Home Biomass Power Generators

TLouden writes "The Rocky Mountain News had an article today about Community Power Corp. and its new BioMax unit which uses renewable resources such as corncobs, sawdust pellets, and coconut shells to produce electricity. This gasifier unit isn't commercially available yet but we might be seeing it sometime in 2004."

Always a catch.

[Torgo's Pizza]

Coconut shells? Darn. Too bad that in North America we don't have enough African Swallows to supply them.

Re:Always a catch.

[Unregistered]

maybe 2 European swallows carried it

On Giligans Island

[Soporific]

They might have an ample supply. Or the professor could bio-engineer them with his coconut bio-lab. All that techonology they had and still couldn't fasion any tubes to make a two way radio...

~S

Re:On Giligans Island

[stretch0611]

Maybe this is why they always had enough power for the radio.

Sounds like..

[erpbridge]

Yes, I think it might be...

Mr Fusion!!! [bttf.com]

Re:Sounds like..

[marko123]

To make more sense, you might like to show them the rest of the bike [bttf.com]

Mr. Fusion

[Latent Heat]

But Mr. Fusion only powers the time machine, but to use the time machine you have to get the DeLorean up to the critical speed, and if the Indians shoot an arrow in the tank of the DeLorean you are hosed.

Corncobs?

[Anonymous Coward]

Corncobs eh? Will there be a kernel patch to support this type of power?

Re:Corncobs?

[marko123]

Patch Installed [phreshness.com]

Wait a minute.

[Anonymous Coward]

I already have a home biomass generator. Oh, you mean a home biomass power generator....

Ahhhh

[SuperBanana]

I already have a home biomass generator. Oh, you mean a home biomass power generator....

Yeah, but who wants power, when you can get screaming, shrieking, temper tantrums, insane financial draining capabilities, scary girl/boyfriends, rebellion...?

Practical?

[The Eye of the Behol]

It may be clean and efficient, but is it practical? Will it provide enough energy to fuel America, and will we be able to produce enough matter to fuel it?

Re:Practical?

[Gherald]

> Will it provide enough energy to fuel America, and will we be able to produce enough matter to fuel it?

Nothing so grandiose. Its for people really paranoid about blackouts who just can't survive for more than a day without a microwave and dishwasher.

Re:Practical?

[bobbozzo]

Dude, you're talking about methane emissions (surplus methane generated by other processes).

This would be BURNING the methane, which would produce CO2 and H20, similar to burning natural gas.

I have never heard that burning methane is any worse than burning any other carbon-based fuel.

Re:Practical?

[rgmoore]

Not only that, but biomass is essentially a closed cycle. All of the CO2 that you're generating is coming from plants that recently took that same CO2 out of the air, so there's no net addition of greenhouse gasses. This is a direct contrast to fossil fuels, where the carbon was previously buried in the ground for millions of years.

Re:Practical?

[warpSpeed]

Not only that, but biomass is essentially a closed cycle. All of the CO2 that you're generating is coming from plants that recently took that same CO2 out of the air, so there's no net addition of greenhouse gasses. This is a direct contrast to fossil fuels, where the carbon was previously buried in the ground for millions of years.

Burning fossil fules is closed cycle too, it is just that the time line for the cycle is much much longer...

Re:Practical?

[ed333]

So how much energy does it take to heat 60 pounds of wood chips to 800 C? What kind of efficiency can this thing possibly have?

Re:Practical?

[benjamindees]

The gasifier, along with the engine's coolant and exhaust, produces thermal energy, which can be used to heat water or dry grain.

This is a cogeneration unit that uses the excess thermal energy to heat your home or whatever. Such systems can be very efficient when designed as heaters, with the side benefit of producing electricity.

All we need now is a residential ammonia-absorption cooling system so that it can be used in the summer as well.

Will it?

[insecuritiez]

Burn AOL CDs or will we have to wait for the upgraded toxic waste burning model?

