Re: press release on important new survey of biofuels...


abelard wrote:
> this will probably the most useful source on biofuels since pimentel....
> http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/01/26_ethanol.shtml
> "Once these changes were made in the six studies, each yielded the same
> conclusion about energy: Producing ethanol from corn uses much less
> petroleum than producing gasoline. However, the UC Berkeley researchers
> point out that there is still great uncertainty about greenhouse gas
> emissions and that other environmental effects like soil erosion are not
> yet quantified."
> .....
> "The goal of the UC Berkeley analysis was to understand how six studies of
> fuel ethanol could come to such different conclusions about the overall
> energy balance in its production and use. Farrell, Kammen and their UC
> Berkeley colleagues dissected each study and recreated its analysis in a
> spread*** where they could be compared side-by-side. The team said it
> found numerous "errors, inconsistencies and omissions" among the studies,
> such as not considering the value of co-products of ethanol production -
> dried distillers grains, corn gluten feed and corn oil - that boost the
> net energy gain from ethanol production. Other studies overestimated the
> energy used by farm machinery.
>
> On the other side, some studies ignored the use of crushed limestone on
> corn fields, which can be a significant energy input because of the need
> to pulverize the rock. Farrell noted that some numbers needed for the
> analysis, such as the amount of limestone applied, are just not known
> reliably. On the other hand, some of the studies used outdated data when
> more recent numbers were available, making ethanol look worse."
>
>
>
> further background can be fund here....
> http://rael.berkeley.edu/EBAMM/
> the full article is being promised on this site as soon as it is
> released in 'science'....release date is today but it has yet to
> appear...
>
>
>
> yak note...to be placed in energy 3 and marked as an *update* to biofuels
> section


Can yak fat be considered a "bio-fuel?" Can it be turned into soap too?
Is decomposed dinosaur flesh and bones also considered a "bio-fuel?"

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