Colombia and the United States announce biofuel cooperation agreement
Some countries believe that their development expectations can be improved if they switch from oil-based fuels to biofuels. Such is the case of Colombia, a country that has just received the support of the United States to produce biofuel to satisfy some of the country's energy needs. Gregory Manuel, from the U. S. State Department, stated that part of the $1 billion program the U.S. is investing in biofuels includes estabilishing partnerships with nations such as Brazil and Colombia. Speaking to the recent flare-up of criticism against biofuels, Manuel said that the reason for high food prices is not biofuels but bad logistics. According to his figures, only four percent of the world's grain production goes to biofuels.Colombia's target is to produce sugarcane for ethanol in about 1 million ha, and palm trees for biodiesel in 2 million ha. The Colombian government also said that it will be extremely careful to avoid certain communities to become dependent on only one crop, and keeping the Paramilitary forces and the Narcos out of the biofuel industry.
[Source: EFE via Econoticias]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ryan Dunbar 10:05AM (4/27/2008)
When you reduce the mass of the fuel, you need to compress more (mass) to get energy. Fuel (Gasoline) adds mass, therefore you don't need to compress the fuel as much to get the energy from the air-sacrificing efficiency. That is why diesel are more efficient. They are dealing with higher compression ratios, therefore you can cut the fuel.
When you speed up, you lose efficiency because the mass decreases of the fuel and engine. You would have to find a way to increase mass to bring the efficiency back in line. Make the fuel mass increase with a turbocharger. You could have different formulated fuels for different speeds or many other ideas.
If you had high enough compression, could you run a car on just air? It would probably sacrifice performance.
This turns upside down our view of centrifugal force. It is actual getting lighter and we have to add a bunch of fuel the faster we go to compensate.
There is way to measure this, any measurement of mass throws off the calcuation, just like in quantum mechanics. When you observe quantum particles, you change their nature. We always assume the mass is the same, energy is changing. Those crypto-machines.
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Parker 10:39AM (4/27/2008)
I fear this is bad news for one of the most biologically diverse in the Americas. The intersection of the Amazon the Andes and the fact that some of the rainforest there have been the areas have survived previous climate change in the Pleistocene makes for a truly stunning variety of life.
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MarcT 12:27PM (4/28/2008)
Let's destroy more biodiversity, tear down more forests, convert more cropland to fuel production to satisfy our world's (not just US's) relentless appetite for fuel. Anyone else feel us heading toward a Mad Max future real soon?
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