Sooner then later

[mao che minh]

This is probably where things are going (albeit in the distant future). Most of our power comes from sources that aren't feasibly replenishable, such as coal and oil. There aren't a whole lot of huge waterfalls around or places to build dams, so hydro-electric plants aren't going to solve the problem. Solar power is a way to go, but it is rather expensive. Wind power is always uncertain.

In short, natural sources of energy aren't enough. We will have to start getting creative soon.

Nuclear

[Anonymous Coward]

Once the coal, oil and natural gas are depleted we will either have to give up most of our electrical devices or build lots of new nuclear plants most likely using PBR's. France already has 60 of them.

Could we feed this puppy hemp?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is hemp woody enough? It grows like a... well... a weed, one might say.

CosmoFurthur

Re:Could we feed this puppy hemp?

[hydrino]

Hemp has higher concentrations of cellulose than Rosy O'Donnells ass. This makes it a very attractive.. unlike rosy O'Donnels ass.
Burning hemp-extracted fuel carries another benefit. It processes the same amount of CO2 (into Oxygen)that it emits when burned. It also creates a "closed loop" against greenhouse gas buildup in the atmosphere. Rosie's ass just emits large amounts of methane.

Re:Sooner then later

[jtroutman]

Conversions of solar power to electricity through photovoltaic cells is quite expensive.
One company, Energy Innovations [energyinnovations.com], has an interesting new approach using a Stirling engine and solar mirrors. This could prove to be a cheap way to bring solar energy directly to your home. As long as certain engineers don't start getting mysteriously shot in the head that is.

Re:Sooner then later

[ncc74656]

One company,

Energy Innovations [energyinnovations.com], has an interesting new approach using a Stirling engine and solar mirrors.

UNLV has similar solar-power rigs at the far northern edge of campus. This page [unlv.edu] has more info, and some pictures...they're two different designs from different companies and can supply up to about 50 kW for the pair. Some solar A/C info and other stuff is further down the page as well.

Re:Sooner then later

[Waffle Iron]

Check out the hydrogen-fueled V8 bus engine towards the bottom of that page. I think that people would gladly pay a premium for alternative fuel vehicles if it meant that they could have that kind of intake manifold sticking out of their hoods.

Let's be creative.

[LiberalApplication]

Toss out a couple of kooky ideas. IANAS(cientist), IANAE(ngineer), but I am fairly kooky.

1) How about a large array of solar arrays in orbit above the planet. They could soak up pure sunlight, and fire it down to the earth in the form of a laser at ground-bound solar arrays waiting for bursts of light. Of course there would be drawbacks: Birds flying through the beams would be vaporised, as well as any aircraft which accidentally strayed off course, and there's always the chance that something might h

Re:Let's be creative.

[Exiler]

Hrm, you're right, how would one go about getting power to be transfered that's generated on a long, metallic, circular object?

Re:Let's be creative.

[LiberalApplication]

Right, right.

All we'd need is to dig a giant hole somewhere on the surface of the planet and have the space elevator keep pounding into it until mother Earth achieves a bloody-screaming orgasm, at which point all of our teeth would shatter.

Re:Sooner then later

[dupper]

(screen lights up)
(flickerflickerflickerflickerflickerflicker)
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
(black)

Scientist: Hello, and welcome to Larami Children's Fun Sticks presents 'Our Friend, the Atom'

Etc...

This is a good trend...

[WebCowboy]

Innovations like fuel cell and biomass generators aren't only beneficial because they use renewable energy sources and/or produce less pollution. I think that there is an even more intriguing aspect--the implemetation of these new technologies in small-scale units. The possibility of a truly distributed power generation system is very appealing.

I look forward to a time when millions of homes/farms/factories/villiages have their own refrigerator-sized, low-cost, efficient heat/electricity generation units

Re:Sooner then later

[pigscanfly.ca]

Its called nuclear . Nice , clean [most of the time] . Nuclear truly is the "waive o the future" . Most other power generation methods arent reliabile (wind , solar only provide power at certain times and are prohibittively expensive) other more traditional methods (hydro , coal , oil) have a more finite supply than nuclear . Despite all of the propoganda from both sides , I would look at it this way . If nuclear is realy as dangerous as the activists say then we are f*cked allready . If its as safe as the

Re:Sooner then later

[DakotaSandstone]

Could we keep using oil forever? Sure. Heck, even if we ran out of traditional oil, there'd be almost limitless oil shale [wikipedia.org] deposits. We'd just need to get an economy of scale going to make them cost effective.

