Trying to figure if hemp is a viable fuel economically. I’m looking for comparison that shows how they fare in supply our energy market and what sort of cost we’d expect from such markets. In your opinion which source of energy best suite our fuel economy (other than petro)? Back with data, please.

4 Comments so far

1. ---

   Hemp is a energy crop. This means that it isn’t a fuel itself, but is good for making energy products.
   The better of Industrial Hemp seed lines produce as much seed as corn by dry weight. Industrial Hemp can produce more cellulose than corn can hope to. It is in the range of crops grown for cellulose. All of those crops can reach above 10 tons an acre per 4 month growing season under the correct conditions. Cellulose can be used for ethanol, biodiesel, coal replacement, etc.
   In that respect it isn’t better than other crops. It is much the same as most good types of energy crops. They all have their ups and downs. However among energy crops, hemp is the only one that has 10,000 plus current other uses.
   As to what is the best solution.
   Butanol is the most ideal. It is almost as powerful as today’s petro fuels, and it can be used in direct replacement of all current gasoline engines. The downside is that it lacks a biofuel industry to make it. There is only one company that is building a pilot production facility. The current butanol industry reforms it from petroleum. In a dozen year I hope this will change greatly as there is much interest in this.
   You will have to check out http://www.butanol.com/ for info.
   Ethanol is plausible. Unfortunately the oil industry has done its best to turn public opinion against ethanol and is succeeding. Because of that I doubt the industry will ever reach the levels needed to replace gasoline. It is possible however.

2. ---

   As far as I’m aware, the fuel value of hemp hasn’t been much explored due to the legal difficulties of growing it.
   As for other fuel types like switch grass, wood and corn, you should be able to find more information here:http://www.nrel.gov/biomass/
   You’ll have to do some hunting around on the site for comparative fuel heating values, but you can also call the NREL staff with specific questions.

3. ---

   this is from hempcar.org… their site didn’t have much helpful information… at least i couldn’t find it…but you could contact them, they drove a car around the us on hemp oil… maybe you can get them to put some good info up on their site!! below is what i found…
   ed
   Fuel:
   Farming 6% of the continental U.S. acreage with biomass crops would provide all of America’s energy needs. 1
   Hemp is Earth’s number-one biomass resource; it is capable of producing 10 tons per acre in four months. 1
   Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol, or gasoline at a cost comparable to petroleum, and hemp is much better for the environment. Pyrolysis (charcoalizing), or biochemical composting are two methods of turning hemp into fuel.2
   Hemp can produce 10 times more methanol than corn.
   Hemp fuel burns clean. Petroleum causes acid rain due to sulfur pollution.
   The use of hemp fuel does not contribute to global warming.

4. ---

   I think that if they legalize hemp for fuel, that norml would jump on that fact then legalize smoke grade hemp thats where the money would be, then fuel would be more easy to afford. I think corn for fuel would outweigh hemp as far amount of crop per acre.