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Waste Coffee Grounds Offer New Source of Biodiesel
Julie188 writes "Researchers in Nevada are reporting that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks. Their study has been published online in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the world each year. Scientists estimate that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world's fuel supply."
I don't even want to think about how much a gallon of Starbucks biodiesel would cost.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
The total yearly amount of biodiesel available from this "abundant" source worldwide is less than the amount of motor gasoline consumed in a single day in the U.S. in 2007. To be fair, TFA implies nothing of the sort, the summary is just rather enthusiastic.
Note that they make the biodiesel from used coffee grounds. That is, unlike corn, it's not in competition to food usage. Indeed, a growing biodiesel price would mean that the coffee makers would get more money for the waste coffee ground, and therefore if at all, the coffee would get cheaper. Well, at least the coffy you buy ready-made. Making your own probably gets more expensive (but then, mabe it will be possible to sell personal waste coffee ground as well; after all, there should be a lot coffee be made by individuals). What would certainly get more expensive is instant coffee, because that doesn't produce waste coffee grounds.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Well, if you find 50 different sources which each provide about 2% of the needed fuel, you get 100% of your needed fuel.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
We fixed that. By 2010, all US diesel will meet or exceed international standards.
VW can't sell their diesel jettas fast enough in the US.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Given the taste of their coffee, it would likely come pre-burnt anyway.
Our car companies and national vehicle policies haven't turned out to be very bright. Some people say that eventually this may even cause American car makers to have financial problems. Maybe you've heard about it.
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.