Brin: Random stuff from the blog

[David Brin]

Hmmm. Interesting as usual, Alberto...

Good perspective.


--- Alberto Monteiro <albmont at centroin.com.br> wrote:

> Brin blogged:
> >
> > The world's rush to embrace biofuels is causing a
> spike
> > in the price of corn and other crops and could
> worsen
> > water shortages and force poor communities off
> their land,
> > according to a U.N. official. 
> 
> Ok, but this is not the consensus. What caused the
> spike in
> the prices of vegetable food is the increase of
> income of
> millions of chinese and indians. They got richer,
> they wanted
> to eat less veggies and more meat, and the
> production of meat
> takes about 7 times more vegetable than the
> production of
> veggie food.
> 
> > But a biofuel startup in Illinois can make ethanol
> from
> > just about anything organic for less than $1 per
> gallon,
> > and it wouldn't interfere with food supplies... 
> 
> And if it becomes economically viable (a big if),
> then why
> on Earth would the organic waste be priced at zero?
> Here
> in Brazil, the price of animal fat was near zero,
> then
> we started transesterifying it to make biodiesel.
> Guess what?
> Now it's price is getting close to soybean oil.
> 
> Alberto Monteiro
> 
> 
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