Bio Fuel and Corn Cravings of US

A Mix View Of My Own.

 Lately I have been researching over the Internet reading different books and magazine issues. I smelled a sudden change, more precisely a U turn of an opinion or I would rather say “The Verdict”. Forgive me for being Melodramatic. It all started with the development of Biomass to Biofeul and it added to my knowledge  that What is

 “The Holy Grail”

“The Future of Energy”

“No need to fight a war over it”

“Fueling the future”

“The Green Fuel”

“The Eco-Friendly Fuel”

Recent Findings of Dr. Paul Kortzen the Nobel winner and colleagues have calculated that some of the commonly used biofuels releases twice the amount of No2 green house gas emission as previously estimated. Even a critical reception of the Paul Kortzen’s working considered “probably wrong” by Donner.

 "What we are saying is that growing biofuels is probably of no benefit and in fact is actually making the climate issue worse"

- Keith Smith

 Biofuel on its commercial triumph telling success stories, still won’t be able to fulfill the need of not more than 20% of the vehicles of United States even if they consume full corn and soybean yields of their country to produce biofuel. Keeping in mind the direct emissions adding more to green house gas emission. Two other major blows what our world receives while biofooling ourselves.

 1.              Inflation in the FOOD prices

 2.              Destruction of Forest and Peat lands.

Soaring prices of Corn resulting in riots in Mexico City to record high price of flour in Pakistan, Punjab which was once known as Grain Pocket of the world. Conversion of Rain Forest in to fields to plant soybean and corn to produce Alternative Fuels is resulting in the sudden climate change disturbing the ECO system.

According to staff scientist William Laurence at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute,  "American taxpayers are spending $11 billion a year to subsidize corn producers—and this is having some surprising global consequences"

The  Fuel  Ethanol Distilleries in production in United States are consuming 53.29 million tons of Corn which capacitate these distilleries to produce 5,455 million Gallons of Ethanol fuel the Data is of Dec 2006, a report compiled by Earth Policy institute.

The under construction Distilleries to produce Ethanol in the same report shows anticipated production of 5,628 Million Gallons consuming 51.05 million tons of corn. In addition some of the distilleries are under Expansion mode. Under the  data compiled as of Dec 2006 The Projection in this report shows that by 2008, in which we are right now the share of Corn harvest for Ethanol fuel would be around 48.5 percent which in 2000 was 6 percent and in 2006 was 20 percent. It seems to me that by 2010 it Corn consumption for Ethanol would reach 160 million tons or may be more.The Subsidies provided  by the US Govt is attracting the US Farmer to grow more and more Corn just to produce Ethanol. This Policy has largely effected the production of Soy which has fallen by more than 15 percent and it’s adding more to the global price hike. Now the situation gets more worsen when the Second largest producer of soy Brazil is pushing towards more and more production resulting in conversion of Amazon in to soy fields and even converting cattle ranches in to soy farm which facilitate soaring beef prices.

Some head banging, nail biting and toe crushing figures.

·       365 days a person could be fed on the corn needed to ethanol fueled  SUV.  TIME  Magazine  April 08

·       $ 100 billion Estimated size of 2010 biofuel Market. TIME Magazine  April 08

·       300000 Hectors of Brazilian rain forest in the last six months of 2007. TIME Magazine April 08  

  Let’s put this thing to an end.(My Way or the High Way) 

The Sugar Cravings has in the US are setting new records every year. According to National Diabetes Statistics Prevalence of Diagnosed and Undiagnosed Diabetes among People Aged 20 Years or Older, United States, 2007 is gone 23.5 million adults. What Better one can expect when an Average American Consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar per week. This does not account in a healthy Diet at all in fact it ruins the immune system of the body “An open invitation to almost every Disease”   

Well this calls for a National health Emergency. National Policies should be made to cut down the sugar consumption at every level. If this happens what is going to happen to the sugar suppliers and sugar cane producers wait a second why we need to stand in a loose and loose situation when we have such a clear winner.

 “Sugar Based Ethanol” with a Healthier American Nation.

 

 

Ethanol A Disastrous Green Revolution That Should Not Be Trailed After

Ethanol is no wonder a controversial product, actually all biofuels expect biogas are controversial. Ask a 100 people and 50 of them would find themselves confused while answering if ethanol is an environment friendly, sustainable product or not?

