permaculture

[richard wade <wade@coac.es>]

Dear Dylan,
It seems to be a reasonable argument that where large quantities of 
organic waste are produced, such as wineries, brewries and canning 
plants, then ethanol could be economically produced especially if used 
in the plant that produced  it. That is presently done in spain with 
wine waste. But what makes large scale municipal composting schemes 
"wastefull" is the hugh energy cost of collecting and transport to 
composting sites, not to mention the presumed cost of transport back to 
consumer. Have you tried to do the  energy accounting on a scheme of 
this sort?
With 75% of greenhouse effect co2 comming from transport, moving 
*anything *could be considered anti ecologic unless absolutly necessary.
Also I see no advantage of speeding up the decomposition of  cellulose 
into avalible nutrients. That goes against simple principles of 
fertility managment.
Regards
Richard
Dylan Ford wrote:

> Dear Robert,
>
> Why does everyone think that making alcohol from something necessarily
> excludes it from then being used for compost? Anyone who ever made wine
> knows that the source material is not in the least consumed or exhausted by
> the fermentation process. In fact I would not be surprised if what is lost
> as sugar is not made up for by the dead remains of the yeast that do the
> work. Also, enzymes that break down cellulose will speed the transition of
> many of these things back into available fertility.
> The worms that turn organic material into high-value plant food must wait
> until bacteria, molds, fungi, yeasts, etc perform the initial decomposition
> anyway before they can consume it. This is win-win as far as I can see, and
> adds impetus to the argument that these items should be salvaged from the
> dead-end waste stream and taken full advantage of.   dylan
>
>
>
> From: "Robert Waldrop"
>  
>
> > The issue with food wastes, lawn trimmings,
> > municipal tree trimmings and etc., is that all of
> > these items are needed to develop sustainable
> > fertility for gardens and agriculture.  That is,
> > they need to be composted and mulched and returned
> > to the earth.  If we rob the earth of these
> > nutrients for ethanol, then we are resolving one
> > issue only to develop another one.
> >
> >
> >    
>
> Dylan Ford is the author of the proposal at www.ideaforpresident.com , a
> website devoted to an idea that could provide an avenue to address pollution
> issues, food safety, social justice, prison reform and healthcare.
>
>
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