Biofuel instead of coal and oil - How promising are these renewable resources? | DW Documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 เม.ย. 2024
- Can our petroleum-based market economy make the switch to renewable resources? According to scientists, politicians and industrial leaders, a "biobased economy" is a sustainable alternative. What lies behind this optimism?
The biobased economy promises to help solve some of the world’s biggest problems, including climate change, species extinction, pesticide residues and depleted soil. It foresees plants, fungi and insects replacing environmentally unfriendly coal and petroleum as raw materials, and microorganisms being used to produce chemicals.
But even these renewable resources require a production process, and that harbors new potential dangers. These include land appropriation, the destruction of already dwindling natural ecosystems, and the exploitation of nature for profit to an ever-greater extent. This documentary examines the economic cycle as a whole, from the production of biomass to processing and finished products.
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I am a publisher of a magazine for the wood industry. From many conversations with industry professionals I can tell you that using wood for biofuel is not a great alternative. When you add up all the costs involved it’s more or less the same as carbon based options.
for your and these industry professionals, "wood" like you are carbon based
long past time that you got your facts right son !
This "doc" seems like an infomercial for this ex-coal plant. I can't believe he said, "Make it what it never would have been otherwise.". Oh, you mean, like the farm you are putting it back to? LOL Please stick with real docs, and real sustainability, not biofuel. Buzzzzz words for this guy to get grants/funding/tax breaks for being "sustainable". Sustainable is not exempt from scams and money grubbing, alas.
@@richardcowley4087 all I’m saying is that using wood chips ‘sounds’ like and is sold to us as amore environmentally sound fuel source. But it’s not true.
@@LemonLadyRecords Right on the nose !
full marks
@@andymacgregor16 has been known about, long before today and wood was considered as a power station fuel many years ago but found to be lacking
drax is a prime example of pandering to the green lobby
CO2 and CH4 are not the demons as claimed by the greenies
wood ! yet another so called 'carbon neutral' claim that really is nothing more than making the politicians look more 'in tune' when they are all just lying bastards
the public has it to pay for
" Its us who are in danger, not nature" well said.
That was one of the best *mic drops* ever made!
We're causing it. We have to fix it before it's too late.
STOP PUTTING YOUR CHILDRENS FOOD IN YOUR GAS TANK !!!
Replacing a commodity with another commodity that also competes for land: food v feed v fuel. We all know what happens when money and markets enter the equation... Let alone the issue of fertilisers and pesticides, and their impact on soils as well as human health.
Thank you for mentioning this! The biggest disaster are chemicals, pesticides and total destruction of habits by farming.
@@coolwinder not to mention, poorer farmers in lower income regions can't afford to pay back debts. A lot of suicides in Punjab for example
Plants are natural solar panels that repair themselves when damaged and can feed people at the same time. Engineering Improved Photosynthesis (EIP) can transform Solar and EV technologies back into plants such that they are more able to extract more energy from the sun. Obviously we shouldn't cut down forests to grow more crops, but there are plenty of areas with out plants existing already that just need some smart water transportation or improved desalination methods to make farming viable. I really enjoyed this documentary and I think the future involves tracking carbon on the blockchain and only burning hydrocarbons that we can prove were sequestered from the air in the first place. I invested some money into Gevo (which I believe has a German co-founder along with being founded by the first America woman to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Frances Arnold 2018). Gevo makes biodiesel that has no particulate pollution and is sulfur free as well.
dont forget plastic, everything uses plastics and plastic based elements... literally everything use plastic in some form. Until this issue is not solved then the future will not be bright for us humans. And more and more the solution just seems to be to return to a state on which the industry doesnt existed. Which is as unconcivable as imposible. oh boy how l envy the older generations that didnt have to worry about all this...
You know that you can have a potato plant that grows tomatoes? Space efficiency dubbel crops.
It is evident that humans have the capacity to live in peace in a sustainable world. The only obstacle is the rapacious destructive greed of corporations, shareholders and the corrupt stupidity of politicians - and it's our responsibility to get rid of these obstacles through education and insight.
You wouldn't of had the advanced technology you do today with capitalism....
The whole idea is that everyone will have it better than the generation before. Now the idea's shifted a few times already, from enough food to more wealth in stuff. From more stuff to more stability and now if we want to make the world better for the next generation its to provide a better environment.
@@krazykozey2259 You know that things like GPS, touch screens, vaccines, television, artificial satellites and so originate from public-funded research right..?
Education increases energy use.
fantasist
It's so fascinating how historically hemp was used for fuel, yet today it isn't even considered. Farmers grew it for their tractors and clothing. But today, only the few and rich get all the resource control!
Thats because its illegal to grow in many countries without government issued licenses. The world has gone bat shit crazy sadly.
Farmers did not grow hemp for their tractors.
@@Withnail1969 Sorry if that was confusing. I had already said hemp was used for fuel, but evidently, I needed to be more clear, when a person doesn't know the processing of the plant and its uses! Thanks for pointing that out, and the opportunity for your learning something new. Here's the clarification.
I should have said they grew hemp SEEDS for the fuel for their tractors! Ya know, crush the seeds and extract the oil, like with sunflowers for sunflower oil, ra*eseeds for canola oil, or olives for olive oil. ALL sustainable and economical resources! We won't run out of those resources, only people that are willing to work the farming life! (We can all work as serfs and slaves on the farmlands of Bill Gates, right?!) Hemp is the best crop for so many uses.
