TO start on a funny note, I was at Arizona Petroleum, checking out their ethanol and biodiesel pumps, and some guy pulls up in his older Mercedes Benz to fuel up on biodiesel. I was up to him and start out by saying I hoped I wasn't bothering him. He turns and tells me I am bothering him and asks what it is exactly I want and before I can answer he tells me he doesn't have it. I'm like, what are you talking about? He seemed to think I was homeless asking for spare change. It was at this point I took a look at what I was wearing to see if I dawned the apparel of a Tucson bum. Needless to say, we joked about it after that and he turned out to be a pretty cool guy. He bought his 1983 MB purely for the fact that it could run on biodiesel without any modification. He asked me if I drove a similar car and I was almost ashamed to say I drove a Honda Civic. I mean, it gets great gas mileage, but this biodiesel thing is changing the way I think about cars by the minute.
What I also learned in the process of writing the article was that all the white UA cars that say "for state of Arizona use only," run on E85. I was quite impressed with the job Mark Harrell, Fleet Manager for UA Motor Pool, and that program has accomplished. It became an even bigger story that I wish I kind of explored more with because now I am thinking that I should have gone up to the Pinal Energy plant up in Maricopa. I am thinking that I might take a video camera up there and tape a tour or something of the plant to document the process of creating ethanol out of the corn they receive locally and from the midwest. I think that also might turn into a story of its own in order to explain where they are receiving their corn from and why they do so. It could make for something interesting.
The thing that I have learned about ethanol, as told to me by Harrell, is that it will never end our dependence on foreign oil. The most common blend is, of course, E85, but that still requires 15% to be petroleum. That is why biodiesel is something we need to embrace. It is very clean with little to no emissions and we can produce every gallon of it in the United States. I asked Harrell if he knew about the algae form of biodiesel and he said that it was the most promising thing we have in the US right now, in terms of 86ing our need for imported petroleum. This is what bugs me a bit though. You don't hear anything about it on the main stream media. A search on CNN will show you what I mean. I don't like to embrace conspiracies too much, although I do love some, but it just adds to the fact that companies like CNN are mega corporations who are rumored to be influenced by the administration. I don't really know where I was going with that but I've hated the mainstream media for awhile now and the fact that they do not take extra space to talk about how to save the environment with new technologies developed right here in the good ole US of A, well it doesn't make me want to watch more of it, lets just say that.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Tucson's Alternative Fuel Locations
I went by to see with my own eyes the Go Go Mart on Broadway near Tucson Blvd. and there were indeed two biodiesel fuel pumps. I wanted to talk to a manager or owner to see what made them decided to purchase the stuff but alas, no one was around except for the cashier. The only information he had for me was that someone was going around, presumably the people from RoadRunner, and offering businesses their chance to put biodiesel on their pumps. The guy from the Alternative Energy Expo said this was the only gas station in Tucson with biodiesel, but I wondered if there were any other alternative fuels available. My editor told me there are some out there that distribute ethanol, so I went looking.
These are the locations you can purchase E85 for you car in Tucson.
1015 S. Cherry: Arizona Petroleum
8601 E. Golf Links: C+T Oil
2710 N. First Ave
1701 N. Alvernon: C+T Oil
Ethanol is produced by fermentation. Yeast is added to the sugar solution, much like in the beer-brewing process, and the result is ethanol and carbon dioxide. While I was reading about how ethanol is used in alcohol, such as beer, it reminded me of that Simpsons episode where Homer envisions what it would be like to have an alcohol-fueled car ("one for you, one for me," check youtube for it). While hilarious, he probably would be dead after one sip of the stuff. Yeast used for brewing can handle at most 15% ethanol, the type you can buy at the aforementioned locations sell 85% ethanol. Pretty poisonous but Homer could probably still handle it.
Wikipedia says ethanol is the stuff that causes depression in our central nervous systems when we consume alcohol. Also on the ethanol page, they discuss the different types of alcohol, how each is fermented, and what product it is fermented from. For example, "rum is distilled from fermented molasses or sugarcane."
