National Biodiesel Day 2024 is on Monday, March 18, 2024: Why more lies on the amount of"energy"in ethanol or biodiesel?Ethanol engines need higher

Monday, March 18, 2024 is National Biodiesel Day 2024. March 18 is National Biodiesel Day and Rudolf Diesel's Birthday ... March 18 is National Biodiesel

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Why more lies on the amount of"energy"in ethanol or biodiesel?Ethanol engines need higher

please read this to see some truths behind the atrocities on behalf of Ethanol

Global warming is a really destructive situation.

But not half as destructive right now ,as what the USA is planning.

They are insane intending to replace most of the indigenous Forrest's in the world ,with mono cultures for the production of Ethanol,

Non sustainable, chemically grown ,heavily irrigated (with water needed for communities)one specie Forrest's,that have only plagues of insects as fauna which are controlled with pesticides.

Killing all bio diversity,in both flora and fauna ,adding to the destruction and extinction of species ,like nothing we have ever seen before.

All in the quest for alternative energy and to save the Environment ,

The irony here is that the growing eagerness to slow climate change by using biofuels and planting millions of trees for carbon credits has resulted in new major causes of deforestation, say activists. And that is making climate change worse because deforestation puts far more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire world's fleet of cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships combined.

"Biofuels are rapidly becoming the main cause of deforestation in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil," said Simone Lovera, managing coordinator of the Global Forest Coalition, an environmental NGO based in Asunción, Paraguay. "We call it 'deforestation diesel'," Lovera told IPS.

Oil from African palm trees is considered to be one of the best and cheapest sources of biodiesel and energy companies are investing billions into acquiring or developing oil-palm plantations in developing countries. Vast tracts of forest in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and many other countries have been cleared to grow oil palms. Oil palm has become the world's number one fruit crop, well ahead of bananas.

Biodiesel offers many environmental benefits over diesel from petroleum, including reductions in air pollutants, but the enormous global thirst means millions more hectares could be converted into monocultures of oil palm. Getting accurate numbers on how much forest is being lost is very difficult.

The FAO's State of the World's Forests 2007 released last week reports that globally, net forest loss is 20,000 hectares per day -- equivalent to an area twice the size of Paris. However, that number includes plantation forests, which masks the actual extent of tropical deforestation, about 40,000 hectares (ha) per day, says Matti Palo, a forest economics expert who is affiliated with the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica.

"The half a million ha per year deforestation of Mexico is covered by the increase of forests in the U.S., for example," Palo told IPS.

National governments provide all the statistics, and countries like Canada do not produce anything reliable, he said. Canada has claimed no net change in its forests for 15 years despite being the largest producer of pulp and paper. "Canada has a moral responsibility to tell the rest of the world what kind of changes have taken place there," he said.

Plantation forests are nothing like natural or native forests. More akin to a field of maize, plantation forests are hostile environments to nearly every animal, bird and even insects. Such forests have been shown to have a negative impact on the water cycle because non-native, fast-growing trees use high volumes of water. Pesticides are also commonly used to suppress competing growth from other plants and to prevent disease outbreaks, also impacting water quality.

Plantation forests also offer very few employment opportunities, resulting in a net loss of jobs. "Plantation forests are a tremendous disaster for biodiversity and local people," Lovera said. Even if farmland or savanna are only used for oil palm or other plantations, it often forces the local people off the land and into nearby forests, including national parks, which they clear to grow crops, pasture animals and collect firewood. That has been the pattern with pulp and timber plantation forests in much of the world, says Lovera.

Ethanol is other major biofuel, which is made from maize, sugar cane or other crops. As prices for biofuels climb, more land is cleared to grow the crops. U.S. farmers are switching from soy to maize to meet the ethanol demand. That is having a knock on effect of pushing up soy prices, which is driving the conversion of the Amazon rainforest into soy, she says. Meanwhile rich countries are starting to plant trees to offset their emissions of carbon dioxide, called carbon sequestration. Most of this planting is taking place in the South in the form of plantations, which are just the latest threat to existing forests. "Europe's carbon credit market could be disastrous," Lovera said.

The multi-billion-euro European carbon market does not permit the use of reforestation projects for carbon credits. But there has been a tremendous surge in private companies offering such credits for tree planting projects. Very little of this money goes to small land holders, she says. Plantation forests also contain much less carbon, notes Palo, citing a recent study that showed carbon content of plantation forests in some Asian tropical countries was only 45 percent of that in the respective natural forests. Nor has the world community been able to properly account for the value of the enormous volumes of carbon stored in existing forests.

One recent estimate found that the northern Boreal forest provided 250 billion dollars a year in ecosystem services such as absorbing carbon emissions from the atmosphere and cleaning water. The good news is that deforestation, even in remote areas, is easily stopped. All it takes is access to some low-cost satellite imagery and governments that actually want to slow or halt deforestation. Costa Rica has nearly eliminated deforestation by making it illegal to convert forest into farmland, says Lovera.

