The cannabis plant is the key to the revolution in reducing our energy economic costs to individuals and our environment. The bottom line in this change is all based on the financial numbers plugged into a mathematical equation that results in the lowest number. Money, the amount we all pay for energy, is going to decide what society chooses to get our power from and cannabis in a free market will be the overwhelmingly clear choice. The glands of cannabis flowers will pay for the entire cultivation effort, leaving the rest of the plant cost free for energy and other more valuable products.
There is 100% no doubt that cannabis can be energy/fuel. Cannabis biomass is capable of being transformed into electricity and fuels (methane, methanol, gasoline) more efficiently than fossil fuels (coal, oil) and without the poisonous pollution. Raw and “left over” processed cannabis, where fiber, seeds, buds/nugs, and/or trichromes are separated into different high value products, is fed into existing working manufactures of energy. Cannabis a sustainable eco-friendly resource, along with trash, algae production and industrial waste will together make up local energy independence around the world. The transition to this less costly society will be cannabis, which is the missing key factor to this economic freedom – an ideal feedstock (a resource to feed the energy factories).
Even the government knows hemp’s energy potential. The excellent and informative policy study from the Reason Foundation found in their policy study, Illegally Green: Environmental Costs of Hemp Prohibition, “the California Energy Commission is among those agencies that have listed hemp as a potential biomass energy crop.” The Hemp Industries Association states, “According to the Department of Energy, hemp as a biomass fuel producer requires the least specialized growing and processing procedures of all hemp products. The hydrocarbons in hemp can be processed into a wide range of biomass energy sources, from fuel pellets to liquid fuels and gas.”
The keys to the magical and practical “formula” to social and economic freedom are based on cannabis being in a totally liberated market. The highly valued glands of the flowers must be able to be utilized industrially. Perhaps the cultivation efforts could be subsidized by the government, but not restricted. Probably society will have to regulate seed varieties to make sure of the high quality of trichromes, the opposite of what governments do today.
Cannabis sativa is one plant
Mankind’s recent history with cannabis has been radically twisted by a cabal of corporate manipulation. This mass repression has resulted in our present misunderstanding which dominates society so much the misinformation has even affected the cannabis community. Some people know about industrial hemp, some medical and others about recreational uses. Each separate group could unite and learn from each other. The greatest social and economic freedom would result from harnessing all of the plant’s enormous power.
Cannabis sativa (L.), the plant’s scientific name, is one species. Hemp is the English name and has become associated only with industrial uses. This metamorphosis is the “hemp” industries attempt to disassociate itself with recreational “marijuana”, to become more politically acceptable. Cannabis seed varieties have been bred to contain virtually no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a source of the medicinal and recreational effects. Many people do not know that THC has evolved over millions of years as a natural protector of the plant. Meaning the less THC in the plant, the cannabis is less environmentally friendly.
All varieties of cannabis can be made into food, paper, clothes, plastics, explosives, building materials, and more, including energy. Farmers over time can grow can breed in or out different characteristics to increase whatever the needs are for the plant. Different strains could be cross bred to have more cellulose content for biomass production, fiber yields for paper and textiles, and seed sizes for consumption. This process is the same as growers have done in breeding different cannabis strains for various medical needs. Still the most important thing to remember for this economic analysis, the greatest value and desire for humans is the harvesting the glands of the flowers.
Little info on the subject of cannabis for power
There have been few studies and very little written about cannabis for energy. The newspaper, The Guardian, wrote an article called Why is hemp off the biofuel menu?, stating “The Royal Society, the European Commission and the UK government have all managed… to take the wind out of the sails of the biofuel industry, publishing reports that suggest biofuels could be causing more harm than good, the crops not being as environmentally friendly as first thought…. What struck me as astonishing about these reports is that they all managed to ignore the one crop which has been successfully used for many years to create bioethanol and biodiesel, is environmentally friendlier to produce than sugar beet, palm oil, corn or any of the crops mentioned in the report and can grow in practically any temperate to hot climate leaving the ground in better condition than when it was planted…. That plant is hemp.”
By Dion Markgraaff
Read the article in full at nugmag.com