The American Coalition for Ethanol describes the benefits of using ethanol and the differences of types you can buy at the pump. It says that all vehicles can run on a 10% ethanol blend, and some, known as Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV), can run on anything up to 85% ethanol, including regular unleaded. Also cool about ethanol is that E85 has an octane rating of at least 105, according to AME website. So not only does E85 reduce all those pesky greenhouse gases, it also make your car perform roughly 22% better if you are filling at 87 octance.
These are the locations you can purchase E85 for you car in Tucson.
1015 S. Cherry: Arizona Petroleum
8601 E. Golf Links: C+T Oil
2710 N. First Ave
1701 N. Alvernon: C+T Oil
Ethanol is produced by fermentation. Yeast is added to the sugar solution, much like in the beer-brewing process, and the result is ethanol and carbon dioxide. While I was reading about how ethanol is used in alcohol, such as beer, it reminded me of that Simpsons episode where Homer envisions what it would be like to have an alcohol-fueled car ("one for you, one for me," check youtube for it). While hilarious, he probably would be dead after one sip of the stuff. Yeast used for brewing can handle at most 15% ethanol, the type you can buy at the aforementioned locations sell 85% ethanol. Pretty poisonous but Homer could probably still handle it.
Wikipedia says ethanol is the stuff that causes depression in our central nervous systems when we consume alcohol. Also on the ethanol page, they discuss the different types of alcohol, how each is fermented, and what product it is fermented from. For example, "rum is distilled from fermented molasses or sugarcane."
The American Coalition for Ethanol describes the benefits of using ethanol and the differences of types you can buy at the pump. It says that all vehicles can run on a 10% ethanol blend, and some, known as Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV), can run on anything up to 85% ethanol, including regular unleaded. Also cool about ethanol is that E85 has an octane rating of at least 105, according to AME website. So not only does E85 reduce all those pesky greenhouse gases, it also make your car perform roughly 22% better if you are filling at 87 octance.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Alternative Energy Expo and Biodiesel
So I stopped by the Energy Expo Saturday morning to see if I could find anyone who I might be able to interview for my hemp article that is due later this week. There were two "booths" dedicated to biodiesel: this company Roadrunner Biodiesel and the Arizona Biodiesel Board. The guy at the Roadrunner booth was telling me that their company is the one that sells the biodiesel to gas stations. He said there is only one such gas station in Tucson and it is the Go Go Mart at 2200 E. Broadway Blvd. He said that at the time it is going for about $3.29 per gallon, about 70 cents higher then regular gasoline. He was also telling me about cars that currently can run on the fuel. He said that all diesel engine cars, such as the Volkswagen Jetta, a few Mercedez's and a couple Jeep models can run on biodiesel. The difference between biodiesel and regular diesel is that biodiesel comes from biological sources, such as corn, hemp, and vegetable oils, and regular diesel has been processed from petroleum, which is also what makes up our regular gasoline.
I was not quite sure at the time I was talking to the guy from Roadrunner, but I wanted to know why dont all diesel cars run on biodiesel. It can be made from corn oil, and right now is a great time for that considering the heavy subsidies the government is currently paying farmers in the midwest. There is a great article here that talks about the good and bad effects of using government subsidized corn. A quote from the article: "For years we were criticized for having cheap corn that was encouraging obesity," Tom Buis, president of the National Farmers Union, said at a news conference. "And then this last year when corn got to $4 (per bushel), it switched to, 'You're causing people to starve around the world.'"
This is a very hot topic in America at the moment like I said. I honestly thought about trading in my car for a diesel-powered car to see what I could do with biodiesel. The guy at the booth said biodiesel has about 50% less Carbon Monoxide emissions then its petroleum based counterpart.
He also talked to me briefly about how they are starting to use algae as a method of creating biodiesel. On the biodiesel page on Wikipedia they have a chart about how many gallons of oil are produced for each hectare. Corn was the absolute lowest at 18 gallons/ha, hemp came in at 39 gallons/ha, but algae was off the chart in comparison. I dont know how accurate the chart is but it says a hectare of algae produces a whopping 819 gallons of oil! So just how are they turning algae into biodiesel fuel?
