Thread: Alcohol
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Old 12-06-2009, 12:02 AM
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Mohoender Mohoender is offline
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I agree that food will be a priority in most areas. However, there might be several things to take in consideration:

Compare to nowadays the number of running vehicles will be extremely low and the quantities of fuel will be consequently lower.

The number of people will be largely reduced and on the short-term (provided you can organize your food production) food won't be a problem.

If you are some kind of military units (regular or not) you will be interested in getting some kind of fuels and that will be a high priority along food and ammo. Any commander, will be tempted to force the locals in producing some kind of fuels. That commander will either turn the locals into slavery/serfdom or it will force a kind of taxation upon the civilians (if they are its nationals).

IMO the most important fuel source will definitely be wood as you can't feed on it. You'll need it to heat your home, to cook your food, to run your car (provided its old enough and you have the technical knowledge to build a gazogene) and to provide you with some kind of energy (directly or after transforming it into coal). In addition, with the huge reduction in world population, forests will be expending fast and that source will be more available every year.

I agree that alcohol is not always ideal but it still can work and it's not that hard to produce (at a max of 95°). Then, if food will be a priority, wastes won't be that rare.

In former wine region grape production could largely be turned into alcohol. Moreover, in these regions other food products can be grown within your vineyards and, as a result, you can keep the vines and use the land for something else. That is a practice banned today in most countries but, for exemple, in Portugal, until 1990, people were growing olive/fruit trees in the middle of their vines. In addition, with grapes, what you don't eat can be turned into alcohol.

I'm sure that sugar cane will continue to be turned into alcohol as well.

In regions growing potatoes, I can imagine the local authorities forcing people to never eat potatoes with the skin in order to save potatoe skin for other purpose 'such as energy...

If you grow corn or any type of wheat, you might use what remains of the plant (also I don't know for sure).

IMO, even today, using food to make fuel is the most stupid idea ever and probably the most important coming threat for our ecology.

Oil will be available for food as well. Olives are not that good to feed a population and it will be entirely used to make oil (as food and fuel).

Don't forget about land animal/fish grease.

... I forgot about peanuts...

IMO oil will be very important as it is more easily produced than 95° alcohol and because it can be useful for plenty of things as well: light, energy, grease your engines...

I have seen many of you talking of biodiesel. That's nice but there is no point on making biodiesel for a simple reason you don't need it to run your car. The most modern diesel vehicles indeed need biodiesel but that's not the case for the older ones and that might not be the case for many military engines. What you need is simply vegetable oil and a good mechanic (nothing more than for a gazogene).

Currently, France will give you a fine if you put vegetable oil in your car but Belgium and Germany already authorise and push their people to use vegetable oil in their cars. For most people, they take that oil from restaurants after it had been used to cook. Then, that oil is filtered and used to fill the tank. As a result, you can use this oil for your food and recycle it to run your vehicle. Depending on your vehicle you can run it with 30% to 100% of vegetable oil.

The funny part in T2K is that the USA will have become a nation of pedestrian (due to your lack of diesel engines).

Last edited by Mohoender; 12-06-2009 at 12:11 AM.
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