from what i've read, it's an enzyme process that breaks down cellulose to ferment-able sugars
these enzymes have been isolated, but are very expensive to produce
cracking sounds more like a high temperature process, that is what is done to oil products anyways, not sure what the numbers are on that process
Sounds like an excuse by oil company execs and the politicians in their pockets to me. But I don't know the science, so I could be wrong.
What I do know is these people like to use the hegelian dialectic to create a "problem" and then the solution miraculously benefits them. I assume that's the case here. When they say "it's not cost - effective", all I hear is "our friends in high places will lose money"
Doesn't heat break down cellulose into sugar? Isn't that the process behind sauteeing and roasting onions/peppers?
I bet Ford grew hemp for tire cord (before nylon came along in the 1930s.)
That could be one of the things he grew it for, the plant seems to have thousands of uses.
If you can make a car run on crude - burning feces and wood, there's gotta be something we can do in 2011 to make them run efficiently on hemp. Anything else would be uncivilized. They can bury their heads in the sand if they want, but I'm not impressed and I'm not fooled.
Look at some of the solutions proposed in this thread:
"I'd pay $100 a gallon if I have to"
"Nuclear!"
"Kill half the world's population!"
What a joke. If people don't know by now that politics is faker than professional wrestling, we're screwed. Peak oil is a fraud too. Rich get richer.