Get a sweet solution for your energy problems

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Well, we eat or wear the other stuff we grow. Is there that great a difference?

Absolutely, it's the difference between a chemical change and a physical one. Eventually, your poop does make its way back to the ground. And that cotton shirt eventually goes in a landfill and degrades back into the ecosystem. But burned stuff is different; you can't unburn it, at least not without putting back in a whole lot of energy. At least as much energy as you released when you burned it in the first place...

[Spexxvet]

Gotcha.

[squirell nutkin]

Also the crop residue, the stuff you don't eat or weave into cloth, can be composted and put back into the soil replacing minerals, organic matter, hobos, etc.

[HungLikeJesus]

A plant is mostly made out of what comes from the air, not what comes from the ground, so if you burn the plant residue it will go into the air and eventually will be used to make new plants.

And making the plant does take a lot of energy, which comes from the sun.

[squirell nutkin]

Umm, I need to check your work there HLJ.

[HungLikeJesus]

But the moon is just the sun at night!

[Aliantha]

sugarcane itself degrades the soil more than just about any other crop you'll find. Farmers grow soybeans as a fallow crop once a year just to plow into the soil so it has at least some nutrient (nitrogen in particular). The whole suggestion of growing enough cane to create energy makes no sense. Sure, use what's left over from normal production, but don't destroy more land than is necessary.

[xoxoxoBruce]

But we need more sugar. Mmmm sugar.

[HungLikeJesus]

And without the meat, where are the organic people going to get the poop to put on their vegetables?

[jinx]

Burn the grass and eat the meat?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Let the cows eat the grass and they won't give a rat's ass if I eat them.