Gengineered E. Coli Eat Sawgrass, Crap Jet Fuel

[Schneibster]

And then we are back to the raising food prices hurting the poor because we grow less corn.

Actually, using it for ethanol raised the price above what it was.

That was his point. We're back to hurting the poor due to scarcity.

And mine is, if we stop using it for ethanol the price will go down.

What's yours?

You both said the same thing. If corn is used for gasoline, the poor will not be able to afford the food that's left after the bulk of it is used to power Hummers.

Nope. He said if sawgrass replaces corn then the price of corn will go up.

Read better.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

You both said the same thing. If corn is used for gasoline, the poor will not be able to afford the food that's left after the bulk of it is used to power Hummers.

...unless you develop a bacteria that converts the green, leafy parts of the corn into fuel and leaves the kernels for human nomming...

Why not? Cellulose has loads of stored up carbon that can exothermically be converted into simpler fuels by suitably engineered bacteria.

[Schneibster]

You both said the same thing. If corn is used for gasoline, the poor will not be able to afford the food that's left after the bulk of it is used to power Hummers.

...unless you develop a bacteria that converts the green, leafy parts of the corn into fuel and leaves the kernels for human nomming...

Why not? Cellulose has loads of stored up carbon that can exothermically be converted into simpler fuels by suitably engineered bacteria.

Not as much as sawgrass.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You are not always right, Schneib. Just sayin'.

[Schneibster]

Unfortunately you always do it about stuff I've researched.

It's called "Google." Have you used it before?

[Tero]

Yey! We still know how to burn stuff!

[Schneibster]

This isn't stuff from underground and been sitting there since the atmosphere was 4000 ppm CO2 350 million years ago.

[Robert_S]

I'm worried about what happens when that bacteria gets loose.

[Schneibster]

It dies. It can't eat raw grass. You have to treat the grass first.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'm worried about what happens when that bacteria gets loose.

Don't worry, the government will be keeping a careful on it.

[Schneibster]

Does anyone really believe that the biologists working on this don't care if it escapes and eats the world?

Really?

[JimC]

You both said the same thing. If corn is used for gasoline, the poor will not be able to afford the food that's left after the bulk of it is used to power Hummers.

...unless you develop a bacteria that converts the green, leafy parts of the corn into fuel and leaves the kernels for human nomming...

Why not? Cellulose has loads of stored up carbon that can exothermically be converted into simpler fuels by suitably engineered bacteria.

Not as much as sawgrass.

Yes, but in XC's model, you don't have to commit arable land to a purely fuel production role. If all the waste agricultural material (mostly cellulose) was used to produce ethanol by the process in the OP, we would gain both the food, and a very significant amount of fuel.

The only potential issue is that in many cases, the waste is normally ploughed back into the soil, contributing to its nutrients. However, all those nutrients would be found in the residue of any bio-fermentation process; a well designed holistic system would convert that into an easily spreadable product, and return its nitrates, phosphates and other goodies back to the soil.

[Schneibster]

See, the problem is people want to make money off crops.

Otherwise that'd all be fine.

[JimC]

See, the problem is people want to make money off crops.

Otherwise that'd all be fine.

Done right, it should give a farmer another income stream - they'd get their normal payment for the food component of their crop, and some money from the fuel processing company as well...

Sure, the devil would be in the detailed economics and efficiencies, but is at least worth a shot. If the sawgrass from the original OP is grown somewhere where it doesn't displace a food crop, that would be fine too...

[Schneibster]

You need to study the US ethanol subsidy program a bit more carefully.

It needs to go away. They can grow sawgrass if they want. It won't make any difference to how much food there is to eat. And it won't hurt their income stream any either.