Posted on 06/07/2008 10:32:47 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
AMHERST, Massachusetts — With gas and oil prices at an all-time high, the alternative solution for residents throughout Amherst and the country for energy is hemp.
Gas prices recently broke the $3-a-gallon mark for the first time in the region, which has drivers and residents who rely on gas for their cars as well as oil for heat struggling. The thought of hemp production as a cheap alternative to oil and gas is appealing because it can be converted to “biomass” that is in turn converted to energy.
“Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol, or gasoline at a fraction of the current cost of oil, coal, or nuclear energy,” said Jack Herer, a longtime hemp activist and author of “The Emperor Wears No Clothes.”
In his book, Herer states, “Hemp stems are 80 percent hurds (pulp byproduct after the hemp fiber is removed from the plant). Hemps hurds are 77 percent cellulose - a primary chemical feed stock (industrial raw material) used in the production of chemicals, plastics and fibers ... an acre of full-grown hemp plants can provide from 50 to 100 times the cellulose found in cornstalks, kenaf, or sugar cane.”
Many people aren’t educated about hemp due to the illegal nature of its cultivation and its (strictly legal) association with marijuana. Bruce Montague, an employee of Amherst’s own Surner Heating Company, said in an interview last winter in response to the suggestion of using hemp energy, “I don’t think there’d be any benefit.”
According to Herer’s research, “Farming only six percent of the continental U.S. acreage with biomass [from hemp] crops would provide all of American’s gas and oil energy needs, ending dependence upon fossil fuels.” He added, “Each acre of hemp would yield 1,000 gallons of methanol. Fuels from hemp, along with the recycling of paper, etc., would be enough to run America virtually without oil.”
Herer explained the versatility of hemp by saying, “It can be grown in virtually any climate or soil condition on Earth, even marginal ones.”
Recent marijuana decriminalization laws in Amherst have lightened the penalties for possession of the plant. However, the association hemp has to the drug is possibly one of its biggest roadblocks towards legalization. With crystal methamphetamine presently the country’s largest drug problem, admitted by both state and local law enforcement agencies, the current administration is asking such agencies to focus their efforts on marijuana busts.
“Nearly half of state and local law-enforcement agencies identify ‘meth’ as their greatest drug threat, as more than 1 million Americans use the highly addictive drug, which is linked to violent crime, explosions and fires at ‘meth’ labs, severe health problems, and child and family abuse,” said Robert Dreyfuss in the Aug. 11 issue of Rolling Stone.
In a telephone interview with Herer, though he endured a stroke just a few years ago, was willing to discuss his views on “Big Energy.” He said, “All the energy companies bought up the coal rights and when gasoline runs out in our lifetime, within the next 40 years, these companies are going to feed us the coal substitute for the next 400 years!”
“While I don’t doubt the truth of what you are saying, it doesn’t help things when the main spokesmen for hemp products are Woody Harrelson types.”
A good post by ThermalSeeker but I also agree with you here.
We import it but can't grow it....
Hmmmm...Smoke on a rope...
Next, they will be advocating LSD Trips to save gas on vacations.
The US presently has about 19% of its area in cropland. Adding another 6% to this is a not insignificant change in the environment.
There's no question we could do it. The question is whether it's the most efficient way to accomplish the goal.
I believe that far and away the most efficient thing to do is to dramatically expand nuclear energy, which in conjunction with hydro could eventually provide all our electricity needs. Then fossil fuels could be relegated solely to transportation purposes. I believe if we did that we would have to import zero oil.
If they just made me dictator I could solve the "energy crisis" in less than five years, quite easily and economically.
Yet, somehow the demand for me to assume this position is less than deafening. :)
Facts and logic go out the window on cannabis threads here.
You'd have to smoke a telephone pole, literally, to get high from hemp, and that's if you don't die from the noxious fumes you inhale first.
“The pro-hemp lobby contends that hemp grown for fiber is not psychoactive. However, fiber hemp, like all Cannabis sativa plants, does contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in amounts of 0.1-0.6% and even up to 1%. Indeed, US homegrown marijuana smoked in the 1960s was only 0.5-1% THC, and marijuana as low as 0.25% can have psychoactive effects. By selectively harvesting the buds and excluding the large leaves, a higher THC product can be obtained form the fiber crop. Also, through cross-pollination, higher THC plants may even develop naturally. Finally, it is very easy to extract THC from the plant with ethanol to obtain a very high THC product. For instance, one can turn 0.1% THC into a ``chaw” of 40% THC.”
