06/11/2009 - Member eNewsletter
Greetings from David Blume and the International Institute for Ecological Agriculture (IIEA) Team.
June 11, 2009
Did you notice that, as David predicted,
Gas is back up to $3.00 a gallon and rising?
That's right, and our answer is: The Alcohol Fuel Revival is ON!
This week's issue of the IIEA eNewsletter offers valuable prize rewards for readers who find their identifying information hidden in this newsletter. Look for your partial email name (jDoe@, as an example), or your affiliate ID number, or the coupon code found in the upper right-hand box of the Alcoholics Unanimous mailer in your copy of Alcohol Can Be A Gas! (between pages 548-549).
This week's prizes are $150.00 discounts on our alcohol-fuel car-conversion kits. You could win one, so know your affiliate ID and book coupon numbers and know the email address you used when you signed up for this newsletter -- and read carefully, friends!
Added News Flash!
David was on Jeff Rense Radio Tuesday 6/9 and they had an hour-long discussion on the health hazards present in gasoline and in exhaust emissions.
Click Here to listen!
THIS JUNE 11th ISSUE COVERS:
Alcohol Can Be a Gas! News
1) Big News: Wisconsin Workshops Update
2) Hotel Discount Details for Osseo and Madison Workshop Attendees
3) Robert Nabloid -- ACBAG Review
4) "Alcohol Fuel: The Key to Solving Climate Change," By David Blume
National News
5) BrassCheck TV Weighs In on Why Big Oil Runs the Show
6) Call to Action on EPA Ethanol Gas Blend Standards
1)BIG NEWS: Course Credits Now Offered by MadisonCERET Certificate students can use the MATC workshop to satisfy the Introduction to Ethanol Fuel Course, (10-484-121 course requirement). We've added two specialist speakers as well.
Clearly It Is Time to Register!
Get Credits, Learn and Get Ready to Jump Start your Own Energy Independence Career. IIEA, working with the Wisconsin Farmers Union and the Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence, has added two specialist speakers to the coming two-day Intensive Workshops, June 27 and 28 in Osseo, WI, and July 7 and 8 in Madison and Madison Area Technical College Now provides Course Credits for CERET enrolled students. Now is the time to sign up to take advantage of hotel and travel discounts and to ensure your registration.
Join David Blume along with Aquaponics specialist Myles Harston and Wisconsin BioFuels activist Bob Brillski as they provide in-person detail and insight on such topics as, basic distillery methods, crop selection, adding fish-farming to your Permaculturally designed food and fuel chain and how take advantage of current state tax-incentive programs for alcohol fuel production.
The workshops will also feature a demonstration working still, along with other brewing and instructional aids so attendees get to see as well as hear how they can boost food production while using surprising (even waste) sources to make alcohol fuel for less than $1.00 per gallon (57porky@).
The workshops will be held Saturday and Sunday June 27 and 28 at the Osseo-Fairchild High School in Osseo, WI; and Monday and Tuesday July 6 an 7 at the Madison Area Technical College (Truax Campus) in Madison, WI.
Click Here to Register Online Today
2)Workshop Hotel Discounts Are a Timed Offer. Sign up NOW for room savings.
If you are traveling to Osseo: The Osseo Inn's regular rate is $67.95 per night; mention IIEA/ David Blume
for $10.00 per night discount. The Osseo Inn has a restaurant and bar on-site. Five-minute walk to Osseo-Fairchild High School. Chippewa Valley Airport is a 27-mile (30-minute) drive. Eighteen miles from Eau Claire, with easy highway access. 12830 Cox Lane, Osseo, WI 54758;
phone (866) 228-1950.
If you are traveling to Madison: The DoubleTree Madison Hotel is offering a SPECIAL DISCOUNT RATE.
This offer is set to expire June 14th, so act fast. Regular rooms run $159-169 a night, but are available to us for $119 per night, for up to 4 in a room! TO MAKE RESERVATIONS VIA PHONE:
Call 1-800-222-TREE or 1-608-251-5511. Give the agent your dates of stay and the following group code: "NEW". http://www.doubletreemadison.com
3)Alcohol Can Be a Gas: Debunking Myths About Ethanol
By Robert Nabloid
I recently read a book titled, Alcohol Can Be a Gas! It is an excellent 600-page book. A lot of time and research went into it. The book teaches almost everything you'd need to know to produce ethanol. I highly suggest you read the book if you're at all interested in learning more about the ethanol industry, especially if you're interested in investing in the industry. It might teach you something that could help you decide which ethanol companies are on the right track. I for one won't invest in producers using corn as their primary feedstock. There are many other efficient crops that make economical sense and don't depend on government subsidies.
There are a lot of myths circulating about ethanol, so I thought I'd briefly show how the book debunks some of them (book code #9301).
Myth: It takes more energy to produce alcohol than it's worth.
