Stories from UniSci
Aozotorp
Headline:
Ethanol For Fuel Fundamentally Uneconomic, Study Says
Neither increases in government subsidies to corn-based ethanol fuel nor hikes
in the price of petroleum can overcome what one Cornell University agricultural
scientist calls a fundamental input-yield problem: It takes more energy to make
ethanol from grain than the combustion of ethanol produces.
At a time when ethanol-gasoline mixtures (gasohol) are touted as the American
answer to fossil fuel shortages by corn producers, food processors and some
lawmakers, Cornell's David Pimentel takes a longer range view.
"Abusing our precious croplands to grow corn for an energy-inefficient process
that yields low-grade automobile fuel amounts to unsustainable, subsidized food
burning," says the Cornell professor in the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences.
Pimentel, who chaired a U.S. Department of Energy panel that investigated the
energetics, economics and environmental aspects of ethanol production several
years ago, subsequently conducted a detailed analysis of the corn-to-car fuel
process.
His findings will be published in September in the forthcoming Encyclopedia of
Physical Sciences and Technology.....
http://unisci.com/stories/20013/0808012.htm
Headline:
Buried Irrigation Reduces Farm Runoff, Saving Trees
When tree deaths began to exceed normal rates in Manatee County's Flatford
Swamp in 1998, environmentalists and Florida water managers suspected water
runoff from nearby farms.
The excess irrigation water, they said, kept the swamp from drying out as it
normally does each winter. The problem was common enough around the state to
prompt University of Florida researchers to develop a solution: A buried
irrigation system that reduces runoff and could maintain swamps' normal water
levels.
The system carries the added benefit of cutting water use by up to a third --
something appealing to farmers nationwide.
In addition, while the system isn't designed to control nutrient runoff --
another common problem -- it may also reduce the amount of nitrates and other
nutrients in surface water by encouraging growers to use less fertilizer, said
Craig Stanley, a researcher at UF's Gulf Coast Research and Education Center
where the system was developed.
"Growers normally have a fear of losing fertilizer that is leached away
following a heavy rainfall," Stanley said. "This system can provide better
control of the water table level, meaning farmers can get by applying less
fertilizer to their fields."
Pacific Tomato Growers has installed the system on 90 acres it owns in Myakka
City that drains water into the Flatford Swamp. Gary Bethune, Pacific Tomato's
engineering director, said the company plans to expand its use in Florida as
well as in California, Georgia and Maryland.
"We have had just extraordinary success with it," Bethune said.
Known as enclosed seepage or subsurface drip irrigation, the system uses a
series of tubes buried 16 inches underground that carry water into the fields,
said Stanley, a professor at the Bradenton center, which is part of UF's
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
"The water table is typically close to the surface in flatwoods soils used for
vegetable production, so irrigation is controlled by managing the level of the
water table," Stanley said. "The water from these tubes goes directly into the
water table, causing it to rise to a level where it can get to the plants."
Stanley said farmers have been using microirrigation techniques to deliver
water directly to plants for years. But he said the new system's use of buried
microirrigation tubing to manage water table levels makes it more efficient
than prior systems by eliminating surface runoff.
"The system still requires as much maintenance and cleaning as above ground
microirrigation systems, but it's a lot more forgiving system if a problem
develops," Stanley said. "The water goes to the water table instead of directly
to the plant like in microirrigation.
"So if you get a clog somewhere in the tubing it's not a major problem because
water keeps coming out someplace else in the system," he said.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District had a priority of working with
area growers to restore the swamp's natural water cycles, said Steven Minnis,
senior community affairs coordinator with the district.
"We did not want to dictate a method growers should use to reduce or eliminate
excess water flowing into Flatford Swamp," Minnis said. "So we decided to begin
partnership programs with the agricultural community within that particular
basin."
Bethune said while the system is saving Pacific Tomato Growers money in
fertilizer and other areas, the savings do not yet offset the costs of the
system itself. He estimated the cost for a similar system could run around
$1,100 an acre, but he said he expects the cost to come down.
"One of the important things is going to be that the system is a permanent
system, unlike conventional drip where we replace the drip tape on an annual
basis," Bethune said. "We're hoping that in the long term the system will prove
cost-effective." - By Ed Hunter ...
http://unisci.com/stories/20013/0808013.htm
Survival of Quaking Aspen Groves A Complex Problem
Quaking aspen groves in the American West have been on the decline since the
beginning of serious settlement and exploitation, but recent studies of
California aspen by Penn State geographers suggest that the aspen decrease is
more complicated than previously thought.
"Since European settlement began in about 1850, about 60 to 90 percent of the
aspen forests have disappeared, taken over by conifers such as pines, spruce
and fir," says Dong Ko, a recent Penn State graduate with a master's degree in
geography.
"In just the last 50 years, there has been a 30 percent decline," Ko told
attendees at the 86th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America
Tuesday in Madison, Wis.
Quaking aspen, the most widely distributed tree in the northern hemisphere, is
found from coast to coast in a band that includes northern California, the
Rocky Mountains, Wisconsin, upstate New York and New England.
Beside being noted for their shimmering leaves and the golden color they turn
in the fall, aspen are unusual because they grow as clones, putting out
vegetative shoots rather than forming seeds from which saplings sprout.
