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Sureshot · 01-27-2004, 09:24 AM

Great post Komp. JH is a saint, without being able to quickly quote his works I would have lost more than one "discussion" re: prohibition.

Sorry if this catches you mid post (if it does I'll move it) but it is worth adding...

I really can't get enough of hemp and it's possibilities. It's not the save all some think it is but it IS a massive opportunity.

Regarding fuel:

Quote:

Originally posted by Sureshot
As some positive fuel (hah hah) for thought regarding biomass and in particular hemps possible role....

A little research gives me the below figures:

- Some farm crops and trees can produce up to 20 metric tons per acre of biomass a year.
- Cannabis can produce around 10 tonnes per acre per 4 months or 30 tonnes per acre a year.
- Some types of algae and grasses can produce 50 metric tonnes per acre a year.

From the above we can see that Cannabis may not be the most high yielding of possible options for biomass fuel but it is a reasonably close call. Maybe too close to swing prohibitionists when they have a viable alternative.

This can be offset a little by Cannabis' high tolerance levels of poor conditions and it's low maintenance growing demands (very little fertiliser needed, very resistant to pests and disease, does not destroy the soils natural balance as much as many crop plants). These low maintenance grow demands increase the efficiency of a crop a great deal and this may make Cannabis the most efficient biomass producer or at the very least make the difference between it and grass/algae negligible.

Further, Cannabis does not have as much of a depletive effect on soil as common biomass crops do and in fact can aid soil retention in areas of high erosion and/or flooding.

There is however another factor which comes into play when comparing the remaining two biomass options, biodiversity and the prevention of destruction to native flora.

Cannabis as previously stated is an incredibly voracious grower, it is also an incredibly voracious root layer, these qualities are great in controlled farming conditions. If the plant escapes (as it invariably does - see the scrub populations across the World) these qualities quickly become problems, it will quickly take over from native flora, starving it of light and water until it is the dominant (but only seasonal) plant. This can have further knock on effects all the way through the food chain (very simple example - native plants gone = no where for native bugs to set up home = no food for native rodents, reptiles, amphibians and birds = etc etc etc up and up) and may eventually alter the very nature of the area in the long term.

A solution that is supposed to solve an ecological problem should not cause a further one. The environment issue is one which we must look at in a holistic way, in fact, that is the ONLY way we can look at it, any other is a fallacy.

Anyway...

Let's for argument sake leave this point against aside and assume we are using Cannabis as a fuel source and compare it to our current sources (and demands).

As an example, I wonder if it could be used to replace the US' gasoline addiction?

As mentioned before Cannabis can produce around 30 tonnes of biomass per year per acre, with a little research we can find out that this 30 tonnes of Cannabis Biomass will yield approx. 3,000 gallons of methanol.

So per acre per year Cannabis biomass can produce 3,000 gallons of fuel.

At this very moment the US is using around 360,000,000 gallons of gasoline each and everyday, that's 131,400,000,000 gallons a year.

In order to supply gasoline to the US market 43,800,000 acres of Cannabis must be planted and harvested, this is approximately 2% of total US land area and around 11% of current agricultural land in the US.

There could be an issue here with finding this amount of land but as Cannabis could be grown even on marginal land this may not have to be a problem.

Anyway, just a little fuel for thought (I know, but it was so cheesey it warrants being used twice), mostly positive.

SS