FOOD part 2

In the chapter “The Ethanol Scam”, I found a pretty funny yet powerful quote regarding ethanol and the politics that surround it.“and that forces even supposed change agents such as John McCain and Barack Obama, to genuflect before the alter of corn ethanol(p92)”. Another shocking quote I found was “even if all the corn in the us were turned into ethanol it would supply less than six percent of the US' total oil needs. These points about ethanol are making me think a little differently about biofuels made from corn based plants. Even after seeing the film and seeing how almost our of our food is made from some form or bi-products of corn, I begin to realize how “Corn is King”., when it come to homegrown crops. The author goes on to describe the environmental problems that burning ethanol based gasoline cause in the US such as water pollution and smog. Another problem that was discussed was the irrigation problem that corn causes since is is a very water dependent crop. There is at least some hope when the organic farms were discussed when the author writes “we are just beginning to see the results from long-term studies showing how organic farms create healthy soil, which has a greater capacity to store carbon, creating “carbon sinks”. I enjoy reading about the possible solutions to these problems since much of this reading is very negative and pessimistic.
In the chapter “Why Bother?” a humorous quote I found was talking about AL Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth, “The really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to change our lite bulbs”. This sounds very familiar to the theme of “green washing” that was discussed previously in the class. Another interesting point that was brought up was when the author writes “ The Big Problem is nothing more nor less than the sum of countless everyday choices, most of them made by us, and most of the rest of them made in the name of our needs and desires and preferences”. This theme was also explained in the film Food Inc. when the workers for Walmart started to carry the organic yogurt because “ that what the consumers demanded”.

FOOD INC movie and book

In the movie Food Inc, there were many very powerful images that were shown about the food industry. One segment in the film that stood out to me specifically was when the farmer was interviewed about how he still practices the traditional methods of farming even though he is only one in thousands who still does. He talked about how he still lets his animals still eat grass instead of grain. He also showed the methods of how he slaughtered the animals in an outdoor environment, which is not practiced by the larger slaughter houses. He stated that his meat was many times cleaner than the factory produced counterparts. He said that he will keep practicing his traditional methods which , he admitted, could not keep up with a exponential demand as the other factories have to supply to. This interview was very positive and shows that the older methods can still prosper, just not on the same gigantic scale as the assembly line meat processing plants function on.
In the book Gary Hirshberg speaks about the creation of the New Alchemy Institute. This institute decided to boycott the use fossil fuels, herbicides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers for the production of food(p49).This group used solar heated green house which had tanks of fish that were used for food and their waste was used as natural fertilizer. Wind systems were also used to provide mechanical and electrical power. This is just another example of how people can live and function successfully by utilizing the advancement of alternative energy to harness the natural resources that we sometimes take for granted. Just like the farmer that processed his meat using the traditional methods, this New Alchemy Institute proves that we can use more natural methods of living and producing food. The reduction of heath issues by eating this organic food was discussed in both the book and the movie, eating good food leads to feeling good.

Using Biomass as a Possible Homegrown Energy Source

With the current “green” movement going on throughout the world, many countries are beginning to research new sources of energy that are renewable and also able to remain sustainable given the current demand. In the United States the most publicly seen alternative energy forms are solar and wind, but biomass supplies almost fifteen times as much energy as both solar and wind power combined (How Biomass Energy Works). Using biomass as a fuel source is not a new concept. For the last several hundred years, humans have been able to successfully harness the energy from the sun that is contained in biomass. The process of harnessing this energy included the following processes: burn the biomass, heat water, create steam, and use steam to generate electricity (How Biomass Energy Works). Although there are many promising uses of biomass for a renewable energy source, there are also skeptics that question if the biomass technology is going to be able to keep up with the demand. The skeptics of biomass state that if the biomass energy is moved to large scale power production there will not be enough biomass fuel sources to sustain these new biomass plants. These increases in demand for biomass will also increase the price of food since many of the biomass crops include ones used for consumption (Alternative Energy Sources).

Biomass energy is only one of the many different alternative energy fuel sources that have been explored in more detail in the last decade. One of the main reasons that biomass energy appeals to the United States is its ability to be grown and harvested on our own land. The political events that have been going on over the past decade in the Middle East have sparked the need to look for a fuel source other than foreign oil. The ideal situation would be for the United States to be able to grow and produce all of the fuels that are consumed on such a large scale every day. In order to keep up with the large demand, there must be numerous possible sources to use to make the biomass based fuels. Possible sources include trees, grass, crops, industrial and agricultural waste. These sources are used to fill the three main fuel demands in the world right now, solid, liquid and gas. Biomass offers opportunities for each one of these fuel types. For solid fuel demands, biomass can be pelletized and in turn burned to produce heat and electricity. Liquid fuels can be made by liquefying biomass to create natural oils.(what about gas?) Although all of these modes of creating fuel from biomass have been developed and successfully tested in the laboratories, skeptics say that most of these can only be done on a small scale, due in part to the large scale harvesting that must be done.

