Sunday, May 15, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
It's High Time for Real Alternative Energy!
Alternative fuels is a hot debate in America right now, we spend too much money on foreign oil, we panic at the prices when we fill up, and we blame every law maker we can find until those prices come down. The problem with alternative fuels is there isn't a solution! America buys gobs of oil every year from foreign governments, some of them hostile. The President has recently been running around the country investing in clean energy and technology to reverse a recession, if he were to invest in a hemp-based economy America could grow and maintain it's own fuel source. Hemp as bio-diesel is a solution!
Government should invest in hemp products and benefits by investing in growing and sustaining Cannabis plants. President Obama is calling for investment in clean energy, renewable resources and clean burning fuels and yet no one is talking about a step that can revolutionize the industry and create a healthier economy; Decriminalizing Marijuana.
Sugar beets, palm oil, corn are current bio fuels. Hemp does not need to have land cleared to grow it, it can grow very fast and leaves the ground in a better state when it is harvested. Food crops like soybeans, olives, peanuts are also used. Food crops are not a good long term solution and can lead to food shortages all over the world. These current methods of bio fuel production can't sustain America's energy use. 1 acre of hemp can produce five hundred gallons of bio fuel. Hemp fuels have shown a high efficiency of energy conversion and can be used at lower temperatures than any biodiesel currently on the market. Investment in production and long term use of Cannabis products is ignored because it's illegal.
The founding fathers, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were strong advocates for a hemp-based economy and laws were passed to enable that economy. In Jamestown in 1619 every farmer had to produce at least a quarter-acre of cannabis for the government. Hawaii and Vermont have passed measures promoting industrial hemp research. This is not just some underground notion, America has the potential to use this investment to promote hemp growing for its many industrial and health benefits. The University of Connecticut has been given a grant of $1.8 million dollars by the Department of Energy to build a refinery that will produce hemp bio-fuel, there are high expectations for production from this refinery.
Ethanol production is one of the stickiest political issues, corn growers all over the United States receive gobs of money to grow what they were growing already, and gas companies who use ethanol products receive massive tax breaks, those tax breaks manage to make it into every Presidential hopefuls' bank. This process goes around and around, and the dirty secret politicians rarely admit, is that ethanol production and investment haven't panned out, the impact is very little since it requires fossil fuels to cultivate. Too much money has been sunk into this lame solution. The Canadian Government and The National Bio-diesel Board have determined that Cannabis production would be more effective and less harmful then Ethanol based fuels.
The biggest obstacle to hemp based fuels is limited production, we just can't grow enough to make a dent, even in Canada where it's been legal for 6 years, only an investment from the government can make it high time we explored hemp based fuels.
Hemp Car Manifesto
Government should invest in hemp products and benefits by investing in growing and sustaining Cannabis plants. President Obama is calling for investment in clean energy, renewable resources and clean burning fuels and yet no one is talking about a step that can revolutionize the industry and create a healthier economy; Decriminalizing Marijuana.
Sugar beets, palm oil, corn are current bio fuels. Hemp does not need to have land cleared to grow it, it can grow very fast and leaves the ground in a better state when it is harvested. Food crops like soybeans, olives, peanuts are also used. Food crops are not a good long term solution and can lead to food shortages all over the world. These current methods of bio fuel production can't sustain America's energy use. 1 acre of hemp can produce five hundred gallons of bio fuel. Hemp fuels have shown a high efficiency of energy conversion and can be used at lower temperatures than any biodiesel currently on the market. Investment in production and long term use of Cannabis products is ignored because it's illegal.
The founding fathers, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were strong advocates for a hemp-based economy and laws were passed to enable that economy. In Jamestown in 1619 every farmer had to produce at least a quarter-acre of cannabis for the government. Hawaii and Vermont have passed measures promoting industrial hemp research. This is not just some underground notion, America has the potential to use this investment to promote hemp growing for its many industrial and health benefits. The University of Connecticut has been given a grant of $1.8 million dollars by the Department of Energy to build a refinery that will produce hemp bio-fuel, there are high expectations for production from this refinery.
Ethanol production is one of the stickiest political issues, corn growers all over the United States receive gobs of money to grow what they were growing already, and gas companies who use ethanol products receive massive tax breaks, those tax breaks manage to make it into every Presidential hopefuls' bank. This process goes around and around, and the dirty secret politicians rarely admit, is that ethanol production and investment haven't panned out, the impact is very little since it requires fossil fuels to cultivate. Too much money has been sunk into this lame solution. The Canadian Government and The National Bio-diesel Board have determined that Cannabis production would be more effective and less harmful then Ethanol based fuels.
The biggest obstacle to hemp based fuels is limited production, we just can't grow enough to make a dent, even in Canada where it's been legal for 6 years, only an investment from the government can make it high time we explored hemp based fuels.
Hemp Car Manifesto
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