Kaep, who cares if biodiesel can't power the world, the most important thing is to get this country together and let the rest take care of themselves. Examples are what creates the best impression in all facets of life.

Algae on its own won't solve anything, as with any problem you need to take a broad approach. Coal's just more of the same corporate control resulting in elitist power increasing. Personally I'm fine, my fish and chip powered vehicles cost 35c a litre, once our small reflux still's finished, it'll remove the major cost, non renewable toxic methanol. Our costs will then reduce to 13cL, beat that economic advantage with your unsustainable ideas.

We've just finished testing wattle seed oil, one species gives lots of oil from one tree. Now instead of having to grow crops, we can harvest our property without endangering the environment and using native plants.

Unlike coal, oil, ethanol, nuclear or other methods requiring high amounts of energy, transportation and environmental degradation, biodiesel at worst need only use energy for harvesting, pumping and heating in its creation process. As the harvesters run on biodiesel and the pumps and heaters are powered by solar and wind, our net effect on the environment is a positive.

Make all the statements you like, it won't change the economics or ecological problems associated with fossil fuels. Those hell bent on maintaining the status quo, are either ignorant, have a vested interest, or scared their way of life is threatened by the future ahead.

It's probably looking pretty rosy from your box in the city, that's until reality rolls through the door. The problem everyone faces is you can't stop the reality of the future we are causing. What's done to day, is what will be our future, its only when you change today the future has a chance of changing.

Alchemist,

You sound like the artilleryman in 'War-of-The-Worlds'.
Enjoy your underground madness. The rest of us are going to have to face up to the real-challenges-that-a-future-without-OIL-presents.
Oh and biodiesel is smoky and TOXIC. Sooner or later it will have to be banned for community health reasons.

One thing you may agree with though. The US Congress needs to pass a law-that-restricts-CEO-salaries of publically-listed-companies to-a-1-or-2million-dollar-per-year-salary, including bonuses, in order to halt terrorism. It is becoming apparent in Israel that defending the-world's-right-to-freedom-and-democracy while democracies are led-in-theory-by-elected-politicians but in-fact-by-overpaid-corporate-criminals is a hopeless task. The assymetry in this-kind-of-warfare-is-complex. It occurs-in-battlefields-and-boardrooms. We call it terrorism and it is essentially undefeatable by military means. This is because we know or ought to know damn well that terrorism is the consequence of ill intentioned manoeuvres and strategies all around the globe by arrogant CEOs.
How can we possibly WIN this war against terrorism when-we-are-every-bit-as-much-a-victim of CEO-monsters as any terrorist or the abused 'post-Bhopalian' communities that-have-bred-them.

It is becoming the JOKE of the-new-millennium.

Such a simple-change would save $trillions in the cost of failed diplomacies and costly wars. Not to mention the economic-and-social-paralysis that the-continual-threat-of-war-imbues. If you take the obscene-salarys away from CEOs the incentives for greed, corruption and ill treatment of world communities will ease. These communities will no longer have that fear for their futures that drives them to fight-to-the-death rather-than-submit-and-watch-themselves-and-their-loved-ones-degraded. Degraded in a mist-of-duplicity where foreign-governments-and-politicians tell them we fight for their DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM while CEOs put a 'Surplus-to-Requirement:Notice-to-Quit' in those communities' next post complete with white feathers and a dummy.

World-Governments need to understand the cost benefit ratio between taking away a few thousand CEOs' big salaries and taking away the dignity of billions of people. The CEOs WILL just do a Kenny Lay. They will NOT set our world alight with terrorism, war and hatred!

PS If the US gets to September without a hurricane, it will mean that climate change can be controlled without any deference to CO2 levels. That means 'CO2-Greenhouse-Warming' is not a causal factor in climate change. I-will-have-more-to-say-on-this-matter-in-September.

Kaep, thanks for providing us with evidence of your ignorance and lies, relating to this subject. Your certainly paranoid you may be wrong, clutching at straws by making ridiculous statement like,

“Oh and biodiesel is smoky and TOXIC. Sooner or later it will have to be banned for community health reasons.”

"Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to pass the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety testing in the US (one of the most thorough testing for current technology)."

http://www.rorrt.reachout.com.au/Issues/Biodiesel.aspx

"Toxicity facts for biodiesel usage include:
emissions that cause health problems such as asthma are reduced 47%
carbon monoxide (which is poisonous) is reduced 48%
carbon dioxide is 80% less
sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, is practically eliminated
combustion leaves 90% less unburned hydrocarbons, causing hydrocarbon emission (which produces smog and ozone depletion) to decrease 90%

Other positive qualities of biodiesel are:
It does not use more energy to make than it produces. Including the planting and harvesting of crops, as well as fuel production and transportation, for every unit of energy it takes to make biodiesel, 3.2 units are gained.
It can be mixed at any level with petroleum diesel to create a blend that is suitable for cars with minor, if any modifications (the most common is B-20, which is 20% biodiesel and 80% petrol diesel).
It has very little difference in performance, consumption, horsepower, torque, and haulage rates compared to diesel fuel.
The flash temperature (temperature it ignites in the air) is much higher for biodiesel making it safer to be around."

http://www.arfuels.com.au/files/ARF_Fact_Sheet_4_Biodiesel_Use.pdf

http://www.uidaho.edu/bae/biodiesel/

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/transport/comparison/pubs/1ch4.pdf

I'll put my “underground madness” against your educated ignorance any day. Get and education in life and reality, instead of relying on the revolving door, head in the sand syndrome your life is on. Your not educated, just an indoctrinated number.

Here in Germany you can purchase Biodiesel at the pump at many of the petrol stations. Biodiesel makes up about 3% of the German diesel market (which is significant given the short time that it's been in use).

Here are some general facts about Biodiesel on the website of Germany's leading Biodiesel producer:

http://www.biodiesel.de/index.php3?hid=016&spid=2

From the same website, some information about the lubricity of Biodiesel:

http://www.biodiesel.de/index.php3?hid=014111&spid=2

This Biodiesel production is owned by a giant multinational agricultural corp. called Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM). Their main website:

http://www.admworld.com/

Ev, thanks for the websites. They do cut the ground from under some of the nonsense claims made against biodiesel.
On the other hand, they provide clear evidence of the utter nonsense associated with uncritical acceptance of it as a replacement for fossil-fuel diesel.
"Archer Daniels Midland Company is one of the world's largest agricultural processors of soybeans, corn, wheat and cocoa. We work with farmers across the world to turn these crops into soymeal and oil, corn sweeteners, flour, cocoa and chocolate, ethanol and biodiesel, --."
If agricultural cropping is being expanded to provide biodiesel, we are being sold an "envionmental pup".
Currently the greatest scourge of Amazonian rainforest is the creation of farms for soya beans. As are palm oil plantations of South East Asian forests.
No matter how close to carbon-dioxide-neutral they might be, crops grown specificaly for biodiesel are suspect, wherever they are. Their effects upon biodiversity, and agriculture generally, are potentially neither benign nor sustainable in the long term. That is especially so in a world of expanding numbers of humans; of people who, in addition to an increased presence,have a craving for more individual consumption

Colinsett, your right ADM is a big problem as is all monopolies. That's why I advocate localised energy industries, they boost local economies, develop jobs and give rural producers cheaper alternatives. You can rotate crops, not clear more ground and still get oil seed. This lowers inflation, stabilises the economy and environment. It also allows farmers to produce food crops and get a return all year round.

If fuel were produced locally, it would reduce costs and increase our export markets as our products could be produced cheaper and more environmentally friendly thus establishing sustainability and reducing our trade deficit. With the right rotations, you eliminate chemicals, improve your soils and income.

We have many native plants capable of providing usable oils. Ethanol can be obtained from virtually any natural fibrous plant. We have wattles and eucalyptus that produce huge amounts of seed, yet more than 95% never germinates, by using 90% for oil with non destructive harvesting methods, you don't even have to change the land just develop machinery to work within the environment when harvesting.

The problem we face isn't answers, but the desire of people to want to take control of their lives and contribute to a viable future. Living in denial is not an option any more, because those things that were in the future, are now becoming a part of our present. Its not globalisation, economic growth, expansion we need, but sustainable environmental friendly technological growth.

A property that harvests it forests with no damage and producers more from less ground, would allow this country to become very self-sufficient. The native forests only need the rain, not irrigation