If filling our tanks and heating our homes wasn't costing an arm and a leg, perhaps $4.50 for a gallon of milk wouldn't be quite as painful. Additionally, if grasses and wheat straw and other things that you seem to think don't get used for anything else are being utilized for methanol production, what about all of the land that currently produces hay for feeding to livestock?
I'm not convinced that there is enough scrub land in this country to produce everything needed for full scale methanol production. I certainly could be wrong. Do you have figures?
Methanol is not THE answer, but it is definitely part of the solution. There is no ONE solution. We need to develop many and let the winners lead the way and the other wither on the vine, so to speak. Solar works in some areas, wind in others. Unless we stop looking for THE solution, we are blinded by the problem.
“Higher prices do not equal a problem in producing enough food. That is apparently where we are running into a communication problem. We have no problem producing enough ... you just don’t want prices to rise.”
I didn’t say higher prices are a problem in producing enough food. Don’t be disingenuous. I am saying higher prices for food are THE problem.
“If filling our tanks and heating our homes wasn’t costing an arm and a leg, perhaps $4.50 for a gallon of milk wouldn’t be quite as painful.”
Sorry but I want both. I want cheaper food and cheaper fuel for my car. I am crazy that way.
“Additionally, if grasses and wheat straw and other things that you seem to think don’t get used for anything else are being utilized for methanol production, what about all of the land that currently produces hay for feeding to livestock?
I’m not convinced that there is enough scrub land in this country to produce everything needed for full scale methanol production. I certainly could be wrong. Do you have figures?”
I honestly don’t know. I’ll look into it and get back to you but I am pretty sure I read that there is land a plenty available that can be used to grow only non food crops and non feed crops enough to meet our fuel demands. I want to point out though that in a head to head comparison between ethanol and methanol, ethanol loses no matter what because the land farmers are useing now for ethanol production could just as easily be used for methanol production and then there is all the other land not being used for anything right now but could be used to grow crops that only can be used to make methanol on top of that. A previous poster even pointed out that corn could be used to produce both at the same time. Ethanol only uses the starch of the corn, thats only a portion of the kernel. Methanol could be made from everything else in the seed and the stalk.
“Methanol is not THE answer, but it is definitely part of the solution. There is no ONE solution. We need to develop many and let the winners lead the way and the other wither on the vine, so to speak. Solar works in some areas, wind in others. Unless we stop looking for THE solution, we are blinded by the problem.”
I agree. I even have an article here where George Olah practically said the exact same thing you did there. But from what I am getting from this article is correct then methanol could be the biggest part of the solution.