[Vision2020] Conserve precious Oil

[B.C. Strand]

Pat wrote:

"I am talking an entire change from oil...except for those products that 
are made from oil that do not run cars,
trucks etc"

Pat,

The mass of product you are talking about is immense. Let's take a 
simple example. There are about 70 million acres under cultivation for 
wheat. My understanding is that canola will provide approximately 1 
barrel of diesel/acre/year. If 100% of the wheat acreage was converted 
to canola for diesel, it would provide about 4% of the diesel 
requirement for the US about 4.5 million barrels/DAY). Now you add 10 
million barrels/day of gas and 2 million gallons/day of propane... And 
those numbers are at present consumption.

I'm a big proponent of the use of biomass for producing fuels and other 
chemicals. But realistically, they will make a small dent in our growing 
appetite for hydrocarbons.

Bill Strand