"Much research exists on aspen groves in the intermountain West and especially
about their decline there," says Dr. Alan Taylor, professor of geography. "But
there is no published information on aspen stands from California. Nothing was
known about them."
Assumptions for the decline of the intermountain aspen stands include the
suppression of frequent fires, increased livestock grazing and increased and
concentrated herds of native herbivores including deer and especially elk. The
same environmental factors were believed to affect California stands as well.
Ko and Taylor studied 20 aspen groves on the California side of the Lake Tahoe
Basin. The Penn State researchers identified the ages of the trees in the
stands and the types of trees found.
Surprisingly, they found only 15 percent or five stands that showed a shift in
composition toward coniferous, shade-tolerant species. In the remainder of the
groves studied, 12 had stable aspen populations with evidence of self
replacement and 3 showed regeneration of both aspen and conifers.
The researchers warn that the history of the Lake Tahoe Basin is unique. Most
of the forests were clear-cut in the 1870s to supply wood to the miners of the
Comstock Lode. The Basin's aspen stands are mostly around 120 to 130 years
old.....
http://unisci.com/stories/20013/0807013.htm
Headline:
Tiny Beach Mouse Facing Extinction, Researchers Say
The twin menaces of hurricanes and beachfront development appear poised to wipe
out Florida's most diminutive coastal native, the beach mouse, according to new
research led by a University of Florida scientist.
Scientists at UF and Auburn University have concluded that the few remaining
populations of beach mice on the Florida and Alabama coasts are in "substantial
danger" of extinction from hurricanes and continuing loss of habitat to
development.
In research on four remaining populations -- including the last known
populations of a Perdido Key subspecies -- the researchers predicted the
populations have a 37 to 57 percent chance of extinction in 25 years and a 59
to 80 percent chance in 50 years.
Their conclusions already are being borne out: Since the research was
conducted, one of the Perdido Key populations has gone extinct, although
another population of the subspecies has been reintroduced elsewhere on the
key.
"We asked, 'What would be the chance that beach mice will persist in the future
if we consider the effects of catastrophic events such as hurricanes?'" said
Madan Oli, a UF assistant professor of wildlife ecology and conservation and
lead author of a paper on the research that appeared this year in Biological
Conservation. "Unless we increase our efforts to conserve habitat and take
other measures, the answer doesn't look too good."
The beach mouse, Peromyscus polionotus, is small and nocturnal. It ranges in
color from nearly white to brown, depending on the color of the surrounding
soil. The mice once occurred throughout the coastal regions of Alabama and
western Florida, but the spread of commercial and residential development has
slashed their numbers and fragmented their populations.
Today, only about a dozen small populations remain on the Gulf coast, composed
of four endangered subspecies and one not listed as endangered or
threatened....
David Gossman
"Aozotorp" <aozo...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010814142254...@ng-bh1.aol.com...
I have often wondered about this issue. Looking further at the information
found at the link we find the following start to his analysis.
"An acre of U.S. corn yields about 7,110 pounds of corn for processing into
328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing and harvesting that much corn
requires about 1,000 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 per acre,
according to Pimentel's analysis."
Any farmer that spends that much fuel and money to raise one acre of corn is
quickly out of business. That alone makes the analysis faulty. The cost to
hire a local farmer to raise corn on my ground, including his time,
equipment and fuel is $75/acre or less!
--
--------------------------------------------
|David Gossman | Gossman Consulting, Inc. |
|President | http://gcisolutions.com |
| The Business of Problem Solving |
--------------------------------------------
"If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science;
it is opinion." - Lazarus Long aka Robert Heinlein
hanson
> "An acre of U.S. corn yields about 7,110 pounds of corn for processing into
> 328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing and harvesting that much corn
> requires about 1,000 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 per acre,
> according to Pimentel's analysis."
>
> Any farmer that spends that much fuel and money to raise one acre of corn is
> quickly out of business. That alone makes the analysis faulty. The cost to
> hire a local farmer to raise corn on my ground, including his time,
> equipment and fuel is $75/acre or less!
Hya David,
LTNS,GTTTY
According to you:
Pintel's cost is $ 347 / 328 gal = $1.06/gal Ethanol
You insist the cost to be $ 75 / 328 gal = $0.23/gal Ethanol
What's the reason for this 4 fold difference?
Who pockets the difference?
hanson
David Gossman
hanson <han...@quick.net> wrote in message
news:91acb879.01081...@posting.google.com...
on my farm. That cost does not include the cost of servicing the mortgage or
providing a profit. The simple fact is that corn is a fixed price commodity
right now and a cost analysis would also be interesting and I would think
relatively easy for that reason. I think he got a cost analysis mixed up
with an energy balance. His fuel costs alone are incredible - 1000 gallons
of fuel per acre?? That makes the analyst's data faulty. It does not suggest
that someone else is pocketing the money because I can't trust any of the
numbers the guy provides. I would be very interested in seeing a true
analysis of this issue. I have heard that Iowa State has been commissioned
to do an analysis of some sort. I would also note that he did not take into
account the value of the residue from the fermentation process. I understand
that it is high in proteins and is sold as animal feed.
David Gossman