Coal and petroleum are actually concentrated sunlight

Hi,

Watch the short video attached. Juan Enriquez states that fossil fuels such as coal, methane and petrol are actually concentrated sunlight energy. (Please see the reference to this in my blog profile.)

The way we define bioenergy has to change. A change in mind-set will cascade into fundamental sea changes in how we produce bio-fuels/energy and tame natural systems.

In 1943, the father of green revolution, Mr Norman Borlang, taught the world how to apply technology in producing grains to feed the millions. India, China and Mexico used to face famines on a periodic basis before the GR. Mr Borlang has changed all that, and India and China are now net exporters of grains!

Improved corn, rice yeilds, increased productivity rates in these countries have resulted in excess grain production which they want to change into biodesiel and ethanol. But, according to Mr Enriquez, this is all wrong. It is expensive, it takes away agricutural land which can be used to grow food and it leads to clearing more forests for arable land.

"Farming oil" is what he suggests instead. The present methods of mining and drilling for petroleum is all wrong as it brutalises the land. He suggests that we need a bioenergy revolution. New developments in genomics and other life sciences will bring about changes in business technologies, political and society changes just as it did in the 1940s with green revolution.

The difference is, in the 1940s and 50s the scientists used selective breeeding to produce new strains of grains and then distributed them to the farmers in India and China to grow on large scales.
In the bioenergy revolution, genetic engineering will be used to create new strains of micro-organisms that will "eat" the coal deposits and change it into biogas (methane).

Drilling for methane does not cause large scale destruction of land, methane is clean, it does not pollute the air with sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Producing clean energy occurs with biological processes and it does not brutalise the earth as did the open-cast coal mining and dirty petroleum drilling.

One thing that struck a chord with me is how he suggests that stabilising the petroleum price will lead to innovation and research into sustainable new and clean forms of energy. He suggests that the price of fossil oil must not be allowed to go below a level (e.g. $35 a barrel) that will stifle innovation in alternative energy fields. When the price falls below an agreed price, then a tax is levied on oil to make up the difference. When the price goes above that amount, the government will pay the difference. This will allow entrepreneurs to invest in and develop new technological and biological processes to produce new forms of cheap and clean energy.

Cheers