While Henry Ford's first cars were made from a hemp composite that was stronger than steel, tractors were NOT! THAT was the unclear information, so was misinterpreted by yourself. Ever see the picture of him taking a sledge hammer to a car he built to demonstrate that point? OBVIOUSLY, the earth and people needed to be violated with the steel industry instead, so the few could profit at the expense of many. Times never change, do they!
According to the history of hemp, the seeds provided the substrate for the biodiesel, and the fiber from the plants provided the material for clothing. Even the ropes and sails made from hemp fiber, made shipping possible. Quite a useful plant! Of course, in direct competition to the Rockefellers, Duponts, etc; all the usual corporate and banking cronies that rule the world.
The book written by Jack Herer, 'The Emperor Wears No Clothes', details the accurate history. Quite informative! I also learned also that the Polish immigrants met the DEA agents at the door with their shotguns, when they came to steal their crop that they needed to live on. (Now they just gotta get rid of ALL guns, so "they" can do whatever they want when they show up at our doors right?!) That's so we could have the world we have today, the one of "poison-for-profits" paradigm, dependent on big oil, et al. Isn't that GREAT to know?!
@@Withnail1969 I was relaying information by the historical documents and DEA records that Jack Herer presents in his book. I'm not getting into an argument; read the book!
Exactly & it's a medicine
Isn’t biofuel stupid and counterproductive?
If we use the limited fertile land for fuel, what should we do for food??
We will drink the oil that the cars no longer use
Capitalism is a continuous growth that relies on a continued growth of population to buy the products and do the work .
We already create enough food to feed the whole world it is just greed and profit and bad consumption habits that waste food and have it thrown out to the tune of billions of dollars.
We don't need livestock for meat that takes up most the land in farming..
We can get more meat from chicken than we do cows in one tenth of the space leaving more land for crops.
Livestock uses 77% of the land.
Right ....we.are pulling strings left and right until one day the roof will cave in on us all
Use non-arable land to raise grass-fed animals like cattle, sheep and goats.
Biofuel can only be sustainable in long term if we figure out a way to make Barren land fertile again
The swathes of land cut away by human agriculture and mining really breaks my heart.
One day not far from now will have no nature, no grass, no wildlife.
Excavation.
Really?
You sound like that Climate change Alarmist Greta Thunberg. Another Fool who believes the World is doomed. 🤣
"Nature is not in danger..it's us."
Indeed.
Wrong.
100% True
Wrong. Nature is in danger. It's because nature is in danger, that we're in danger, otherwise, we wouldn't be.
@@srenheidegger4417 So, seems like you did not understand what you just watched.
Nature is resilient, however you destroy it it will come back in time. Humans don't. You die and that's the end of it.
@@jaredgalvin Seems like you don't understand ecosystems. Nature is resilient, yes, but so are humans. If nature doesn't have the conditions to come back in time, it won't, like a favorable temperature. You have to start planting your own things to understand how fragile nature actually is, and maybe have one acre of wasteland to see that it's not as easy as you might thought it is to actually rehabilitate and make it prosper on its own. If nature starts to perish, it will perish altogether, it's a big ecosystem which everything is dependent on something else. You can't live without a liver, or a heart, the whole is what creates an homeostasis and makes you who you are. The same goes for the ecosystems we live in. If things start to be thorn apart, it will die, and won't come back.
Regards the beets requiring dangerous chemicals, I saw a video of a gardener who watched when his chickens would go to roost in the evening. he then, by noting when sundown occurred, would let the chickens into his garden 10 minutes before sundown. The chickens would make a bee line towards the bugs for their protean content, and not eat the green leaves. As soon as sundown happened, the chickens, realizing it was bedtime made a bee line to where they could roost for the night. The gardener had no need to spend his money on chemicals!. Hope you can save also.
Interesting! And there are plants that can act as pests. It would be a question of planting the correct ones for that environment
Problem with biofuel is that soil is a declining resource.
it will be once this polonium has radiated it
U can grow stuff without soil
Good thing regenerative ocean farming is now a thing and we can potentially extract biofuel from seaweed.
Our scientist colleagues come from Soviet background and they fully investigated BioFuels in the 1980s and proved conclusively that BioFuels are mathematically impossible when you evaluate everything
Only if the hummus in the soil is not restored, like in the monoculture farming soil gets depleted.
It is all vey well asking consumers to consume less (and that needs to be done) but it is also important to balance that with producers making products that last longer and are able to be repaired rather than have built in obsolescence and fashion cycles marketed to a gullible status orientated public.
Maybe promoting people to eat less is by promoting health, it's the only way to get people interested 🤔
Agreed. Environmentalism is a capitalists product sold in a communist wrapper. Case in point: A washing machine that claims to be more energy efficient but only lasts a fraction of the time the old energy wasting models would last. So measuring the entire life cycle of the unit, youre wasting more energy and causing more environmental damage through building and shipping new washing machines and shipping and recycling the broken ones than you would have just sticking with your supposed not so environmentally friendly model. But hey it sold 5 or 6 more washing machines they wouldnt have sold by breaking everywhere because its good for the environment.
@@worldcitizeng6507 lol are you high?
you will NEVER win that fight.. your brain tells you to eat to survive its part of the lizard brain.. aka the oldest part of the brain. you are trying to swim upstream..
things that last long put companies out of business. It's all about greed after all. What would large retailers like Walmart do if everything they sell last a decade? Or the dollar stores? People are now brainwashed into a disposable lifestyle. And if something is built to last, someone will declare it unfashionable. Just think of all the home renovations. One minute it's tiles, then carpets, then hardwood, then dark hardwood, then light hardwood.
