Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Biodiesel boondoggle

I'm not certain I can write this without screaming my head off. Lucky for you, you can't hear screaming through text.

Let me start off by stating that I am all for taking care of my little corner of the universe. I don't litter, I drive economically sensible vehicles (my scooter and motorcycle are my primary transportation), I'm careful to dispose of used motor oil properly when I change my vehicles' oil, I turn off my lights and electronics when they are not in use, and so on.

I can see the point in trying to find renewable sources of energy. It makes a lot of sense to me, but from a cost perspective since I don't subscribe to the idea of global warming. I remember hearing from many of the earthy-crunchy types that bio-diesel was supposed to be this wonderful cure for hydrocarbon consumption. Several folks made their own Fry-oil using Volkswagons, and just last year, the biodiesel consuming Jetta was proclaimed "green Vehicle of the year"

But wait, Biodiesel is made from, among other things, the oil of the oil palm. Where does the oil palm grow? It grows in warm climates in places such as Indonesia. So, now we have the green movement up in arms because millions of acres of rainforest have been leveled to plant oil palm plantations.

The destruction of the rain forest means loss of habitat for all the little critters the greenies want to protect.

The whole thing is morbidly hilarious. First biodiesel is the most wonderful thing in the world, but now, it's horrible, and the greenies brought this upon themselves!

Perhaps clean drilling for good old fashioned dino oil isn't so bad after all?

I'll stick to my scooter and motorbike, thanks just the same.

3 comments:

David said...

Yes, that whole "global warming" nonsense is a farce; a gross exaggeration, at best. It's all politically motivated.

Your news is a rather stark bit of irony now, isn't it? It'd be laughable, if it weren't so sad..

cpa3485 said...

Around here, part of the new rage has been the production of alcohol from corn to be used as fuel. It can be great for farmers because of the new potential market for their crops, but commodity prices lately have made it rather impractical.
Some of these new solutions are great, but in my opinion, severely limited as to their applicability because of lack of supply.

Unknown said...

Paul:

I think I was behind one of those converted vegetable oil burners the other day and what a smell was coming out the rear end. I couldn't stand it anymore, it gives you a headache

bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin