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Within this article it makes the claim that hemp oil is a viable alternative to crude oil. It doesn't go into any detail. It only states that hemp oil is a "clean fuel" while listing in the title "Hemp could free us from oil", among other things.

To what extent can hemp oil be used as a fuel? What is the energy output compared to fossil fuel (oil or coal)? How much hemp would be needed for comparable transportation norms as used by fossil fuel (i.e. a barrel of crude oil is similar to X amount of hemp)? Probably beyond the scope of this site, but what must be done first before hemp can be available for fuel, assuming the engine was engineered to operate on hemp oil, and is that even possible?

Or are these claims based on replacing oil based plastics with hemp based plastics? This article makes a number of claims about hemp plastics, including "Hemp plastic can completely replace oil based plastic materials that we are using today". How does hemp compare as a plastic? How much would be needed to meet current demands for plastics? Can that much hemp be reasonably farmed without stifling other crops?

We already know that hemp is not better than trees for paper, yet those claims continue to be published on the internet, so I have my doubts about hemp oil replacing fossil fuel oil.

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    I'm looking for a more specific claim in that article, but it only seems to be in the title (which traditionally is written by an editor, not the article author who did the reseach). Otherwise, I only see it mentioning boiler fuel in passing. – Oddthinking Feb 16 '16 at 00:57
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    "With its high biomass content, hemp is very effective when it comes to carbon sequestering (removing carbon from the atmosphere)." Grrrr.... It isn't really great at sequestering if it is only for a few months until it rots or you burn the product. – Oddthinking Feb 16 '16 at 00:58
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    @Oddthinking "Another application of hemp oil is it’s use as biodiesel in the same manner like other vegetable oils. It is a safe replacement for petroleum" [from one of the source articles](http://themindunleashed.org/2015/09/hemp-could-free-us-from-oil-prevent-deforestation-cure-cancer-and-its-environmentally-friendly-so-why-is-it-illegal.html). Is that, with the title, more clear? –  Feb 16 '16 at 01:04
  • It seems the article has been hashed out about five to ten times in the last five years. [See this google search.](https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=hemp+free+us+from+oil) –  Feb 16 '16 at 01:07
  • [Some other sites say it would be for plastic](http://www.nationofchange.org/50-percent-our-oil-habit-makes-plastics-hemp-can-curb-our-addiction-1393253982), not fuel. An oil product, but fuel is the more interesting claim, though the claim that a hemp based plastic was 5x stronger than steel is interesting. –  Feb 16 '16 at 01:08
  • @Oddthinking [Here's one](http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/12/28/everything-petroleum-does-hemp-does-better/): "Fuel for transportation can be replaced with hemp-based biofuels." and "Everything Petroleum does, hemp does better." Do you want me to put that one in the post instead because it is a clearer claim? –  Feb 16 '16 at 01:13
  • [A post calling it bogus](https://forum.grasscity.com/legalization-activism/768010-legalizing-hemp-oil-use-will-not-replace-crude-oil-reliance.html) It seems like there's plenty of talk about it for this to be a notable claim. –  Feb 16 '16 at 01:15
  • [This article is much more reasonable about it.](http://www.collective-evolution.com/2012/04/01/5-ways-hemp-will-change-our-world/) It brings up some good plastic claims. –  Feb 16 '16 at 01:24
  • @Oddthinking I've updated the question. –  Feb 16 '16 at 01:31
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    A diesel engine can run on pretty much anything liquid that burns so that is not the issue. The problem is the amount. Check how much oil is used for vehicles and how much oil you can get from growing a certain area of hemp. Then do the maths. – liftarn Dec 05 '16 at 10:46
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    It seems unlikely to me that any crop grown specifically as a hydrocarbon substitute could be a viable replacement for actual hydrocarbons, because you'll have to expend energy to manage and harvest the crop in the first place (though using a byproduct of some other crop that would otherwise be discarded or used for something else might be viable to at least mitigate oil dependency) – GordonM Dec 19 '16 at 16:44
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    @GordonM, the concept you're getting at is "[energy returned on energy invested](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_returned_on_energy_invested)", and for some hydrocarbon replacements, such as sugarcane ethanol, it's significantly greater than 1. – Mark Dec 20 '16 at 00:17
  • Personally, I would ignore any claims made by this source (ewao.com), because the rest of the web page is full of new age bullshit. The other source (collective-evolution.com) is likewise full of new-age bullshit, and it applies even less rigorous standards to what it publishes. See also their article on how Mercury's current "retrograde" will affect your energy levels. Retrograde is purely an optical illusion, and only shows up in planets outside our orbit (therefore Mercury never goes into retrograde). Nevermind that it doesn't have any effect on people. – Ernie Dec 21 '16 at 19:04

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