On global food shortages: for one reason or another, the maps I've seen
(UN, for one) usually show calories per person by nation. The average US
person overconsumes calories by 25-30% (no surprise: the obesity
epidemic), but many countries are represented as lacking adequate daily
calories by 80 to 99%. The worst include a belt of sub-Saharan African
nations. This seems to suggest that there are significant shortages of
starchy foods (complex carbs, not simple sugars), i.e., cereal crops.
This is one argument used against ethanol and against the livestock
industries of the US, Europe, Australia, etc., as ethanol and livestock
divert starch calories from human diets.
With that in mind, much of the world does have protein shortages as
well, whether it is overall protein, or it is amino acid balance (e.g.,
the well-known tryptophan shortage associated with maize staple diets,
if not supplemented by whole beans, meat). An advantage of some
alternative grains such as amaranth is that their amino acids ARE fairly
balanced.
Ethanol production, subsidies, emissions all exist in this larger
discussion of politics and the distribution of foods and the consumer
habits of people. (I often move between focused topics, e.g., ethanol
emissions, and big-picture views because that's my intellectual habit.
Some people object to it. Colleagues usually call it "holistic" or
"synthetic" thinking. I suspect that the world would benefit from more
of it, but I may be tooting my own horn a bit.
Lee
-----Original Message-----
From: Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ed Woolsey
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 2:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: biomass, corn stover, and the new wave of synthetic biology
Assuming we're all correct here.
Sierra knocking ethanol at least elevates the current nonsustainability
discussions. If that reduces or eliminates the incentives going into
ethanol...so be it. We've incented cheap, nonsustainable ethanol and
that is
what we have gotten. But remember that world wide... fossils get over
10X
the subsidies as renewables.
Using hydrous ethanol to firm up our real food production system makes a
lot
of sense to me. (tillage,harvest) Using ethanol to blend into
gasoline...at any
ratio...does not make any sense, expecially when the ethanol comes from
nonsustainable #2 yellow corn. I'm not optimistic that our
Country/World has
the ability to gradually reverse the coming train wreck. Like the
adaptation
strategies that we need to be implimenting right now related to Climate
Change, providing for some "real food security" might turn out to be a
very
very wise investment. btw last I new the worlds ppl were short on
protein and
not starch...ethanol production uses starch and concentrates protein 3Xs
and
should make it cheaper to move protein into human food streams.
Our side should just understand that ethanol can be produced sustainably
and
that it can be used ....even in internal combustion engines...pretty
cleanly. If
we don't understand this issue fairly well, we lose credibility in
biomass
energy debates, and more importantly we lose a major component for a
clean
energy future. I always try to be open to any other ideas and new info
so feel
free to disagree with anything I write, I won't be offended.
"Leakage" is a very important concept (fact) but using this as an
argument
against all biomass energy production seems counterproductive...letting
the
perfect be the enemy of the good.
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