[Stoves] Improved cook stoves and carbon footprint

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Andrews

You are opening an interesting discussion on what to use for fuel. If I burn
corn (maize) in a stove, is it more energy efficient than burning ethanol
made from corn?  Darn right it is!

It would make more sense to substitute corn (esp old, bad, mouldy, rejected
corn) as a biomass fuel in homes, and switch the diesel (home heating fuel)
to the vehicle market.  The first place to use a biofuel is not in cars but
in fixed installations where fuel energy density does not matter nearly as
much.

Ethanol is cars is robbery: they are selling 1/2 the energy at the same
price as gasoline.

Food shortage? We are in the peak of an El Nina event, so I hear. The
failure of crops because of unusually cold weather is in many cases
(including China) is draining the global stocks.

Regards
Crispin