There are two main approaches to growing and harvesting biomass plants. One approach includes farming specific plants that have the potential to be fully converted into a fuel. The second approach includes using the residues from the harvested plants such as corn husks (How Biomass Energy Works). In the article “Building on its Biomass Base” in the Biomass Magazine, author Lisa Gibson talks about how four separate companies are testing their own developed biomass systems in the same building. In this article Lisa writes about the different research areas that are currently being explored including , an algae photo bioreactor, a Fastox gasification system, a circulating fluidized bed combustor, and a methane producing waste water treatment plant (Gibson). Each one of these processes offers great potential to be used in various applications as fuel sources, Although these processes will have to overcome certain challenges in order to be able to produce these biofuels on a large scale as outlined in the academic journal “An Overview of Second Generation Biofuel Technologies” by Ralph Sims. These challenges include technical barriers, production cost, need for more investment in research and development, and the transition process from one source to another (Sims).

When biomass energy is implemented on a large scale, there will be a need for a substantial amount of biomass. One source of biomass that is readily available for harvest is what is known as woody biomass. In Woodland, California there is a power plant that is fueled directly from locally supplied woody biomass. This woody biomass is comprised of agricultural residues and urban wood waste (Gibson). Although this site has proven that the technology can work, one main argument that can be said is that if there was a biomass power plants like this one in every major city there would not be enough woody biomass to enable the plant to keep up with the demand for power. This plant can function because it is the only one in the area and therefore can utilize a vast amount of resources that are, at this time, unused by any other production method. The reason that these woody biomass plants require such a large amount of biomass to operate, is due to the fact that the woody biomass contains much less energy per unit than that of coal. Since the woody biomass produces less energy when burned we must obtain and harvest it at a rate that is greater than the current mining rate of coal. Therefore as more woody biomass plants are built, more forest will have to be harvested. The current forest systems will not be able to sustain themselves if they are harvested at the rate they would need to be if coal was replaced completely with woody biomass alone. When all of the woody biomass is removed, the forest loses its natural nutrient supply and fertilizer that it needs to sustain itself. If the forest is going to replenish itself it will need fertilizers added to it, which are currently made of petroleum based products. This is another reason why it is so difficult to find a technology that completely frees our society from petroleum and coal. Large scale storage and harvesting is a another issue that has to be solved due to the large volume that would be required for each biomass plant(Alternative Energy Sources). Although woody biomass seems like a simple solution , it still has its negative effects that have to be accounted for.

When it comes to energy usage in the United States, Ohio was rated as the sixth largest energy consumer in 2000 (Green Energy Ohio). This means that the people of Ohio should be on the top of the list of people looking for a new clean fuel source produced from something that is already grown. The reason that a new sustainable and clean fuel source is needed is because our current practices cause environmental issues such as clear cutting, toxic ground water, and air pollution (Green Energy Ohio). These environmental issues have been occurring since the Industrial Revolution, but only in the last decade have these issues begun to emerge as a main stream topic in which people have become involved.. When biomass energy is discussed, one environmental issue that often arises is the fact that carbon dioxide is released when the biofuels are burned. If the trees are used as a biomass fuel source themselves, without their process of photosynthesis, how will the carbon dioxide be absorbed. These are all issues that need to be weighed when determining is the best option for an energy source to replace coal.
Time is not on our side when it comes to selecting a new renewable and sustainable energy source. There are many different energy possibilities that have resulted from dedicated and vigorous research work of companies, university, and individuals. In order to make the correct decision and choice when it comes to the replacement of coal we have to weigh all of the options both short term and long time. I believe that we have a vast number of people who are beginning to recognize that we need to be aggressive and act quickly when it come to our future energy plans. Biomass energy is one source that will be able to fill a niche in the fuel industry and help to move our society away from coal.









Bibliography
Gibson, Lisa. "Building on its Biomass Base." Biomass Magazine (2010).
Green Energy Ohio. January 2004. 21 January 2010 .
"How Biomass Energy Works." 2009. Union of Concerned Scientists. 25 January 2010 .
It's Good but Disadvantages of Biomass Energy Must also be Acknowledged. 2008. 3 February 2010 .
Sims, Ralph. "An overview of second generation biofuel technologies." Bioresource Technology (2009): 1570-1580.

