RealGravitas -Citizen Saboteur
@matthewtoad43 @empiricism @godofbiscuits @CelloMomOnCars @hembrow @breadandcircuses The best thing that could happen right now is for petroleum/coal to become suddenly and irreversibly unobtainable. We would be forced into reliance on natural electricity production, ethanol, and animal power. It wouldn’t support 10 billion but it would support 100 million.
Jul 10, 2023 at 5:26pmWeb
Show threadCelloMom On CarsJul 10, 2023

@CWilbur @[email protected] @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses

If #FossilFuels go away:
- 40% of global shipping goes away that now carries oil, coal, n gas.
- 40% of the US corn crop that now goes into car ethanol can be replanted for food. Or rewilded.
- Plants grow better without air pollution
- We'd need only 30% of the primary energy replaced by renewables. Because fossil fuels are that inefficient.

It's still a tough pull, but easier than it looks at first sight

Show threadTyler StewardJul 10, 2023

@CelloMomOnCars @CWilbur @matthewtoad43 @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses

I didn't believe the 40% of the corn crop into ethanol stat when I first read it, but I should never have doubted you. It's going to take me days to recover from learning that almost half of the corn grown in America is sacrificed to our cars.

Show threadCelloMom On CarsJul 10, 2023

@pilgrim76 @CWilbur @[email protected] @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses

It *is* gobsmacking. I had the same reaction as you when I first read about it.

The thing is, you can get MORE energy by covering that land with solar panels. If you do agrivoltaics you can grow nice food crops under or between the solar panels. Farmers grow corn for cars' gas tanks because the incentives are wrong.

Show threadCelloMom On CarsJul 10, 2023

@pilgrim76 @CWilbur @[email protected] @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses

Agrivoltaics is cool.
Solarpunk grazers are cool. (That's sheep doing maintenance on the grass under the solar panels).
And now there's tilt-panel agrivoltaics, where the panels tilt to vertical to let the tractors do their thing on the food crops in between. Just makes me want to whoop.

Never underestimate people's creativity!

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/06/25/the-unstoppable-force-of-agrivoltaics-now-with-tiltable-solar-panels/

The Unstoppable Force Of Agrivoltaic Solar Farming

Researchers at Purdue University have patented an agrivoltaic array with solar panels that tilt for farm equipment to pass through.

CleanTechnica
Show threadCelloMom On CarsJul 12, 2023

@pilgrim76 @CWilbur @[email protected] @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses

Oh look that didn't take long:

"#Farmers are concerned about what role their crops will play in the nation’s fuel supply. Farmers will see a reduction in income if the #EPA’s proposal is adopted."

https://www.mystateline.com/news/local-news/illinois-corn-farmers-challenge-federal-emissions-standards-favoring-electric-cars/

But the truth is that you can get *much* more #energy from an acre of land by putting in #solar panels, than by growing #corn. Solar energy is the crop.

https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/more-energy-on-less-land-analysis-reveals-solar-farms-produce-100-times-more-energy-per-acre-than-corn-ethanol/

Show threadPat ReynoldsJul 14, 2023

@CelloMomOnCars
I've seen hens under solar panels, enjoying the shade and dry patches.

Would it be suitable for pigs (maybe in rotation)?

I just like the idea of #4SolarOink becoming a thing.

@pilgrim76 @CWilbur @matthewtoad43 @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses

Show threadSimon BrookeJul 10, 2023

@CelloMomOnCars

FORTY PERCENT OF THE CORN CROP GOES INTO FUEL, in a world where people are starving?

Jings.

What happened to ethics? To conscience?

Show threadMichael RobinsonJul 10, 2023

@CelloMomOnCars @CWilbur @matthewtoad43 @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses
No fossil fuels, no Haber process.
No Haber process, no fertilizer.
No fertilizer, 1/2 of humans currently alive starve to death.

https://ourworldindata.org/how-many-people-does-synthetic-fertilizer-feed

How many people does synthetic fertilizer feed?

Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems

Our World in Data
Show threadCelloMom On CarsJul 10, 2023

@michael_robinson @CWilbur @[email protected] @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses

It's complicated though, right?
No Haber-Bosch process, no excessive nitrogen runoff, no algal blooms, no depletion of aquifers and dustbowlification of agricultural land. And very probably fewer than 8 billion people here today.

But here we are, all 8 billion of us. Eating less meat helps a lot. Permaculture soil farming. And new nitrogen processes.

https://news.mit.edu/2020/cheaper-fertilizer-production-0504

Technique could enable cheaper fertilizer production

In a step toward small-scale production of ammonia fertilizer, MIT chemical engineers have devised a way to combine hydrogen and nitrogen using an electric current that generates a lithium catalyst.

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Show threadProf Dr Richard S.J. Tol MAEJul 11, 2023
@CelloMomOnCars @CWilbur @[email protected] @empiricism @godofbiscuits @hembrow @breadandcircuses @daniel_huppmann You might want to rethink that.
Show threadJeffy 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦 ❤️🇱🇺Jul 10, 2023
@CWilbur @matthewtoad43 @empiricism @CelloMomOnCars @hembrow @breadandcircuses that’s vicious, even monstrous.