From the latest Discover magazine:
(it's hard to imagine how anyone could dis-count the need for alternative sources of energy and the impact of mass release of CO2. (aside: I study climate for a living, so I got some solid info.) Just one more piece to the "Why Bush's energy/environmental policies hurt ALL OF US, even republicans. Come on-who doesn't want more put into getting us off the petroleum boat? -MBR)


What’s in a Gallon of Gas?

Everyone knows fossil fuels come from long-dead plants, but Jeffrey Dukes wanted real numbers: How much plant matter does it take to make a gallon of gasoline? Dukes, a biologist, ecologist, and dabbler in biogeochemistry at the University of Massachusetts, discovered that such statistics are hard to find. So he decided to figure them out for himself and was surprised by the answers. A gallon of gas represents roughly 100 tons of plant matter, the amount that exists in 40 acres of wheat. Burning that gallon puts 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. The annual consumption of gasoline in the United States, about 131 billion gallons of gas, is equivalent to 25 quadrillion pounds of prehistoric biomass and releases some 2.6 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide. The numbers are even more sobering when you consider all the fossil fuels—coal, natural gas, and oil—that people consume. Since 1751, roughly the start of the Industrial Revolution, humans have burned the amount of fossil fuel that would have come from all the plants on Earth for 13,300 years. “We know that fossil-fuel use is not sustainable in the long run,” Dukes says. “This study will, I hope, encourage people to face up to the energy problem now.”

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God Bless America, and No Place Else

Can't we combat the bad environment with a swift military strike or something? Maybe blast it a few times with some depleted uranium tipped shells? I don't believe any of your enviro-mumbo jumbo. All those liberal scientists and all their findings what do environmental scientists know about the environment anyways. Can't you see the real enemy is out there in a cave, hiding waiting....

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It's hard to be successful if you don't make something somebody doesn't want to buy.
George W. Bush

http://www.wri.org/press/wri_reaction_bush.html

Here's what the US is doing.

Im sorry penishead, i havent been following too many of your posts, so i dont know when you are sarcastic or when you arent. I just hope for your sake you were.

Hopefully, within the next few years, with enough advancements in technology, we can improve on alternative energy sources. The possibilities are there, we just need to enhance them. Solar energy is one example.

Just call me Dick if you must. I mean Penis-head come on now. Besides all the alternative energy patents are owned by big Oil already so get used to breathing in waste my friend. Hey look on the bright-side, it will create allot of jobs cleaning up waste.

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It's hard to be successful if you don't make something somebody doesn't want to buy.
George W. Bush

sorry, i cant use the d-word because some people..cough...senax...may get offended by my cussing. so i decided to be cute instead.
Yeah, i guess that is the bright side of a lifetime of mercury filled water (fish) and the rapping of the landscape, more jobs.

So many great things will come as a by product. There will be a lot less pedestrians hit by cars when we all glow. Now if thats not a plus I don't know what is. Kids can stay out later since there will be less definition between night and day. Just imagine the increase in production as well with three or even four-armed workers. Wow I just can't wait. As Mr Kerry says "Bring it on"

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It's hard to be successful if you don't make something somebody doesn't want to buy.
George W. Bush

[quote="marybeth77";p="3504"]From the latest Discover magazine:
(it's hard to imagine how anyone could dis-count the need for alternative sources of energy and the impact of mass release of CO2. (aside: I study climate for a living, so I got some solid info.) Just one more piece to the "Why Bush's energy/environmental policies hurt ALL OF US, even republicans. Come on-who doesn't want more put into getting us off the petroleum boat? -MBR)


Marybeth, who pays your wages and what are your qualifications in hard science?



What’s in a Gallon of Gas?

4 quarts I guess!


Everyone knows fossil fuels come from long-dead plants,


Actually it one of those things that everyone knows that more or less a myth.
The truth is that no one knows how petroleum is formed and there ain't no DNA in it. It is just as valid to assume that petroleum is the pre-cursor of life as it is to assume that it is the detritus of life, then agian it might be niether


but Jeffrey Dukes wanted real numbers: How much plant matter does it take to make a gallon of gasoline?

Have him make a gallon out the leaves in my back yard and I'll begin to take notice of his "brilliance"

Dukes, a biologist, ecologist, and dabbler in biogeochemistry at the University of Massachusetts, discovered that such statistics are hard to find.

Thats and understatement, if they did exist they would be a total fabrication

So he decided to figure them out for himself and was surprised by the answers. A gallon of gas represents roughly 100 tons of plant matter, the amount that exists in 40 acres of wheat.

I can understand why he dabbles - he's an idiot. and idiots dabble because they cant do anything else.

Burning that gallon puts 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.

By what odd chemsitry can one gallon of gas weighing approximately 6 pounds put 20 pound of C02 in the air. Even if gasoline were pure carbon (which it isnt) the most C02 it could create would be 12[atomic weight of carbon] * 6 pounds / 32[atomic weight of atmospheric 02] = 7.5 pounds!

No wonder this guy dabbles - he doesn know jack-s**t about chemistry

The numbers are even more sobering when you consider all the fossil fuels

Gosh somethign has to sober this guy up. C02 is a trace gas in the atmoshere and no matter what the weight of it is, it a a tiny fraction of the earths atmosphere. Water vapor is huge by comparison - whoops i guess all that water vapor that results from the combustion of hydrogen will be the nastiest "polluter" of all time.



“We know that fossil-fuel use is not sustainable in the long run,” Dukes says. “This study will, I hope, encourage people to face up to the energy problem now.”

Sooner or later the mass exterminations will no doubt be called for. Lets make it later and have a good time while we can. The alternative is that our "fair share" of fossil fuels approaches zero if we consider that an infinate number of future generations must have an equal share to that of ours.

Hilter and the environmentalists have a nice final solution but as for me ill forbear their solutions for at least 30 more years

You're responding to an old post; marybeth doesn't come around here much anymore.

But to answer: I'm no chemist, but even the CBO says burning a gallon of gasoline produces about 20 pounds of C02.
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=3991&sequence=2

I think the main problem would be that your math is messed up. Carbon has an atomic weight of 12. Oxygen has an atomic weight of 16. So C02 will have a combined atomic weight of 44 -- or 3.67 times the weight of the carbon input. Ergo, if the gallon of gas were pure carbon, it would produce 22 pounds of CO2. It's not pure carbon, so 20 pounds sounds about right.

Your point about it being unclear where oil comes from is a sound one. So his calculation about use of 13,300 years of plant material is suspect.

But your dissing of C02 as a "trace gas" is not. It is, indeed, a small fraction of the atmosphere. But it has been demonstrated to be a serious greenhouse gas because it absorbs infrared radiation. Fraction is not the relevant measure; effect is.

If you disagree, consider botulism.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...nd%20Poisoning

One millionth of a gram can kill a man; one pint is enough to kill everyone on earth. That would certainly qualify as a "trace" amount.

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