There's no end to this. But it's good for the economy... at the expense of killing the planet and ourselves with it.
the world bank said that corn used to be converted to ETHANOL biofuel and fill a tank of a car once ,same amount can feed a kid for an entire year
Right. Biofuels are a sin.
From a resource standpoint, making a fuel out of agricultural waste (straw, corn stover, rice hulls, etc) will (usually) make more sense in the long run, assuming the transport and storage are available.
a baby goat?
This is still happening. About 40% of the corn grown in the USA is converted into ethanol for fuel. This makes farmers rich and buys politicians votes.
@21:08 “as long as the oil price is low”. Well, things have now become a bit more economically viable haven’t they?
Best of luck to the scientists.
A note about those coal pits in the beginning: maybe those wouldn't be a reality if Germany had let it's nuclear power plants work until the end of their service life instead of decommissioning them early.
I agree with you 100 %
scientist lead us this way, its morals and spirituality to love planet
For many, many years one country in Europe was asking , telling and sam times begging Germany not to build Northream pipeline. By building this pipeline germany allowing Russia to black mailing Easter Europe, not to mention that is germany now vassal state of energy to Russia. Germany was calling this country Russofobe!! Know germany started ration gas in germany, does Germany still think that country that predicted that scenario is still Russofobe. What country I'm talking about.....?
We need to do further research into cannabis/hemp oils, plastics, fuels.
Absolutely love your documentaries, thanks DW for uploading such fascinating topics. Vielen Dank DW
Thank you for watching! We're glad you like our content. :)
@@DWDocumentary put some truth into it and then you will be worth listening to
@@DWDocumentary 🙂
@@richardcowley4087
what truth ?
@@janklaas6885 plain to see, these journalists who populate these news agencies love to lie, cant let the truth get in the way of a good story, scam presently
Outstanding Standing episode @DW Document Thank you Share this amazing Documents 🤩 👍
To get biofuels why not just use compost? Also how much food does the average person waste? At least in America we over consume meat. No one's got a solution for all the plastic yet though?
It isn't magic. The biochemistry is not the same.
There are also bioplastics from algae oil.
3:47 the deforestation there is so heartbreaking.
Not really an issue if forestry resources are well-managed.
@@rtcoffee1235 how about the native species who lived in it??
@@harukrentz435 Collateral damages, for those who can't see beyond the end of their noses.
@@chezmoi42 so dont complain when Indonesians drove their orang utans off their forest.
@@harukrentz435 I think you misread my meaning.
it is an environmental disaster. our cousins, the orangutans, in indonesia are driven off the land into extinction as jungles that are millions of years old are cut down to grow bio fuels for human greed.
And whose cousin had to make sacrifice just because you want to build your house?
Nicht meine cousine!
correct ! the greenies do not want to see that
They are only your cousin if you are ginger.
Those forest and jungles are being torn down for lumber, mining, land, and majoritively farming of palm oil, which is majoritively used for cooking, detergents, and cosmetics. Their is a small amount of palm oil used as a biofuel, which is more that likely a waste product of the palm oil industry that would be tossed into a river if not for biofuel. Causing not only deforestation, but also causing pollution to their water resources as well.
41:37 This here is the end game, the main point we all need to accept. No matter what tech-Bros, green growth-economists and politicians want us to believe, it's the first point we need to deal with before we "innovate" our way from a problem we have created through "cheap" products and throw-away-and-buy-new behavior.
they're destroying Africa and our ecosystem way harder than they will admit please join me in continued study of what is happening in Africa with our throw away phones computers you name it to get the copper and get payed probably 3 cents for breathing in this terrible nasty smoke from burning recalled refrigerators by the yard over there the whole place is toxic, and kids live there in a hut made of recycled thrown away stuff from America and Europe, bless you and anyone who has read my words and please explore our ecosystem from burning plastics and air-conditioners as it is, we cant keep doing this
indeed. Having 6 flavours of chewing gum instead of 16 at the cash register, won't kill anyone.
Exactly, I'm happy DW said it so clearly here. Repair clothes and other items, but also strictly regulate industry and companies since they won't change by themselves. Just banning 'fast fashion' is a good fiat step.
Right on. The "over there", smother it in electronics, nimbyist mindset prevails until the junk we've swept under the carpet swells to a minor mountain, or a real one if you've seen some dumps... So glad DW and others are spreading awareness.
@@Ninjaguiden89 no need for regulation as much as need for us to change our consumerist habits. Just stop buying all the useless crap you don't need, markets will adjust. And yes recycle, repair and reuse as much as you can.
Just yesterday I picked up my sneakers from the shoe-repair guy, could've thrown them and bought another, but why waste my money and resources when these will now be good for another year
Very informative, thank you!
The easiest thing to do is limit industrial animal agriculture also because it is relatively healthier to eat WFPB (although not as interesting and entertaining as one participant with financial interest in mock meat, highly processed food, put it). But then again how much profit and added value is there in beans and rice?
Stan wants to see you starve!
Study: Biofuels increase, rather than decrease, heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions
ANN ARBOR-A new study from University of Michigan researchers challenges the widely held assumption that biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel are inherently carbon neutral.
Contrary to popular belief, the heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas emitted when biofuels are burned is not fully balanced by the CO2 uptake that occurs as the plants grow, according to a study by research professor John DeCicco and co-authors at the U-M Energy Institute.