But should we continue using oil, coal, etc? When we have purple air quality days in cities where it's unsafe even for olympic atheletes to exert outdoors? I sincerely hope you aren't so blind to the effects oil and gas consumption have on our air that you have never noticed how the air sometimes turns yellow in some cities??

"Not in some sort of crisis?" I suppose next you'll tell me fresh drinking water isn't a big 21st century issue, since "I can obviously just go turn on the tap and get clean water."

Open your eyes. It's a big world out there.

Re:Sooner then later

[sllim]

Actually I have never seen the air turn yellow anywhere.
What exactly are you smoking?

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't LA have a huge smog problem in the 70's? Haven't they come a very long way towards fixing it?
How do those people in LA get around since they outlawed automobiles?

Is it possible, that maybe, just maybe, technology was the answer to LA's problems?

See there are other solutions.

As for your yellow air, I do believe you need your eyes checked, or a drug screening.

Re:Sooner then later

[kilgore_47]

I say we should sit tight and allow technologies to improve. Let's learn about all the nasty effects of these alternate sources of energies.

Please, go on, tell us what kind of "nasty effects" wind and solar power have in store . . .

(I know, I know, IHBT :)

Re:Sooner then later

[G-funk]

Please, go on, tell us what kind of "nasty effects" wind and solar power have in store . . .

Apart from the horrid chemicals involved in solar panel production?

Imagine the fucked up effects wind power would have on the weather if we had enough generators to actually be useful?

The short answer is, unless there's a MASSIVE breakthrough in solar technology, nuclear power (fusion or fission) is the only long term answer.

Re:Sooner then later

[sllim]

Ummm wind power is only good as long as the wind is blowing.

Seriously, most parts of the country do not have a guarenteed constantly blowing wind.
Then there is the land area needed to sit the windmills on. Windmills are not really that efficient. It takes many of them (running consistantly as well, see my first point) to replace a decent size power plant. You are talking about enormous tracts of land that could be used for many, many things.

Course before you put up the windmills you have to deforest th

Re:Sooner then later

[Hektor_Troy]

Then there is the land area needed to sit the windmills on. Windmills are not really that efficient. It takes many of them (running consistantly as well, see my first point) to replace a decent size power plant. You are talking about enormous tracts of land that could be used for many, many things.

Maybe someone could come up with a brilliant plan to not use land for windmills. Maybe they could be placed out to sea. Someone could probably even figure out how to place entire windmill parks out to sea. Maybe t

Re:Sooner then later

[bear_phillips]

You are talking about enormous tracts of land that could be used for many, many things.

The land that windmills are on is usefull for farming. Many farmers make more by leasing their land for windmills, than the make on crops. The bonus is that the windmills can go on the land, plus cows can still graze on the land around the windmill. The land footprint of a windmill is relativly small. http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/06/14/wind.power/

Re:Sooner then later

[sllim]

Which is true, but it also comes back around to my original point about windmills, there are plenty of places in this country that cannot support them.

I live in Pennsylvania. Where I live the land is drammaticly different from the West Coast where these wind farms are popular. We have a greater population density then you do.
Where I live there isn't enough land to build houses and commercial areas. Zoning laws are all that keep people sane about building commercial properties.
Having wind farms competing

Bird strikes.

[mellon]

Bird strikes are a serious problem with big windmills. I'm a bit skeptical about another person's claim in a nearby reply that wind generators would have a serious effect on the weather, but they do kill a lot of birds. On the other hand, so do cell phone transmitters, so I suppose this is already a problem. Sigh.

