American Photovoltaics & Homes, LTD.
Low Emission, Low Cost Electric & Solar
5951 Riverdale Ave - Box 1199
Riverdale, NY 10471
Telephone # (718) 548-0428
     EMail Us @ SunsEnergy@AOL.COM  

AmericanPhotovoltaicHomes.com

     Solar and renewable energy have a great deal of social and economic benefits in relation to Petroleum Products. 
Foreign crude oil imports currently provide the raw material for the production of 73% of the liquid fuels consumed in the
United States and represents a cash outflow of almost 35 million per hour or 310 billion dollars per year. To make a bad
situation worse the United States is spending 70.8 million dollars an hour on Petroleum Products (domestic & foreign).
This equates to $620,500,000,000 per year for a very dirty and dangerous fossil fuel.

     Recent events have dramatically illustrated the substantial economic cost, instability, and economic vulnerability of
such imports and domestic supplies. Photovoltaics and/or other forms of solar energy are fuels that can substitute as domestic renewable resources for petroleum products now and increasingly in the next decade and beyond.  In time of war, oil embargoes, holocaust, terrorist sabotage, oil spills; foreign oil and much of our domestic petroleum supplies would be disrupted.
    Besides photovoltaics, the company is doing research in other areas of solar energy.  One of these areas is ethanol and/or butanol.  Fermentation ethanol can be readily substituted for unleaded gasoline in current vehicles with minor engine adjustment and little or no change in engine performance.  In the mid 70's, Brazil changed the whole country's energy source from petroleum to ethanol, when Iran and Iraq's conflict dragged on and it became difficult to get petroleum at a fair price and in sufficient quantities to keep Brazil's economy moving.  Brazil has surplus quantities of sugar cane from which they make their ethanol.  When you walk down a street in San Paolo and a bus comes by, you get the smell of vanilla.  With the use of solar panels, ethanol can be produced for as little as .70/gallon, using domestically grown hybrid poplar tree and switchgrass.  Ethanol produced from the poplar tree, switchgrass, and corn will not pollute and will soak up CO2, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide and particulates.

    
     The petrochemical market for fermentation ethanol, while considerably smaller than the automotive fuel market, it is also substantial.  Thirty percent of the bulk of industrial-grade ethanol is produced from a petroleum derivative and hence is also a potential candidate for displacement
by fermentation ethanol and/or butanol.  The production of ethanol from grain leaves behind a protein-rich silage.  This silage, used in conjunction with straw, permits reduction in the use of hay and grain, and becomes an excellent, nutritive source of animal feed with practically no loss in commercial value.
 

     Conversion of crops with significant human food value to fuel is not desirable.  Fortunately, production of fermentation ethanol does not make this an "either-or" consideration.  Much of the cereal grain (including most of the corn) currently produced in the United States are also used as animal feed.  While fermentation of cereal grains to produce ethanol uses most of the carbohydrates, almost all of the protein is recovered in the silage co product.  This silage can be fed directly to animals as a high-protein source, and other nutritional requirements can be filled using forages which have no value as human food.  This consideration, along with the use of spoiled perishable crops, distressed crops, and marginal crops, provides a feedstock base for ethanol production that requires no displacement of crops for human food.  Up to now, the fermentation process involved in the making of alcohol from corn and/or other agricultural waste products required, some form of energy (petroleum, electricity, coal, etc.) to keep the temperature of the mash between 140 F and 122 F.  Through the use of solar panels, we could reduce the cost of the energy required to make the ethanol by as much as 0.50 per gallon.  In addition, ethanol, photovoltaics, and passive solar systems are renewable fuels that will produce clean energy as opposed to petroleum, coal, and nuclear, and therefore will help purify the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the fish we eat.  A cleaner environment will reduce diseases such as cancer, lung disorders, heart attacks, etc.  The supply of renewable fuel through  the use of photovoltaics and passive solar systems, etc. are endless.  As the unit cost for other forms of non-renewable fuels goes up, the unit cost of photovoltaics, Ethanol, Biomass and other Alternative Fuels are steadily coming down with advanced technology, making solar systems and renewable energy products a must for 95% of the world's clean energy needs....