The response to climate change doesn’t have to be doom and gloom — the crisis is an opportunity for Kansas and the country to unleash a renaissance of innovation and jobs by developing clean, green technology, as we argued in an Earth Day editorial.
In a related story that underscores the possibilities, Kansas Agriculture Secretary Adrian Polansky announced that 12 Midwestern states have joined forces in a consortium to develop biofuels, bioenergy and bioproducts as the basis of a new 21st-century economy that moves away from fossil fuels.
Polansky points to countless opportunities for innovation in everything from bioplastics to cellulosic ethanol, which uses sustainable sources such as switchgrass.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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I would like to obtain a good estimate of how much water from our Kansas aquifers is required per gallon of ethanol/bio-fuel that is produced.
I recently received a letter from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment that states, “KDHE issued the final air emission source construction permit for the expansion … of the Abengoa Bioenergy ethanol production plant in Colwich, Kansas.”
I attended public meetings in Colwich several months ago as a concerned citizen and protested the use of large quantities of water that will be used for the new Colwich plant, I believe to be taken from Cheney Lake, the source of about 1/2 of Wichita’s drinking water.
Of course, government was playing the old shell game that used to confound me as a Kansas farm boy at the Hutchinson State Fair. The KDHE says their hearing was only about the quality of the air effluent from ethanol production (which is also BAD). I can’t seem to find anyone to discuss the huge water usage situation with and can’t seem to find any good statistics on this.
I’m also concerned about mercury that is contained in fluorescent light bulbs of various configurations that are being touted as energy saving saviours of the free world.
PLEASE NOTICE … on every package of fluorescent light bulbs is a warning: “LAMP CONTAINS MERCURY — MANAGE IN ACCORDANCE WITH DISPOSAL LAWS.”
This warning is NOT on packages of regular incandescent light bulbs because they do NOT contain mercury.
True, fluorscent bulbs do save a lot of electricity compared to regular incandescent light bulbs. But as these new fluorescent bulbs are incorrectly disposed of in regular trash going to landfills … this poisonous mercury will leech into the soil and aquifers below and eventually into your inbound drinking water.
NOW I did mention recently, ERRONEOUSLY AS IT TURNS OUT, in this WE Blog site that I thought the “Sedgwick County Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Department” disposes of these bulbs in the regular landfill.
I STAND CORRECTED. MY MISTAKE.
Last week I visited with Sedgwick County’s waste disposal supervisor, Lloyd Burnham at 660-7459, about their disposal method for fluorescent light bulbs. He showed me how these discarded bulbs are packaged in rather thick cardboard containers and shipped to a mercury disposal facility presently in Phoenix, Arizona.
As an aside, it struck me that this might be a good business for an entrepreneur to begin here in Wichita.
Mr. Burnham mentioned the public needs to be told to bring these fluorescent bulbs to their facility rather than to dispose of in regular trash.
Mr. Burnham said some fluorescent bulbs contain a GREEN labels indicating they are mercury-free. He thinks bulb makers such as GE, etc. will try to produce more mercury free bulbs in the future.
The SEDGWICK COUNTY HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL building is a very efficient facility located about a long block south of the southwest corner of WEST HIGH SCHOOL in the Sedgwick County operations complex. Incidentally they give paint and some other household chemicals that have been dropped off to their customers … so its a good place to visit anyway!
Wink,There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Every solution to the energy crisis has an environmental impact of it’s own. Biofuels require land and water resources that normally go for food production; hydrogen as a fuel doesn’t pollute, but the production of hydrogen requires large quantities of electricity, the production of which does; solar and wind energy, if used extensively will take energy from the atmosphere, altering climate, etc. The sad truth is that the earth cannot sustain 6.1+ billion of us no matter what we do.
The bottom line of the Green revolution is costs for many things will rise accordingly. We are going to have to pay more for fuel, plastics and food. And we better be prepared for it.
More of the sad truth is that we are not thinking all the way thru a process with it comes to energy production of any kind.A simple rule to always remember is for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.Energy never dies; it is only transfer from one form to another form.