Paraguay enacted similar laws in 2004, and then regularly checked satellite images of its forests, sending forestry officials and police to enforce the law where it was being violated. "Deforestation has been reduced by 85 percent in less than two years in the eastern part of the country," Lovera noted. The other part of the solution is to give control over forests to the local people. This community or model forest concept has proved to be sustainable in many parts of the world. India recently passed a bill returning the bulk of its forests back to local communities for management, she said.

However, economic interests pushing deforestation in countries like Brazil and Indonesia are so powerful, there may eventually be little natural forest left. "Governments are beginning to realize that their natural forests have enormous value left standing," Lovera said. "A moratorium or ban on deforestation is the only way to stop this."

This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ - International Federation of Environmental Journalists.

© 2007 IPS - Inter Press Service

Source: ...

Toyota Prius vs. Mercedez E320 CDI, which one should I buy?

Toyota Prius vs. Mercedez E320 CDI, which one should I buy?

You drive 120 miles a day * 5 days a week = 600 miles a week

According to the US Dept. of Energy, , the national average price on 6/2/2008 for gasoline was 397.6 cents a gallon, and for diesel it was 470.7 cents a gallon.

According to AAA, , the Washington, DC metro area average price on 6/5/2008 for gasoline was $3.994 a gallon, and for diesel it was $4.820 a gallon.

2005 Mercedes Benz E320 Cdi: 23mpg city, 33mpg highway, 27mpg combined (about the same MPG as the 2008 E320 Bluetec)

The initial cost (you claim) is $33,000. Don't know about your sales/use taxes or insurance costs, but probably based on the purchase cost and your location/record.

at 33mpg highway, that's 1/33 gallon/mile, over 600 miles that's 600/33 = 200/11 = 18.182 gallons used. @$4.707/gallon, that would be $85.58 a week in diesel fuel, @4.820/gallon, that would be $87.64 a week in diesel fuel.

2004-2008 Toyota Prius: 48mpg city, 45mpg highway, 46mpg combined

The initial cost (you claim) is $20,000. Don't know about your sales/use taxes or insurance costs, but probably based on the purchase cost and your location/record.

at 45mpg highway, that's 1/45 gallon/mile, over 600 miles that's 600/45 = 40/3 = 13.333 gallons used. @ $3.976/gallon, that would be $53.01 a week in gasoline, and @$3.994/gallon, that would be $53.25 a week in gasoline.

If you are interested, you can see what other owners are reporting for fuel economy in their driving:

E320 Cdi:

E320 Bluetec:

Prius (all US models):

2004-current Prius:

Depending on where you are, diesel fuel may not be easy to find a station to fuel up.

However, if you are interested, you could fuel with biodiesel, or with some conversion run on vegetable oil, in the Mercedes.

The Prius, an AT-PZEV, has by far cleaner emissions than the diesel E320. (Although if you run biodiesel the E320 may improve some...)

Given just the purchase price and the fuel costs, the Prius is the clear choice.

Considering that a new 2008 Prius is $21500, if your cheapest used is $20000 then I would say that the Prius is holding its value very well (low depreciation costs), losing only 7.0% of its value. The 2008 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec new is $52,200 (same MPG as the 2005 Cdi, so probably same car), so if the cheapest used is $33000 it has lost 36.8% of its value. Something to consider if you plan on trading in the vehicle or selling it in the near future, and not driving it into the ground, would be future resale value.

You can compare the two models here:

If you encounter slippery roads, you may be more used to a FWD vehicle so would be better in a Prius than you would be in the RWD E320. Good snow tires on either would be beneficial.

The E320 has a 4 year/50,000 mile basic warranty, while the Prius has a 3 year/36,000 mile basic warranty (but a longer powertrain and hybrid system warranty).

If you enjoy a quiet ride, go for the Prius. If you like vroom-vroom and more power, go for the higher horsepower E320 Cdi.

Only you can really decide if the luxury features of the Mercedes (such as memorized seat settings, telescopic steering wheel, side mirror turn signals, sunroof, extra speakers, and standard wood trim) will be worth the extra initial price and price differential for fuel over time. They're both in the midsize vehicle size category. Take both vehicles for a test drive and see which one you like better.

How should the government help us with global warming?

How should the government help us with global warming?

What makes you think the government wants to help the public ,what is that based on.???

World leaders are not too concerned with the well being of the masses ,on the contrary .it was stated at a conference in Copenhagen,in 1998,by an American statesman , that the Agenda demanded a decrease in the world population of 60%,and you cannot achieve this if you start saving everybody.

Scientists who get paid by politicians have downplayed the facts of global warming because solutions are expensive and means change .

Change effects many peoples incomes,and upsets profit margins(especially those of the rich and powerful),so most of the world is kept in the dark of the real things that are going on.for political and economic reasons .

On top of that it disagrees with what was written,and religion today still has a lot of political and spiritual power over the masses.

On top of that Global warming is not half as destructive right now ,as what the USA is planning.

They are insane

They want to replace all the indigenous Forrest's in the world ,with mono cultures for the production of Ethanol,

Non sustainable, chemically grown ,heavily irrigated (with water needed for communities)one specie Forrest's,that have only plagues of insects as fauna which are combated with pesticides.

