> On Mon, 10 Dec 2001, Mike Lorrey wrote:As Spike as previously
> > demonstrated, if we used the entirety of our arable land to produce
> > methanol (rather than food to feed ourselves), this would supply at best
> > 30% of our energy needs (while we starve).
>
> "Robert J. Bradbury" wrote: Huh? I hate to be a killjoy here (potential puns
> abound) but I've
> got a partially finished paper (that both Spike and Hal have seen
> calculations related to) that suggests a small fraction of the State
> of Texas can eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.
My calc was for growing corn and converting to ethanol, which
is not the best way to produce energy. We get wrapped up in
the efficiency of photosynthesis without taking into account that
plants have metabolism, and devour much of the starch they
produce. If we produce energy Bradbury style, with photo
cells, we need not live in an enormous corn field. spike
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