The Leaf THE LEAF Jan-Feb 2019 | Page 27

Hemp Ethanol is about Five Times Cheaper than Petrol By Tim Castleman ( PotFacts.Ca 11.4.2017) https://potfacts.ca/hemp-ethanol-is-about-five-times-cheaper-than-gasoline/ According to biofuel expert Tim Castleman, hemp ethanol could be produced for 1.37 per gallon plus the cost of the feedstock, with technological improvements and tax credits reducing the price another dollar or so per gallon! Hemp Ethanol would help to end Oil Wars, Oil Spills and Climate Destabilisation By David Malmo-Levine (Cannabis Culture 1.4.2014) https://potfacts.ca/hemp-ethanol-would-help-to-end-oil-wars-oil-spills-and-climate-destabilization/ Hemp: 1) doesn’t need as much fertilizer or water as corn, switchgrass or other energy crops 2) doesn’t require the expensive drying required of corn and sugar cane 3) can be grown where other energy crops can’t 4) is more resistant to “adverse fall weather” than other crops and 5) has long been known to be the lowest-moisture highest-cellulose crop Hemp stalks being “over 75% cellulose” according to a 1929 paper from Schafer and Simmonds, with more conservative estimates indicating 53-74% of the bark being cellulose According to the Stanford Research Institute and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, it is woody, low-moisture herbaceous plants that make the best biomass for liquid fuels. Hemp is both a low moisture herbaceous and a woody plant. Furthermore, hemp ethanol would eliminate 1) oil wars • hemp can grow in sand, thus in nearly every country on earth 2) oil spills • a hemp ethanol spill would just evaporate 3) climate destabilisation • hemp acts as a carbon sink – reversing the greenhouse effect ***this would solve three of the biggest problems we face as a species***