The study, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture crop-production data, shows that during the period when U.S. biofuel production rapidly ramped up, the increased carbon dioxide uptake by the crops was only enough to offset 37 percent of the CO2 emissions due to biofuel combustion.
The researchers conclude that rising biofuel use has been associated with a net increase-rather than a net decrease, as many have claimed-in the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. The findings were published online Aug. 25 in the journal Climatic Change.
Thank you for this information. I am also glad to know the US is still studying these issues.
+1 the whole carbon based climate change model is a fraud. the sun is the primary driver of climate change.
is it like Biopharma "independant" studies 😁
Hahahahaha
Funding from the Petroleum Institute is a direct conflict of interest for credibility of the study.
In addition, nowhere does any media outlet (I could not find the original study) report that the problem may be able to be fixed by switching from corn-based biofuel to alternatives like switchgrass-based biofuel.
Yes, use food to power cars. What can possibly go wron?
Ask it to President Macron. Those days he did decide to power this development. Verrrrry bright guy.
EV don't need fuel! You should get one my friend.
@de caesaris not much of an issue for me my friend, I live in Los Angeles, it very temperate even in winter.
@de caesaris I am doing the right thing in my square, I hope you are doing the same in yours for the benefit of all mankind!
@@rogermartinez78 Bobblehead do you use Batteries to heat or cool your home? How about the waste you produce, you've got Batteries to get rid of it.Grow up Fool🤣
I think it's ridiculous to make combustible fuels this way. As an alternative to plastics, yes.
I think there's more energy put into this fuel then you get out of it, and we don't need to burn things anymore. There are much more efficient and clean ways to produce energy.
The power of magnetic rotation has been superior to internal combustion for over a century, but special interests intent upon burning stuff for profit prevented the practical application and advancement of motor technology we are just now utilizing. "Engines v. Motors" matters in many more ways than the public has been given access to.
It never was about efficiency. Fuel is dictated by economics and politics. Were it by efficiency nuclear would be much more popular and cities would be much more efficient in public transportation.
Those clean methods of producing energy still require us to cut down the forests and break open the earth to drag out more metals. Then process those metals and dig holes to contain the toxic chemicals. There are no clean ways to produce energy.
@@gregmumbai333 OK, less dirty ways to produce energy. Ultimately, there's just no good way to be a human. Hopefully, a plague will come with 100% a lethality rate. Problem solved.
Incredible film. Thanks all involved. We evolved pass numerical font.
With every show they produce I am more and more amazed about how DW can come up with such good and interesting topics.
The subject, the research, the presentation. German quality at its finest. DW is by far the best investigative/documentary channel on the planet.
Got to thank the German people, media outlets are only as good as the people supporting it.
Thanks a lot for watching and for your positive feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to comment and are glad you like our content! :)
This is a propaganda piece, actually. Bio fuels are a horrible waste of land and fertalizer and it creates horrible monocultures.
@@DWDocumentary what industries paid for this piece?
@@GhostScout42 Every household in Germany pays for this. There is no ads and no other money funding it. They collect billions from citizens every month and then they spend it on numerous public tv channels. DW is one of them. It's like the BBC but from Germany. And it's second right after the BBC in terms of having actual journalists all over the world.
Interesting at 21:00. Is this why the price of oil has been inflated? To make bio more cost effective?
Actually, the Biden admin and the globalists of the world economic forum are enacting the green new deal and just not telling their populations. Instead they’re blaming Putin. Get ready for that population reduction due to scant resources available to feed & house the masses. Therefore the masses must die. But guaranteed, the Davos billionaires and their ilk will continue to fly in jet fueled planes and drive gasoline powered cars wherever their little hearts want to take them.
Pure propaganda- that’s all they will give you.
No, the price of oil/petroleum products is a factor of the available supply , cost of extraction, and demand for finished product.
Thanks for posting.
Great one DW thanks....
I really like your documentaries especially on green energy and other SDGs
It can't be just create "in the lab"
It needs to be in a industrial warehouse scale
Important topic! I will watch this documentary today!
Amazing Documentary DW❤❤❤
Thanks for watching and for your constructive feedback! :-)
Thank you DW for this Documentary.
Thank you for watching!
@@DWDocumentary tell the truth
Ingenious thinking, exceptional documentary.
Clean Energy and Clean Tech for Products & Services 👍
Please keep adding more quality content like this. Big fan of your channel from USA.
Thanks for watching. We are happy to hear you enjoyed the docu :) Make sure to check out our channel for more content like this!
The real trouble with biofuels is their very low efficiency at converting solar radiation into chemical energy. Organic matter that's ended up as fossil fuels had plenty of time to pile up, thereby sort of compensating for the inherent photosynthetic low conversion efficiencies. So, the challenge with modern biofuels is to do the same energy conversion at a pace that's demanded by modern societies. In order to circumvent that time constraint, more natural resources should be dedicated to grow biomass to be transformed into biofuels. How much more of them are we willing to sacrifice in order to create ersatz fossil fuels to power the same kind of civilization that locked us up in such a conundrum in the first place?
True, but currently, we doesn't have the battery technology to electrified all of our vehicles. Planes, ships, even cheaper cars. We still need to use fuel to run our diesel vehicles.
It's better to use biofuel for now than keep waiting for the battery technology to mature in decades.
Its not so much that plants are inefficient at converting solar energy into bio-energy its just that they can't do it as fast as we are consuming energy. And out energy consumption at the moment is simply a bit more than the biosphere can produce its orders of magnitude. Your quite rightly point out the planet took millions of years to store up all that fossil fuel and we dug it up and burned a giant pile of it in less than 200years.
