What is Digg?Sponsored by Bing
Attack Of The Rhinovirus! view!
bing.com - Surprising advice for staying cold-free when everyone around you is sniffling & wheezing.
92 Comments
- sustainablogger, on 05/08/2008, -0/+50As long as we're still hauling trash, this is one way to close the loop... somewhat. A good start...
- Raptor007, on 05/08/2008, -2/+49Mr. Fusion?
- musheenelves, on 05/08/2008, -1/+42Yeah, we've got to get creative like this. We're surrounded by energy, we just need to commit resources and energy to developing more sustainable lifestyles. I think we all really need to start simplifying our lives. Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, the first two aren't getting enough attention.
- rynTAU, on 05/08/2008, -0/+27Great Scott!
- inactive, on 05/08/2008, -0/+25Wow. That's 4,745,000 gallons of fuel each year!
- chanop, on 05/08/2008, -3/+17Hello musheenelves, My name is Bill Billings with Exxon. We will be sending you a cease and desist order on all future comments regarding "alternative energy". Please refrain from making this mistake again.
- SheilaNoya, on 05/08/2008, -0/+11Back in the 1970's, I visited a farm in North Carolina where the guy collected chicken ***** (he had 1000's of chickens) and threw it into a large concrete storage tank along with some rotting vegetation from his farm. By adding a little water to the mix, he produced enough methane gas from this to completely power his farm and all of the machinery (I have no idea how you convert your farm equipment, generators, and tractors to run on methane, but he managed to do it).
You'd think with 12 million people in the L.A. basin, we'd be able to figure out how to turn all of our human waste into some usable methane gas. As far as I know, we just treat our sewage and then dump it into the ocean. It sure seems like there should be a way to put some of this to use producing an alternative fuel source.
OK - I guess I also just left myself open for insults from all of the idiots who will say how Californians are "full of crap", but if we were able to convert tons of ***** into a usable fuel source over 30 years ago, then we should certainly have the ability to do it today. - uberchaoslord, on 05/08/2008, -0/+10way to not understand the chemistry involved, and make a default inflammatory post.
- shirtninjay, on 05/08/2008, -0/+8Maybe they got that good start from Back to the Future. Just took a lil time to actually implement a reactor to turn garbage into energy...
Now if they can only get started on flux capacitors... - EricAnderton, on 05/08/2008, -0/+6There are *lots* of ways to recycle organic and inorganic (plastics) waste into fuel. I think the problem with adopting those on an industrial scale has been that petroleum is clean, cheap and easy - well, at least up until now. Soon, it'll be worthwhile spending the R&D to develop more eco-tech since that's the only way left to work around expensive petroleum.
- Thermal Depolymerization is another way to break down long carbon chains into fuel oil in a very rapid, energy positive way. It can be used to break down animal waste, plastics, tires, and virtually anything else that has carbon molecules in it.
- Algae can be bred to produce high yields of biodesiel grade oil. Since you need some fertilizer to coax the stuff along, waste can be used very well here. Algae also has the added benefit of sequestering carbon from that atmosphere.
- Anerobic decomposition to produce Natural Gas production from feces, human or otherwise, is another way to go (as you mentioned). This technique is also being applied in the article simply by putting a gas well in a conventional landfill - the paper, food, wood and other organic stuff in the trash breaks down and turns into methane.
- A good portion of consumer waste is directly combustable and can be used to fuel power plants. The only major problem here is fly ash, which has to be disposed of in a landfill since its toxic. - monospaced, on 05/08/2008, -1/+7Probably because of major resistance from the the power companies. California has been screwed over before by pg&e, and I don't see it stopping anytime soon.
