Ethanol

http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/local_story_339235130.html?keyword=secondarystory

The above is an interesting story about an ethanol plant trying to cut fossil fuel consumption to zero.

Currently, ethanol plants take something like 10 kWh of corn and 3 kWh of natural gas to produce 5 kWh of ethanol and 4.5 kWh of DDG.

Natural gas boilers are much cheaper than DDG boilers, and the DDG can be sold as animal feed, but with rising nat gas prices and the dried distillers' grain (DDG) market becoming a little saturated, it's making more sense now to use the DDG for heat.

As a side benefit, the carbon dioxide emssions of ethanol plants can be brought down to zero. Going a little further, if the carbon dioxide by-product of fermentation was sequestered, ethanol could easily become carbon negative.

Update on Malaria and DDT

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8381900

"Arata Kochi, head of the World Health Organisation's malaria programme, has owned up to its past shortcomings. ... He also feels his agency failed to challenge green opposition to DDT, a once-controversial chemical that works safely against malaria when sprayed inside dwellings."

Interesting. I know I am biased against environmentalists, well, somewhat at least, I am a technophile by nature, and upon reflection, I don't really want most of the world to be wilderness off limits to humans,

but even so, I do think that there's something to the notion that environmentalist activists have made the fight against Malaria harder.