There's a recent hypothesis that tries to answer the Fermi Paradox, which says there should be life everywhere we look in the universe and we just don't see it (actually hear it via radio waves). The idea is that as societies grow technologically they start to consume more and more energy per capita. We see this in the difference between developed and undeveloped nations. There is a real possibility that the reason we do not see other species is that they either had a technological burst and consumed all of their energy resources or they got way more efficient with those resources and stopped wasting energy transmitting in every direction.
One way or another we must reduce our energy usage or raise the efficiency or both. Otherwise we need to keep over 5 Billion people in poverty and the problem there is we have been ramming Western Values and culture down their throats for 50+ years.
The future will not going to all biofuel .... it is going to be mix of the technology we have right now, most of our energy will come from solar and wind. Stationary storage battery will get improvement for the grid storage. Only big puzzle might remain will be transportation, for that biofuel will be the answer but not the final answer. Mixing biofuel with battery powered/hydrogen fuel cell vehicle might solve the puzzle. Only thing is we have to keep innovating and get rid of fossil fuel otherwise nature will make us to do the hard way. So do not get discouraged we will reach there. Just 15 years back nobody would have thought of that in 2022 solar will be cheapest source of energy for most part of world. Same way we can do with biofuel also. We have algae and the large ocean.
@@bhadanisandip You are right on track.
I'm an engineer and have been trying to tell people that it won't be 1 technology in our energy future it will be a range of technologies where we use better options.
There will be all sorts of mixtures of tech because each country will have its own resources to draw upon.
@@tonywilson4713 I am also an engineer. We as humanity have superpower to innovate, let us do it and create a better planet, than we will think about the mars.
Just hope we're not replacing one problem with another. I can see a GMO escaping captivity and wrecking havoc on ecosystems. Is there a reason not to stick with unmodified organisms?
There are a lot of reasons. Chiefly among them is that non modified food crops grow slower, need more nutrients, and produce less food after harvest using the same land area. Genetic modification makes plants produce more nutrients and be more resistant to pests, disease, and drought. Most of the food crops we eat have been modified by people to produce more. If it wasn't for genetically modified food, we wouldn't have papayas at all now. All sweet corn is the result of using nuclear blasts to irradiated seeds and create a corn with a much higher sugar content. If we didn't genetically modify food the world population wouldn't have grown thr way it did, and millions more people would die every year from starvation.
Amazing documentation.
Real intelligence is with Nature...
It amazes me how people can so precisely apply mathematical models to the efficiency of processes at this scale and still seemingly they are too fixated on a specific goal to see the entire picture. Any energy generating device requires energy to manufacture. In order to fit within the global carrying capacity we must use less energy and also generate less energy.
If people had a greenhouse located on the southern exposure of their homes, vents were added to the top of the southern roofs, and windows were moved to the southern exposure wall, we could reduce our energy consumption by 60%. If we were all growing food in our own greenhouse we could sustainably grow a good portion of vegetables and plant based protein all year round and maximize utilization of biomass material directly. Likewise the plants we grow can be partly harvested and continue to grow without as much being wasted.
Likewise, if energy was generated at the home then the thicker electrical conductors could be shortened and overall require far less infrastructure while providing resilient isolated grids. 25% of energy generated is lost through line loss due to the poor conductivity of aluminum power lines. Homes could use shorter more robust insulated copper conductors which would improve efficiency.
Furthermore, water can be pumped to elevation and generate electricity on demand or passively each time water is used. The pumping of water to elevation can be achieved using the flow of nearby tributaries, streams, springs, and rivers without any additional energy. Likewise, the water extraction can take place without obstructing the main water channel or effecting animal migration and spawning.
Since we need water every day it makes sense to use elevated water both as an energy storage medium and as a critical resource for growing food and sustaining life. Because the water tank is not an additional resource that requires energy to manufacture like a solar panel. We need the water anyways and it really doesn't need batteries. The water can directly produce energy when needed. Controlled by a system that uses small batteries for lights and general light electric use. When demanded a valve opens and the flow produces several thousand watts of power on demand for appliances and other needs. The system could be programmed with capacitors as well.
All water flow from the tank can produce electricity when washing, maintaining the home, or watering plants. Any additional energy generating devices such as wind, solar, and biomass can either heat water to store in a insulated hot water tank, charge a small bank of batteries or capacitors, or simply pump additional water to elevation. This would be ideal applied with concentrated solar power.
Benefits include reduced infrastructure, reduced resource demand especially precious metals, improved energy efficiency of up to 25%, reduced energy demand of up to 60%, reduced trips to and from grocery stores, reduced energy demand by grocery stores and the supply infrastructure, direct biomass recycling, improved health and quality of life, more upward mobility and financial freedom, near tropical growing conditions enabling fruit cultivation even in northern climates, and it does not require new technology or potentially hazardous materials. Best of all it is tried and true proven to work for centuries.
Keep going! Get rid of wiring & powrrstations. Solar power panels with sandwiched in between mirrors 10 panels. Your getting there.
It's not possible to do these things. I have nowhere to put a greenhouse.
@@Withnail1969 With some clever architecture anything is possible. If you say it isn't possible, or there is nowhere, then you won't find the solution. Vertical farming is a thing. There are many indoor growing methods, efficient LED lighting, and ways to channel light from outside.
Maybe you just can't afford to make the changes. Most of us fit into that category. You aren't alone there. Change will happen only if we put our heads together, address the real need for change, and collectively demand the resources required to make that change. If not resources, at least the freedom to do so.
