The Biofuel Debate, Part I

Being an advocate of alternative energy, including fuels that will allow Americans to wean ourselves from dependency on foreign oil, I am often struck dumb by the fact that hemp is rarely seen as a viable alternative let alone included in the energy and biofuel discussion.

To understand the reasons behind this public ignorance is of little consolation. Yes, I understand (though I have never agreed with) the century-old desire of a few money-and market-hungry capitalist interests to marginalize the hemp industry in this country -- and around the world. One might even agree, if only in concept, with Mr. DuPont, et al, and their drive to fully exploit a resource which, at the time, seemed endless.

As the old adage goes: times change. We must overlook our personal desires and look to the common good.

Hemp seed oil is capable of being processed into any and all of the various fuels we use in our automobiles, heavy equipment and farm machinery, not to mention the 25,000-odd other products we use today.

Hemp advocates the world over are making the argument that hemp is a plant for which time has come again.

From The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer:

Hemp stems are 80% hurds (pulp byproduct after the hemp fiber is removed from the plant). Hemp hurds are 77% cellulose – a primary chemical feed stock (industrial raw material) used in the production of chemicals, plastics and fibers. Depending on which U.S. agricultural report is correct, an acre of full grown hemp plants can sustainably provide from 4 to 50 or even 100 times the cellulose found in cornstalks, kenaf, or sugar cane – the planet’s next highest annual cellulose plants.

In most places, hemp can be harvested twice a year and, in warmer areas such as Southern California, Texas, Florida and the like, it could be a year-round crop. Hemp has a short growing season and can be planted after food crops have been harvested.

An independent, semi-rural network of efficient and autonomous farmers should become the key economic player in the production of energy in this country.

The United States government pays (in cash or in “kind”) for farmers to refrain from growing on approximately 90 million acres of farmland each year, called the “soil bank.” And 10-90 million acres of hemp or other woody annual biomass planted on this restricted, unplanted fallow farm land would make energy a whole new ball game and be a real attempt at doing something to save the Earth. There are another 500 million marginal unplanted acres of farm land in America.

Each acre of hemp would yield 1,000 gallons of methanol, or 500 gallons of gasoline. Fuels from hemp, along with the recycling of paper, etc., would be enough to run America virtually without oil.

Clearly, the promise of hemp as an industrial resource has enormous benefits -- with no real drawbacks.

It is high time (no pun intended) that the taboos that have kept hemp out of the national discussion on biofuels are left in the past, where these fears were intentionally, and without foundation, created.

Coming Soon: Understanding the History of Hemp Prohibition