If you are a corporate giant or a farmer who cultivates corn or sugarcane then ethanol is the king for you, but if you’re an environmentalist or an economist with an eye on food insecurity then ethanol is nothing but instant type of fossil fuel to you. I’ve been suffering with this agonizing dilemma of choosing the side I’m with when it comes to ethanol and other biofuels.

Thanks to the recant food [wheat] insecurity in Pakistan and recant enlightenment about the fact that we produce 7000 new babies every day in Pakistan with no technology to void the need to be feed my dilemma is over. In fact I’ve already chosen the side I’m on and my belief on this Brazilian green gold is over.

Many argue that hybrid vehicles are a step towards Eco sustainability, I disagree only on the grounds that if some batter technology & solution is already available in the form air and electricity powered engines then why not invest in there development, instead of cashing the transactional period from fossil fuel to zero emission electric, hydrogen or air powered ones.

Similar is the case with ethanol and bio fuels, if clean renewable energy can be attained through solar, wind or hydro resources then why bring a silly shift like brazil from one type of carbon emitter to another; with the mare difference of fossil fuel being drilled out of earth while ethanol requires chopping Amazon for raw material production. Depriving our children from a simple satisfying meal of backed corn.

Yup! They are expensive and efficiency is low when it comes to adopting renewable energy but its one time investment. For nations like Pakistan there are other efficient and safe solutions such as atomic power plants; after all what are they going to do with all that uranium? One year of food insecurity brought inflation to about 28 % in Pakistan and maybe another great depression is about to hit USA. Switching to renewable resources of energy slowly and steadily will ensure sustainability and progress for nations in the future. As sustainability is not measure by the number of sky scrapers in a city but by the well feed population living in them.

CONTAINER HOMES

Mega recycling! Melt down an 8000 lbs steel cargo container, by using 8000 KWH of energy to create new steel beams. Think again! How about converting an 8000 lbs of steel box into a comfortable studio apartment by using only 400 KWH of electricity, which is only 5% of the energy needed to melt these shipping containers.

A cargo container measures about 8 feet in width, 40 feet in length and 9 feet in height.

Container homes is not some thing new, the hippie era and the caravan homes movement are the impressions of the modern history of container homes. Huge mobile carts served as homes to many immigrants pouring into America of late 17^th to early 18^th century.

Shores and harbors allover United States and other trading nations, are becoming dump sites for old retired shipping containers, as mentioned earlier, recycling these shipping containers is not only costly but also hazardous for the environment. Two or maybe more container can joined together to create a small house after hacking down similar wall and utilizing the hacked steel to create partitions and internal walls.

Container homes also need internal and at times external thermal padding and insulations to reduce external weather effects, 95% of external radiation can be prevented from entering container homes, if insulated effectively can prove to be extremely energy efficient. Large aluminum and glass panels as windows and sky lights reduce the need of artificial lighting during the day in these container homes. Solar reflecting paints on the outer surface of these container homes should reduce the need of air-conditioning by preventing sudden heating up, while heat absorbing paints and sky lighting should be able to harness energy passively and reduce the need of heating significantly. Container homes need internal insulation and padding to cover the curved steel walls this padding not only make them appealing but also contain the internal temperature. Many companies offer ready to fit kitchen and bathroom units ready for installation in these container homes.

One of the most significant qualities of container homes is that fact that steel is welded to steel to create structural shapes such as roofs, which makes it a strong load bearing structure to support any type of masses such as water containers, solar water geezers, photovoltaic panels and mini wind turbines. Container homes also offer flexibility when it comes to fixtures and duct installation.

With term container homes most of us think of Mobil homes, but this is not the case anymore as cargo containers are extremely solid structures thus container homes can be more then single story with bedrooms made out of containers placed on top of the containers serving as living rooms and kitchen on the ground.

Container homes can be a great solution for third world countries with housing problems. As creating cheap and low impact energy efficient housing societies can be created with sustainable homes created out of old shipping and cargo containers, provided with proper water and electric supplies. These cargo and shipping containers can also be converted into container workshops, warehouses and small scale factories which will result into cleaner coast lines and low-cost successful recycling. I found Wind Man two old containers dumped beside the train track at CANTT railway station, wind man wants to make a coffee shop out of them, while my eyes are stuck on the old train guard stall rusting out there I waana strike it as a balcony some where.