On Mar 23, 10:56 am, "no surrender" <no_surren...@never.net> wrote:

snip

MORE FACTS ABOUT BIOFUELS -
http://home.att.net/~meditation/bio-fuel-hoax.html

Christopher Calder
*****
I disapprove of likening President Bush to Mousie Dung, but do agree using
crop grains as biofuels is unwise; there is other vegetation that may be
suitable. Beyond that, the whole rationale for biofuels is flimsy.

On the contrary, the *rationale* for biofuels is very strong -- in
that fossil fuels are by definition, finite, whereas the insolation
which is the ultimate energy source for biofuels is limited only by
how much of the Earth's surface you could use to raise them.

The environmental and operational *utility* of biofuels is another
matter entirely. To what extent does a given biofuel crop

a) pay back the non-renewable energy put into it or displace non-
renewable energy?
b) effect other undesirable environmental consequences?
c) impose a greater cost burden on the beneficiaries of the fuel it
replaces?

Some biofuel strategies could meet these tests well. Others would
not.

calderhome@yahoo.com wrote:
Many bakeries in the USA are going out of business because they cannot
afford to buy flour at today's high prices. Too many wheat farmers
have switched to growing corn for ethanol. By May US wheat supplies
will be lower than any time since 1948.

Funny thing about that. The USDA thinks wheat plantings were up
last year. http://tinyurl.com/2aymkd

A lot of wheat ground went into the Conservation Reserve Program
according to this: http://tinyurl.com/3aen2r
One more thing to think about. A bushel of wheat can make about 70
loaves of white bread and 95 loaves of wheat bread. That puts the value
of the wheat in a loaf at under 30¢ even with wheat at $20/bushel.
Wheat is back at around $11/bushel, I think. http://tinyurl.com/2d2k64



Dean


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"Dean Hoffman" <""dh0496\"@ine$br#as&ka.com"> wrote in message
news:1206319826_746@isp.n...
calderhome@yahoo.com wrote:
Many bakeries in the USA are going out of business because they cannot
afford to buy flour at today's high prices. Too many wheat farmers
have switched to growing corn for ethanol. By May US wheat supplies
will be lower than any time since 1948.

Funny thing about that. The USDA thinks wheat plantings were up
last year. http://tinyurl.com/2aymkd



They don't think...they know. Tractor and Combine sales are up 44% this
year, and up 33% for Feb. alone.

http://www.agweb.com/Get_Article.aspx?pageid=141790&src=

Monthly Machinery Retail Sales: February '08
3/12/2008
Bob Coffman
An AgWeb.com Farm Equipment Special

Milwaukee, WI-Preliminary February 2008 Retail Sales for Tractors and
Combines, issued by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM)
indicated continued strong gains in large tractors and combines for the
month and YTD.

U.S. 2-wheel drive farm tractor sales in February 2008 totaled 11,384, up
7.8% from sales in February 2007. Year-to-date sales for the first two
months are off about 4-% from the same months in 2007.

U.S. 4-wheel drive tractor sales in February 2008 totaled 240 up 44.6% when
compared to sales for February 2007. Year-to-date sales for the first two
months are 32.9% higher than the same months in 2007.

U.S. January self-propelled combine sales totaled 381, up 12.7% when
compared to the same month of 2007. Year-to-date sales for the first two
months are 12.3% higher than the same months in 2007.

Farm equipment sales tend to trend higher into June and then taper off for
the remainder of the year, bottoming with November sales, normally.

A lot of wheat ground went into the Conservation Reserve Program
according to this: http://tinyurl.com/3aen2r
One more thing to think about. A bushel of wheat can make about
70 loaves of white bread and 95 loaves of wheat bread. That puts the
value of the wheat in a loaf at under 30¢ even with wheat at $20/bushel.
Wheat is back at around $11/bushel, I think. http://tinyurl.com/2d2k64



Dean


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I work for an irrigation company.

Dean, Hoffman, > wrote:

I work for an irrigation company.

Hmm. Then I'd appreciate your feedback on a project I'm working
on. It's a pump that's directly powered by solar heat. I have a
photo of the engine at the bottom of

http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/Stirling/Dyne.html

and a "schematic" of the pump at

http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/Stirling/Pump.html

The engine pictured is built of 4" schedule 40 PVC drain pipe and
is currently running with a 9" stroke at ~30 strokes/minute.
We're hoping to improve the stroke to 18" before fall.

As you might guess from browsing around the web site, pumps
aren't really our primary product (or expertise), so a bit of
feedback from someone in the business would be welcome!

I'm not at all qualified to comment. Center pivot irrigation
is my area. The only thing that matters on my end is if the well puts
out the right pressure and volume. We have to wire interlocks so the
wells and pivots quit together if one fails but that's about it.

Dean, Hoffman, > wrote:

and a "schematic" of the pump at

http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/Stirling/Pump.html