Urea from wood?

"There is a pretty wide agreement that if we don't reduce the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we are all going to hell in a hand basket. Some people believe that we have already gone too far and no matter what we do, it is too late."

Willian Huges-Games at Thoughts on the Roof. describes his thoughts on lignite, urea and ...wood waste!

His ideas are well worth exploring. He says,

"It has been proposed by our New Zealand Solid Energy that they turn their lignite deposits into urea for the farmers. At present we import much of our urea so this would help our balance of payment, provide jobs and enrich holders of shares in Solid Energy (MP's???). So far so good. However, it would become our largest emitter of Carbon Dioxide in the country, even surpassing our large coal fired power station at Huntly."

And asks, then answers this question,

"Is there another way. Well, yes there is. You can make urea from almost any carbon based substance from methane to pure carbon. You can also produce urea from wood wastes."

If you've an interest in the proposals to mine and convert the lignite that lies below the farmland near Mataura, read this guy.

'Dairy expansion is key to the economy' - over-excited Harrington

There are a lot of flags being flown in Southland these days, each emblazoned with the $ symbol, blue on blue.

South Port chairman John Harrington believes he can see the future and it's a dirty one, in my view.

Harrington says: 'Dairying ... has the potential to double in Southland from the existing number of 155 000 cows'.
'Agriculture is the realistic way forward.' says Mr Harrington.
He cites too,  a forecast, doubling the global demand for seafood and expresses excitement about Southland's gas, oil and coal-to-urea projects, all of which will push up the cargo volumes that pass through the port of Bluff.
He is but one of the 'high level' players lauding their pet extractive industries in Southland, all of whom parrot the line,
"..a trade-off between economic growth and the environment will be needed."
Trade-off indeed.
Mr Harrington seemed very disappointed that the Government has 'decided not to extract minerals in conservation areas, effectively ruling out a source of wealth for the nation'.
What a disappointment that must have been for him. I can only imagine what his opinion of the 'great unwashed' responsible for the Government's back-down must be!
Still, it's all looking promising for Mr Harrington. His comments positively drip with 'great economic expectations'.