I think its the decentralization thats the kicker

[mary_will_grow]

I, for one, think that this is a GREAT idea because it helps decentralize energy production. That way we dont have a few people feeding ALL INDUSTRY, getting BUHZILLIONS of dollars, and the totally obscene amount of influence such money grants you.
Then, we wont have our country's policy being written by people who have been hammered by lobbies representing people with endlessly deep pockets.
Of course you can pick flaws in this. Maybe the corn co-ops will become the next big bastard. Whatever. If you th

Re:I think its the decentralization thats the kick

[sllim]

Now you are injecting politics into this.

Look, profits are good. With profits come Research and Devolopement.
Those people funding the biomass research, when they are finished what do you think they are going to do with the results?
I bet they don't open source the results and give it freely out to the world.
My money says that they will try to patent as much of there research as possible and either sell it to another business or start one up themselves.
It is the promise of profits that has motivated them to

Re:I think its the decentralization thats the kick

[mary_will_grow]

I dont think you can really demonstrate (conclusively) that power generation is always going to be significantly more efficient when done in One Big Place. I'm quite sure if you can extract X% of the energy from something in a Big Plant you can at least get damn close to that in a smaller one.
All you can really say is having Less People Profiting From It allows One Big Place to sell their energy off cheaper than if they were 10 separate places with totally separate staffs and blah blah blah. But if NO O

Re:Sooner then later

[mao che minh]

A sucker would be a person that would plan their future upon the assumption that our natural resources are somehow magically regenerating at a rate faster then we are depleting them. It is also quite a feat to ignore the effects of their pollution.

As it stands, no good evidence concludes that relying on coal and oil for energy is a good long term bet. That is why I leave such decisions to scientists that know better. They tell us that oil won't last forever.

I am not ignorant enough to even consider poli

Re:Sooner then later

[sllim]

On the contrary.
Those 'scientists' you refer to are for the most part politicians.

Do you care to submit to us for review information that supports your claim that the Earth has a big gas gauge on it and it reads 'E' for Empty?

Go looking for it and see where you end up.
My thing is that I am distrustful of pretty much everyone as a rule.
Take the greenhouse theory.

Just in the last month the claim was made that South Africa is hit hardest by the greenhouse theory (I will not call it an 'effect' until I see p

Re:Sooner then later

[bhima]

You're so wrong I don't even know where to begin. But I'll start here: once it takes more energy to extract the oil from where ever it is and what ever it is in than you get out of it, who cares how much is in 'reserve'? It a loosing proposition. As far as 'replenishing oil fields':

Oh wait... stop. This must be flame bait...

Re:Sooner then later

[heli0]

"at least a quarter of the energy in the US is produced by coal"

Actually it is over 50%.

Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics [doe.gov]

Energy Production (Thousand MWh)
All Energy Sources: 303,091
Coal: 154,690

Re:Sooner then later

[toddestan]

Most of the power on the planet comes from solar energy! Where did all that coal and oil come from? Plants. Where do plants get their energy? The sun. Wind power and hydro power are also just solar energy, as they depend on weather patterns, which of course only happen because of the sun's energy. There are few sources of energy that aren't from the sun - nuclear, geothermal, and tidal are all I can think of. Only one of those sees much widespread use.

All this talk about biomass is just another way

Re:Sooner then later

[afidel]

Bullshit!
Photovoltaics have a payback time in energy terms of around 1-1.5 years. Economic payback comes much later of course. See This [apec-vc.or.jp] and This one [sharp-world.com]

Re:Creative soon..

[ajs318]

I wouldn't call anything that consumes [27kg] of wood chips per day enviromentally friendly btw. The by-products of combustion are going to foul the air.

No they aren't. The products of combustion are carbon dioxide and water, which plants - the replacements you are already growing for the plants you got the wood from - turn by photosynthesis into glucose and then by polymerisation into cellulose.

Great for...

[Black Parrot]

Great for disposing of bodies, too.

Re:Great for...

[heli0]

Maybe that is why they have 300 pre-orders in New Jersey?

Re:Great for...

[kfg]

No, no. First you feed the bodies to the pigs. Then you collect the excrement for fertilizer for your corn. Then you eat the corn and use to cobs to generate electricity. Then you roast the pigs in your electric oven. If you don't roast the pigs properly you then have a fresh supply of bodies to feed to the remaining pigs.

