Natural and Sustainable

You can cut your own gasoline use by following these recomendations from the U.S. Department of Energy:

1. Drive sensibly (obey the speed limit and avoid rapid acceleration and braking).

2. Replace your car’s air filter when it’s dirty, boosting gas milage by 10 precent.

3. Keep tires at the recommended air inflation; 3 precent improvement.

4. Use the recommended grade of motor oil; 1 to 2 precent improvement.

5. Buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Drive less; carpool; plan car use. Or better yet take the train.

Looking for more alternatives seems to be the topic of conversation in most environmental circles. Natural and Sustainable has posted many posts before stating the urgent reason an alternative needs to be found. Of the various plant materials that can be used to make ethanol, cellulose (found in the plant leaves and stems) is the most promising. Nonfood perennial “bioenergy crops”, such as switchgrass or fast-growing trees, can be grown on subprime leand using much less fertilizer, water, and pesticides than used for corn. Switchgrass potentially yields about four times the amount of energy needed to produce it. They also generate a good income for farmers as well.

Trying to boost national energy security without giving consumers access to the information they need to avoid compromising national soil, water and air security is unacceptable. Using bioenergy crops as ethanol sources would likely result in less soil erosion. But changes to these crops would not rule out the use of fertilizers (although at lower rates than from corn) and synthetic herbicides.

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*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Install dimmers or motion sensors for your lights indoors and out. They will help ward off unwanted criminals when you are on vacation as well.

The fact of the matter involving biofuels is: is it worth the effort. Demands for ethanol, the fossil fuel substitute has depleted supplies of corn and has led some farmers to feed junk food to their livestock. But is corn ethanol the solution?

Currently, almost all of the fuel thanol made in the United States comes from starch in corn grain. The Bush administration has proposed that biofuels replace at least 15 precent of the gasoline we’ll need by the year 2017. That’s 35 billion gallons of fuel. If corn grain reamins the primary source, the 10-year goal could wasily consume the entire U.S. crop, leaving none left for food-for people or animals.

Even if there could be enough corn produced to use as fuel, mass production of corn uses more herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizer, and causes more soil erosion, than production of any other U.S. crop. Residues of stalks and leaves ( Corn Stover) normally left in fields after harvesting to prevent erosion and add organic matter back in to the ground is also being looked at for another source of ethanol production.

Corn has been the dominant source of ethanol because it is so inexpensive no other crop can compete with corn on that basis alone. The positive side of the demand on corn growth is the proce rise benefits farmers and forces the ethanol industry to look to other less expensive and more sustainable sources.

Brazil is looking into ways to become energy independant, largely due to its success in the ability to produce ethanol from sugar cane. But, because while corn ethanol yields only about 1 1/2 times as much energy as is required to produce it, sugar can can yield eight times as much in a single harvest.

So the question still remains: What is the best alternative to the issue at hand. While there seems to be some answers with a solution quickly following behind, we still are in the immature phase of knowning the best alternative. The bottom line is: Using corn to replace just 15 precent of our gasoline would consume the entire U.S. crop. (Source: Organic Gardening 2007)

**A Without a Trace star is getting married and over at Brothers & Sisters, Terri has all the details on who she is marrying and who he plays on his show as well. Read the whole story here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: This is the voting year so make sure you are a registered voter. If you haven’t registered to vote you can do so here. Register To Vote. Print out the form, sign and mail. Simple as that. Registering now will give you the voting right to vote come November of this year. Natural and Sustainable always backs the Green Party. What’s your party of backing? If you aren’t sure where a candidate stands on environmental issues then click here to read their profiles and their responses to the question of environmental issues. See you at the polls in November.