- skipdog172, on 05/08/2008, -2/+8The problem with traditional recycling is that it is essentially a waste of resources. It takes more energy, manpower and money to recycle something and get an end-product, then it does to simply produce that end-product in the normal way that it is produced. This is why recycling centers in cities across the country LOSE money. They don't make money by selling their recycled goods to other companies because it costs those companies MORE money than acquiring their raw products in the normal way that they do, thus nearly all recycling centers do not profit and citizens have to pay the bill(because companies are not going to pay MORE for a product just because it was made with recyclables). It costs more to make a recycled product, then a non-recycled product(although this bill is traditionally put on cities who have to keep their recycling centers running, and this is why we don't see more expensive products made from recyclables next to products made from non-recycled materials). We SHOULD continue to throw things away like normal, recycling only the things that make sense, like aluminum and anything where the recycling center PAYS YOU MONEY, because that means they are making a profit from selling the raw material. The problem is, people think that recycling everything they can, is good for the environment. There is a problem in that people believe land-fills are a bad thing that hurt the earth. Taking your recyclable product to get recycled is worse than simply throwing it away. We need good solutions, like the cities who use their landfills for gas. The fact is, we could take all of the landfills in the country PLUS 100 years worth of additional garbage and consolidate them into one giant landfill that would still be a tiny blip on the map and probably produce a heck of a lot of gas. There is also a lot of misinformation out there about how landfills are "bad" for the environment or that they seep harmful things into the ground....just not true with modern landfills.
The fact is, recycling makes people feel good. It makes them feel like they are doing something great for the environment and the world. This is the driving force behind recycling, not the fact that recycling allows us to "make more efficient use of our resources to allow cheaper products since they are made of recycled materials!" - ricksite, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5You will no doubt be dugg down for saying that because it also makes people feel good to bury anti-recycling comments. People can probably make good arguments on both sides of the issue. I would like to see the effort put into recycling campaigns instead be put into campaigns to get people to use less stuff. Instead of working to recycle junk mail and packaging, we should be working to reduce/eliminate it.
- lazn, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5Actually glass is one of the things that take less energy to recycle than to create new. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling Approximately 2/3rds the energy of making glass from raw materials.
- govsucks, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5Great, right now they simply burn off they gas, I say why waste the gas. Good for them, as long as it doesn't take more energy to purify it its a great idea.
- NesloTterrag, on 05/08/2008, -3/+8DAMN IT that was mine!!
- mal1964, on 05/08/2008, -2/+7I'm going to sell them my garbage now!
- UTKEngineer, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5I wish "technical" articles like this one gave more information. What's the fuel cost in $ / gal gas equivalent? What's the payback period on a $15 MILLION dollar facility? What mileage will the revamped trucks get? How much does it cost to revamp their trucks or buy new ones?
- louiebaur, on 05/08/2008, -0/+4That is a great idea
- Vandango, on 05/08/2008, -0/+3Wow, even the price of garbage is going up.
- life38, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Wow, a corporation really taking a step towards reducing the USA reliance on foreign oil.
This American corporation can make a difference.
Generation Next depicts what can happen if the USA does not make a major change in it's reliance on foreign imports.
http://mynonprofitwebsite.com/blog/2008/02/08/emo- ... - Shiftgood, on 05/08/2008, -6/+9California FTW
- dreesemonkey, on 05/08/2008, -0/+3I was talking to my roomates about this just the other night, I completely agree with you. Once we have clean, sustainable forms of energy (solar, wind, geothermal, etc) being generated, we can have just about any next-generation fueling our cars of tomorrow. Air cars, electric cars, hell even hydrogen fuel cell cars are all viable at this point.
I always wondered why landfills wouldn't buy a few of the methane gas generators and 'give back' to the grid instead of just burning off the gas like they do now (around here), it seems to me they could pay for themselves. The problem is no one wants to front the money, and/or pressure from "big energy" and no help from the govt. It needs to happen, though. - ricksite, on 05/08/2008, -0/+4All plastics are organic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound - smartmlp, on 05/08/2008, -0/+3Well you do the math, at $4 a gallon (its more here in California), assuming the trucks only get half the efficiency, the plant will still pay for it self in a year!
- ZorboMan, on 05/08/2008, -1/+4Yeah, I like Penn and Teller's ***** too.
By the way, there are a number of people that have found fault with that episode so you probably shouldn't take their word at face value. - ricksite, on 05/08/2008, -0/+3Our landfill (in Iowa) has been using the landfill gasses to power homes for more than a decade.
http://www.mwatoday.com/mwa_met.html - inactive, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2It probably can be done today, but it won't be if no one is going to make an obscene amount of money off of it. You don't think Congress landed on the idea of ethanol by themselves do you? The ADM guys have really gotta be pleased with themselves these days. Seriously, they HAVE to be pinching themselves to make sure they are awake.
