Methane Powering a Town Near You

People who use Methane (in science fiction, at least)

Dr. Jaron Hansen has figured out how to convert waste into nearly-pure methane gas.

Hansen didnt invent the basic idea. Animals have been producing gas from waste since forever. But raw gas from anaerobic digestion of waste contains more than just methane. It also contains carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.

Hydrogen sulfide is the part of gaseous and solid animal waste that stinks. Its also corrosive as all get out, which has previously made methane from waste impractical except in science fiction.

But Dr. Hansen has invented an inexpensive biogas conditioning system that removes most all the carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from waste gas. The resulting gas is 98% pure methane gas, making it affordable to create electricity and fuel from trash.

"One of the projects is with a dairy in Alberta, UT on a project to use the manure from cows as energy. The waste from 8,000 cows has the potential to generate 1.2 megawatts of electricity...enough to power 1,200 homes..."

Another project in Ogden, Utah, is using cow manure to produce biodiesel. Dr. Hansen produced the first batch just two months ago (January 2011).

I cant tell you how cool I think this is, but perhaps a story from my past will illuminate why the thought of turning manure into useful energy will suffice.

A Personal Experience with Waste

I mentioned my brief experience being a farm girl back in November (My Roots, Part 1). But I didnt tell you about the day Mom slept in.

I was kindergarten age, and my brother was about 2 years younger. While Mom slept, we gamboled about the farm, a veritable fantasy land to our tiny selves. It was full of mysterious little buildings, with arcane delights like a full set of mink paws laid out to dry in the rafters of the garage.

That day I remember playing in the broad, flat field. It was hard under our feet, and nothing grew there.

Then I came upon the hole.

In the midst of flatness, the hole stretched down into darkness. I did what any curious 5-year-old might do, unfettered by adult caution or supervision.

I jumped into the unknown.

The first sensation was sound. The splashing, sucking sound my keds made as they hit the not-solid bottom.

The second sensation was smell, as the wet, moist depths let off puffs of hydrogen sulfide.

The third sensation was fear, as I realized the walls of the hole werent solid. I wouldnt be able to climb out.

I screamed, and my three-year-old brother peered over the edge. An eternity later, my mother peered over the edge. Moments later I was free.

I probably got hosed down and was likely asked to stay inside. Decades later I found out the rest of the story. Mom and Dad had spent the prior evening extracting a cow from the manure after it fell through the crust. Hence why she was exhausted and why there was a mysterious hole in the middle of our "play ground."
________________________

So, hooray for Dr. Hansen and his system for turning manure into useful energy. If his system had existed those decades ago, I could have enjoyed a bright, well-fueled childhood, unmarred by memories of dark terror in a sulfurous pit.

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Thinking Easter moving mountains is easier than you think

Its Easter.

Now I know Easter is really all about some Pagan thing and not so much about a Bible, but..

Traditionally, Easter is a time when all Australians get as many people together as they can, and drive around in boats very fast trying to do as much damage as they can to the river banks.

ItsThats all well and good, its not the speed that does it, fast boats and skiers just skip across the surface. But humans make these things that make wakes so your skiers can do jumps. It looks like amazing fun but it will destroy the river in no time.

When I was a kid of seven years old or so, we would visit an Aunty and Uncle living in a place called Port Noarlunga. The beach boasted a very cool reef full of interesting fish, and a little way away, the worlds highest sand dune (I think it might have actually been the worlds highest sand dune, and not something that simply seemed that way to a kid). A small shop would sell the normal crud that shops sell to people doing stuff at the beach, including small plastic balls with a tiny hole in them. I asked the shop keeper why there was a hole in the ball, and he told me it was to let the water out that I was complaining about that entered through the small hole.

Thats when I knew there was a problem with the world.

But for a few years, this shop also hired out little wooden sleds/sledges/sleighs and sticks of wax to ride the sand dune. This dune was tall. So tall we rarely bothered to climb it all the way to the top for it was hard going walking up it.

Now its not so tall, and the river at the base of the dune is wide, and shallow.

This image search reveals what it looked like about half way through the damage.

I put that mountain into the river.

Me and a couple of friends.

Even kids can move the largest mountain given time.

It only took 20 years or so to turn it into nothing special at all.

There.

Thats the seasonal biblical mountain moving reference out of the way.

Now, lets all try not to destroy the River Murray like I did the Onkaparinga River when I was a kid.

Speedboats and skiers dont do a lot of damage, but wake boats will eat the rivers of the world given half a chance.



