Comments on: Go Sweden!

By: Stephen M (Ethesis)

Stephen M (Ethesis) — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 03:03:43 +0000

Ah, here it is on switchgrass:

http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/misc/switgrs.html

Interesting stuff.

By: Stephen M (Ethesis)

Stephen M (Ethesis) — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 03:02:18 +0000

Ethesis,

The numbers you cite apply to Brazil where it is relatively easy to grow sugar cane. Costs in the US where most ethanol is produced from corn are much higher. And all that corn production means that our soft drinks suck big time. I keep hearing that switchgrass is a better alternative for US production if ethanol is what you want. I admit to having no idea what switchgrass is.

Well, if we used Cuban sugar cane, or bought the ethanol from Brazil instead of buying oil, the price is cheaper — and cheaper than oil.

Or, if you generate biod by extracting oil from plankton.

I was just providing numbers for perspective, corn is discussed in the wiki as a bad crop for the purpose.

By: Chris Grant

Chris Grant — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:21:48 +0000

I’ve been told that the meat used by BYU, the MTC, the temples, etc., is produced by Church ranches/farms and processed at Church meat-packing plants. Perhaps you are right that the good stuff gets “exported”. I know that the quantity and quality of the turkey served in the MTC in early 1982 convinced me that eating “but a very little meat” might not be so bad after all.

The Priesthood session of our regional conference in 2002 was held at our stake center, and President Hinckley was driven there in a large (but not ostentatious) black car (a Crown Victoria or a Lincoln Continental), and Elder Maxwell drove himself there in a mid-sized SUV, again nothing showy but any EarthFirsters in the vicinity probably would have taken offense.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 17:57:02 +0000

Chris,
Those are good questions, the only one of which I can answer is #1, and I was told about it last fall (though I’m not sure exactly when the ultimatum was given). When I was there I didn’t inspect their storage spaces so I don’t know exactly how many tractors and trucks they use, but I can’t imagine it’s that much. They run the ranch through sustainable principles so instead of rounding up the herd of cattle they get them to move by introducing elk into the area giving the cattle incentive to leave on their own (or whatever). I don’t know exactly how it all works but it’s all very natural (no fences, no feed, no protection from natural enemies or the elements, etc).

I think you were joking about the cafeteria food, but for what it’s worth, the beef from the ranch is high quality, top dollar meat… not cafeteria junk. I imagine this stuff is going on the plates at Peter Luger’s rather than at the bishop’s storehouse.

I don’t know anything about the church leader’s cars.

By: Chris Grant

Chris Grant — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 14:27:00 +0000

A few questions re #11:

(1) When was Deseret Ranch given the 1-year ultimatum? I want to know when we can expect to hear the details of their successful conversion.

(2) Does the Deseret Ranch rely heavily on internal combustion engines? How many gallons of biodiesel should we expect them to be using in a typical year?

(3) If the switch to biodiesel ends up meaning lower productivity for Deseret Ranch, will this make things even more progressive in that there will actually be meals on the menus of temple cafeterias that are not centered around a slab of meat?

(4) Are the Church leaders driving biodiesel-burning cars themselves?

By: annegb

annegb — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 14:04:01 +0000

I think we should spend a lot of money on solar and geothermal power as well. And I don’t have a problem with nuclear power.

I don’t have a “let em eat cake” attitude toward the countries that produce oil. I think if we as people would ask God, He has a pretty good solution to all this, and He knows what those people should do to survive.

Switzerland doesn’t have oil. They survive.

This is going to sound racist, but I don’t consider myself a racist. A friend of mine whose father was a racist once made the point to when we were arguing that countries whose citizens have darker skins are not as prosperous as countries with citizens of lighter skin. She’s right.

I don’t know why that is so, I’m sure color of skin isn’t the determining factor, but nevertheless, Iraq, Iran, and other countries surely have other things to offer the world besides oil.