Erich Grotewold
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 Flavones from rice leaves inhibited weed growth but not rice biomass, and luteolin from chrysanthemum also inhibited weed biomass (Kong et al, 2004; Beninger and Hall, 2005). Quercetin-3-dimethylether, naringenin, and eriodictyol found in Dittichia root exudates induced agravitropic growth in lettuce seeds (Levizou et al, 2004). (-)-Catechin, kaempferol, and dihydroquercetin in root exudates from the invasive species Centaurea maculosa can trigger a wave of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and subsequent Ca2+ signalling, leading to root death in sensitive plant species (Bais et al, 2003a, 2003b). |
James Howard Kunstler
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 Biomass
Forget biomass. It's only a cruder variation of thermal depolymerization. The idea is that we would supplement our fossil fuel-burning power plants by adding organic materials such as cornstalks, switchgrass, willow sticks, and sawdust. biomass schemes are predicated entirely on the assumption of an underlying fossil fuel platform, especially in terms of agricultural waste products such as cornstalks grown under an industrial agriculture regime using massive petroleum and natural gas "inputs" for artificial manufactured fertilizers, harvesting, and transport. |
Erich Grotewold
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| Flavones from rice leaves inhibited weed growth but not rice biomass, and luteolin from chrysanthemum also inhibited weed biomass (Kong et al, 2004; Beninger and Hall, 2005). Quercetin-3-dimethylether, naringenin, and eriodictyol found in Dittichia root exudates induced agravitropic growth in lettuce seeds (Levizou et al, 2004). (-)-Catechin, kaempferol, and dihydroquercetin in root exudates from the invasive species Centaurea maculosa can trigger a wave of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and subsequent Ca2+ signalling, leading to root death in sensitive plant species (Bais et al, 2003a, 2003b). |
David R. Montgomery
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 Much of the biomass lay below ground in an extensive network of roots that supported the prairie grass. Traditional plows could not cut through the thick mat that held the plains together. So the first settlers simply kept heading West.
Then in 1838 John Deere and a partner invented a steel plow capable of turning up the prairie's thick turf. When he began selling his unstoppable plow, Deere set the stage for a humanitarian and ecological disasrer because, once plowed, the loess of the semiarid plains simply blew away in dry years. Deere sold a thousand of his new plows in 1846. |
Mark Lynas
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 Shifting from coal to wood biomass, therefore, although desirable in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, would by this measure end up displacing even more of nature than we already have.
States of denial
Energy realities are not the only reason why our response to global warming has hitherto been so half-hearted. Our evolutionary psychology preconditions us not to respond to threats which can be postponed until later. We are good at mobilising for immediate battles, less good at heading off challenges which still lie far into the future. |
| In addition, there are still problems - if straw is not ploughed back into the land, then biomass is being removed, lowering the humus content of the soil and its nourishment value for plants. If the use of woody residues causes coppice plantations to expand into currently 'marginal' areas, then the wild spaces where nature currently clings on will be reduced still further. Mankind's destructive need for food will be increasingly augmented by a destructive need for energy. |
David Steinman
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 The Department of Energy has funded basic research on the process of manufacturing ethanol from agricultural wastes such as stalks and husks and other forms of biomass, and such credits were part of the 2005 energy bill to the tune of 51 cents for every gallon manufactured.
Federal green tax credits covered some of the costs for both residential and commercial solar installations. Grist-Magazine.com reports that tax credits and other incentives have inspired many U.S. companies to install solar power systems at their facilities. |
| Be sure to check out their latest returns and get expert advice:
New Alternatives Fund invests 25 percent of its funds in renewable energy such as wind power, fuel cells, ocean energy, solar, hydrogen, biomass, and geothermal. Visit them at www.newalternativesfund.com.
The Domini Equity fund is based on the Domini Social Index 400 (whose companies include McDonald's). So why did Domini pick McDonald's? |
David Wolfe
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 In third world countries, the cooking of food exposes people to the hazards of inhaling wood smoke or emissions from biomass fuels, such as cattle chips (dung). Emissions from wood and biomass fuels are major sources of air pollution in the home and are the number one source of air pollution outside the home (even eclipsing fossil fuels). Studies have shown that cooks inhale more smoke and pollutants than the inhabitants of the dirtiest cities. |
David R. Montgomery
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| In the organic plots, the biomass of earthworms was up to three times higher and the total length of plant roots colonized by beneficial soil mycorrhizae was 40 percent greater. Organic farming methods not only increased soil fertility, profits from organic farms were comparable to those of conventional farms. Commercially viable, organic farming need not remain an alternative philosophy.
