by azeo » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:08 pm
It will probably be a raft of solutions that help solve our energy and transport fuel problems, and instead of exploiting resources to their limit, we will have to "mine" them sustainably, and look for ways to make use of by-products along the way, whether it's material, or energy efficiencies.
Certainly there's no way we can rely just on farmland, but there's so much wastage out there - we could do a lot better. So much waste that's a result of normal life, "waste" that has such a huge potential for fertilising fuel crops, algae etc that turn a problem into a resource, or being re-processed usefully.
There's the "unfarmable" land too that could be utilised, roadsides, arid areas, effluent treatment areas from farms and industry, town and city sewage treatment. But that will be a cost also, and someone's unused land, is someone elses unspolit environment, or bio-diversity resource, or climate stabiliser...
It's true though, moving to bio-fuels has it's own set of problems and issues that have to be solved to bring them into everyday use, common rail diesel pumps and injectors particulary being sensitive to contamination, and while it's ok to run things in test and trial mode it's another story to have the infrastrucure and vehicles in place. Brazil seems a good example though of what's possible, although maybe others with more knowledge would be aware of any issues.
Eventually though, surely, we'll have to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels globally, as effort of extraction, lack of supply, emissions, economic dependence etc become an ever-increasing cost to bear...
recently been tuning up an old motorbike to run on alky, "Tuning for Speed" in one hand, jet drills in the other, nothing like the smell of alky and castor oil!