O.U. BEYOND COAL EXTRA CREDIT

The O.U. Beyond Coal discussion was very informative and helpful for my specific research topic of Biomass as an alternative fuel source. The discussion featured three O.U. professors that are all exploring possible alternative energy sources. Ben Stuart spoke about the transitions from coal to alternative energy source as a transition period and not “on and off light switch” that would start first with a reduction of consumption along with efficiency improvement. He spoke about the long history of using woody biomass was a way to produce heat, light, and means to cook food. He then spoke about his specific research based on algae using waste water as a food source to produce optimum biomass. One interesting point that he made was about how biomass would not be optimum for large scale power production since the amount of woody biomass needed would exceed the harvesting levels. Gerri Botte spoke about coal electrolysis in which coal would be combined with water to produce a slurry that has a high hydrogen gas yield with low CO2 yields. She also spoke about using waste water to harvest ammonia to use to extract H2 gas from. The main stress was on using sources of waste as possible energy sources. Carole Womeldorf spoke about wind technology in south eastern Ohio. She explained how there had been wind maps made for Ohio in 1986 and how inaccurate they were do to lack of data and computing power of the time. Nachy Kanfer talked about the Sierra Club and how they sued the state of Nebraska for clean air violations of their coal fired water heating plant at their university. He also spoke about Ball State and Cornell University and how they have moved from coal to geothermal and biomass to heat their campuses. Matt Bennett from Dovetail Solar and Wind spoke about the most cost effective and most efficient ways of creating energy. One idea he had was to put hydro electric turbines on all of the preexisting damns built on the Ohio river. He also spoke about the possible use of solar farms and how they could use the high power transmission lines that are already present throughout Ohio. All of the people that spoke at this meeting agreed that there is not a single solution to the energy problem that can replace coal. They stressed the need to be aggressive in research and development of these new alternative energy sources while at the same time perfecting the current production processes to make them much more efficient. I am very glad that I went to this conference because it helped me focus more on my research project.

A Forest Returns

In the film we are introduced to an elderly man who was a reporter during the depression. He narrates the movie and tells us all about how the Wayne National Forest was started. I found a lot of the pictures that he showed of the bare hill sides very moving. I also thought it was really cool that the movie showed the aerial photographs of the before and after of the forest from when it was nonexistent still when it finally grew back and recovered. I enjoyed learning about the state history as we had spoken about in class, since we normally don’t hear too much information regarding it. One quote that I found shocking was when the government told the farmers that the land had “ no economic value” , its just hard to picture that now with the price of land increasing everyday.

Bibliography

Gibson, Lisa. "Building on its Biomass Base." Biomass Magazine (2010).
"How Biomass Energy Works." 2009. Union of Concerned Scientists. 25 January 2010 .
Sims, Ralph. "An overview of secound generation biofuel technologies." Bioresource Technology (2009): 1570-1580.

Introduction

As the demand for electricity increased at a substantial rate over the last hundred years ,the need for renewable energy sources began to increase. One of these renewable energy sources that has been used is biomass. Using biomass as a fuel source is not a new concept. For the last several hundred years humans have been able to successfully harness the energy from the sun that is contained in biomass. The process of harnessing this energy included the following processes: burn the biomass, heat water, create steam, use steam to generate electricity (How Biomass Energy Works). There are two main approaches to growing and harvesting biomass plants: “growing plants for specific energy use, and using the residues from plants that are used for other things” (How Biomass Energy Works). There are many different types of biomass energy resources such as trees, grass, crops, industrial and agricultural waste. All of these possible options have been tested and used as single or a part of a combination of fuel sources. In the article “Building on its Biomass Base” in the Biomass Magazine author Lisa Gibson talks about how four separate companies are testing in their biomass systems in the same building. In this article Lisa writes about the different research areas that are being explores including , an algae photo bioreactor, a Fastox gasification system, circulating fluidized bed combustor, and a methane producing waste water treatment plant (Gibson). Each one of these processed offer great potential to be used as fuel sources. The most efficient methods is to take a substance that is seen as waste and convert it to a usable fuel source, these processes can “ kill two birds with one stone”. The total energy in vs. energy out equation for the production of these biomass based fuels is still being perfected through current research, and will only become more efficient over time. The challenges that have to be over come to be able to produce these biofuels on a large scale are outline in the academic journal “an overview of second generation biofuel technologies” by Ralph Sims. The challenges include technical barriers, production cost, need for more investment in research and development, and the transition process from one source to another (Sims).