Arrooooooo! I am pawing in today to talk about a subject that I hold near and dear to my heart and my stomach! FOOD! More importantly Corn! I have been seeing more and more in the news about the use of corn to create ethanol. The more corn that is used to produce ethanol the less corn there is to put in ma belly! I just don’t like it. Why are we using food to produce fuel? Why are we not exploring the alternative bio fuel markets that exist? Food prices are going sky high and dad says we might have to cut back on some treats because of it. I just don’t like where this is going!

I am making a promise right here and now that when I get elected, I will push to create more funding for alternative bio fuel research for the creation of bio fuels and bio diesel from non food crops. I will push for exploration of creating bio fuels and bio diesel from things like Jatropha and Algae. These are two very viable alternatives that provide a very promising future of biodiesel while not having an impact on our food supply and my treats!

Jatropha is also called physic nut. It is used to produce the non-edible Jatropha oil, for making candles and soap, and as a feedstock for producing biodiesel. Jatropha is a plant that may provide a socially and ecologically sound option for increased fuel consumption. The Jatropha plant can grow in wastelands (where food crops can’t). Jatropha Yields four times as much fuel per hectare (nearly 2.5 acres) as soybean and ten times as much fuel per hectare as corn. Ten times as much fuel as corn and I can’t eat this stuff! Why are we still using corn?!?! The per-barrel cost of producing jatropha is about $43 — half that of corn.

Algae is also an excellent source of Oil. Some varieties of algae are as much as 50 percent oil, and that oil can be converted into biodiesel or jet fuel. Now, while I suppose you could eat some varieties of algae. I’m not sure why you would want to make it a daily staple. Algae’s advantages include growing much faster and in less space than conventional energy crops. An acre of corn can produce about 20 gallons of oil per year, compared with a possible 15,000 gallons of oil per acre of algae. An algae farm could be located almost anywhere. It wouldn’t require converting cropland from food production to energy production. It could use sea water. And algae can gobble up pollutants from sewage and power plants. So, on top of creating a huge amount of biodiesel from algae, we could grow this stuff around power plants so that it will eat up the pollutants that they create? It sounds like a win win situation to me! So, why are we still burning corn?

Stop Burning Corn! VOTE BASSET!

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