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“Oklahoma secured land for the world's largest stand of switchgrass devoted to cellulosic ethanol production. Acknowledging concerns over ethanol production impacting food prices, Oklahoma advances switchgrass, a different type of energy crop, which has higher energy output than corn and does not compete with human or animal food sources.

“The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center (OBC), a state-initiative championed by Gov. Brad Henry, secured land to enable the planting of more than 1,100 acres of production-scale demonstration fields for cellulosic energy crops, such as switchgrass and sorghum to contribute to the United States' bioenergy effort. Planting will take place within the next 45 days.

“The critical piece of this effort is 1,000 acres of switchgrass which will be planted near Guymon, Okla. in the state's panhandle. This switchgrass field will be the first of its size anywhere in the world focused on biomass production. Additional acreage of sorghum and switchgrass will be planted near Chickasha and Maysville in central Oklahoma.

“Rising food costs recently resulted in a pushback against renewable fuels. However, cellulosic ethanol from sources like switchgrass and sorghum are non-competitive with food sources for animals and humans and remove cellulosic ethanol from this discussion," said Oklahoma Secretary of Energy David Fleischaker. "More so, this dedicated land will allow us to demonstrate the advantages of switchgrass.”

See also the setting of energy policy - biofuels: a study in politics as usual

related material
switchgrass

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the web address for the article above is
http://www.abelard.org/news/energy0805.php#cellulosic_ethanol_050508

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old fools ‘discussing’ nuclear power without the slightest understanding of the situation

Context: Energy questions in the UK House of Commons, asked by all parties and answered by a (NuLabour) ‘energy’ minister.

No context with the fossil fuel filth.
No context with the subsidies to the so-called renewables.
No context given the lights will go out.
No context that energy prices must rise as an imperative.
No context of security.
No understanding of the very low real waste situation.

The Lib Dems in cloud cuckoo land;
Socialist Labour with no business sense;

while the Conservative Tories just cynically watch the dopes wallow.

here are a few bits of informarion either ignored or unknown by most paticipants:

• Recycling should be expected. The most sucessfully nuclear European country, France, reprocesses its own nuclear fuel.
• Long half-lifes means lower radiation, not more radiation. It is a short half-life that is associated with greater radiation. See Radioactive materials.
• Nuclear power is a much safer alternative to filthy fossil fuels. See also fossil fuel disasters.
• Storage is a minor problem. The main reason no deep dedicated storage has been built yet is the remarkably small amount of waste produced. Aside from assuaging watermelon scare stories and legal challenges, storage is not commercially urgent. See also Nuclear waste: comparison of waste produced from nuclear generation and from coal.

related material
the nuclear energy option
nuclear power - is nuclear power really really dangerous?
ionising radiation and health—risk analysis

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the web address for the article above is
http://www.abelard.org/news/energy0805.php#uk_mps_nuclear_010508

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