Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal Acid rain is a naturally occuring phenomenon. It has always been and always will be. Man's SOX contributions are so miniscule it did not and does not significantly affect the pH of rain one way or another. The forced reductions in SOX is similar to the new****nic standards or the proposed carbon taxes - such actions measurably do nothing to make the world a better place, but they do make some of the "stuck on stupid" crowd feel good about themselves. Or to put it another way: How much more pollution is being caused by the increase use in energy necessary to make biodiesel and ethanol over the energy used to crack petroleum or to liquify coal? It's one thing if you are using a biofuel feedstock that is a waste product or by-product of some other process, but it's altogether insane to grow crops and/or harvest trees specifically to make biofuels. [/quote] I disagree, and you're mixing two arguements. Acid rain is a naturally occuring event, if you consider the burning of a sulphur containing fuel that creates the inevitable byproduct of one of the various sulphur oxides. Any high school chemistry student can look at sulphur oxides and mix them with water and see that it doesn't take much juggling to end up with sulphuric acid. This is what happens in the atmosphere. Nature by itself doesn't put anywhere NEAR as much sulphur into the air as man does. Sure the occasional volcano can spew a lot of sulphur into the air, but when you're surrounded by fire should you be throwing more gas onto the fire to make it bigger? Acid rain is real. Lakes have been made sterile by the ph change caused by it. Buildings have been damaged, and people's health damaged because of it. In the extreme I've seen cars damaged by it and the paint peeled off of homes because of it. Out here in the west it has been said that the soil could use a little acid rain, as it's so alkali. The people and homes however would suffer terribly. I do agree though that there needs to be a general discussion on the worthwhileness of alcohol plants. An easy way of solving this discussion is to remove all subsidies for the plants. If they can survive economically without the subsidies then the technology is good and it gives a net positive overall contribution to the energy / food system. If they can't survive without the subsidies then that shows an overall negative impact on the system. Just my $0.02. Mark in Utah
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag