Comments on: Forget the Nobel, How Does Chu Run a Lab? http://cstpr.colorado.edu/prometheus/?p=4817 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:36:51 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: docpine http://cstpr.colorado.edu/prometheus/?p=4817&cpage=1#comment-11465 docpine Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:43:12 +0000 http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/?p=4817#comment-11465 Quote in NY Times article: "But the growing of plants for fuel competes with the growing of food." Not all plants are food plants- hello- Earth to NY Times! Your switchgrass, your trees, for example. Remember that in the intermountain west there is plenty of biomass that people would like removed from around their houses (dead lodgepole trees in Colorado, for example) . This biomass was grown with no energy used, nor pesticides nor herbicides. It doesn't require genetic engineering.. nor energy input beyond what it takes to get it out of the woods. While it is OK for companies to research things that are good for society that will make them money.. I hope the federal funds are also helping with appropriate social and environmental problems. It concerns me sometimes that federal funds are used to "leverage partnerships" that would not exactly be the way things would be done without the corporate interest. Not saying that that is the case here.. but it is something to watch out for. Quote in NY Times article:
“But the growing of plants for fuel competes with the growing of food.”

Not all plants are food plants- hello- Earth to NY Times! Your switchgrass, your trees, for example.

Remember that in the intermountain west there is plenty of biomass that people would like removed from around their houses (dead lodgepole trees in Colorado, for example) . This biomass was grown with no energy used, nor pesticides nor herbicides. It doesn’t require genetic engineering.. nor energy input beyond what it takes to get it out of the woods.

While it is OK for companies to research things that are good for society that will make them money.. I hope the federal funds are also helping with appropriate social and environmental problems. It concerns me sometimes that federal funds are used to “leverage partnerships” that would not exactly be the way things would be done without the corporate interest.

Not saying that that is the case here.. but it is something to watch out for.

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