It's the food chain/carbon cycle gone horribly awry.

KFG

Re:Great for...

[WoTG]

Ouch... sorry, not really funny for folks from BC. I couldn't help but think about the charges laid against Robert Pickton. A local farmer (including a few pigs) who is accused of killing several prostitutes from Vancouver. A reference [www.cbc.ca] for the interested.

Re:Great for...

[Spunk]

or he could be making a movie reference [imdb.com].

Re:Great for...

[bakes]

Great for disposing of bodies, too.

Well, it might be, if the bodies were not already being used to make Soylent Green.

Distributed Energy

[heli0]

The California Energy Commission has some info on different types of distributed energy resources [ca.gov] from solar/wind/fuelcells to good ole ICE and turbines; listing their fuel sources, efficiency, environmental hazards, production capabilities and current availability; along with best applications, costs, performance, strengths & weaknesses, future developments, and where to buy them.

The page for microturbines is currently down, but the rest are up.

Vegetable oil-burning furnace

[Latent Heat]

At one end you have complete utilization of biomass and at the other hand you have this business of corn ethanol with questions about whether you get more energy than you put in. Somewhere in the middle is bio-Diesel, where you make a Diesel fuel out of vegetable oil -- I think canola gives something like 100 gallons per acre.

There are Web sites telling how easy it is to make bio-Diesel. The process involves 10 parts vegetable oil plus 2 parts methanol plus some lye to make 10 parts Diesel-usable fatty

More for niches than mainstream

[gloth]

As the article mentions, this is problably not for everyone. Not for most, actually.

Skeptics of wood gasification argue that it devours too much of a not-so-easy-to-replenish natural resource. Walt acknowledges that his BioMax machines aren't for every home or town but that they make most economic and ecological sense in areas where there's plenty of wasted wood that would otherwise be left to rot or tossed - at a cost - in landfills (producing methane and other greenhouse gases).

Rape is probably a more viable source of energy for the masses, growing much faster than wood, and also used successfully for power generation, though also on a relatively small scale yet.

Of course, my dual Athlon produces a lot of heat; there should be a way to make use of that. Uhm, well, ok, forget that :)

Re:More for niches than mainstream

[barryfandango]

Rape? Oh man, the AC's are just bursting to reply to this one. Could you explain? (I only know one definition for that word, but it seems you're using another.)

That's ALL!?!

[dubbayu_d_40]

"60 pounds of wood chips morphs into 20 kilowatt-hours of energy - sufficient to run a typical three-bedroom home for a day."

That's only 21900 pounds of wood per household per year!!! Yay!?!

Calorific Values Of Fuels

[heli0]

GigaJoule Per Tonne

chicken shit: 8.8
wood: 10.0
meat & bone: 18.6
coal: 30.0
tires: 32.0
diesel: 45.6
propane: 49.4

----

http://www.lowpay.gov.uk/energy/inform/calvalues .p df

Re:Calorific Values Of Fuels

[DaedalusLogic]

Man, there go the plans for my chicken shit powered car and generator. Well... the problem was never really getting the engines to work. It was the massive distribution network and infrastructure needed so that next time you pull up to the pump:

Regular
Plus
Super
Chicken Shit

In all seriousness now... the next comparison needs to be a cost to joule ratio. Then you have to factor in availability of the fuel. Not to mention many other engineering decisions and constraints.

I'm wanting to eventually incorporate

Re:That's ALL!?!

[dubbayu_d_40]

Upon reflection, this approach puts a quantifiable measure on how much forestation we need.

One thing I don't get....

[retro128]

So how does Community Power's BioMax work? In one end you pour a sack of wood chips, nut shells or pellets (considered the optimal fuel because they are small and dense) into an oxygen-starved tank- shaped gasifier, which heats the solid fuel until it forms a combustible gas (up to 800 degrees Celsius, or 1,472 degrees Fahrenheit). The so-called producer gas is a mixture of fuel gases such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane.

