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The flaws of the EU's asymmetric approach to imbalances | 132 comments (132 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Self-censorship (none / 0)
farmland under the plow is the limiting factor on our food production.

Well, no.

Under the present system, access to synthetic fertiliser is the first constraint that will really bite.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Mon Jul 25th, 2011 at 10:39:53 AM EST
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Re: Self-censorship (none / 1)
.. Fertilizer are primarily needed for nitrogen fixation. That means ammonia. Ammonia is synthezied from hydrogen and nitrogen with modest pressure and heat -this means that the actually nessesary inputs are electricity, air and water. With no requirements whatsoever as to the quality of water, nor any pressing need for most of the electricity supplied to be reliable - for electrolysis intermittant power will do just fine as long as you have a tank to store hydrogen in.
The very first artificial fertilizer factory ever built ran off a single norwegian dam and supplied most of europe for decades. This is not a resource that is ever going to run short. The land squids farming the canadian shield in 1.5 billion years from now will not be short.
by Thomas on Mon Jul 25th, 2011 at 11:03:14 AM EST
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Re: Self-censorship (none / 0)
Fertilizer are primarily needed for nitrogen fixation.

Phosphates would like a word.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Mon Jul 25th, 2011 at 11:27:31 AM EST
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The flaws of the EU's asymmetric approach to imbalances | 132 comments (132 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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