@@brendanwood1540 We can demand resources as much as we want, problem is there arent enough for all this.
@@Withnail1969 There aren't enough resources to not implement more efficient solutions. If we creatively repurpose existing resources then we can at least reduce our energy demand.
Every new home has windows and insulation. There just isn't enough incentive to correctly survey the site for sun exposure, orient the structure, and position the windows accordingly.
Likewise, the resources needed to produce all the food we consume exist. They are just in a farm or warehouse, not on your property. As a result we throw away approximately 50% of the food we produce. Just think of all the transportation and refrigeration. Living plants at your home don't need refrigeration.
If we remain passive and don't demand the freedom to at least develop temporary solutions then those resources we could use now will eventually be exploited. The time to act is now.
Don't lose hope until your last breath. Even then, try to have faith. Instill that faith in the next generation. Because they will need it more than us.
Don't forget about space. We have our sites set on asteroids and the moon for additional resources. We just need time to develop solutions. But to that end we will require the most efficient solutions that utilize local resources to the fullest extent. Our homes can be hybrid laboratories contributing elements to more efficient living quarters able to sustain life anywhere.
Regenerative ranching and farming is the key to producing carbon neutral food.
Indeed. Give need to stop subsidizing corn and soy monocultures and make the switch to regenerate the land! Regenerative ag is a massive need and solution.
Are we still peddling plastics recycling as a solution? That's a decades-old bandaid that is now clearly showing its design shortcomings. It doesn't address the root cause. I see a trend towards smaller serving sizes instead of going towards bulk shops. It's concerning we're still manufacturing with 0.5oz packages.
Leaning English + culture + enjoy = DW 😁✌️❣️
Biofuels production reduces crop output for foods 🤷🤦🤷♂️
" If a loaf of a bread costs more than a chicken, how is that chicken been feed?" An amazing enquiry
It’s made to forage for it’s own food , I guess...saving the farmer time & money. Bread has to be made by humans...
@@paulsz6194 Chickens are much cheaper and we get eggs as well. They're worth their weight in gold.
i love to watch DW Documentary. Thank you very much.
Thanks for watching!
hello. this is for the two men raising maggots for fish (seen in the video). instead of using the husks and processing them into a paste fed to the maggots how about using the husks in a biogas digester along with human/animal shit to produce methane first then after 60 days spin the slurry to the proper (centrifuge) consistency removing unnecessary water and feeding that to the maggots. all this could happen in the same heated barn conserving fuel. fish poop is then used to feed plants. once the fish are harvested the unwanted parts, guts and ..., go into the biogas digester.
i am always looking for ways to use the same material to provide two or more beneficial things. good luck.
DW documentaries are very informative,knowledgeable & educational ❤.
its agenda driven
i think sugarcane is the most efficient source of ethanol, with 20 % blend in regular fuels without any need to change the engines and say hybrid cars like prius/ camry. we can reduce the use of fuels by 35% without additional infrastructure. vegetarian food consumption is 1/10th energy use of meat products. so mostly vegetarian diet and some measures like mix of renewable will make it sustainable. human population is already plateauing. chicken must be using the same amount of energy as plants too i think
What the heck!!! That digging is enormous!!!
I'm also a Biochemist who worked to get this beat juice in trails in our Quebec Winters. Quebec is on the same latitudes of Moscow
did it work out ?
@@janklaas6885 yes very well
@@m.pearce3273
good
I'm a huge fan of Deutsche Welle and it's fabulous subjects for the new world
You sound like a Nazi?
Amazing how often these documentaries ignore the sustainable aspects of at least salvaging all things possible and needed to build smaller housing in countries that went over the top on space per person to live, a massive consumption of heating and cooling spaces unnecessary. Poor quality leads to speedy declines and short lived houses that force more rapid consumption of future resources to replace them instead of using the salvage of the past to generate trends and reward systems for those who use them, salvages the past to safe resource destruction, especially trees.
Like all the celebs and Obama like people who have massive estates.
Also public transportation
Very good information, nice work DW. More videos like this will be great to educate the public
This should get more attention !
North America was covered in ice a while back. The Ice age is still receeding. Sure it's getting warmer for some in the south. Up here, those of us that do farming, we will tell you it's getting colder.
As always very good documentary. Thank you DW .
Biofuels will destroy more than fossil fuels it will wipe out all forest to fulfill fuel need it's also not high clorific value
Amazing chanel, outstanding👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Dw documentary is the best!
if anyone told you that a lot of the land is used to feed animals instead of being used for food , ask him where will you get natural fertilizers to fertilize other farms ,where will you get the milk to feed babies , tell him that even if u used 1% only for biofuel it would be better to use that 1% to feed 10 hungry people instead of burning agri products as fuel,do not use biofuel ,do not promote world hunger
The foundational problem that drives nearly all of our other problems is that the human population is so large. 8 billion people are about 7 billion too many. Imagine if there were only 4 billion: that's half as much food required, half as much fuel, half as much housing, half as many cars, half as much clothing, half as much agricultural land used, etc. etc., before even considering changes to lifestyle or how society is constructed. If there were as many people as there were in, say, 1970 or 1940 or 1900, there would be so much more space for the natural world. We'll get back there in the end, but not without a tremendous collapse and loss.
Depends on who you ask. Some say the world is underpopulated. If half the world population died out there wouldn't be nearly enough people to maintain all of our infrastructure and keep businesses running. According to Bill Gates the world is very overpopulated but according to Elon Musk its underpopulated. Hard to really say which side is correct but at this point we've reached a level where if that much of the population was gone our societies would collapse pretty quickly.