Where exactly does the energy come from to generate a temperature of 1,472 de

Re:One thing I don't get....

[Corgha]

Where exactly does the energy come from to generate a temperature of 1,472 degrees?

The answer lies within the article:

The household machine's generator need not run more than five hours a day, thanks to a

battery bank that stores the energy.

Delorean?

[Lord_Dweomer]

Now I just gotta hook this sucker up to my Delorean and I'm good to go......oh.......and the flying bit.........err....and the time travel thingy-majig too.

Time travel...

[spac]

But the real question is... can i use it to turn my Corolla into a DeLorean?

Not commercially available?

[Snoopy77]

... but they've had these on Gilligan's Island for years!

Why biomass isn't feasible

[sssmashy]

I use biomass energy all the time... whenever I go camping, the burning wood in my campfire provides energy for cooking and warmth. The problem is, this is one of the only scenarios in which biomass energy is practical.

Generally speaking, biomass is one of the least environmentally-friendly sources of energy. The combustion of biomass generates more pollutants per kWh of electricity than a coal-fired generator due to small-scale inefficiencies and the uncontrolled release of COx, NOx, and SOx gases.

Why you didn't read the article?

[benjamindees]

Or even the summary?

This is a gasifier. It doesn't burn the biomass directly. It converts the biomass into clean gas fuel just like it would naturally decompose. It's actually more enviromnentally responsible because it supposedly makes use of excess materials that would otherwise be left to decompose into the atmosphere.

Same to you, buddy!

[sssmashy]

The so-called producer gas is a mixture of fuel gases such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane.

Large coal-powered generators are required by law to take steps to minimize the release of NOx (a major pollutant and inevitable product of combustion in a nitrogen atmosphere). They are also designed to maximize combustion efficiency and thus prevent the release of CH4 and CO directly into the atmosphere due to incomplete combustion. Some of the newer ones incorporate technologies to reduce CO2 emission

Re:Same to you, buddy!

[Dashing Leech]

> Coal power may be dirty, but the combined pollution of a thousand small biogas combustion generators is much worse than a large coal generator with equivalent power output.

Except that you are missing one important point. Coal (and other fossil fuels) release CO2 (and other gases) that are currently stored in the ground, so they are added to the environment. Biomass gases are created from the very plants that use them within the environment, so there is no net gain of gases in the environment.

Re:Same to you, buddy!

[tmortn]

one nit.. thats true only so long as biomass consumption of Co2 remains equal to or greater than our relase of Co2 from Biomass... otherwise we create the same problem we have now, net increase in Co2 emmissions.

Re:Same to you, buddy!

[ajs318]

Well, since the amount of CO2 produced by burning any plant is exactly equal to the amount of CO2 consumed by the plant in its lifetime, I don't think it's too much of a problem. As long as you keep the amount of live plants near enough constant. If you're using them up faster than you grow them, it's a problem ..... but thanks to private ownership of land, that's unlikely, since you can make money out of land just by growing stuff on it ..... but you stop making money if you don't replant it.

Re:Same to you, buddy!

[Graymalkin]

Along with the point the sibling reply makes you're also forgetting output of a generator is not as important as the yield delivered to the end user.

If a coal plant is producing 50MWh but transmitting over lines with only 20% efficiency the end usable amount of energy out of burning 50MWh of coal is only 10MWh. Subtract inefficient transformers in the loop and you might only see a total yield of 8MWh out of the 50MWh worth of coal burnt. If each of those 4,000 homes were running their own small generators

Bullshit...

[qtp]

Well it's actually Cowshit, but close enough. Biomass is efficient, cheap, and practical as has been proven at this farm [state.ia.us], and this one [go.com] (which was discussed here [slashdot.org] back in March.)

In full scale use in many countries

[vinsci]

These guys [citec.fi] developed waste treatment to commercial scale years ago, and it's successfully deployed in full scale in several countries [citec.fi].

The WAASA PROCESS [citec.fi], developed by Citec, has a reputation for being the most wide-ranging digestion experience in the world.

