Bio Fuel

We're all feeling the strain at the pumps right now and we all know there's absolutely no legitimate reason for the exorbitant price of a gallon of gas.  We also know what's going to happen to the economy, our jobs, and our lives if it the prices don't go down.  So what is the answer?

Hybrid cars are wonderful, if you're in the position financially to buy one.  But what about those of us who struggle at the low end of the middle class who can't afford to add a car payment to the monthly bills?  Solar panels are a wonderful way to reduce, or even eliminate our electric bills, but who can afford to buy the solar panels these days?  The truth is, it takes A LOT of money to buy all this energy efficient, money saving technology and none of it will do much to help us right now.

The high price of fuel is not a new thing.  It nearly bankrupted the country three years ago and still there are no viable solutions.  The government's solution is "use less fuel" so we all did and instead of going down, the price went up because since the demand went down the oil companies reduced production.  The truth is, they don't want the price at the pump to go down.  In fact, they would all be very happy if it kept going up.  Case in point, BIO-FUEL!  You may wonder what I'm talking about, after all, bio-fuels are supposed to reduce our carbon footprint and save us money.  Eventually.  If only they didn't cost so much to manufacture.

The excuse for the cost of bio-fuel is that it's SO difficult to make.  I just watched an episode of NOVA that was all about alternative energy, including bio-fuel.  Soybeans and corn are two of the main sources of bio-fuel.  One fellow developed a yeast that distills bio-fuel that comes out ready to be used with no additional refinement needed.  Wonderful!  But he used sweet grass so the fuel cost $100,000 to manufacture one tablespoon.  Sweet grass?  Really?  I even heard of an oil company that's attempting to make fuel from algae.  It all sounds good on the surface, after all, soybeans and corn are food and we shouldn't be using food for fuel, but come on!  It sounds to me like they're deliberately choosing raw materials that will never be cheap enough to be cost effective.

But there's a perfectly good and potentially abundant, cheap source of the sugars needed to produce bio-fuel.  It's called...wait for it...SUGAR!!!  Yes, that's right!  SUGAR! Sugar comes from sugar cane, something that the US is capable of producing in abundance.  Nearly every state in the country could easily grow sugar cane, in fact, it's one of Louisiana's key agricultural crops.  Unless you've been to southern Louisiana in the fall, around Franklin and the surrounding countryside, you wouldn't know what goes on there then.  The fields around the town grow sugar cane and it's harvested in the fall.  What isn't needed for the harvest is burned.  Yes, I said burned, miles and miles of cane fields burned off because the cane isn't needed to make sugar.  It's been this way for many decades and I'm sure Louisiana isn't the only state that engages in this practice.  Researchers in Hawaii experimented with making bio-fuel from sugar cane several years ago and found it to be much cheaper and easier to manufacture and of much higher quality than fuels made from soy or corn, and won't deplete anyone's food supply.

So why aren't the oil companies who claim to want alternative energy pursuing the use of sugar cane as a viable source of bio-fuel?  I think that's the question we have to ask, and demand an answer too.  According to last night's NOVA, it should be as simple as adding yeast to sugar and distilling it, and that could be done at the local brewery.  Imagine that.  Cheap and abundant, renewable fuel that's as easy to make as beer.  I can see it now, the oil companies would all go out of business and Budweiser would become the king of more than just beer.  No wonder the oil companies are stalling.       

E-Readers

So this is something I've been thinking of writing about for almost a year.  I'm sure a lot of you have e-readers and love them, so I'm probably going to step on your toes, but I really don't like them.  I don't see the point of owning one, except to spend anywhere from $149 to $275 on a piece of technology nobody really needs.

E-books can be downloaded to your computer, laptop, I-Pad, netbook or phone.  So why lug around an e-reader too?  From a practicality standpoint, I would rather have a printed book.  I like the feel of a book in my hands.  I like the look of books on my shelves.  If I drop a book down the stairs, I just go down and pick it up, no harm done.  If I drop an e-reader down the stairs, I have to clean up a bunch of shattered plastic and buy another e-reader. 

Then there's the cost of e-books.  While some are free, most cost at least as much as a paperback.  So why not just buy a paperback?  If I buy an e-book, what do I have to show for my money?  Twenty years from now, the books on my shelves will still be readable and I won't have had to invest any more money to keep reading them, or pass them on to someone else.  Technology is constantly changing and what is new now will be obsolete and no longer functional in a few years.  After all, the computer I had ten years ago can't even get on the net anymore.  So I imagine if I want to keep up with e-books, I would have to keep investing in upgraded technology when the old becomes too slow to make the interface. 

I heard one person argue that e-readers were environmentally friendly because they don't use paper, save a tree and all that.  Please don't get me wrong, I love trees.  Forests are one of my favorite things in the world and I get very upset when I see a beautiful tree cut down for no reason.  BUT--The fact is that paper, and the trees it's made from, are a renewable resource.  Cut down a tree and a new one, or more, can be planted in its place.  Paper is also recyclable and bio-degradable, unlike the components of an e-reader, or a computer, cell phone, etc.  The batteries in these devices are quite toxic and do I really have to mention the manufacturing process from the acquisition of the raw materials on (strip mining for metals for example)?

So what is the point of having one more electronic gizmo tethered to us?  Paper is renewable, bio-degradable, recyclable, durable, portable, does not require batteries, has been around for thousands of years and will never become obsolete.  Wow, I don't know what you think, but that sounds like the perfect piece of technology to me.  I think I'll pass on the e-reader and spend my $149 dollars on a stack of new, PRINTED books instead.   

Valentine's Day

Okay, so this entry may seem a little late, but Valentine's Day is sort of still going on at my house.  We didn't have the money, or time to celebrate on Monday by going out to dinner or giving each other gifts, not even cheap ones.  None of that really matters much to either of us anyway.  So instead, I made a special dinner for us and we re-decorated our Christmas tree.  Yes, that's right, I said the Christmas tree.  Hay, it's white and has pastel lights on it so it serves double-duty.  We decorated it with pink paper hearts and wrote on each one either "I Love You Because..." or "My Happiness is..." and something personal.  

Do something special for the one you love every day.  Send a text, bring home a single rose, or make dinner even if all you know how to do is warm up canned soup.  My husband brought home bagels for breakfast so I wouldn't have to cook and made pizza rolls for dinner just last night and I love him more for it.  Showing someone you love them doesn't have to be pricey or difficult, as long as it's sincere.
 
My husband is from Louisiana so the decorations on the tree will shortly change over to the purple, gold and green of Mardi Gras, but I'm keeping the hearts.  I think we'll add to them next year.