- ChrisConrow, on 05/08/2008, -1/+3I hear they're generate 1.21 jigawatts of energy
- irishjays, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2Now Garbage can power the Libyan's van too!
- inactive, on 05/08/2008, -3/+5A great start....really that much LNG?
- kirralin23, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2This sounds great. My father-In-Law is converting his diesel pick-up truck to run off of vegetable oil. He's made arrangements with a couple of places that normally pay somebody to pick up their used vegetable oil, from deep frying foods, and haul it away. He'll pick up the oil free of charge, filter it, and use it to fuel the truck.
There are many ways to protect the environment. My personal favorite is to reuse as much as possible. It's good for the environment and good for the pocket book. - chromerium, on 05/08/2008, -1/+3I thought the exact same thing!
- rynTAU, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2How old are you? Have you seen Back to the Future: Part II?
- FredFredrickson, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2I heard about this on the radio and thought it was pretty cool.
- mousky, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2Wow, you can't read.
I said that the global population GROWTH RATE is declining. I also said "there are more people today".
Population growth is not out of control in most of the world. In fact, several countries have population growth rates that are below replacement level (that is, the existing population does not create enough babies to replace the people that die). Most developed nations are heading to that point.
But, hey you would rather ignore facts and spread your lies, exaggerations, and fear. - 4abtrlife, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2I think all this is great news. There's going to be plenty of alternative fuels for the future. Biodiesel, garbagediesel, hydrogen energy, brown's gas, wind power, electricity generated while trucks hit the brakes on the highway....you name it...and we're not going to have to spend more than a couple of dollars per 100miles of travelling by 2015
- roflsd, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2Some of these private garbage companies such as Waste Management have been doing this for years. The process is actually quite amazing, covering sections of a landfill with plastic so that as the refuse breaks down the gases produced are funneled to a collection facility. The gases harvested are obviously treated and used as an energy source. They just keep adding on layers of garbage, plastic... One of the waste water plants is completely self sufficient, it takes energy harvested from the waste water and uses it to filter and screen to pump out clean water. The remnants are solid mass that is sold as fertilizer.
Capitalism FTW! - kirralin23, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2This is the first time I've heard of Global Dimming. Is that where everyone's I.Q.'s go down?
- inactive, on 05/08/2008, -1/+3Really. This isn't new news. Where does industrial methane come from? From the local landfill. It's been that way for 40+ years.
- Envark, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2Why? It shows the system works when you allow it to work.
- Kenzan, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2I take it Global Dimming isn't well accepted yet.
- regeya, on 05/08/2008, -1/+3As long as they don't have a midget running the operation who tries to impose methane embargoes...
- burningmanstan, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2This is a good idea for now but I would like to see more emphasis on producing less waste. Getting energy from this waste Its good, but not wasting fossil fuels by making unnecessary waste would be better. Capturing the methane produced is a good idea, but not producing so much methane would be better. LGN is mostly methane and methane is a greenhouse gas BTW. We can't capture all of it and the part that escapes ends up in the atmosphere. In our efforts to reduce CO2 we still need to reduce the amount of methane that reaches the atmosphere. This is a step toward more independence from oil however systems like these should be monitored to see how much methane ends up in the atmosphere.
- mousky, on 05/08/2008, -0/+2Yes, it's sad to see the market respond to rising fuel prices.
/sarcasm - Kenzan, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1Google it.
- Kajarago, on 05/08/2008, -1/+2I hope you are being sarcastic...
- mousky, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1I'm only sarcastic when I use the /sarcasm tag.
Anyways, plenty of European countries incinerate their trash. Then again, they don't nearly have as much as land available as we do in the US and Canada. - EricAnderton, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I couldn't agree more; it's a common misconception.
However, I was attempting to refer to their source and labeling which is typically "organic" or "inorganic" for "plant-derived' and "petroleum-derived" respectively. While I don't like these common definitions, it helps to spread the word by using them this way. :) - directrix13, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1My thoughts exactly. They frequently confuse energy efficiency with cost savings. They don't actually compare everything on an even playing field. Although, I do think they have a point, and very likely a lot of our recycling methods are just wrong.
-
Show 51 - 96 of 96 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is