But remember that a very small portion of the world consumes the majority of the resources, and also have excess to it more or less exclusively.
Problem is not overpopulation, its greed, and overprofiteering by a few! God's earth can supply us all our needs, not all our wants.
@@JordanSVT The current society might collapse, but there are successful societies that are smaller. Australia only has 25-30 million people, whereas the United States has 320 million. But Australia hasn't collapsed because it's so much smaller; they just have less infrastructure to begin with. Rather than collapse, I'd say that if the population decreased, places could be thoughtfully and purposefully let go, cleaned up, and returned to nature, and the remaining people could live in the best places (e.g. most unlikely to suffer natural disasters, outside of flood zones, not in highly ecologically sensitive areas, etc.).
@@solomonrorellien8634 And yet the total human impact is rapidly overwhelming the planet, even though only a comparatively small percentage consume the vast majority of the resources. While internal inequality within the species is a massive problem, so too is the total size and weight of the impact of the species as whole, regardless of the internal distribution of resources within the whole. If anything, seeing the damage done by the small minority shows how unsustainable our population size is, because if everyone were to rise to the standard of living that the wealthiest countries have, we'd probably have gone into oblivion by now already, rather than racing towards it. I absolutely agree that we need a more equitable distribution of and access to resources, but if there were many fewer people to distribute them to, then we'd have everyone at a better standard of living and also have a smaller total impact on the planet, which is the "bottom line" of the equation, so to speak.
Every information keep me up about my passions and hard work
we have plenty of material in bio waste...
that is what I d use.
solving 2 big problems.
Fossil fuels are millions of years worth of geologically stored solar energy. Incredibly energy dense. Biofuels are one season of stored solar energy. Notice the difference?
Is the difference that we can make more biofuel every season instead of waiting for millions of years for more oil?
The planet won’t be around that long at the rate we’re burning fossil fuels.
Well, not a livable planet.
@@LunarSkittles No, that's not the difference that matters. Every year we burn through millions of years of stored solar energy, not one season. Comprende?
@@LunarSkittles the difference is primarily that we are not unleashing millions of years worth of carbon into the atmosphere. Only a season’s worth. This carbon is then trapped by biomass which is in turn a source for new biofuel. It’s circular.
Yes I do get what you are saying, what I think most people should understand is that oil and oil products despite all the environmental and even political short comings, its a very efficient energy product. Burns well with high energy density, has many different applications, stores easy, transports easy and is easily extracted. This is going to be though for economies to have the self-restraint to use it.
Bio fuels from likes of Castor, Jatropa etc are priced higher than fossil fuels because of manual harvesting costs etc.
what about manual harvasting of fossil-fuels ?
Why not use machines for that too??
@@aditisk99 not possible ..as these seeds are on trees.
Mechanical harvesting of such seeds/nuts is quite possible if/when the volume of the crop is high enough.
1. Vertical agriculture
2. Dual use of land (Aquaponics, Hydroponics, agrivoltics)
3. Using algae to clean waste water. Using these algae to produce biofules.
This can help solve these issues.
Wonderful documentary Dw keep up the good work. We just need more people doing things like this
First of al you will need enough space to grow those crops...and that is only one problem of many, there is a limit to growth.
What would that limit be?
It is only if u think in 2D, growing on X and Y axe but if u think in 3D u an also grow on the Z axe.
space is infinite, i heard.
we literally have a star that produces a years worth of energy in a second... and we're messing with bio fuel.
Well aside from geothermal it's all just a way to utilize some of the sun's energy, that includes biofuels.
@@ssssaa2 which is why bypassing the sun altogether, by copying that same process, fusion, is the answer. limitless power ahhh !!
@@psycronizer limitless power has problems too, imagine if you can have unlimited power to heat up Russia, or cool down the Sahara
The soil requires foraging animals, not ethanol from corn .
We are just getting started
I like the rest of this vid, I'm just not sure if I'm down with happy orchestral uplifting music while we're given brief video of slaughterhouse footage in the intro lol. Seems a bit twisted to me.
The established players will always fight change. I live in Idaho and I think the picture of The American Cowboy Rounding Up My Steak will loom over veggie/lab protein for quite a while. I personally could be a vegetarian except, it’s a lot of work to prepare a really appealing meal. When I lived Santa Monica I ate my dinners @ Govinda’s, the restaurant the Hari Krishna community has in Culver City (also have one in Santa Monica now, or did). I lost about 35 #, and enjoyed every meal. I like most of the faux meat,but the Tofurkey wasn’t up for a repeat.
If the Amount of Land to grow the food is the problem, Why don't we just start underground farming ?, it's Underground and it takes less space, and if the government could make a law that all citizens must grow certain type's of crops in there backyard, for example Sugarcane, so that the government can soon collect the sugarcane once its ripened to create Cellulosic biofuel from the sugarcane bagasse. This would take less much less space, we have to be creative guys.. We only have one planet, there is no planet B .
Underground farming would be very energy intensive, plants need both oxygen and sun to grow.
It's putting a tiny bandage on a severed leg.
Humans are about the meet the consequences of our behaviour.
I agree, mother nature is about to reset and humans are on the delete list.
How dare you!
@@alanhowitzer ?
@@meh3247 it's a reference to Greta Thunberg
This greed engineered civilisation will collapse. It always has. You can be in it, you can be out of it, or you can be apart from it. The choices are yours. The ruins of past civilisations are clear evidence of the trajectory the we are on. Breakthroughs in bio technologies like these are great. After the fall of this new world order a more considerate humanity will be established.
