Hi all Just a further thought to illuminate the debate on sustainability of beekeeping from another direction. I calculate that the calorific value of petrol is 120 MJ per US gallon. The calorific value of honey is around 13 MJ per Kg. Putting these together, if one uses one US gallon of petrol when driving in connection with beekeeping, then this would require the energy equivalent of 9.2 Kg ( 20 lbs) of honey to be expended. On this basis I suspect that many beekeepers may largely be using their colonies of honeybees and trucks to convert oil into honey. There is other energy use to consider in addition, for fertilising the flowering crops, for heating the honey, for driving the extractor, for producing the drums, jars, caps etc, etc. I wonder what the net honey production would be if all the energy required to produce honey had to be supplied by burning honey? Best wishes to all Mike Rowbottom HARROGATE North Yorkshire UK ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************