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Non-Tech : Alternative energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rock_nj who wrote (2330)	10/27/2005 2:28:26 PM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 16955

The Government should establish the Federal Air Pressure Commission (FAPC) to regulate this. We could totally eliminate the budget deficit by auctioning off barometric pressure differential rights! <g>

To: Rock_nj who wrote (2330)	10/30/2005 4:11:50 AM
From: jmhollen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16955

Hi Rock, ...it's been a while............... Cold Energy, LLC., IMHO, is another exercise in theoretical physics that without "..unlimited Fed funding.." through some boondoogle program at a major DOE physics lab will be just another Moeller Internationl SkyCar. Something that we read about in Popular Mechanics at age 25, and are still waiting for 25 years later; or still watching in a Jetsons cartoon. Of course, with all the sleazy broker-dealer-promoters and bored and naive widows at the bars in Ft. Liquordale, they may keep the scam running for some time.... In 1977, there were a bunch of crackpots who came into Montgomery Engineers in Pasadena with their wild-arse scheme, and wanted a design for tunnels with fans through the Sierra Mountains to clear out the smog in the L.A. basin. Management politely gave them an hour or so of their time, then we spent the rest of the day pealing the bosses off of the conference room floor - once the smog-twits left. The technology that will eventually solve a major portion of the USA's core energy needs is Anaerobic Digestion using the ABPS process control technology developed by Leon Breckenridge. Leon helped design the AgStar digesters for the USDA/EPA, and then he later perfected the ABPS design under his own patent. One of the major benefits of the ABPS design is that they are "..Non-Silting..", the design precludes that. In other words, they don't eventually fill up with sludge and have to be cleaned out which takes a digester down for about 90 days total. A typical large ABPS installation would have 10 to 50 40'x240' digester units, which allows for a rolling maintenance schedule while gas output is dependably held near maximum all year long. An AD is basically a natural gas generator using what nobody really wants for infeed material. They will also take a lot of burden off of all major landfills. The AgStar digesters can produce about 2000BTU of heat energy from a pound of digestible material (preferably dairy cow poo). The ABPS digesters can produce up to 8000BTU per pound from the same source, or other manure sources (swine-poultry), including wet garbage, municipal yard -garden-tree waste, agricultural waste streams like corn stalks, spoiled seed, tomato vines, beet scraps, etc. The beauty of the ABPS system is the it's front-end process and physical digester design allows for switching or mix-&-matching variable input sources ON THE FLY without killing off the bacteria that processes the throughput. By adding an industrial comminutor (heavy-duty grinding equipment) at the front-end, the ABPS can process "..yard dead.." animals that arrive at major packing operations, or expire prematurly at major feeding operations. AgStar-type digesters have generally been built "..on the cheap.." and operated by untrained (and too busy) farmers or idiots, so the resulting failures have given the AD Industry a bit of a black eye. But, that situation is improving. Some of the improved designs are doing quite well when operated by properly educated and dedicated people. AD's produce Methane Biogas, that is scrubbed to remove any naturally occuring H2S. The first ABPSs will be providing pure Methane (Biogas with the CO2 removed using molecular sieves) into major gas pipeline systems here in the western Midwest. The generated Heat Rate and/or efficiency of the ABPS AD is many times greater than any wind machine or windfarm on an annualized basis, and many times cheaper to construct and operate. When the wind doesn't blow, wind generators are dead in the water (..so to speak..), while AD's generate Biogas/methane 24/7/365. The byproducts of AD are readily marketable irrigation water (or very low cost wastewater treatment effluent), and fertilizing solids with no live bio or weed seed content. The ideal installation would be an ABPS situated between a huge cattle feed yard or dairy and a powerplant, gas-turbine peaking plant - or a municipal natural gas line; each ABPS unit in the system has the ability to store gas internally for several days if the usage is not always constant. If a gas line wants pure methane instead of Biogas, the removed CO2 can be marketed to the oil well industry. That liquified CO2 is used to crack open underground strata to increase flow in older wells. AD is not as glamorous as wind farms, or fields of solar panels, etc., but economically it will beat the ROI pants off of any other alternative energy system, and the ABPS ADs have a 20(+)-year outer covering replacement life (..the inner cover may last forever..). And, they AD units themselves will have a 30-year lifespan before major rehab would be required. So, eventually they will become the norm. If built turn-key for, owned and operated by, and financed at power company rates - an ABPS can produce sufficient Biogas are relaible rates to equal the cost of using Powder River Basin (clean) coal. Currently private, the ABPS effort may become public later - I'll let you know. One company tried making a go of it (ENGY), but they were dependent on working for dairies and support funding from the 2004 Farm Bill that never materialized. ENGY went kaput, but the original shell was dirty, and the management was sleazy to start with. Until ABPS is up and going full tilt (..another year..) so all the doddering skeptics can go see it work, one of the alternative energy-aiding technologies that has some real prospects is NNGY's carbon fiber nanotubes needed by the Hydrogen gathering and storage boys for Hydrogen generators and fuel cells. John :-) .