Other recent studies support this view. |
Amarjit S. Basra
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 One interesting application involving cell cultures is the production of ginseng (Panax ginseng CA Meyer) biomass in Japan. Since 1988, fermentation of ginseng cells is performed in 20,000, to 25,000-liter bioreactors and the products are used commercially.51
Organ cultures are an alternative to cell suspension cultures for the production of secondary metabolites or biomass. |
| Enhancement of biomass formation of the overground parts had been one of the focal points during the development of the new Hungarian marjoram (Majorana hortensis Monch.) variety Magyar. Selection for higher drug yield was carried out by examining plant height and width, plant habit, proportion of leaf and stem mass, leaf size (surface), and mass ratio of crumbled: whole drug.38 Selection for higher biomass production from populations of great intraspecific variability could be enhanced by vegetative propagation. |
Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D.
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 LITERATURE
McLeary BV, biomass A Cellulose and Hemicellulose 160:523. 1988.
Further information in:
Kern W, List PH, Horhammer L (Hrsg.), Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, 4. Aufl., Bde 1-8, Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1969.
Leung AY, Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food Drugs and Cosmetics, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York 1980.
Steinegger E, Hansel R, Pharmakognosie, 5. Aufl., Springer Verlag Heidelberg 1992.
Tang W, Eisenbrand G, Chinese Drugs of Plant Origin, Springer Verlag Heidelberg 1992.
Teuscher E, Biogene Arzneimittel, 5. Aufl. |
David Steinman
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| Some green fuels are created by biomass with use of fermentation and the novel enzymes that the bacteria produce, instead of with use of chlorine and other chemical catalysts. Yet, so powerful are these naturally produced enzymes that they break down the tough carbohydrates in these plants' cell walls. We use bacteria to turn hard fibers and what otherwise would be waste into liquid gold. |
| The Department of Energy, in particular, has funded basic scientific research on converting biomass to fuels.
?Reform Other Taxes. Taxes on labor would go down, and our own personal taxes might even be lowered.
Can we really have green taxes in America? The answer is, of course, we already do. One reason that there is so much interest in ethanol, which could be the answer to our foreign oil dependency, is the government's tax credits for its manufacture. |
| But advanced enzymatic technologies can make fuel from most any kind of biomass. On the other hand, some technologies also involve the fossil fuel methanol, which should be eliminated by the industry as soon as possible. Although the fuel produces fewer pollutants than regular gasoline, some fuels right now emit more nitric oxide gases into the atmosphere, and this must also be curbed quickly.
General Motors Corporation and Ford Motor Company have both partnered with energy companies to promote the use of ethanol as an alternative to gasoline in Illinois and Missouri. |
Pam Montgomery
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 Yet they dominate every landscape, representing 99% of the biomass of the Earth. There is a clear conflict between the commonly held view and the success of plant life. Only now are we beginning to expose the remarkable complexity of plant behaviour. A revolution is sweeping away the detritus of passivity, replacing it with an exciting dynamic—the investigation of plant intelligence is becoming a serious scientific endeavour. |
Joseph E. Mario
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 If 6% of American land was devoted to (Hemp) biomass cultivation, the nation would be energy independent and wealthy.
Hemp was brought to Jamestown, America, in 1611 and cultivated for fiber; introduced into New England in 1629, Hemp (marihuana) soon became a national crop. In 1640 the State of Connecticut ordered every family to plant Hemp. There were bounties awarded to growers, and penalties imposed on those who did not produce Hemp in the robust Virginia of 1762. |
Alex Steffen
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 Solar power supplies all of the electricity; a biomass plant provides an additional source of renewable energy. Rainwater is harvested on the roof of every building [see Thinking Differently About Water, p. 190]. Trees have been carefully nurtured through an ingenious drip irrigation system, creating a green environment that gives the impression that the college is a desert oasis. The biggest success? |
| The homes are under construction as of 2006, with an ultimate goal of four hundred families in residence—along with a biomass gasification plant for energy, village-wide water recycling, and a mixed-use town center. Next up is the Tangye New Town, which will scale up the conceptual designs pioneered in Huangbaiyu. The Tangye urban district will be home to 180,000 people, and is intended as a working model for replication across China.
