cannabisnews.com: Salient Facts: Biodegradable Cars Salient Facts: Biodegradable Cars Posted by FoM on April 22, 2001 at 08:36:28 PT By Alec Appelbaum Source: New York Times Last month, the United States rejected the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to limit global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, because, according to President Bush, it would hurt American industry. But American car makers, copying the methods of their European counterparts, have begun to replace fiberglass with natural plant fibers anyway. Using such fibers can save much of the energy needed to make a car and result in parts that are 40 percent lighter -- and biodegradable. By 2010, the New Jersey consulting firm Kline & Company expects natural fibers to replace a fifth of the fiberglass in today's automobile interiors. WHAT'S THAT SMELL? In North America, plant stalks replaced 2 percent of the fiberglass in mats, seat backs and other plastic composites last year; hemp dominated this field. The crop is at least 65 cents cheaper per pound than fiberglass; it also grows perennially and can be recycled easily. In breadbasket states, lawmakers are examining industrial hemp production as a way of boosting farm income. Too bad it's a controlled substance. The Illinois legislature approved financing for a study earlier this year (though the governor vetoed it), and the Nebraska legislature is debating legalization. WHAT'S THE HARM? One problem, but a big one: even though the stalks have negligible narcotic effects, the Drug Enforcement Agency almost always views growing industrial hemp -- cannabis, after all -- as tantamount to growing weed. Susie Dugan, the executive director of the antidrug group Pride Omaha, insists that industrial hemp licenses would give cover to pot peddlers and that drug-prevention activists would have to warn others about the hemp car's drug-promoting message. WHAT ELSE IS GROWING? It is the use of natural fibers in car doors and trunks that would constitute the real engineering triumph -- and car makers are getting there. A company called Indiana Bio-Composites will make a recyclable exterior panel for a mobile home from kenaf, a cordlike hibiscus, in the next two years. Nick Tucker, a University of Warwick researcher, is working to convert a nine-foot-tall crop known as elephant grass into a tough material fit for biodegradable car bodies by 2006. If the plants fail, all is not lost on the reduced-emissions front. G.M., in partnership with Hormel, recently brewed up GMBond, a nontoxic mold for casting metals, from "turkey and pork byproducts." Source: New York Times (NY) Author: Alec AppelbaumPublished: April 22, 2001Copyright: 2001 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/ CannabisNews Hemp Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/hemp.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by tom on April 23, 2001 at 10:14:18 PT re:hemp and marijuana Stephen - I don't know if that's true about hemp and marijuana grown together, but in that situation you would almost certainly lose the high THC yield of the marijuana after the first crop because the hemp pollen would cross-pollinate and lower the THC content of the next generation of mj plants [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Stephen Dickinson on April 23, 2001 at 01:39:06 PT: hemp growing time In the problem of marijuana being grown in with hemp, I heard (I do realize how pedestrian this sounds) that the time it takes for marijuana to mature into suitable THC content is twice that of the time it takes hemp to mature, therefore, the marijuana is with the hemp before it makes a viable drug. Is this true? [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by hempcanadian on April 22, 2001 at 17:49:28 PT: Hemp Car Henry Ford I have a link to a video showing Henry Fords Hemp Car!Go here http://members.tripod.com/StephenJohn/farming.html Henry Fords hemp Car Video [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Rambler on April 22, 2001 at 17:42:33 PT Logic >" G.M., in partnership with Hormel, recently brewed up GMBond, a nontoxic mold for casting metals, from "turkey and pork byproducts." >"Susie Dugan, the executive director of the antidrug group Pride Omaha, insists that industrial hemp licenses would give cover to pot peddlers and that drug-prevention activists would have to warn others about the hemp car's drug-promoting message."So,if we follow this logic,then we must conclude that the 'Pork/turkey' GMBond would be far more harmful than hemp,because thousands of people die from bacon abuse,and this would make kids think that pork is safe to consume in massive quanities.But the pork people would counter by saying that not enough studies have been done on pork to prove that it is a health risk.More studies need to be done. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FRANCES on April 22, 2001 at 13:26:26 PT: TIMELY THERE NOTHING LIKE BEING CURRENT.Henry Ford? Been dead how long? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by The GCW on April 22, 2001 at 09:22:35 PT Henry Ford The Great Book of Hemp has a picture of Ford using a sledge hammer to demonstrate his car's resilience, that he built of hemp resins and ran it on hemp oil. Now, finally auto makers are finding ways around the Fed. Gov. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: