3 Replies to “Biofuels and Renewable Energy (Tucker Emery)”
I think you did a really good job explaining what biomass is and the details of how the technology works. I thought it was a good idea to put in this description during the beginning of your slidecast, and then put it into a historical context. The historical, militaristic and economic contexts were explained well, however you never explicitly stated what impact the context had on biomass. Additionally, I really enjoyed the fact that you were able to make connections to political policies that affect biomass. One criticism I have is how the slidecast did not present the social context of biomass. I think it would have been interesting to know how society viewed and understood biomass and how that viewpoint changed the adoption of the technology. I also appreciated that the slidecast as a whole was really well paced and easy to follow and understand. Overall the slidecast was very good and I enjoyed the conclusion slide, which summed everything up.
I liked how you mentioned the issue of food shortages with bio-fuels, most people just gloss over it. Another informative part was discussing how bio-fuels had been used in the past and are not just a new trend. Focusing on how people are ensuring that bio-fuel are sustainable was a good decision. Personally I am skeptical that bio-fuels are a good technology for the future but you provided evidence of alternative uses for bio-fuels that I had not thought of. When I think of bio-fuels I think of corn used to produce ethanol, first generation bio-fuels. As you mentioned in your slidecast this is very inefficient and can have major detrimental effects on the food market. You helped inform me about alternatives and the future of bio-fuels in particular using algae that would be capable of recycling the carbon dioxide from a conventional power station and re-purpose it into fuel.
Great job on your slidecast. I thought your decision to include infographics for some of your images was very effective as you were able to simultaneously give information verbally and through the text on the screen. You also do a good job of setting up the historical context for biomass. I think it was a good organizational decision to start the slidecast with a brief description of biomass before jumping into its history. I also liked your description of the generations of biofuel. I had heard that there were several generations of biofuel but I never knew the distinction. The presentation could have been improved slightly with more references to class concepts. A brief discussion on the general publics views on biofuel may also have been beneficial. Aside from those minor flaws, this was an excellent presentation that gave me a better understanding of biofuel, good work!
I think you did a really good job explaining what biomass is and the details of how the technology works. I thought it was a good idea to put in this description during the beginning of your slidecast, and then put it into a historical context. The historical, militaristic and economic contexts were explained well, however you never explicitly stated what impact the context had on biomass. Additionally, I really enjoyed the fact that you were able to make connections to political policies that affect biomass. One criticism I have is how the slidecast did not present the social context of biomass. I think it would have been interesting to know how society viewed and understood biomass and how that viewpoint changed the adoption of the technology. I also appreciated that the slidecast as a whole was really well paced and easy to follow and understand. Overall the slidecast was very good and I enjoyed the conclusion slide, which summed everything up.
I liked how you mentioned the issue of food shortages with bio-fuels, most people just gloss over it. Another informative part was discussing how bio-fuels had been used in the past and are not just a new trend. Focusing on how people are ensuring that bio-fuel are sustainable was a good decision. Personally I am skeptical that bio-fuels are a good technology for the future but you provided evidence of alternative uses for bio-fuels that I had not thought of. When I think of bio-fuels I think of corn used to produce ethanol, first generation bio-fuels. As you mentioned in your slidecast this is very inefficient and can have major detrimental effects on the food market. You helped inform me about alternatives and the future of bio-fuels in particular using algae that would be capable of recycling the carbon dioxide from a conventional power station and re-purpose it into fuel.
Tucker:
Great job on your slidecast. I thought your decision to include infographics for some of your images was very effective as you were able to simultaneously give information verbally and through the text on the screen. You also do a good job of setting up the historical context for biomass. I think it was a good organizational decision to start the slidecast with a brief description of biomass before jumping into its history. I also liked your description of the generations of biofuel. I had heard that there were several generations of biofuel but I never knew the distinction. The presentation could have been improved slightly with more references to class concepts. A brief discussion on the general publics views on biofuel may also have been beneficial. Aside from those minor flaws, this was an excellent presentation that gave me a better understanding of biofuel, good work!