This myth is false, perpetuated by people who believe corn is the only crop that can create ethanol. Corn isn't a very efficient crop, but luckily there are crops out there that are MANY times more efficient than corn. Brazil uses sugarcane to produce energy in a very efficient manner and is one of the most energy self-sustainable countries on the planet. The biomass parts of the plant that can't be turned into ethanol are used to help distillation. It's a very efficient method. There are other crops that are even more efficient than sugarcane, as alcohol can be made from anything with sugar or starch. There are also many companies and researchers working on creating cellulosic ethanol, which will allow an even greater variety of plants to create ethanol. Regardless, some ethanol crops can be made very efficiently and produce MORE energy than consumed. It all depends on what crop, how it's being grown, etc.
The people that cite this myth also often discount, or completely forget, the byproducts that result from manufacturing ethanol. Even corn ethanol results in a byproduct called DDGS. This "dried distillers grains with solubles" still contains all of the protein and fat, and much of the cellulose, vitamins and minerals. The only thing that has been removed is the starch. This byproduct can still be used as an animal feed, and has been proven to be better than corn when fed to cattle (quicker cattle growth!). The removal of the starch, which goes through cattle undigested, allows quicker digestion and growth of the animal when DDGS is used.
Myth: Not enough land for food and fuel.
In terms of corn growth, corn only utilized ~8% of arable farmland, about 17% of the prime land, in the U.S. However, the reason so much corn is grown is to support the cattle industry and now the food industry in general (sugar from corn is now used in many of our soft drinks and other food products). In fact, the reason the U.S. ethanol industry uses corn is because for years, due to government subsidies, farmers have been growing more corn than we know what to do with. Yes, ethanol production in the United States began using corn as an answer for the overproduction. Otherwise, much of the U.S. ethanol would be grown using much more efficient crops and crops that don't have subsidies.
You can't forget that the byproduct of producing ethanol still leaves us with DDGS, which can effectively feed many animals. Also, if it were necessary, we could grow fish. Cattle take about ten pounds of feed to produce one pound of meat. That isn't very efficient. We can improve the situation, if you're truly worried about starving, by switching to fish. Fish only require 1.5 pounds of feed to produce one pound of meat. We could also use natural desert plants, on government land, for ethanol purposes, without any additional water or using up valuable farmland - Mesquite! The ocean can also be used to produce marine algae. What I'm trying to say is, many plants can be used on a variety of lands (and even sometimes on the ocean).
Myth: Ethanol is dirtier than gasoline.
Ethanol actually burns a lot cleaner than gasoline! Alcohol doesn't have many of the harmful chemicals that gasoline does. Just go get your emissions checked while you're running on 100% ethanol - they will assume their machine isn't working because almost none of the normal pollutants from gasoline are present.
One part of the equation often forgotten is that during the growth of the plant, a lot of carbon dioxide is converted to oxygen, and a lot of carbon dioxide is sequestered in the cellulose tissue. Growing plants is good for the environment!
Summary:
I didn't include all the facts. The book, Alcohol Can Be a Gas! is an excellent one that has been well researched and contains a plethora of information. I'm 100% in favor of solar technology, but I think we often forget that plants are nature's sustainable solar technology. We can use plants for fuel and food in a sustainable manner.
Oftentimes the ethanol is just one piece of the puzzle. If you want to increase food production of both protein and plants, while solving our energy needs, it can be done. You take the DDGS or similar byproduct from the crop (whatever crop you decide to use) during the production of ethanol. This byproduct is very valuable. You can either sell it to farmers/feedlots or you can grow your own protein. Cattle will grow faster with it! Even better, you can grow fish extremely efficiently. The fish create their own effluent (waste) that is just like a liquid fertilizer. The fish waste can be pumped into a greenhouse that is growing highly valuable vegetables/herbs/flowers/fruit/etc. You just got free fertilizer to grow a high quality crop! The plants take the effluent out of the water and the water can then be recycled back into the aquaculture system and is now safe. Yup, the fish feed the plants and the plants clean the water for the fish, which reduces the amount of water needed to grow fish. Now you can sell ethanol, high quality greenhouse crops, and valuable fish. Talk about efficiency and making economical sense - we can feed more people, make more money, and solve our energy problems. Not bad, eh?
Robert Nabloid is the online pseudonym of a young small business owner and investor from Canada. Business training and experience are the foundations upon which his investment knowledge has been formed. Robert has an interest in business and investing and is considering getting a CFA and starting a hedge fund. Visit his site: Investing & Finance on Nabloid.com
4) "Alcohol Fuel: The Key to Solving Climate Change"
By David Blume
The overwhelming consensus in the scientific community is that global warming is causing rapid climate change, and that the cause of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels (and, to a lesser degree, deforestation). When we burn fossil fuels, we are combining hydrocarbons with oxygen. The carbon part of the fuel becomes carbon dioxide, the commonly recognized greenhouse gas; but the hydro part becomes water vapor, a greenhouse gas 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide.
So we know the problem. And we know, conceptually, the solution -- we need to stop adding C02 and new aerosol water vapor to the air.
