[Peripherals] Potato Power

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi Power People,

Ed Cherlin said he was dividing a discussion into 3 threads, but I couldn't find where they went...so, I'd like to comment on "potato power" here.

We are currently seeing the result of diverting food crops (corn) to the production of ethanol.  This is leading to worldwide food shortages and rising prices.  This was an unforeseen consequence.  We certainly need to avoid causing a similar crisis with the very people OLPC is trying to help.

The people of the Andes depend on the potato as the mainstay of their diet.  They work hard to farm different varieties in terraces in various microclimates up and down the mountainsides. It is mostly subsistance farming. Because of the cold, dry climate, they are able to make a naturally freeze-dried substance (called chuno...pronounced chun-yo) that they rely on between crops. I doubt that there could be enough "extra" potatoes to sustain ethanol production on the scale OLPC would require for power generation.

Caryl
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/peripherals/attachments/20080515/8d9a2e3d/attachment.htm