Energy- Why aren’t WE doing more to find alternatives?
All that corn that Big Agribusiness is growing so they can rape the American Taxpayer via Nixon’s farm subsidies, could actually be put to good use if our current administration wasn’t kissing Big Oil’s ass. Even Africa is getting it right with Pumpkin Power! Several Telecomm network groups in Africa, including Eriksson and MTN, will be converting rural cellphone station power generators to run on biodiesel. The Reuters article states, “Starting in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, fuel will be processed from palm, groundnut, pumpkin seeds and jatropha . . . The crops to generate the biofuel will be cultivated close to the base stations, helping local farmers, cutting dependency on fossil fuels and reducing fuel transportation needs. The cost of fuel, including security to protect transport and storage, can be 80 percent of the cost of a rural phone network.”
There are many good reasons for this rollout. Sustainable energy is cheaper, can be produced locally which eliminates transport and security costs and issues, it’s cleaner, and it fuels the local economy where the market will be for the cellphones being powered, allowing more people to afford the service. Ericsson estimates a 30% savings in the switch to biofuel. I think over time that savings could actually be higher, since cleanups from fossil fuel pollution and transport accidents will be eliminated, health problems that would occur from burning dirtier fuels will be lessened, and the future cost of biofuel will not be rising the way the cost of fossil fuel is expected to as it becomes scarcer.
An enthusiastic backslap to the African Telecomms who are promoting this program! We applaud you for your forward thinking and your use of green technology to boost your own bottom line as well as the LOCAL economy.
A bunch of bitchslaps to King Bush, his Oil Cronies who are keeping us in the EcoDark Ages, the Republican Party for going along with his energy edicts, and US industry in general for not being as forward thinking, and for toeing the Party Line.
Technorati Tags: Energy, BioFuel, Ericsson, MTN, Fossil Fuel, Green Technology, Cellphone Network, ecology, environment