120 Things in 20 years thinks we should dredge all that sand back up there.

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Peak Oil got you depressed Check out Fuel

Fuel, the film, available on Netflix
Josh Tickell has been a bio-diesel advocate for over a decade. In his 2008/9 documentary Fuel, Josh goes way beyond bio-diesel to show how the world can realistically become petroleum independent and go carbon neutral.

This film is a pleasure to watch - it has:

• Beautiful graphics,
  
• A David versus Goliath personal story,
  
• Comments from the rich, famous, and learned,
  
• A message that not all need go dark when fossil fuel runs out.

Oh, and lovely music, sung by Joshs now-wife, Rebecca Harrell.

The diesel engine was originally designed to run on a vegetable oil-based fuel. Ford originally designed his cars to run on ethanol (derived from corn). But the availability of inexpensive fossil fuel and the distribution might of Standard Oil combined to make fossil-based products the fuel of choice.

Interesting tidbit - Josh Tickell makes a case suggesting Prohibition in the United States may have become law because it made ethanol illegal. Henry Ford continued to offer the ethanol-compatible version for several years, but finally folded to economic necessity in 1932 and gave up offering the ethanol-fueled engine option. Coincidentally, Prohibition was allowed to be repealed the following year.

Josh also lays out the idea that the recent US war in Iraq was motivated by oil. This isnt a new idea, but he does a particularly good job of connecting the dots.

Back to how we move past fossil fuel towards a sustainable future - bio-diesel is a clear winner, requiring only 1 part energy to produce 3 parts diesel (ethanol requires 1 part energy to produce 1 part ethanol, and fossil fuel requires 1 part energy to produce 0.8 part fuel). Solar and wind can work, where conditions are adequate. Theres even mention of trees that were designed to remediate contaminated soils that grow to maturity in 3 years and regenerate from a cut stump, making wood-based energy creation a viable green option as well.

My only complaint is the discussion of wind didnt show my favorite wind turbine, the vertical Windspire. Traditional wind turbines kill birds due to the high differential pressures at the blade tips, not even counting the birds killed by being hit by a blade. The Windspire doesnt have this problem.

So, if talk of Peak Oil and/or soaring energy prices get you down, take a breather and watch this film. It wont make the immediate crisis go away, but does offer hope that there is a future, even after cheap fossil fuels go away.

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Microbes

Nematode

Mycillium attached to nematode.

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Did You Know

The average gardener spends about $70 on a 600 sq ft garden and reaps about $530 in return!

It can take a few years to build your soil, but start a garden now and enjoy fresh wholesome food you can serve with pride.  Gardening is good for the soul and will bring joy to your life as you learn each year how to do it better.    Gardening promotes good physical and mental health.

Worms break up that rough, dense layer of dead grass, stems and root call thatch in your lawn. Thatch blocks the flow of nutrients and water.

It will be difficult to deny the probability that every particle of earth... has pasted through the intestines of worms - Charles Darwin

Worms eat the nematodes that feed on roots.  Unchecked the cause yellowing, wilting and bare patches in your lawn.

There is often 5 times more nitrogen in soil with worms.

Soil with worms will have as much as 7 times more phosphate, and 11 times more potassium.

P N K - Nitrogen Potassium, and Phosphate are the major nutrient requirement of plants

Worms eat harmful bacteria, fungi, and microbes while increasing the amount of beneficial microbes.

Worms fertilize the soil with their waste. Worm castings are more nutrient rich than the soil initially consumed.

Worms are the intestines of the earth - Aristotle

Keep your worms fed by creating an earthworm stack of leaves, kitchen scrapes and other vegetation.   Leave grass clippings on the lawn after mowing and be careful with the pesticides and herbicides you use.  They often kill worms.

Did you know that the inactive ingredients found in pesticides are often 1000 times more toxic than the principal active ingredient, and tests done on just one ingredient are often not as toxic as the combination of ingredients.  This presents a false sense of safety.

Roundup was found in this experiment to be 125 times more toxic than glyphosate. Moreover, despite its reputation, Roundup was by far the most toxic among the herbicides and insecticides tested. This inconsistency between scientific fact and industrial claim may be attributed to huge economic interests, which have been found to falsify health risk assessments and delay health policy decisions -
European Environment Agency. EEA Report.Copenhagen, Denmark: European Environment Agency; 2013. Late lessons from early warnings: science, precaution, innovation.

Fungicides were the most toxic from concentrations 300–600 times lower than agricultural dilutions, followed by herbicides and then insecticides, with very similar profiles in all cell types. Despite its relatively benign reputation, Roundup was among the most toxic herbicides and insecticides tested.

Chronic tests on pesticides may not reflect relevant environmental exposures if only one ingredient of these mixtures is tested alone.
 

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