Blah, blah, blah, blah, whoo let's all jump on board and buy into the latest popular politically correct topic (gotta be green, its' the thing to do!) and try to make ourselves look good so we can get re-elected (mind you, they are a lot easier to stomach than the governing party they replaced) Well if there is actually a net benefit to this bio diesel I can't see it, but if it means a more viable business for some farmers in the Peace country, that would be a good thing. Personally, I wish we had Ralph Klein at the helm.
metalman.

Yeah, Ralph Klein would REALLY endorse ethanol production!

Did anyone read the article in the Globe this morning about Alberta offering $20 million a piece to get some of the best scientific thinkers to the province?

That is what happens to blue-eyed sheiks who take money from the rest of us and don't share ... :-(

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070214.wxalberta14/BNStory/National/home

I wonder how much we can afford to pay for similar talent to look at the MPB situation and figure out the best solution for all.

Then there is the Auditor General's report that states that the feds did nothing to gear up for the obvious onslaught of passport requests. If they had, people would not have needed to wait for them.

Is there anything governments are ever ready for?

Shortage of labour due to aging workforce

Air pollution due to excess emissions in a bowl

Major natural disturbance preparedness such as the MPB epidemic, earthquakes, wildfire urban interface (Kelowna 2003) etc. ....

Global warming response ....

Road maintenance ...

Bridge failures ...

Poorly performing hockey clubs .....

RCMP who want to grow an empire .....

High construction inflation due to Olympic construction + rapid transit construction + sea to sky highway improvements .....

etc .. etc. ...

You know while the government has jumped on the topic very quickly, biodiesel isn't unheard of. There's actually a company that's just starting up in Prince George here called PG Biofuel Inc. that is going to be producing and selling locally.

George Bush talked today about using wood chips to produce ethanol. He said corn was not the solution because it would effect hog producers and thus have negative impacts on the food chain and that he saw wood chips as the solution to America's energy problems.

Very interesting and pessimistic comments from a few who think they have all the answers.

There are several research programs going on right under your noses that will use much of the dead wood that the lumber makers of this area will not take.

Its interesting when all we can think about is slicing wood to make lumber or chips for pulp. But you need to think out of your wooden box and realize that the days of slicing wood for lumber are numbered in this area. Several of the projects are looking at utilizing the dead wood to convert into a biofuel system that can produce electricity or even heat for your home with out the need for gas or electricity. Central heating through out PG could be very efficient and clean.

Think out of the box. Realize that we have a tremendous quantity of fibre that can be utilized for other purposes that could benefit all of us and create alot of jobs.

I think I will build a mast and put a sail in the back of my pickup truck. When the wind blows my way on the way into town I will unfurl it and reap the wind and shut my engine off to conserve fuel. I would like a tax break for this.

Going to a biofuel system is far from thinking outside the box. This area was heated by wood burning stoves from the early 19 hundreds up to and including the early 1950's. We then started to cut over to electricity and natual gas, which we were told was the cheapest and most cost effective way to heat our homes and run industry. Plus it was great for reducing pollution. Large Citys thoughout North American had steam and water heat since the early 19 hundreds. This is nothing new. In fact it is so old I suspect that the Inca's probably had a heated water service. I think the Romans also had one.

In any event if we have no other way to get rid of the beetle killed timber except to burn it and generate electricity, or heat water to heat buildings then I suppose we will do it, but think of this.

If we do not burn our Natural Gas., or our Electricity, then Terasen Gas, and BC Hydro will sell this power to the good old USA who will not have any problem using it. So we can go back to the 1900's way of doing business, and keep the Americans in the 21st Century.

Some may remember when it was plastics ....

today the cry is enzymes ....

What Bush was talking about is this:

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/07/04/drive_to_make_fuel_from_plants_gets_a_boost

There are several problems with using MPB killed wood to extract the energy it entraps.

1. there is a limited amount, thus may be good from 10 to max 20 years ... we cannot use wood to any great extent forever since we would deplete the forests entirely and create the new Saraha.

2. Enzyme use to create ethanol is a few years down the road to commercialization it appears.

2. burning wood is, as Palopu states, the oldest technology on the earth .... recall the discovery of fire and what the material was that was likely burned .. the same as the scouts do, other than on smog days..... it is likely the most common fuel in poor parts of the world, along with cow patties ....

3. burning wood creates greenhouse gases. By the magic of bean counters, it is green greenhouse gases because it is from new wood rather than old wood ... i.e. coal. So, to be green, the carbon has to be captured and stiored so that it is not released to the air - sequestered.

4.the energy is not competitive with electricity at this time, even when it is the garbage culled from wood used for other purposes. Cutting and transporting and processing and replanting wood solely for the purpose of burning it to capture heat, is far too expensive. It is a backwards step.

Forward to the past .....

Ethanol is not a feasible solution to address climate change. How much diesel is burned in tractors, swathers and combines to produce ethanol? In some cases it takes as much as 1.5 litres of diesel to produce a litre of ethanol, which in turn produces less energy than a litre of gasoline.

And how much land is going to be used to grow crops for fuel production? Will drive up the cost of food grains?

Of course costs will rise and government will tax the hellout of it too.

Pitman gets bitched at for making asphault to build and repair roads.....because it makes some noise and smoke.
Yet people seriously want a bio diesel plant and all the pollution and noise it and the trucking of it etc will make.

Then at the very least shut up and leave pitman asphault alone first....you will need the roads to haul all this crap.

My comments are not intended to indicate disfavour for alternative energy sources, far from it. The problem, for me anyway, is all the hype from the media and government (including our own city) for what amounts to zero benefit to the cleanliness of our air, once consideration is given to the energy required to produce and deliver the biodisel and ethanol.
Fuel cells are the solution, like those produced by Ballard, right here in beautiful B.C.
metalman.

We got all the resources in the world and now they want us to use chip oil!...anyways, do you hear "anything" about china being less polluting, with over a billion people that just came into the second industrial revolution can you imagine the pollution there,...but ho no lets jump all over Canada
'pop 30 million' and make us the scape goat for global warming. By the way, I wish I had some global warming in my yard today, just finished snowblowing and it's finally over my head "6 feet".

can we not seriously look at cellulose ethanol as an option in this area !? I don't begin to understand the science behind these things, but wouldn't cellulose ethanol pose less of a threat to would-be food supply (especially when our climate warms & we can grow more food locally)?!!!