Switchgrass cannot grow in arid climates like here in the Midwest. Plus it takes about 3 to 4 years for switchgrass to fully cultivate. And that it’s also not a subsidized crop, no farmer is going to grow switchgrass.
Back to corn!
Joe….huh?
You said switchgrass won’t grow in climates like here. Wikipedia says:
“Switchgrass is often considered a good candidate for biofuel — especially ethanol fuel — production due to its hardiness against poor soil and climate conditions, rapid growth and low fertilization and herbicide requirements”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchgrass
“Switchgrass cannot grow in arid climates like here in the Midwest. Plus it takes about 3 to 4 years for switchgrass to fully cultivate. And that it’s also not a subsidized crop, no farmer is going to grow switchgrass.
Back to corn!”
Of course, Joe, as usual, has a problem with anything outside the box. But he’s a dyed in the wool libertarian, so he can’t be wrong . . . NOT!
Try the following links for info on switchgrass, and why it is a much better renewable source than corn, which is a water hog:
http://www.newfarm.org/news/2005/0805/082305/swtichgrass.shtmlhttp://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2006/060310.htmhttp://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/misc/switgrs.htmlhttp://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/bioen98/bransby1.htmlhttp://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/streeter/2002report/Evaluation%20of%20Switchgrass%20Grownas%20a%20Bioenergy%20Crop%20in.htm
By the way, switchgrass will do quite well on CRP land.
Sorry Tom! You are going to have to go down to Texas, Alabama and Mississippi to cultivate the switchgrass that have enough bio-mass to be feasible.
Despite poorer soils than in the Midwest, switchgrass yields are higher in the Southeast because of the adaptation of more productive switchgrass varieties in the region, and because it has a longer growing season.
The seed of switchgrass is very small, and much of it is dormant (will not germinate) right after it is harvested. However, aging, treating it with water and chilling temperatures (stratification) or storing it in warm conditions will break dormancy.
Partly because of the small size of the seed, switchgrass seedlings tend to be slow to develop, and are susceptible to weed competition. Unfortunately, there are no herbicides approved by government for weed control during establishment of switchgrass. However, it can still be successfully established by no-till planting and other strategic approaches.
Switchgrass reaches full yield only in the third year after planting; it produces a quarter to a third of full yield in the first year, and about two thirds of full yield in the second year. When managed for energy production it can be cut once or twice a year with regular hay or silage equipment.
Here is your wikipedia entry:Switchgrass is grazed by certain animals, used as ground cover to control erosion and farmed as forage for livestock. As a drought resistant ornamental grass, it is easily grown in average to wet soils and in full sun to part shade. Establishment is recommended in the spring, at the same time as maize is planted.
We don’t have average to wet soil. We have arid. Plus you are in competition against corn.
It isn’t going to happen. Not in Kansas at least.
Well I shouldn’t say it won’t grow. It will but not the bio-mass needed to be feasible.
The reason why I say it isn’t going in our climate, because not a single farmer will grow switchgrass in our area.
Wikipedia entry again: However, there is debate on the viability of switchgrass, and all other biofuels, as an efficient energy source. University of California, Berkeley professor Tad Patzek points out that switchgrass has a negative ethanol fuel energy balance, requiring 45 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced.[6] In a 2007 lecture Professor Richard Muller, also of the University of California, Berkeley, noted that it is the conversion of switchgrass biomass into ethanol which introduces significant inefficiencies.
grow hemp for bio fuel. Oh wait that’s illegal
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/reno/Horticulture/Horticulture%20Home.htm“Switchgrass is a vigorous, upright perennial grass, native to the prairie. It’s very tolerant of poor soils, drought and wet feet.”
http://www.greencarcongress.com/ has lots of recent news about switchgrass, etc … use search box, or ‘topics’ page
I hope we do go to switchgrass or other bio-mass alternatives to corn.But I don’t see it.
Corn is just way to easy for farmers.
Blame our farm policy!