frontbuttt

frontbuttt t1_j9z4yr9 wrote

Reply to comment by ReturnOfSeq in Asimov's Foundation Is Bad Literature by Kryptin

Post was boring and redundant, nominal vocabulary or word variety, completely uninspired. Plus he used “DNF” unironically, in a subreddit about Books and to critique a famous writer’s literary merit and prose... I’m afraid OP might be a bad writer too.

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frontbuttt t1_iz0awo4 wrote

Reply to Scientists have analyzed the specific labor costs for producing a 1 carat diamond in mines and through artificial synthesis. The work of human turned out to be more effective: 26 minutes versus 2-3.5 hours. by Skoltech_

And isn’t the real cost here the human suffering, plus the land needed, plus the ecological disruption caused? “Man hours” doesn’t exactly matter as a point of comparison when the functions of those hours are incomparable.

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frontbuttt t1_iwhovxc wrote

Reply to comment by Entraprenuerrrrr in Research shows land that often lies fallow or is poor in soil quality — across the United States would provide enough biomass feedstock to meet the liquid fuel demands of the U.S. aviation sector fully from biofuels, an amount expected to reach 30 billion gallons per year by 2040. by Wagamaga

No disagreement here—nothing solved whatsoever. But a reassurance/proposal to take biofuels more seriously, and consider that they need not cannibalize the country’s ability to grow food crops, could be a step towards a stop-gap solution that lessens carbon emissions (even if only by a margin). We need for information, more proposed solutions, and more people considering new approaches/options. Not less.

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frontbuttt t1_iwhiznx wrote

Reply to comment by Alaishana in Research shows land that often lies fallow or is poor in soil quality — across the United States would provide enough biomass feedstock to meet the liquid fuel demands of the U.S. aviation sector fully from biofuels, an amount expected to reach 30 billion gallons per year by 2040. by Wagamaga

Agree that the idea we would turn ALL of our accessible-but-unused farmland into bio-fuel crops is pretty depressing. A country-sized no man’s land, where nothing can survive longterm.

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frontbuttt t1_iwhimt2 wrote

Reply to comment by Entraprenuerrrrr in Research shows land that often lies fallow or is poor in soil quality — across the United States would provide enough biomass feedstock to meet the liquid fuel demands of the U.S. aviation sector fully from biofuels, an amount expected to reach 30 billion gallons per year by 2040. by Wagamaga

Read the article. This isn’t proposing use of ethanol, it’s hypothesizing that use of a kerosene-equivalent biofuel, not unlike bio-diesel, could power aviation. And while the harvesting and refinement of the fuel would no doubt pollute, and we’d still be burning the fuel’s carbon into the atmosphere, at least the continuous regrowing of the vegetation to create these fuels would reabsorb some of that carbon (which can’t be said of fossil fuels).

Far from a magic bullet, but if this is a step towards lessening carbon emissions, while retaining an affordable aviation industry (something very few are willing to voluntarily give up) then it should be considered.

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