No more fossil fuels. Not now! Not ever!

[Road Warrior]

The open road has been the only home I have known in my life. I drive 500 miles per-day total of 2500 miles per-week. I go where the open road takes me. The BP oil-spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a devastating reminder of the perils of relying on offshore drilling, and on fossil fuels in general. I am concerned about the incalculable environmental damage that has been caused that threatens the well being of hundreds of species of fish and wildlife and millions of acres of critical wetlands. This oil-spill has been estimated will destroy up to 25% of all the wetlands in the USA. While official estimates are that 5,000 barrels of oil per day are continuously leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. What that means is that this oil-spill disaster could eclipse in weeks the largest oil spill in the world’s history. This tragedy must teach us an important lesson. Whether it is offshore oil drilling or nuclear power, it is not good enough to be just safe only. Just one event can have calamitous and irreversible impact on the world’s environment. No more new offshore drilling and no more fossil fuels. Not now! Not ever!

Why Hemp biodiesel Fuel? Quoting from the article:
The Congressional Budget Office, Department of Defense, US Department of Agriculture, and others have determined that biodiesel is the low cost alternative fuel option for fleets to meet requirements of the Energy Policy Act. Why not Hemp biodiesel Fuel? Hemp biodiesel is the only alternative fuel that runs in any conventional, unmodified diesel engine. It can be stored anywhere that petroleum diesel fuel is stored. Hemp biodiesel is safe to handle and transport because it is as biodegradable as sugar, 10 times less toxic than table salt, and has a high flashpoint of about 300 F compared to petroleum diesel fuel, which has a flash point of 125 F. When burned in a diesel engine, Hemp biodiesel replaces the exhaust odor of petroleum diesel with the pleasant smell of hemp. Hemp biodiesel is the only alternative fuel in the US to complete EPA Tier I Health Effects Testing under section 211(b) of the Clean Air Act, which provide the most thorough inventory of environmental and human health effects attributes that current technology will allow. Hemp biodiesel is 11% oxygen by weight and contains no sulfur. The use of Hemp biodiesel can extend the life of diesel engines because it is more lubricating than petroleum diesel fuel, while fuel consumption, auto ignition, power output, and engine torque are relatively unaffected by Hemp biodiesel.

[Merlyn]

I can agree, that many crop alternatives will work. Hemp will work for many things including bio-diesel.
One thing left off you list Road Warrior, is the by products of hemp are all useful and biodegradable, the by products of oil are useful, but plastic and cause this secondary environmental problem of not being biodegradable.

Farming for this, has it's own challenges. Hemp is a quick crop, easily three crops a year in some places.
IMO it is a solution if we use solar, geothermal and wind for home energy use, and natural gas for cars, electric commuter vehicles and such. This would reserve the need for diesel we have for heavy machinery, trucking, farm equipment and such and not outstretch our land use for growing fuel.

All in all easily done. We just have to do it and tell our "government of the people" to do as we tell them to!

[Frog]

Whilst this does seem to be a good idea, we do need to be careful to measure all the facts. Many of the UK's fields are now given over to rapeseed growth because it is quick and cheap with a good return for the farmer. This is great... but it takes away the amount of field space available for other things, such as veggie growing (which has a lower return on investment).

A few years ago, the BBC motoring programme did a short section on preparing a field to make bio-fuel. Whilst there were hi-jinks aplenty (it's not a programme known for serious journalism) the idea was they would follow it up, and use it in a later programme. This never happened - because the crop (a whole field) failed. If this was to become the solution, farmers would have to calculate a failure rate and grow accordingly.

So it's a solution, but it will have its implications.

[Corwen]

Seems crazy to me to put good land, needed in a hungry world, down to growing fuel, when there are so many other renewable technologies available. We have already seen the biofuel market distort world food prices causing hunger, poverty and rioting in the Third World after poor harvests in 2007.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... matechange
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... ableenergy

Maybe we could all just drive a bit less?

[Claer]

It is also important to consider the impact of growing biofuel crops like rape on the wildlife bio-diversity of our farmlands. Many species are under threat because of monocultures and the riping out of hedges to make ever bigger fields. 50% of a farm given over to rape will have so much less bio-diversity than mixed arable holdings. Just my two pence worth...

[Merlyn]

Someday, fossil fuels will be a history lesson in some high school history class, and by then I hope, I will perfect my anti-gravity car.. he he

On a serious note though, excuse my humor, it is a fault of mine

Of all the things we can grow, hemp is good for many things, not just fuel. Once used as fabric for cloth it will biodegrade easily, even as a good fertilizer for a next crop.
Nylon rope and such will almost never biodegrade, so, as all things go, hemp is a better way than some.

In light,

[Frog]

The challenge though - of even such things as hemp or bamboo which can be made into "things" - is that we need to ensure that we educate ourselves to only use what we need; the challenge is that our existence is now based on our ability to make and sell things to others, irrespective of whether that is needed, more that we challenge people to "want" it.

the same is true of fossil fuels - if we could educate ourselves to only buy vehicles and engines for tasks that we need, rather than for more frivolous items, then we could make what we have last longer. Of course, we do run the risk that in the boredom of our utilitarian lifestyle it will feel much longer than it actually is..

(whilst I recognise that many on this board are happy living a very simple life; I will admit that one vice I have is the viceral pleasure from watching banger car racing with my Scouts)

[Kernos]

I agree we need do decrease dependence on fossil fuels, NOW. But, I also think we need to start to deal with a root cause of anthropomorphic global warming and environmental damage: too many humans in the world demanding access to resources.

For a start, I would make it extraordinarily expensive for a couple to have more that 1 child. Taxes, fines, compulsory abortion, turning excess newborns and useless adults into fertilizer would be a start. I would like to see contraceptive compounds in food and drinking water. A designed pandemic would do the job quickly, say one with a 75% mortality rate across all age groups. These are all an expansion of Swift's <i>A modest Proposal</i> taken seriously.

[skh]

Moved to Environmental Issues.

peace /|\
Sonja

[Road Warrior]

Love and blesing to all.
This is day 34 of the BP oil spill.

""Up date from Senator US Bernie Sanders May 24, 2010.
Their brown and white feathers coated with crude oil, pelicans were unable to fly from their heavily polluted rookeries as the BP oil spill spread on Monday into Louisiana's fragile coastal marshes . The birds, removed from the endangered species list only six months ago, were the latest victims of the still unfolding environmental and economic catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil continued to spew from a sea-bottom breach opened 34 days ago when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded. The Senate energy committee was slated to hold a hearing Tuesday on liability for the spill. Senator Bernie Sanders sits on the panel.""