Energy down the sink no more!

[peteshimmon]

Heard last night that growing Ethanol takes as
much energy as is produced. Eek! Then thought
of the next stage in recycling that we may
hear about. Local authorities invest in small
plants to clean up used vegetable oil and ask
citizens to carefully recycle it. The
economics should be straightforward...no oil
handed in so no rubbish collected next week:)
You read it hear first..possibly!

[HenrikOlsen]

Heard last night that growing Ethanol takes as
much energy as is produced. Eek!
:think: Well, that's simple thermodynamics, you can't get power from nothing.:naughty:

If you mean that refining the plant material to ethanol takes as much energy as you'd get from burning it, then it's interesting. Do you have a reference?

[teri tait]

Don't burn your handle at both ends

[Enzp]

Every time I try to burn my candle at both ends, the bottom end keeps going out.

[Kristophe]

Don't burn your handle at both ends

I prefer not burning my handles at all, if possible.

[peteshimmon]

Heard on West Wing actually. Makes sense
thinking of energy intensive fertiliser.
I read water companies have to clear fat from
efluent pipes under restaurants. Hope they
make use of the stuff after that exercise!

[mickal555]

Every time I try to burn my candle at both ends, the bottom end keeps going out.

Maybe putting it on the side...
I wounder what would happen... I'll have to try that one day :D

[tmosher]

:think: Well, that's simple thermodynamics, you can't get power from nothing.:naughty:

If you mean that refining the plant material to ethanol takes as much energy as you'd get from burning it, then it's interesting. Do you have a reference?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050329132436.htm

http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm

http://www.ethanol-gec.org/netenergy/NEYShapouri.htm

[LurchGS]

As I read them, the first two links are essentially the same - the one guy stating that ethanol is a losing proposition (as far as fuels go).
The third link, though, seems to me to debunk him... am I reading it right?

[jkmccrann]

Maybe putting it on the side...
I wounder what would happen... I'll have to try that one day :D

I think you might end up with something of a mess if you tried that, depending of course on what you were resting it on................

[peteshimmon]

Very useful links thanks tmosher. The middle
one I like and the government investigation
accurate to 2 decimal places has a nice aura
of expert authority!