Question about mass-producing Biodiesel and Ethanol

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I can't help but think that with Biodiesel, whether soybean oil, peanut oil, mustard seed oil, etc...

Or ethanol from corn, milo, wheat, etc.
We sure don't have enough WVO around in one small city to fuel anything more than one block of households.

Do we have enough farm-land and resources to fuel the US/Canada on a plant based fuel? We burn so much gas that it seems that every last acre of the US would be used to create enough fuel. Not to mention that most of the northern states that grow corn for ethanol can only grow during the summer because of the single crop per year season due to the climate. It seems like we would have a price difference during the winter every year.

What do you guys think about this? I'm just curious how feasible do you think this could be?
 
The answer to your question usualy runs from "easy", to "more than the arable land in the U.S".

There's too much chaff, and I don't have a clue as to what the real answer is.

However, as a singular data point Brazil is pretty self sufficient, and exports ethanol.
 
BIODIESEL can come from MANY sources, and not just "vegetable oil".

Algae and Jatropha trees are great examples of "alternative" feed stock sources for BIODIESEL production.

http://www.d1plc.com/energy/jatropha.php

If anyone is serious about BIODIESEL I highly recommend subscribing to Biodiesel Magazine.

http://www.bbibiofuels.com/biodieselmagazine

You'll be amazed at how many new commercial BD production facilites are being built in the US. In one article in the Nov 2005 issue, there was a great quote - "2005 is the year of biodiesel".

In otherwords, in 2005 mainstream commercial businesses are finally taking a serious look at investing in BD research, developement, and production.
 
african oil palm produces 300-400 gallons of oil out of 1 single acre of land. i think that the only reason the oil palm isnt used EVERYWHERE is that it cannot tolerate freezing, and sence it takes 1.5 years to begin producing oil, its impossible to get oil out of it if you have to replant each year in freezing temps.
however in the tropics, it thrives well.
 
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