Algae is pretty intense. The Department of Energy Aquatic Species Program says that algae is the only feasible method of world-wide dependence on petroleum based gasoline. This is so because of algae's ability to grow in just about any condition, high reproduction rate and extremely high harvesting results compared to alternatives. Algae, like hemp, is high in protein and can be used in foods, and, this is probably the most intriguing thing about mass-algae production is that it can be fed carbon dioxide in its growth process. The guy at Roadrunner mentioned to me that an industrial plant (I dont remember where or what company) was feeding its carbon dioxide emissions directly into a algae-growing plant. So not only is algae a renewable source of energy but it can also reduce worldwide CO2 emissions! Pretty amazing stuff if you ask me.
I was not quite sure at the time I was talking to the guy from Roadrunner, but I wanted to know why dont all diesel cars run on biodiesel. It can be made from corn oil, and right now is a great time for that considering the heavy subsidies the government is currently paying farmers in the midwest. There is a great article here that talks about the good and bad effects of using government subsidized corn. A quote from the article: "For years we were criticized for having cheap corn that was encouraging obesity," Tom Buis, president of the National Farmers Union, said at a news conference. "And then this last year when corn got to $4 (per bushel), it switched to, 'You're causing people to starve around the world.'"
This is a very hot topic in America at the moment like I said. I honestly thought about trading in my car for a diesel-powered car to see what I could do with biodiesel. The guy at the booth said biodiesel has about 50% less Carbon Monoxide emissions then its petroleum based counterpart.
He also talked to me briefly about how they are starting to use algae as a method of creating biodiesel. On the biodiesel page on Wikipedia they have a chart about how many gallons of oil are produced for each hectare. Corn was the absolute lowest at 18 gallons/ha, hemp came in at 39 gallons/ha, but algae was off the chart in comparison. I dont know how accurate the chart is but it says a hectare of algae produces a whopping 819 gallons of oil! So just how are they turning algae into biodiesel fuel?
Algae is pretty intense. The Department of Energy Aquatic Species Program says that algae is the only feasible method of world-wide dependence on petroleum based gasoline. This is so because of algae's ability to grow in just about any condition, high reproduction rate and extremely high harvesting results compared to alternatives. Algae, like hemp, is high in protein and can be used in foods, and, this is probably the most intriguing thing about mass-algae production is that it can be fed carbon dioxide in its growth process. The guy at Roadrunner mentioned to me that an industrial plant (I dont remember where or what company) was feeding its carbon dioxide emissions directly into a algae-growing plant. So not only is algae a renewable source of energy but it can also reduce worldwide CO2 emissions! Pretty amazing stuff if you ask me.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Updates
So Ron Paul hasn't called me back yet. I'm kind of disappointed but I figure debating the other Republicans and running for President might be taking up some of his time. Anyway, on to what I've been working on. I talked to this manager at a health food store (I cant tell you which one for legal reasons) and he was telling me all about health drinks and not so healthy drinks. One thing that I talk about in my story is high-fructose corn syrup. He talked about how bad it is for you and the fact it's in just about every drink you can pick up at convenience stores.
HFCS is somewhat of a controversy. And interestingly enough, actually deals with my pro-hemp lobbying as well. Here's what I learned from Wikipedia. In the mid-1980's, the government started to impose tariffs on sugar. We can't really grow cane sugar here so we have to import it. After the tariffs were imposed, importers were paying twice the world price of sugar. It was also around this time our government started paying subsidies to farmers for every bushel of corn they grew. Michael Pollan said in a 2003 edition of the New York Times Magazine, "Absurdly, while one hand of the federal government is campaigning against the epidemic of obesity, the other hand is actually subsidizing it, by writing farmers a check for every bushel of corn they can grow." He is talking about how we use this corn for corn syrup, then after a scientific process which involves adding enzymes which turn the glucose (pure corn syrup) into fructose. Then more glucose is added to create a desired balance of glucose/fructose. Coke and Pepsi have about a 55/45 mix.
We use it because it is cheaper. Opponents of HFCS claim that because it is so cheap to make, it is encouraging people to buy more soda, energy drinks, etc.
So why are these tariffs in place? Is it so we have something to do with the 280+ tons we produce each year in the US? (Well its probably more now, but 280 was what was produced in 2005, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The world produced 692 total tons that year.)