All materials used in the model towns must either biodegrade safely or be completely reusable. The walls of Huangbaiyu demonstration homes, 1.6 feet (0. |
| What comes out the other end, after it is fed on by all these living components, is water (sometimes cleaner than the water in our taps) and biomass (living matter that can be composted for soil, fed to livestock, or otherwise returned to nature). And Living Machines themselves can be quite beautiful: the tanks often resemble well-groomed gardens of water plants.
Living Machines were a great—arguably revolutionary—invention in principle, but in practice they often proved too finicky to build and maintain on a scale that would make them practical for cities. |
| The process can turn gasified coal, natural gas, methane from landfills, and gas derived from biomass into synthetic diesel, gasoline, and aviation fuels. The resulting F-T fuels are high performing and clean burning, and can be used in blends or neat. |
| Ethanol, an alcohol produced in a variety of ways from cereal grain or biomass waste, is used in gasoline blends with up to 85 percent ethanol (in a mixture known as E85). Vehicles that can burn either gasoline or ethanol blends are called flexible-fuel vehicles, and there are millions of them on the highways in the United States and around the world. |
E. D. Hirsch
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 The study of life and living systems. biomass Material in growing or dead plants. fa The term biomass is most often encountered in discussions of sources of energy, since biomass can be used to supply energy needs directly (as fuel wood, for example) or indirectly (by being converted to alcohol; see gasohol). biophysics The study of living things using the techniques of physics. biosphere The thin outer shell of the earth and the inner layers of its atmosphere; the place where all living systems are found. |
Mark Lynas
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| Earth.' And remember, this is in addition to the 400 years' worth of ancient NPP we consume each year through our fossil fuel use. We are voraciously consuming not just modern nature, but ancient nature too.
But fossil energy in some ways may actually have lessened the direct human impact. Instead of burning wood for heating, for example, Russians discovered that they could burn coal, reducing the pressure on forests. In the days before fossil fuels, Sweden, for example, had far fewer forests than it does now. |
David Wolfe
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| Emissions from wood and biomass fuels are major sources of air pollution in the home and are the number one source of air pollution outside the home (even eclipsing fossil fuels). Studies have shown that cooks inhale more smoke and pollutants than the inhabitants of the dirtiest cities.
Overcoming Disease
"Treat disease through diet, by preference, refraining from the use of drugs; and if you find what is required in a single herb, do not resort to a compound medicament. |
John A. McDougall
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 The microflora are so important to our well-being that after a person's colon is surgically removed (colectomy), the last part of the small intestine (ilium) takes over this vital role and becomes colonized with a similar biomass of bacteria.
The health of the flora can become impaired by temperature, illnesses, antibiotics and other drug treatments, and changes in our
Benefits of a Healthy Gut Microflora þIncrease the natural resistance to infections from bacteria, yeast, i and viruses. þPrevent traveler's diarrhea. þSpeed healing from diarrheal diseases and relapsing colitis. |
Adrian Forsyth and Kenneth Miyata
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 Some animals whose populations have a high biomass
103 interact with only a few other species of plants and animals, and therefore are less important, in both an ecological and an evolutionary sense, than animals with a lower combined biomass that interact with many other species.
Ants constitute a large part of the animal biomass in many tropical forests. They can easily outweigh all of the vertebrates in a parcel of lowland rain forest, despite the fact that even the largest ants in tropical America are rather small creatures. |
James Trefil, Joseph F. Kett, and E. D. Hirsch
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| The study of life and living systems. biomass Material in growing or dead plants. fa The term biomass is most often encountered in discussions of sources of energy, since biomass can be used to supply energy needs directly (as fuel wood, for example) or indirectly (by being converted to alcohol; see gasohol). biophysics The study of living things using the techniques of physics. biosphere (beye-uh-sfeer) The thin outer shell of the earth and the inner layers of its atmosphere; the place where all living systems are found. |
James Howard Kunstler
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| But the power obtainable from nuclear fission is so much greater than that of solar-electric, wind, biomass, and all other "alternative" fuels that an investment of any remaining fossil fuel in nuclear power could be more than a break-even or dead-loss proposition, and might, in turn, buy the human race more time to make more sustainable arrangements. Thirty years from now, we may have to resort to coal to service nuclear reactors, or perhaps synthetic oil derived from coal. |
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