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Alternative Energy

Alternative Energy. Briana | Candice | Grant. Kudzu: A Miracle Vine. Kudzu is a fast-growing vine that currently covers over 7 million acres of the Southern United States. The Soil Conservation Service promoted Kudzu in the 1930s to help control erosion.

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Alternative Energy

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  1. Alternative Energy Briana | Candice | Grant

  2. Kudzu: A Miracle Vine • Kudzu is a fast-growing vine that currently covers over 7 million acres of the Southern United States. • The Soil Conservation Service promoted Kudzu in the 1930s to help control erosion. • Kudzu often grows 60 feet in one year. • The USDA declared kudzu a weed in 1972. • In China and Japan, Kudzu has been used for centuries for medicinal purposes.

  3. Uses for Kudzu: Henry Edwards of North Carolina has been working with Kudzu for more than three decades. He produces over 1,000 bales of Kudzu hay per year on his Kudzu Cow farm. Henry’s wife, Edith, makes deep-fried Kudzu leaves in addition to other Kudzu dishes. She shows them off in cooking clubs and at the Knoxville World Fair. Studies performed at Harvard Medical school suggest that an extract from Kudzu may be helpful in treating alcoholism.

  4. Interview with Ron Wagner Still, no CO2 emissions from cars would be much better than the emissions from burning natural gas to get hydrogen for those no-emissions cars. Q: Have you heard of using Kudzu as an alternative energy source? If so, what is your opinion of it? A: I've heard of it very recently. I don't know how efficient it is (as in, how much of the plant does it take to create a certain amount of energy), but it seems like it has to be a promising idea simply because it grows so amazingly fast and we don't have to do a single thing to make it grow but get out of its way. That's the problem with using things like corn - we have to dump so much fertilizer and water on them to make them grow we end up using more energy than we get while making a lot of pollution. That doesn't make much sense. [CONTINUED] Q: In your opinion, which alternative fuel sources are most promising? Why? A: Just as we use multiple sources for fuel now, there is no one thing that we can depend on for the future. The key will be to maximize the options we have. Switch grass and sugar cane are very promising for creating fuel for cars, and we throw away literally millions of gallons a fuel a day from restaurants in the form of grease. If we tried to recycle that grease into fuel - and it does a great job, by the way - it would have a huge effect on our energy efficiency. Hydrogen cars are a dream scenario, but what a lot of people don't know is that you have to use energy to get the hydrogen - and right now that means burning natural gas.

  5. Q&A with Jimmy Johnson Q: What is your advice for those concerned about energy issues and pollution? A: Nothing is more important than educating yourself and caring. These are real problems, but they can be dealt with if enough people understand and want to. You can make personal changes to the way you live, and if enough people do that things start to happen. Understand where the food you eat comes from. Think about the energy you use, not just when it comes to turning off lights or getting a more efficient car but also all the energy that goes into creating that shirt you want to buy. We all have to realize that there are no free passes. We have become a very wasteful society that doesn't appreciate possessions and doesn't consider what mindless consumption is doing to the planet. Responsibility is critical. Q: Do you think an alternative fuel could replace gasoline? A: Yes, I believe gasoline will be replaced through economic drivers.  Within a very short time, say five years, after an alternative energy becomes less expensive to produce and bring to market than gasoline we will see gasoline's market share plummet. Q: What is your advice for those concerned about energy issues and pollution? A: I believe the value of energy lies in its ability to do work, to make us more productive and prosperous.  In a free market economy this means that the cheapest fuel wins regardless of adverse side effects in our climate and our global political and economic power. For our own good, I believe the US government should act to artificially change the economics of energy to hasten the advent of cleaner, sustainable energy sources. 

  6. More Uses for Kudzu: • Ruth Duncan of Alabama makes over 200 Kudzu baskets per year. She has earned the nickname “Queen of Kudzu”. • Nancy Basket of South Carolina makes paper from Kudzu, which she uses in her geometric collages. • Diane Hoots of Georgia has developed a company to promote her Kudzu-based products, which include jelly, syrup, baskets and books.

  7. Citations • The Amazing Story of Kudzu: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/8176/kudzu.html • Google Images: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=kudzu&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2 • Flickr Images: http://flickr.com/search/?q=kudzu • YouTube Search, Kudzu: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kudzu

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