Killing all bio diversity,in both flora and fauna ,adding to the destruction and extinction of species ,like nothing we have ever seen before.

All in the quest for alternative energy and to save the Environment ,

The irony here is that the growing eagerness to slow climate change by using biofuels and planting millions of trees for carbon credits has resulted in new major causes of deforestation, say activists. And that is making climate change worse because deforestation puts far more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire world's fleet of cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships combined.

"Biofuels are rapidly becoming the main cause of deforestation in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil," said Simone Lovera, managing coordinator of the Global Forest Coalition, an environmental NGO based in Asunción, Paraguay. "We call it 'deforestation diesel'," Lovera told IPS.

Oil from African palm trees is considered to be one of the best and cheapest sources of biodiesel and energy companies are investing billions into acquiring or developing oil-palm plantations in developing countries. Vast tracts of forest in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and many other countries have been cleared to grow oil palms. Oil palm has become the world's number one fruit crop, well ahead of bananas.

Biodiesel offers many environmental benefits over diesel from petroleum, including reductions in air pollutants, but the enormous global thirst means millions more hectares could be converted into monocultures of oil palm. Getting accurate numbers on how much forest is being lost is very difficult.

The FAO's State of the World's Forests 2007 released last week reports that globally, net forest loss is 20,000 hectares per day -- equivalent to an area twice the size of Paris. However, that number includes plantation forests, which masks the actual extent of tropical deforestation, about 40,000 hectares (ha) per day, says Matti Palo, a forest economics expert who is affiliated with the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica.

"The half a million ha per year deforestation of Mexico is covered by the increase of forests in the U.S., for example," Palo told IPS.

National governments provide all the statistics, and countries like Canada do not produce anything reliable, he said. Canada has claimed no net change in its forests for 15 years despite being the largest producer of pulp and paper. "Canada has a moral responsibility to tell the rest of the world what kind of changes have taken place there," he said.

Plantation forests are nothing like natural or native forests. More akin to a field of maize, plantation forests are hostile environments to nearly every animal, bird and even insects. Such forests have been shown to have a negative impact on the water cycle because non-native, fast-growing trees use high volumes of water. Pesticides are also commonly used to suppress competing growth from other plants and to prevent disease outbreaks, also impacting water quality.

Plantation forests also offer very few employment opportunities, resulting in a net loss of jobs. "Plantation forests are a tremendous disaster for biodiversity and local people," Lovera said. Even if farmland or savanna are only used for oil palm or other plantations, it often forces the local people off the land and into nearby forests, including national parks, which they clear to grow crops, pasture animals and collect firewood. That has been the pattern with pulp and timber plantation forests in much of the world, says Lovera.

Ethanol is other major biofuel, which is made from maize, sugar cane or other crops. As prices for biofuels climb, more land is cleared to grow the crops. U.S. farmers are switching from soy to maize to meet the ethanol demand. That is having a knock on effect of pushing up soy prices, which is driving the conversion of the Amazon rainforest into soy, she says. Meanwhile rich countries are starting to plant trees to offset their emissions of carbon dioxide, called carbon sequestration. Most of this planting is taking place in the South in the form of plantations, which are just the latest threat to existing forests. "Europe's carbon credit market could be disastrous," Lovera said.

The multi-billion-euro European carbon market does not permit the use of reforestation projects for carbon credits. But there has been a tremendous surge in private companies offering such credits for tree planting projects. Very little of this money goes to small land holders, she says. Plantation forests also contain much less carbon, notes Palo, citing a recent study that showed carbon content of plantation forests in some Asian tropical countries was only 45 percent of that in the respective natural forests. Nor has the world community been able to properly account for the value of the enormous volumes of carbon stored in existing forests.

One recent estimate found that the northern Boreal forest provided 250 billion dollars a year in ecosystem services such as absorbing carbon emissions from the atmosphere and cleaning water. The good news is that deforestation, even in remote areas, is easily stopped. All it takes is access to some low-cost satellite imagery and governments that actually want to slow or halt deforestation. Costa Rica has nearly eliminated deforestation by making it illegal to convert forest into farmland, says Lovera.

Paraguay enacted similar laws in 2004, and then regularly checked satellite images of its forests, sending forestry officials and police to enforce the law where it was being violated. "Deforestation has been reduced by 85 percent in less than two years in the eastern part of the country," Lovera noted. The other part of the solution is to give control over forests to the local people. This community or model forest concept has proved to be sustainable in many parts of the world. India recently passed a bill returning the bulk of its forests back to local communities for management, she said.

However, economic interests pushing deforestation in countries like Brazil and Indonesia are so powerful, there may eventually be little natural forest left. "Governments are beginning to realize that their natural forests have enormous value left standing," Lovera said. "A moratorium or ban on deforestation is the only way to stop this."

This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ - International Federation of Environmental Journalists.

© 2007 IPS - Inter Press Service

Source: ...

And we are not even talking about people pointing misiles in what could be the prelude to a world nuclear conflict for supremacy of this planet

Also on this date Monday, March 18, 2024...