The tiniest drop of a green idea in an ocean of OPEC+
What percent of consumption is wasted though? Here in the U.S. we waste some 40% of our food supply, which is ridiculous and allows for so much room to make changes that may result in reduced yields.
Happy world environment day 🙏😇
fantasist
Yep too green here
Yep too green here as well
@@dhuck470 fantasist
The bio-economy is built predominantly upon genetic engineering, I hope people in the Germany are ready to accept this fact. Genetic engineering is a necessary part of our agricultural future.
Yes, fuck up everything that lives that'll solve all problems right.
Siguro ang proper perspective na lang is “least damage possible” than “no damage at all”. Since kahit saan ka magpunta, there will always be potholes and leakages. So dun ka na lang talaga sa lesser evil.
That's fantastic information we read and hear,is there any book you can recommend to read.
as always good materials trawling through the most sophisticated information which is not common for us to know However, it seems it is not easy as it looks also the capitalism will not let forge their industry or cost them their fortune. I hope we never reach a point in which it is hard to find a course reverse.
It's very simple, bio-fuels work but can't scale up to global needs, not even close. Just trying is a bad idea because it competes with food production. Transportation fuels need to come from synthetic liquid or gaseous fuel generated by nuclear power.
There is never a balanced viewpoint presented when new energy is talked about. The spin is always positive on solar, wind and green tech. A lot of the production of these involves raping the earth for metals needed, transportation from countries we are getting it from, and these supplier countries polluting like there is no tomorrow. We would be putting less carbon into the air right now if we used our own oil and Nat gas. We need nuke energy.
Here where i live in Canada, we have Enerkem Company who turns garbage into fossil fuel.
Fantastic! Thank You!
Thank you for watching and your positive feedback! :)
I like the idea of multiple trial fields (with different conditions) and representative samples of root tomographic scans. Growing condition resilience may be made more understandable given the comparison and analysis of the variation of conditions that influence phenotypical expression such as carefully recorded micro climatological and geochemical conditions/soil biology inventories. etc.
The problem is that the energy and resource requirements of these high-technology growing methods offset in part, or whole, any advantages that accrue from increased yield produced by these methods.
I am introducing greenhouse hydroponic farming methods to Sri Lanka as a means of reducing the impact of export oriented farming on land, water, fertilizer, pestcide/insecticide/weedicide, and labor use.
I am attempting to go the 100% carbonic route, but it is very difficult to control all external impacts and the reduce unit cost of production in spite of increases in yield by hydroponic greenhouse growing.
BTW, Sri Lanka is heavily populated and land availability is limited and expensive, so high-tech greenhouse farming is a no-brainer.
Cool!
A very nice set of commercials with some documentary tossed in. I look forward to endless commercials soon 🤮
Hopefully some breakthroughs after nearly 50 years of research.
Biofuels must play a huge role in substitution of hydrocarbon replacement. It's easier to change our fuel supply in our I.C.E machines instead of replacing all cars in the world, and not only that, it's reasonable, logic. Not even all car manufacturers together working at same time will be able to replace all existing cars and not everyone in the world would be able to pay for a brand new car. Just think how much time will take and how much resources. Fuel substitution makes more sense and would take less time. That's the direction we should take.
"IF a loaf of bread is more than a chicken, how is that chicken being fed?" The cost of the grain in a loaf of bread is only 8 cents. The rest is "processing" and profit for the owners of the different parts of the bread making. Chickens are usually fed corn, while bread is usually made from wheat. IF you are going to have experts on, you should make sure they know what they are talking about.
I did not see where they talked about algae. It could be fed on bio waste and turned into diesel of charcoal and replace coal plant.
@@charonstyxferryman DW went to this man as an expert. With his one comment he proved he was not. DW needs to find a better expert next time.
It doesn’t matter if “new” ways of production are “easier” on the land and resources of this consumption of products keeps being the center of the economy. Maggots and waste are not infinite, even if it’s less land expensive, tubes and sprayers and the technology to run all this circuses rest over slavery in Africa and America, we need to decrease our consumption and look back to the pre industrial modes of production that werked in tandem with the environment.
Lol, you think people want to go back to pre industrial ways of living? Not even you would do that.
Wow, Beautiful Upload friend. keep it up. Thank you for sharing this to us. Greetings from Korea
Excellent 👍
Don’t worry guys, we’ll soon be able to 3D print our food, work remotely permanently and live in the Metaverse so we won’t even need our cars.
at 2007 ,20% of corn in US alone was used for biofuel instead of food for the people , do not buy biofuel ,do not participate in that industry ,do not buy from them any fuel ,help the poor find the food to eat just by not using biofuel
I think food waste is the bigger problem.
@@millicentlopez3592 Yeah it is I guess highest in USA.
Not seen the hole episode, but the argument about limited land mass is technically wrong, its all about cost. We can grow indoors whit multiple layers and keep it ruining around the year. However this can be 100%-300%+ more expensive even whit the 10+ times the yield per square meter/feet
Good documentary, to bad they did not mention Kelp production. As far as I understand the ocean can produce the same amount in biomass that it absorbs in Co2. And its currently absorbs 30-50% of the 5100 Million metric ton Co2 each year that we humans emit. why not take that back in ocean biomass. So I disagree on the conclusion about how limited the biomass production on earth is.
How about the farmers in low income countries that are in debt and killing themselves because they can't afford to pay back for all these chemicals?