[Newsbot]

Title: $50M biodiesel plant goes into receivership
Category: Business
Posted By: N_Fiddledog
Date: 2014-12-15 00:27:53
Canadian

[martin14]

Does this mean that the 'oil sands jobs' according to BF is now back in the lead ?

[Jabberwalker]

That's too bad. The Niagara region has seen mostly tough times for the last few decades, now. It just goes to show that even "manufacturing Ontario" can be hurt by low world oil prices.

[BartSimpson]

Another one of those amazing 'Green' success stories!

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Nah, they just missed the biodiesel revolution. Turns out you don't need any of the food parts, biodiesel can be made with nothing but the chaff, stalks, leaves etc, plus actual food waste.
So, it turns out we CAN actually double-end agricultural farming by using the same field and crop for two different purposes at the same time. For example, a field of corn can be used for food purposes and the non-edible parts can be converted to biofuel, leaving no hard decision on how much farmland to dedicate to fuel production and how much for food production.

[herbie]

Bart, you're cheering at the failure of an alternate energy plant?
Exactly why?

[peck420]

The closure had zilch to do with the viability of alternative fuels.

[jj2424]

Considering the price of diesel for the last three years WTF ? Just another green dream.

[BartSimpson]

herbie herbie:

Bart, you're cheering at the failure of an alternate energy plant?
Exactly why?

Because it is based on a naïve view of the world where 'peak oil' is a reality and that the price of oil will ever increase. Reality has rudely interrupted a fantasy.

peck420 peck420:

The closure had zilch to do with the viability of alternative fuels.

True. But it had everything to do with the broader availability of fossil fuels.

Biodiesel runs around $75 to $100 per barrel and while that's possibly competitive against $110pbbl oil it isn't competitive against even $95pbbl oil.

In short, low oil prices means there are no investors interested in keeping this enterprise afloat. Thus it dies at the invisible hand of the free market.

[sandorski]

True Fact: No Business failed prior to Green Business.

Send this Fact to all your Relatives. Help stop this Tragedy!

[jj2424]

sandorski sandorski:

True Fact: No Business failed prior to Green Business.

Send this Fact to all your Relatives. Help stop this Tragedy!

yeah cause there's a Biodiesel plant on every corner and the competition is murder.

How can you go broke driving around collecting free french fry grease?

[peck420]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

True. But it had everything to do with the broader availability of fossil fuels.

Biodiesel runs around $75 to $100 per barrel and while that's possibly competitive against $110pbbl oil it isn't competitive against even $95pbbl oil.

In short, low oil prices means there are no investors interested in keeping this enterprise afloat. Thus it dies at the invisible hand of the free market.

How is that any different than any other market?

This was a common occurrence in manufacturing during the exodus.

[peck420]

jj2424 jj2424:

yeah cause there's a Biodiesel plant on every corner and the competition is murder.

Everything is relative.

In the biodiesel market, there is essentially a plant 'on every corner', and it is an extremely competitive market.

It is still a small market that was saturated very, very quickly.

[BartSimpson]

sandorski sandorski:

True Fact: No Business failed prior to Green Business.

True fact: No business ever even started with as flimsy and poorly considered planning as did the so-called green industry.

Remember that first 'hero' of the green movement? The compact fluorescent light? You know, the one with enough mercury in it that breaking one in your house causes a hazardous materials response? An act of genius, that one.

And then there was the hydrogen fuel cell which was going to put a stake in the heart of 'big oil'. That is until a few test vehicles burned and people realized that hydrogen burns clear and therefore it's bloody dangerous especially when you compress or freeze it into a liquid state.

Then there were the plethora of solar companies that lost BILLIONS after the Chinese stole their ideas and saturated the markets with cheap solar panels. Oh, and then the liberals decided that if you have solar panels then the sunzabitches are going to tax your sunlight so you don't get energy for free. And the solar industry is fading because of that idiocy.

And then there's biofuels which are still a nice idea for the home hobbyist but they're a ridiculously destructive idea at the industrial level. Example: Brazil where huge swaths of rain forest are being wiped out to make way for sugar cane fields to provide for ethanol. Brilliant.

Keep going. Watching the left destroy their credibility one hare-brained scheme at a time is fun! It beats being scared to death of you people doing something meaningful!

[BartSimpson]

LOL!!!

This just in:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireSt ... n-27616390

$1:

Why Your All-Electric Car May Not Be So Green

People who own all-electric cars where coal generates the power may think they are helping the environment. But a new study finds their vehicles actually make the air dirtier, worsening global warming.

Ethanol isn't so green, either.

"It's kind of hard to beat gasoline" for public and environmental health, said study co-author Julian Marshall, an engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. "A lot of the technologies that we think of as being clean ... are not better than gasoline."

The key is where the source of the electricity all-electric cars. If it comes from coal, the electric cars produce 3.6 times more soot and smog deaths than gas, because of the pollution made in generating the electricity, according to the study that is published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They also are significantly worse at heat-trapping carbon dioxide that worsens global warming, it found.

The study examines environmental costs for cars' entire life cycle, including where power comes from and the environmental effects of building batteries.

"Unfortunately, when a wire is connected to an electric vehicle at one end and a coal-fired power plant at the other end, the environmental consequences are worse than driving a normal gasoline-powered car," said Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science, who wasn't part of the study but praised it.

The states with the highest percentage of electricity coming from coal, according to the Department of Energy, are West Virginia, Wyoming, Ohio, North Dakota, and Illinois.

Still, there's something to be said for the idea of helping foster a cleaner technology that will be better once it is connected to a cleaner grid, said study co-author Jason Hill, another University of Minnesota engineering professor.

The study finds all-electric vehicles cause 86 percent more deaths from air pollution than do cars powered by regular gasoline. Coal produces 39 percent of the country's electricity, according to the Department of Energy.

But if the power supply comes from natural gas, the all-electric car produces half as many air pollution health problems as gas-powered cars do. And if the power comes from wind, water or wave energy, it produces about one-quarter of the air pollution deaths.

Hybrids and diesel engines are cleaner than gas, causing fewer air pollution deaths and spewing less heat-trapping gas.

But ethanol isn't, with 80 percent more air pollution mortality, according to the study.

"If we're using ethanol for environmental benefits, for air quality and climate change, we're going down the wrong path," Hill said.

Yep. Liberal-left credibility on the environment and energy is dying the death of a thousand self-inflicted cuts!