NaturalPedia > Biofuels

Quotes about Biofuels from the world's top natural health / natural living authors

 Email this page to a friend   |  Click here for FREE email alerts

"Probably the worst wedge option of all is that of biofuels. Already corn-derived ethanol is being blended into gasoline in the United States, ostensibly to reduce C02 emissions, but in reality having more to do with subsidising the politically powerful farming lobby in 'red' Republican states. It is also far from clear whether any carbon is actually displaced, given that the production, milling and transportation of corn uses large amounts of fossil fuel in trucks, tractors and factories. Some green enthusiasts already run their cars on used chip fat, and are strong advocates of biofuels." - Mark Lynas, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet (Get the book.)

"Their orange, peach-sized fruits contain palm oil, a vital commodity used for cooking and biofuels. With the cost of food having increased by 37 percent in 2007 (and palm oil by more than 70 percent), families have started hoarding oil. Riots are breaking out in protest against shortages, so more and more of the forest is being converted to palm oil production. Fume-spewing timber trucks make up a hefty percentage of the traffic. The scars of human interference hang about the mist-enshrouded mountain-tops like shafts of light in a darkened, smoky room." - Adam Leith Gollne, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession (Get the book.)

"A related question arises with the European Union's target of 5 per cent biofuels in its vehicle fleet by 2010. Much of this will come from biodiesel, and a major feedstock for this is palm oil grown on plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. These plantations have been responsible for disastrous clear-cutting of the fast-declining natural tropical forests, destroying the habitat of rare species like the orangutan and causing major additional carbon releases through the burning of wood and underlying peat." - Mark Lynas, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet (Get the book.) "If we leave biofuels and nuclear out of any prospective energy portfolio because of their obvious drawbacks, we can still get our seven wedges in other ways. We need to halve the distances people drive each year, and we need to double vehicle fuel economy. We need to dramatically increase the efficiency of buildings and fossil-fuelled power stations. We need to construct 2 million 1 MW wind turbines to generate electricity, and cover 2 million hectares of land with solar panels. We need to stop the destruction of tropical forests, and we need to dramatically increase tree cover elsewhere." - Mark Lynas, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet (Get the book.)

"These scenarios include doubling the fuel economy of 2 million cars and creating conventional biofuels from crops and trees. www.bp.com Chevron Chevron shares a concern about global climate change, and is taking action with a fourfold plan.43 This plan includes reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency; investing in research, development, and improved technologies; pursuing business opportunities in promising innovative energy technologies; and supporting flexible and economically sound policies that protect the environment." - David Steinman, Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown (Get the book.) "Shell is currently partnered with Iogen of Canada to produce biofuels from plant waste. The fuel can be used in today's cars, cutting C02 life cycle emissions by 90 percent compared with conventional fuels. Shell recently announced a Memorandum of Understanding with Volkswagen and Iogen to explore the economic feasibility of producing cellulose ethanol in Germany. Shell Canada has been working with Iogen to develop a viable commercial framework for a facility in Canada." - David Steinman, Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown (Get the book.) "In addition, we continue our efforts to further expand our position as the largest marketer of biofuels." www.shell.com ' Uni-Solar United Solar Ovonic, also known as Uni-Solar, is an industry leader in solar modules and system. They are working to make it simple for anyone to power a home or business with solar power. While solar power systems in the past had the potential to be somewhat of an eyesore on homes, Uni-Solar is offering options that are thin, lightweight, durable, easy to integrate into a roof, and produce more energy per hour than ever." - David Steinman, Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown (Get the book.) "These must be accomplished in short order to ensure that biofuels are totally carbon-neutral. Retailers Target Take it from Target's own Web site, "what's good for.the environment is good for everyone."51 To live by this philosophy, Target is reducing waste and increasing energy efficiency and sustainability. Through recycling and reuse programs, Target has already cuts its waste by 70 percent. The ultimate goal is to be a "zero waste" company.52 Additionally, Target sponsor's recycling programs in their communities." - David Steinman, Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown (Get the book.)

"Or take the petroleum industry: is it in the business of pumping and refining fossil fuels from the earth's crust, or is it really in the business of providing energy, which might increasingly take the form of renewables or biofuels? Oil or energy? How about the petrochemical industry: is it in the business of solving problems through the invention of clever new (and often toxic) petrochemicals, or of providing the best solutions to technical problems in the best way possible, using biology and the rethinking of processes to minimize the need for chemicals in the first place?" - Alex Steffen, Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (Get the book.)

"Some green enthusiasts already run their cars on used chip fat, and are strong advocates of biofuels. But again the scale issue is crucial. Although no one can object to using waste vegetable oils from restaurants as the feedstock for biodiesel, this source could only provide one 380th of the current UK vehicle fleet's use, according to one estimate. Other biofuel advocates point to waste straw or wood chippings as a way to manufacture ethanol from cellulose, perhaps using genetically engineered enzymes." - Mark Lynas, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet (Get the book.)