The deforestation problem points us in the direction of a practical solution for stopping global warming. The fewer plants we have, the fewer opportunities we have to take advantage of one of the most potent systems for drawing greenhouse gases out of the environment. Plants, whether they are forests, crops, or marine algae (kelp), all breathe in carbon dioxide, and all drink in water. The CO2 and water then combine with solar energy (sunshine) to make sugar. That sugar (carbohydrate) is chemically built into many plant substances, including starch and cellulose.
When we ferment and distill plants, we convert the water, carbon dioxide, and stored solar energy into alcohol. When we burn the alcohol in a vehicle, the solar energy is released and drives our vehicle down the road; and the CO2 and water are returned to the atmosphere -- where the next alcohol fuel crop can use them, thereby trapping more solar energy.
So, using alcohol fuel would seem to be a carbon-neutral solar-powered transportation system that neither adds nor subtracts greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. `
But when you look more deeply into plant ecology, you find that plants make several times more sugar than ends up in the fuel. Plants exude this sugar from the roots, where it feeds an enormous biomass of microscopic bacteria and fungi necessary for maintaining soil fertility. This sugar, which was very cheap to make, becomes what we farmers call organic matter, and it is largely made up of the carbon dioxide the plant took from the air.
Fossil fuel utility companies talk about sequestering to deal with the Earth's CO2 problem -- injecting CO2 deep underground, which is an energy-intensive and unproven technology.
In fact, sequestering is much more powerful when done, simply, in the soil biomass under a crop. Recent studies have shown that the amount of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and water) removed from the atmosphere by plants -- and then exuded by plant roots to improve the soil -- can be 13 times what is emitted by processing the crops and burning the alcohol in our cars. Mixed crops, as in a permaculturally designed system, produce much better sequestering than monocrops.
So, instead of just being carbon-neutral, a system of permaculturally designed energy farms could rapidly replace fossil fuels while massively sequestering surplus greenhouse gases. Just increasing the organic matter content of agricultural soils around the world a few percent would bring greenhouse gas levels back down below pre-industrial levels -- in a matter of years, not centuries.
What will it take to reverse global warming using alcohol fuel? First of all, chemical fertilizers -- themselves a huge source of greenhouse gases -- will have to be eliminated, since they prevent accumulation of organic matter. As I point out in my book, Alcohol Can Be a Gas! the byproducts of alcohol fuel production perform much better than the chemical fertilizers we currently use. (I've patented a process for using alcohol fuel byproducts to eliminate the need for herbicides such as Roundup.) And the alcohol fuel byproducts do not damage the soil microlife (which perform the sequestration), while most pesticides and herbicides severely damage it. So they have to go, and it's about time. Organic agriculture already meets and exceeds the yields of chemical agriculture, so we have nothing to fear in terms of our food supply.
The other step to reversing global warming is to build alcohol biorefineries worldwide, using a wide array of mixed crops, to produce both fuel and food. Luckily, this is inexpensive. The $500 billion we have spent in Iraq, in our quest to make sure that oil is under the control of a friendly government, would build enough biorefineries to replace all gasoline and diesel fuel with alcohol fuel, planet-wide, permanently.
The alcohol fuel solution is simple and affordable. It requires no technological breakthroughs, it works with nature instead of against it, and it solves the greenhouse gas problem permanently. Not only can alcohol replace all our transportation fuel, but it can generate all our electricity, as well.
All that stands in the way are a few dinosaur oil, natural gas, and coal companies, along with their political allies who protect these suicidal, climate-destroying businesses. Most of us have lived long enough to see politically "impossible" things happen, such as the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It's time we tear down the corporate walls between the people and an ecologically bright future powered by liquid solar energy.
5)News from BrassCheck TV
People pay far too much attention to politicians and parties and not enough attention to the real power in this country: the major industrial combines.
At the center of this power is the oil industry (CD147).
One hundred years ago, one family and its allies controlled the entire industry, not to mention its far-flung interests in mining. These people still work in a coordinated manner putting people in office - and taking them out.
The oil industry and the industries it controls (car makers, the pharmaceutical industry and agribusiness suppliers) rule government policy with an iron hand. They also control the news media, including so-called "public" television and radio.
The pursuit of oil supplies and the use of oil-based fuel is one of the major factors that are bankrupting the US.
Viable options are ready to go right now - and have been for over twenty years.
What's the hang up? Here's an answer:
6)An IIEA Call to Action
Take a moment to weigh in with the EPA on increasing the allowable percentage of alcohol fuel available at our gas pumps. We can still help push for 15 percent, as the EPA has extended its Comment Period on this important issue.
The link below will take you right to the comment submission page, so you can let the EPA know that you support increasing gasoline's ethanol content to at least the E15 level.
Click here now to log on and show your support for this waiver request!
Thank you for your support of IIEA and for driving the Alcohol Fuel Revival.
The time is now and you are the people who can help ensure this change happens.
On to a "Green" tomorrow.
David Blume and the IIEA team.
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