be used to power the process.
Continuing to use 60 year old Nuclear Reactor technology may be scary, but using current standardized, modularized, pebble bed Nuclear Reactors is the way to provide CLEAN ELECTRICITY for our homes and PLUG-IN vehicles. Reprocessing nuclear fuel makes sense because only 5% of the energy in the fuel is used when it becomes ineffective in producing energy in a Nuclear Reactor. Nuclear fuel can be reprocessed until it is no longer a long term highly radioactive problem. Dumping ’spent’ fuel rods which still contain 95% of their potential nuclear energy unused is foolish.
Large amounts of Natural gas can be produced from animal manure from feed lots and large dairy operations. Manure runoff into streams is not necessary. Locating feed lots near large scale fermentation allows the use of distillers grain as as animal feed and the manure is localized for methane production.
A Sustainable, Renewable energy solution is now possible but not if you insist that we use 1920s technology. Please upgrade your site.
Comment by John Adam — November 9, 2007 @ 7:02 pm
Water is the source of life - treasure it! R3.
Water is the source of all life on earth. It touches every area of our lives. Without it, we could not thrive — we could not even survive.
Sustainability – “We strive to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
We should discourage wastefulness and misuse, and promote efficiency and conservation.
For the benefit of mankind, maintain the quality of life and preserve the peace and tranquility of world population. Water resources must be preserved - to sustain humanity. We must eliminate wasteful utilization of water, conserve our water sources and implement rigid conservation methods. We should utilize solar and or other source of renewable energy to operate desalinization projects from the oceans. Utilize renewable energy sources to purify and transport the water to its final destination. As world population increases the scarcity of water will become a cause for conflict, unless we take steps now to develop other sources of water for drinking, rainwater harvesting – storm-water and gray-water utilization. Designing of landscaping that uses minimal amount of water.
“With power shortages and a water scarcity a constant threat across the West, it’s time to look at water and energy in a new way,”
To preserve the future generations sustainability, we should look into urban farming – vertical farming. The term “urban farming” may conjure up a community garden where locals grow a few heads of lettuce. But some academics envision something quite different for the increasingly hungry world of the 21st century: a vertical farm that will do for agriculture what the skyscraper did for office space. Greenhouse giant: By stacking floors full of produce, a vertical farm could rake in $18 million a year.
Jay Draiman, Energy and water conservation consultant
Dec. 26, 2007
PS.
Hydro dynamics: forget oil. Sharing freshwater equitably poses political conundrums as explosive and far-reaching as global climate change.
Quoted from other sources
Anyone who has ever stood on a beach and looked out into the vast expanse of an ocean knows that there is a lot of water on this planet. In fact, 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. It may seem like water is all around us, but safe, clean, reliable drinking water is not a cease¬less resource. The problems facing drinking water range from failing infrastructure, to climate change, to insufficient supplies.
Personal Conservation
Preserving our water resources is not a job for water industry professionals alone. We all have a vested interest in ensuring that water remains safe, af¬fordable and available. Therefore, each individual American has a responsibility to monitor and control their water use, There are many simple ways for people to reduce excess water use, lower water bills and protect the environment, espe¬cially in die spring and summer months, Beyond the standard constraints of watering the lawn only when neces¬sary and washing car wisely by using soap and a bucket of water, some steps include: draining water lines to outside faucets, disconnecting hoses, shutting off outdoor water sources during cold weather and running a small trickle of water on whiter nights to prevent pipe from freezing.
Conclusion
Water supply management is an issue that affects us all. It may not be apparent to every citizen today, but with climate change and population shifts transforming the United States, it soon will be. Effective solutions need to be put into place today before we are faced with a water crisis. A focus on careful planning, treatments, innova¬tions and conservation measures will help to create stability for long-term water management. Commitment to keeping water at the top of the list for communities and citizens will better prepare us for whatever the future of water holds.
WATER!
The indispensable source of life-without water there would be no industry, no agriculture and, most importantly of all, no life. In dry parts of the world this essential commodity is even more precious. Almost all human actions involve water from taking a shower to reading a newspaper to driving a car or simply eating a sandwich - almost everything we do or touch is somehow related to this precious treasure. We ask that you stop and think how you use water and what you can do to conserve this essential natural resource.
*Water, beliefs and customs,
*Water as a vehicle of the economy,
*Water, source of art and life, irrigation and cultivation.
The people have decided to act to try and develop a real awareness program on the theme of water preservation and distribution in an attempt to help maintain the original purity of rivers and streams.
In many parts of the world water sources and wells are not equally distributed. Water as a source of life can also be at the source of conflict.
Whether we live in India, Iceland or the Atlas… we have always tried to trap and tame water. Dams, pumps, canals, water treatment centers; there are so many different ways to exploit this resource that we often forget how fragile this unique and essential treasure actually is.
Unfortunately, many of the things we do every day can harm our water. That’s why all people and government should be working with municipalities, farmers, business leaders and developers just like you to take action to protect our water and clean it up.
Small changes can make a big difference. This guide outlines practical things we can all do to preserve and protect our water. We all need to be part of the solution.
“You can’t escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today” - Abraham Lincoln said it.
“That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest” – Henry David Thoreau.
“To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed” – Theodore Roosevelt.
“When the ‘study of the household’ (ecology) and the ‘management of the household’ (economics) can be merged, and when ethics can be extended to include ‘environmental’ as well as human values, then we can be optimistic about the future of mankind. Accordingly, bringing together these three E’s is the ultimate holism and the great challenge for our future” – Eugene Odum.
Comment by Yehuda Draiman — December 31, 2007 @ 6:44 am
In my opinion whenever you try to us food source or water source for energy use you cause new and bigger problems. Using corn for ethenal raises the price of a bushel of corn, good for the farmers and farm biseness bad for the consumer ie food prices. If you start using water to power automobiles the liklyhood of clean water resources decrease and water pollution increases also water companies will increase rates. If you want cheap oil drill for it where it lays and you ALL know where it is also why do gas stations have to raise prices on holidays when we drive the most…stop driving on those days PPERIOD, it wont help much but at least you arent giving biznesses more of your hard earn dollars than you have to. Start using more nuclear powered plants and build more wind mills for energy. We will never stop using combustible engines and that includes the protestors out there protesting the use of gas engines!!! THANK YOU!!!
Comment by scott — June 1, 2008 @ 6:55 am