"On the substitution front, we can use biofuels and synthetic fuels whenever possible. On the conservation front, we can swap our gas-guzzlers for cars that are more fuel efficient: smaller, newer, diesel (powered by biodiesel, of course), or hybrid-electric. And we can choose not to buy SUVs. When it comes to conserving fuel, it's not just what you drive, it's how you drive it. Abiding by the following tips will help you conserve: ¦ Avoid idling. If you need to warm up your engine on cold winter days, keep idling time to less than thirty seconds. ¦ Drive slower." - Alex Steffen, Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (Get the book.) "The building uses a forward-thinking energy strategy, meeting its energy needs with biofuels (refined vegetable oil) [see Cars and Fuel, p. 76]. According to a 2002 report by the Rocky Mountain Institute, this clean electricity means a 94 percent reduction in the building's carbon dioxide emissions. The Reichstag's cupola, preserved from earlier generations, was restored, and is central to the lighting and ventilation strategies. A light sculpture in the middle reflects sunlight into the parliamentary chamber, with a movable sunshade to control glare." - Alex Steffen, Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (Get the book.) "Efforts are under way to develop planes that can run on biofuels or solar power. Though widespread application of these solutions won't be possible for some time, a Brazilian company has manufactured a crop-duster plane that runs on ethanol, and the University of North Dakota's Energy and Environmental Research Center recently developed a carbon-neutral biofuel that could be suitable for aircraft use —in some respects, it's actually better than kerosene, which jet fuel is traditionally made from. This fuel will potentially cost less than petroleum-based aviation fuel." - Alex Steffen, Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (Get the book.)

"Fuels derived from vegetable matter are known as biofuels. A University of Hawaii study reported in 1990 that biomass gasification could provide up to 90 percent of that state's energy needs.9 biofuels have several critical advantages over fossil fuels:10 Plants contain almost no sulfur or a number of the other contaminants which are commonly found in petroleum and cause air pollution when burned as fuel. Sulfur is a major component in acid rain. Local agricultural crops can be converted into fuel." - Rowan Robinson, The Great Book of Hemp: The Complete Guide to the Environmental, Commercial, and Medicinal Uses of the World's Most Extraordinary Plant (Get the book.) "Researchers found that woody biomass had about half the heat value of an equal weight of coal and one-sixth that of natural gas, but they speculated that the real cost of electricity generated from biofuels would be lower due to savings in pollution-control systems. GE analyst Gene Kimura expressed concern that, due to concerns over global deforestation, biofuels would be politically viable only in conjunction with "some sort of forest management." Why not leave the forests out of the equation and use an annual farm crop as a biofuel source? In that case, the best option is hemp." - Rowan Robinson, The Great Book of Hemp: The Complete Guide to the Environmental, Commercial, and Medicinal Uses of the World's Most Extraordinary Plant (Get the book.)

"Piedmont biofuels PO Box 661 Pittsboro, NC 27312 (919) 321-8260 www.biofuels.coop Sequatchie Valley Institute/Moonshadow 1233 Cartwright Loop Whitwell, TN 37397 (423) 949-5922 www. svionline.org Wildroots Collective PO Box 1485 Asheville, NC 28801 (866) 460-2945 www.wildroots.org Water: Source of All Life gMghere is no way we can consider all the political issues revolving 5 I "around the food we eat without talking about water. As basic and central as food is to our well-being, water is more so. Our ^¦i bodies are 70 percent water." - Sandor Ellix Katz, The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved (Get the book.) "In their institutionalized forms, biofuels really aren't especially eco-friendly at all, and they mostly benefit large corporate grain processors, most prominently Archer Daniels Midland. Biofuels, like anything in mass production, are far removed from our daily experience, in the same abstract netherworld as petroleum itself—or for that matter food or any of the conveniences of our consumer society. And since we started this chapter with a discussion of hunger, with millions starving and food scarcity the dominant paradigm, how can we justify using precious food resources for fuel? " - Sandor Ellix Katz, The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved (Get the book.)

"The existing infrastructure can process, store, and transport biofuels with relatively little adaptation or modification. Reliance on biofuels actually produces a significant economic gain from an ecological point of view, because the exploration, drilling, extraction, processing, and transportation of fossil fuels have all been eliminated and the end product is a cleaner-burning fuel. The main reason that fossil fuels seem to have a price advantage is that the cost of repairing the environmental damage is ignored. Why?" - Rowan Robinson, The Great Book of Hemp: The Complete Guide to the Environmental, Commercial, and Medicinal Uses of the World's Most Extraordinary Plant (Get the book.)

FAIR USE NOTICE: The research quoted here is provided under the protection of Fair Use provisions and published by the 501(c)3 non-profit Consumer Wellness Center for the purposes of public comment and education. Authors / publishers may submit books for consideration of inclusion here.

TERMS OF USE: Read full terms of use. Citations of text from NaturalPedia must include: 1) Full credit to the original author and book title. 2) Secondary credit to the Natural News Naturalpedia as a research resource and a link to www.NaturalPedia.com

This unique compilation of research is copyright (c) 2008, 2009 by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center.

ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of NaturalPedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.