The WAASA PROCESS is in operation in Mustasaari outside city of Vaasa, Finland and in Kil, Sweden and in Tokyo, Japan. One of the largest MSW digestion plants in the world is a WAASA PROCESS in Groningen, Netherlands.

FYI: I worked at this company a couple of years back.

Coconuts? Bah!

[Guano_Jim]

Everyone knows the future of renewable energy is in chicken guts! [slashdot.org]

Seriously though, what a great use for all the agricultural waste sitting around the planet. Process the waste on site and use it to drive equipment.

Check out this book: Cradle to Cradle [amazon.com], also reviewed [slashdot.org] on Slashdot. It'll give you a great overview of the waste == food concept.

Heat energy

[Virtex]

The technology I'm waiting for is something that would efficiently convert heat energy into electricity. If you think about it, heat is an abundant source of energy during the summer months. If we could harness that energy, it would go a long way towards providing additional electricity. Plus, extracting the heat energy from the air has the effect of cooling off the air; hence, our air conditioners could generate electricity instead of consuming it.

Unfortunately, current technologies leave a lot to be desired (but there may be hope [powerchips.gi]). So for now, I'll continue to wait.

Re:Heat energy

[Loosewire]

The technology I'm waiting for is something that would efficiently convert heat energy into electricity.
The way you say that is like its just another cool technology but infact its the holy grail of power generation.If someoen could find a way to turn ambient heat into energy the world power problems would be instantly solved

Re:Heat energy

[way2trivial]

ever here of a Stirling engine? go research it.

Re:Heat energy

[ramk13]

I think you are missing part of the electric power generation equation... If you were on the the surface of the sun (which is pretty hot) it doesn't necessarily mean you can create tons of electricity. You need a temperature difference and a 'heat engine' to turn the the temperature difference into useful work.

The Sterling engine that the sibling mentions is an example of one that uses even small temperature differences to create reciprocating motion (which can be turned into rotary motion for electricity

Re:Heat energy

[ajs318]

There is a device for converting heat to electricity in your gas central heating boiler. You know how you have to hold in the knob after you have sparked the piezo? You know why? The pilot flame is heating a thermocouple probe -- a heat-to-electricity converter. The current from the thermocouple passes through a bimetallic strip switch {over temperature cutout} to a solenoid valve upstream of the one which the time clock operates. The safety solenoid isn't powerful enough to pull in from rest {and it

Agricultural surplus

[2toise]

There is a huge amount of federal money that goes into maintaining a massive agricultural surplus here in the states - this could easily be switched over to subsidies for fuel crops instead of (for example) tobacco, as is presently the case.
It would not supply all the needs by any means, but would help.
At present much is shipped overseas as 'aid', but rarely is this the most cost effective way to get food to war stricken areas.

Biomass=Round-about solar power

[Mr.Sharpy]

When you think about it, fuel crops are actually just storage devices for the energy of the sun. When you burn them, most of the energy released was collected from sunlight. I wonder what the efficiency numbers for this would be in that respect. Hmmm....

But on another note, there is a huge amount of agricultural waste here. I have personally seen huge quantaties of wheat buried in holes in the ground to dispose of it for the sake of subsidies. If we could use that material, it would be fantastic.

Besid

mr fusion?

[EngMedic]

Roads? where we're going we don't need ...roads.

Most biomass per sec. winner = hemp?

[xejlod]

Giant stomachs digesting biomass, producing fuel gas. And now this Invention providing an "alternative" source of energy yet again fueled by generic biomass. so here's my generic pot-head rant: Just another reason besides the fact that it's the most reliable natural fiber, oil, medecine, food, soil-depoluter & recreational substance some political-industry-lobby made it illegal in the U.S. during the 1920's... (wonder why petrol, pharmaceutic, weapons-business & banks are doing so well!) Just my t

We don't need biomass ...

[Bellhead]

... we can just strap an electric outlet to my son's head: he's got enouch energy to power a small city.

But seriously, if you've ever done "hot" composting, you know that this really can work - there's an astonishing amount of energy in a pile of grass clippings or a little cow manure.