“Since it is impossible to determine THC content with the naked eye, it is easy to illegally blend high THC plants into a ``fiber” crop, and this has been happening in Europe. For instance, in Switzerland, hemp was supposedly being grown for fiber stuffing for cushions. However, IN December, 1995, hemp plants were seized by the Swiss government after forensic tests showed that the THC content was 4.0-5.5% THC and not 0.5% as claimed.”
Yes, but this way I could take a trip and never leave the farm.
Yes, and some people use their guns to kill innocents. However, you’ll never hear anyone, on this forum at least, say that we should ban all guns because of it, do you? Just because SOME people MIGHT grow marijuana and LIE about it doesn’t mean that HONEST farmers who would like to grow pure HEMP shouldn’t be allowed, does it?
AND, for some reason the US Government didn’t think that was a big enough risk back during WWII when they paid farmers to grow it - for oil, for rope, etc... all to help the cause. I don’t recall any stories about farmers getting high off these crops back in the 40s, do you?
The fact remains that just because a small percentage of people are irresponsible doesn’t mean that the majority of people should be punished for it. Again, think of gun control. It really is the same type of situation. And, in the case of firearms the direct threat to the public is MUCH, MUCH greater than farmers growing industrial hemp under a license from the government.
But we get the same yields of ethanol from switchgrass, which grows naturally in North America. Why, if the goal is efficient conversion of cropland to ethanol, not use switchgrass which does NOT have any extra controversy associated with it?
Why do hemp over switchgrass, from an environmental standpoint?
And druggies spew non sequiturs.
Hemp- put it on your pancakes instead of butter!
Hemp- instead of cloth diapers!
Hemp- it's what's for dinner.
I see you had to resort to an ad hominem attack. Rather telling, isn’t it? Calling me a druggie doesn’t take away from the truth, or the logic of my argument - it stands. If there was really an illogical argument, or an illogical conclusion drawn in my example then please, point it out. However, in the future keep the personal attacks out of it.
Our government has done such a good job of demonizing weed that the average citizen doesn’t even know hemp has a history outside of the war on drugs.
I’m not personally familiar with switchgrass - never heard of it before, honestly. Does it have the wide variety of uses as hemp (not just as fuel)? Does it have the same quality of fiber - as far as making rope, clothing, etc..? Does it grow in less than favorable soil and weather conditions? How long between planting and harvesting?
Also, it’s not just from an environmental standpoint that people look into growing hemp. From a purely economical standpoint it is a good cash crop as well - again due to the wide variety of uses. As someone pointed out on this thread - why in the world should we be importing these things when we could be growing it and processing it ourselves? I’m sure there are some great CEOs and Executives who could make a LOT of money developing this industry. Why make other countries rich off of it, while our farmers receive subsidies with our tax dollars?
You’re right in that a wide variety of things could be used for alternative fuels (heck, some are even developing enginese that can run on water!). I think the argument for hemp really stems from the fact that our forefathers thought it was a wonderful crop, and as recently as WWII our government did as well. It is easy to grow, and current technology that our farmers already own can harvest it. I think it just astounds people that because of fear our farmers are not even allowed to consider it as an alternative crop...
A lot of the arguments regarding the growing of hemp show an incredible lack of knowledge. That in itself is problematic, IMO. In order to really be able to look at all the pros and cons between different crops such as these people need to stop having knee-jerk reactions, and accusing all people who argue for hemp of being druggies, etc...
I thank you for expanding my knowledge on this subject. :) As I said, I’d never heard of switchgrass before. Honestly, I would support farmers growing any crop that can be turned into fuel vs. using our food crops such as corn.
*enginese should be engines
Some on this thread may be interested in the following video available at Google... (I just found this when looking on Wikipedia about Switchgrass - it was linked from the hemp page there).
Hemp for Victory
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-117344919147932597
This film was made by the US Dept. of Agriculture. The existence of this film was denied by the US Government until 1989. It is in the public domain now... It is a very interesting and short (16 min. long) documentary.
Inventing victimhood.
Even if it can’t be made into fuel, we should stop the failed war on plants.
99%+ of pot busts are made under state laws.
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