Ethanol - why not just ride a horse?

[Arminius]

I was going to add that horses can be burned for fuel, but that would be in bad taste, so I'm glad I didn't mention it. I probably never will.

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by Arminius

I was going to add that horses can be burned for fuel, but that would be in bad taste, so I'm glad I didn't mention it. I probably never will.

Doh!

[diesel_john]

Originally Posted by Arminius

Depends upon the cost of grass. Plus, horses don't require the same energy resources or infrastructure to produce.

IMO, horses require enormous infrastructure and resources, but it is so localized that it doesn't show up on the radar. Horses are work.

[dremd]

Ok Ok
Let me jump in here

Lets say you were going to hypermile a horse.

You could let it eat grass,in your yard and that's about it.

Now the person I know with horses . . .

Lives farther (estimated 10 miles) from town to be able to afford 7 acres

Built a Large barn just for the horses

Drives an F-250 around incase horses need 2 be moved (still no trailer 1 year later)

Has a nice Deere 2520 (which is actually awesome) basically for the horses

Keeps a acre of sand (trucked in) free of grass using Round up

Fertilizes about 5 acres

Will not ride horse on road

Has to buy feed


Err did I mention that I hate horses?

Not a very eco hobby at all

[hvatum]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

If we had horses, then the internet would have to morph into the pony express as it could no longer rely on trucks (but luckily, it's a series of tubes).

Never heard that the internet was a series of tubes, sounds like an urban legend to me. If it was a series of tubes, why don't web pages fill up like a bucket of water?

Nope... web pages arrive all at once because they are delivered by dump trucks. Also computer games lag because sometimes not enough dump trucks are arriving, especially when stuff near you is under construction since the dump trucks are needed there. The internet is getting faster now though that work on the three gorges dam is finished, there were using like a million dump trucks there I heard!!

PS. Great responses, officially the funniest thread of the week for me.

Built a Large barn just for the horses

Drives an F-250 around incase horses need 2 be moved (still no trailer 1 year later)

Has a nice Deere 2520 (which is actually awesome) basically for the horses

Keeps a acre of sand (trucked in) free of grass using Round up

Fertilizes about 5 acres

Will not ride horse on road

Has to buy feed


Hmm, I've never owned a horse so all these factors hadn't occurred to me, that pretty much answers my question.

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by dremd

Now the person I know with horses . . .

Shame on that person you know.

As for the people who do use them resposibly.....

[bennelson]

Another advantage of horses is that they are self-replicating.

You don't have to purchase one from one of the big three horse manufacturers and next year's model is pretty much like this year's.

[dremd]

But horses are always idling.

PS Sorry, but I hate horses

[JamesLaugesen]

I'm sure with some clever genetic engineering many of the horse problems could be solved.

We could even raise the general question of non-human animal powered transport... how about an ant-electric hybrid, with ants driving a generator.