In the face of a global energy crisis, war, food shortages, and rampant inflation, does it make sense to be redirecting acres of valuable cropland to renewable diesel?
Bravo. Another excellent article by my favorite chicken. It's interesting to note that actions by U.S. Congress on food politics/subsidies effects the entire world. This pattern has emerged before playing a role in the 2007/2008 Arab Spring. Theory is that EPA biodiesel blending legislation of 2007 increased the cost index of food globally, because we started to burn food inputs into fuel at scale. This made the world more sensitive to food prices, and the Arab Spring riots in large part was a cause of food shortages. While people can tolerate extreme dictatorships and poor conditions, once their families go hungry for days they riot.
Note other factors may have played a bigger role, for example the impact of drought and climate change on food supply in Syria. All of this fits the theme that the world is highly connected in ways the general public isn't always aware of, and often America and other countries that are key suppliers of energy and food play an outsized role.
I'm sad to know that there is likely famine that will happen in the world because of the war and other factors. With famine comes riots, unrest and perhaps more violence.
I saw some charts recently showing that global crude oil, the king of fossil fuels, is declining. It peaked in 2019, crashed in 2020 and never really made it back. This is starting to look like Hubbert's peak oil curve might be starting to point down.
Wish you the best behind the paywall. So many writers and podcasters I like are trying it. I realize editorial integrity may be difficult with ad supported content. Don't know where I'll get my cutting edge information without you, but I'm going to find out.
Another brilliant article! Sad to see that will soon be behind a paywall ... well I guess free chicken lunch can't stay free forever ;) Best of luck, you guys deserve it !
Only a relatively small amount of ethanol was used to replace lead and even this is up for debate since it was tied to Ag subsidy package which provide a 50+cpg blending tax credit.
Ethanol's big breakthrough came from 2 major events, the MTBE lawsuits (ie Lake Tahoe) and Renewable Fuel Standard both of which the Ag lobby threw a lot money at.
A number of states esp in the midwest also provide sales tax exemptions for "high" renewable blended diesel which mean above 5%.
Spot on about the self inflicted food shortage that is coming. There are several more items to highlight in regards to this article:
> The crop yield data shows that negative impact claim on crops from climate change is bogus.
> Biodiesel plants like to talk about their used cooking oil & animal fat feedstock, but it's the marginal feedstock price of soybean oil that drives the high price bio/renewable diesel absent of carbon credits.
> The lobby power for these so called environmental/carbon programs. For instance, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard relies heavily on developing Carbon Intensity Pathways. These are far from black & white, they are basically crafted.
>These carbon scheme programs which now have mushroomed to net zero programs have created not just a cottage industry but a massive industry that is not driven by economics, but by dubious long term climate change mitigation benefits. There is a large front end cost, the return if any will not be realized until the distant future. In the past, low priced hydrocarbons masked this cost, but that is coming to an end.
Revelation 6:6 THIS IS ALL I NEED TO SAY
Bravo. Another excellent article by my favorite chicken. It's interesting to note that actions by U.S. Congress on food politics/subsidies effects the entire world. This pattern has emerged before playing a role in the 2007/2008 Arab Spring. Theory is that EPA biodiesel blending legislation of 2007 increased the cost index of food globally, because we started to burn food inputs into fuel at scale. This made the world more sensitive to food prices, and the Arab Spring riots in large part was a cause of food shortages. While people can tolerate extreme dictatorships and poor conditions, once their families go hungry for days they riot.
https://necsi.edu/food-briefing
Note other factors may have played a bigger role, for example the impact of drought and climate change on food supply in Syria. All of this fits the theme that the world is highly connected in ways the general public isn't always aware of, and often America and other countries that are key suppliers of energy and food play an outsized role.
I'm sad to know that there is likely famine that will happen in the world because of the war and other factors. With famine comes riots, unrest and perhaps more violence.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022343319898227
Great read, very eye opening.
Excellent article BUT not one word on overpopulation or the total destruction of the natural world to feed 8 billion human cockroaches.
I saw some charts recently showing that global crude oil, the king of fossil fuels, is declining. It peaked in 2019, crashed in 2020 and never really made it back. This is starting to look like Hubbert's peak oil curve might be starting to point down.
https://ourfiniteworld.com/2022/04/21/the-world-has-a-major-crude-oil-problem-expect-conflict-ahead/ (Figure 1, 2, 6 etc...).
Wish you the best behind the paywall. So many writers and podcasters I like are trying it. I realize editorial integrity may be difficult with ad supported content. Don't know where I'll get my cutting edge information without you, but I'm going to find out.
Fantastic piece Doomy! The ignorance is abound!
So now people will starve as we pursue a contrived solution to the nonexistent “problem” of anthropogenic climate change.
This is an eye opening piece. Thank you for the education.
Seems that renewable diesel still produces CO2, so how is considered a win in the eyes of the stricken?
That all depends on the REAL goal.
Another brilliant article! Sad to see that will soon be behind a paywall ... well I guess free chicken lunch can't stay free forever ;) Best of luck, you guys deserve it !
Only a relatively small amount of ethanol was used to replace lead and even this is up for debate since it was tied to Ag subsidy package which provide a 50+cpg blending tax credit.
Ethanol's big breakthrough came from 2 major events, the MTBE lawsuits (ie Lake Tahoe) and Renewable Fuel Standard both of which the Ag lobby threw a lot money at.
A number of states esp in the midwest also provide sales tax exemptions for "high" renewable blended diesel which mean above 5%.
Spot on about the self inflicted food shortage that is coming. There are several more items to highlight in regards to this article:
> The crop yield data shows that negative impact claim on crops from climate change is bogus.
> Biodiesel plants like to talk about their used cooking oil & animal fat feedstock, but it's the marginal feedstock price of soybean oil that drives the high price bio/renewable diesel absent of carbon credits.
> The lobby power for these so called environmental/carbon programs. For instance, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard relies heavily on developing Carbon Intensity Pathways. These are far from black & white, they are basically crafted.
>These carbon scheme programs which now have mushroomed to net zero programs have created not just a cottage industry but a massive industry that is not driven by economics, but by dubious long term climate change mitigation benefits. There is a large front end cost, the return if any will not be realized until the distant future. In the past, low priced hydrocarbons masked this cost, but that is coming to an end.
When I was very young, I believed that the most intelligent people ascended to run the country -- for the good of its citizens. (True story)
"Why it is hard to replace diesel with biodiesel
Posted on April 12, 2022 by energyskeptic"
https://energyskeptic.com/2022/why-it-is-hard-to-replace-diesel-with-biodiesel/#comment-58936
One of my favorite pieces yet. I feel like you've touched upon something deep here.
It would be interesting to explore how much of this crisis is a result of the way in which we farm, in addition to our bonehead policies.
Might a lot of these issues be mitigated through a commitment to regenerative farming practices?