Global Warming...New Report...and it ain't happy news

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.SenateReport#report

10.
Chief Meteorologist Eugenio Hackbart of the MetSul Meteorologia Weather Center in Sao Leopoldo - Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil declared himself a skeptic. "The media is promoting an unprecedented hyping related to global warming. The media and many scientists are ignoring very important facts that point to a natural variation in the climate system as the cause of the recent global warming," Hackbart wrote on May 30, 2007. "I believe we have the duty to inform people about the true facts of global warming. It is interesting that is this global warming era of hysteria we just lived a very cold week with snow in the higher elevation of Southern Brazil and that the next week could be even colder with low temperatures not seen in this part of the globe during the month of May in the last 20 to 30 years. It is not only South Africa that is freezing. South America is under a sequence of cold blasts not seen since the very cold climatic winter of 2000 (La Niña)," Hackbart concluded. In a June 5, 2007 article, Hackbart noted that the "historical cold events in Southern Brazil (in 1957, 1965, 1975, 1984, 1996 and 2006) have another aspect in common. They all took place around the 11-year sun cycle solar minimum."

Among the many factors identified as contributing to the problem are rising fuel prices and , perhaps more interestingly, the displacement of crops from food sources to feed stock for biofuels (mostly ethanol) that has occurred, largely with generous government subsidies in many large nations, including the U.S.

georgeob1 wrote:

Among the many factors identified as contributing to the problem are rising fuel prices and , perhaps more interestingly, the displacement of crops from food sources to feed stock for biofuels (mostly ethanol) that has occurred, largely with generous government subsidies in many large nations, including the U.S.

You must understand it's a terribly hard dilemma. On the one hand, starving people in poor countries. On the other hand, Senate seats from America's many agricultural states that politicians of both parties want. Hmmm ... how to decide ..............

I'm not sure it is really a dilemma. Very hard to get excited about the efficiency of food production in India, Haiti, or the enlightened socialist paradises of Africa. However, I am confident of the inclination of the media and the class of self-appointed commentators to eventually portray it in those terms.

We have both in previous discussions attempted - without much success - to assert that eventually unfolding reality would force us to consider the relative costs and effectiveness of competing remedies for the challenges before us, particularly as it might affect the rather unbounded demands of the AGW zealots. We may now be seeing the leading edge of that phemomenon.

Hi mom...

There are a few reasons why diesel is so high...

1) Demand is way up primarily due to European and Chinese markets. This along with a tightening refining capacity has supplies lower than in past years.

2) Government requirements on low-sulfur diesel (for emissions purposes) has also has a huge effect on diesel prices that were not there a few years ago. It costs the refiners more to get almost all of the sulfur out of the diesel and therefore higher prices at the pump. Also, not all refineries are set up to produce low-sulfur diesel which tightens supplies even further.

3) Federal and state taxes on diesel are about $.06 per gallon higher than for gasoline

4) Also, bio-diesel requirements are now starting to have some effect on prices and this will likely get worse as we get closer to the 20% bio-diesel/gasoline requirement in the current energy bill over the next few years.

The EU Commission on Monday rejected claims that producing biofuels is a "crime against humanity" that threatens food supplies, and vowed to stick to its goals as part of a climate change package.

"There is no question for now of suspending the target fixed for biofuels," said Barbara Helfferich, spokeswoman for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas

The USDA estimates of food input costs as a percentage of retail prices are incorporated into
this study, and are as follows:
• Cereal and bakery items: input costs represent 4% of the price paid by consumers
• Beef: input costs represent 48% of the price paid by consumers
• Pork: input costs represent 27% of the price paid by consumers
• Chicken (fryers): input costs represent 50% of the price paid by consumers
• Dairy products: input costs represent 38% of the price paid by consumers
• Fats and oils: input costs represent 15% of the price paid by consumers
• All other (including fruits and vegetables) were assumed to not be impacted by a
sustained increase in the price of corn

Corn ethanol may be silly, but ... has anybody calculated the business case and environmental case of making woodgas from corn straw and powering vehicles with it? It strikes me as a plausible option for having your corn in the tank and eating it, too.

Corn ethanol may be silly, but ... has anybody calculated the business case and environmental case of making woodgas from corn straw and powering vehicles with it?

Corn ethanol may be silly, but ... has anybody calculated the business case and environmental case of making woodgas from corn straw and powering vehicles with it? It strikes me as a plausible option for having your corn in the tank and eating it, too.

What process for woodgas production do you have in mind? Anerobic decay??