Here's a website that talks about sugar's history in America:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/SC019
It says that it all started because the government wanted to collect extra income so tariffs were put in place for sugar. They also wanted to help farmers turn more profit.
After I had written all this, I found a report by Peter Jennings. It's pretty interesting.
HFCS is somewhat of a controversy. And interestingly enough, actually deals with my pro-hemp lobbying as well. Here's what I learned from Wikipedia. In the mid-1980's, the government started to impose tariffs on sugar. We can't really grow cane sugar here so we have to import it. After the tariffs were imposed, importers were paying twice the world price of sugar. It was also around this time our government started paying subsidies to farmers for every bushel of corn they grew. Michael Pollan said in a 2003 edition of the New York Times Magazine, "Absurdly, while one hand of the federal government is campaigning against the epidemic of obesity, the other hand is actually subsidizing it, by writing farmers a check for every bushel of corn they can grow." He is talking about how we use this corn for corn syrup, then after a scientific process which involves adding enzymes which turn the glucose (pure corn syrup) into fructose. Then more glucose is added to create a desired balance of glucose/fructose. Coke and Pepsi have about a 55/45 mix.
We use it because it is cheaper. Opponents of HFCS claim that because it is so cheap to make, it is encouraging people to buy more soda, energy drinks, etc.
So why are these tariffs in place? Is it so we have something to do with the 280+ tons we produce each year in the US? (Well its probably more now, but 280 was what was produced in 2005, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The world produced 692 total tons that year.)
Here's a website that talks about sugar's history in America:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/SC019
It says that it all started because the government wanted to collect extra income so tariffs were put in place for sugar. They also wanted to help farmers turn more profit.
After I had written all this, I found a report by Peter Jennings. It's pretty interesting.
Monday, September 3, 2007
History of Hemp Production
I was browsing YouTube for a video that would give me some history about why mass production of hemp became illegal in the United States and I came across the video below. For a short video, it has some great information about what role hemp has played in American history. It even has the nostalgia of a documentary you might have seen in high school, if you lived in the 1950's that is.
I also found one that goes into more detail about production and the benefits of it. This video feels somewhat long, but I think that is because the guy speaks in a monotone. Some of the key points he makes is that an acres of hemp produces three times the amount of biodiesel fuel then something like corn. He also says that hemp does not require pesticides and after the seeds are collected for oil production, it would still leave all those leaves for clothes, food, soap, etc.
The benefits of hemp seem overwhelming and it is incomprehensible to me that mass production of the plant is illegal only due to the fact that the counterpart is the main villain in this country's "war on drugs."
States are beginning to change this, but the federal government stands strong in opposition. North Dakota became the first state to allow industrial hemp production back in 1999.
I find it very odd, after watching the above videos about how quickly the governmental love of hemp changed so quickly. The first video was produced by the the Department of Agriculture in 1942 to encourage farmers to grow during the war, but once the war was over, cultivation became illegal. I want to look into this a lot more as the semester goes on. I emailed Ron Paul's campaign, asking to talk to me about why he thinks it is important for this crop to become industrialized, and hopefully he will get back to me.
I also found one that goes into more detail about production and the benefits of it. This video feels somewhat long, but I think that is because the guy speaks in a monotone. Some of the key points he makes is that an acres of hemp produces three times the amount of biodiesel fuel then something like corn. He also says that hemp does not require pesticides and after the seeds are collected for oil production, it would still leave all those leaves for clothes, food, soap, etc.
The benefits of hemp seem overwhelming and it is incomprehensible to me that mass production of the plant is illegal only due to the fact that the counterpart is the main villain in this country's "war on drugs."
States are beginning to change this, but the federal government stands strong in opposition. North Dakota became the first state to allow industrial hemp production back in 1999.
I find it very odd, after watching the above videos about how quickly the governmental love of hemp changed so quickly. The first video was produced by the the Department of Agriculture in 1942 to encourage farmers to grow during the war, but once the war was over, cultivation became illegal. I want to look into this a lot more as the semester goes on. I emailed Ron Paul's campaign, asking to talk to me about why he thinks it is important for this crop to become industrialized, and hopefully he will get back to me.
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