You know, I think the Amish have it right - they don't use electricity unless there's no other way to do a job, and even then they won't rely on the power grid (it requires people to work on Sunday).

Biomass is just one way to (excuse the pun) take back power from the megacorps that dole it out in the current system. We can return to the Edison model of local power plants, local consumption - small scale, small bills.

Assuming, that is, that we're all willing to go on a power diet.

Bellhead

Biomass energy is already here and practical...

[qtp]

Well maybe it is in Iowa [state.ia.us] and Minnesota [go.com], but it has proven to be both efficient and profitable for small scale producers, as discussed here [slashdot.org] back in March.

The systems described in the main article do not sound very practical to me (800 degrees F. takes a lot of energy to maintain), but they are not the only example of biomass energy being put into practise, and they might be the right choice if you already have a lot of sawdust on hand (like in a lumberyard or a furniture fab).

Anything that reduces the dependency on foreign oil is good for the economy, and less dependency on large energy companies is good for the consumer. That these technologies allow small business to reduce thier cost of operation (or increase thier income) and are environmentally sound is good for everyone.

What about human waste?

[mellon]

One of the puzzles about this article is that this biomass generator doesn't use one of the most significant sources of biomass in a typical household. I know it's icky, but there's energy in it. Plus, if you live in a place with a serious septic problem, extracting gases and composting what's left would be big win.

Re:What about human waste?

[evilviper]

So when you aren't regular, your electricty goes out?

Sounds like a good slogan:

Prunes. Keeping the lights on.

Reminds me of weekend update...

[Cyno01]

"New Scientist magazine reported that in the future, cars could be powered by hazelnuts. That's encouraging, considering an eight-ounce jar of hazelnuts costs about nine dollars. Yeah, I've got an idea for a car that runs on bald eagle heads and Faberge eggs."

1.21 Gigawatts????

[borgasm]

But can it generate the 1.21 Gigawatts necessary to enable time travel?

biomassing WOOD? how about ALGAE, or GRASS?

[the_REAL_sam]

what's the point of touting a new excuse to chop down trees?

how about biomass consumption of hemp? or grass / lawn clippings? leaves? or seaweed? or cornstalks, or wheatstalks? (NOT COBBS, which need to come off your damn dinner plate, and find their way BACK to the biomass center)

you know, the whole OCEAN lives on SEAWEED!

to be helpful, this biomass thing would have to consume a waste product which couldn't be used in any better way.

so. does the gassifier FART after wasting 60 lbs of tree?

The question is...

[eluusive]

Can this generate enough electricity to power harvesting of the plants? Or will we need to end up burning tons of diesel to furtilize and harvest the biomass used to generate power.... *snort*

The dead giveaway

[panurge]

Is the $5 million of federal funding. Given who pays to elect the government, I suspect that federal funding currently goes into any alternative energy project that has a low chance of success, is small scale, cannot deliver reliable continuous power but, above all, doesn't threaten the oil industry.

A related question: the article refers to wasted coconut shells. What does a coconut shell do to get wasted? After the robot Kama Sutra, coconut shell cocaine orgies?

This isn't an advance. Talk with any farmer!

[dacap]

Compare the machine to your average bovine gas generator. The bovine version:
- requires no input of inergy for hot composting
- can accept a wider range of biomass
- has a multistage biomass conversion mechanism
(i.e. multiple stomachs)
- requires no biomass harvesting and preprocessing
- produces firtilizer
- produces milk (with proper prep & handling)
- is self repairing
- is self propagating

All we need now is a way to harness bovine gas production! I can see it now! So we back the cattle into their

Re:Sounds familiar...

[toddestan]

The only problem with the Matrix world using human bodies for energy is how do they feed all these humans? Humans are not just free energy, we generate that bioelectricity and heat from energy found in food. Our food supply is dependent on the sun, as all links of the food chain ultimately lead back to plants, which live off the sun's energy. With no sun in the Matrix world, there wouldn't be much food. Liquidifing the dead is not going to be anywhere close to cutting it.

Really biomass in some ways is