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Home Biomass Power Generators

Posted by michael on from the not-just-for-compost-any-more dept.

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."

13 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. Wait a minute. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  2. Will it? by insecuritiez · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  3. Sooner then later by mao+che+minh · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.

    1. Re:Sooner then later by DakotaSandstone · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Could we keep using oil forever? Sure. Heck, even if we ran out of traditional oil, there'd be almost limitless oil shale 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.

      --
      Nothing is so smiple that it can't get screwed up.
    2. Re:Sooner then later by heli0 · · Score: 5, Informative

      "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

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

      --
      Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
  4. Great for... by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Funny


    Great for disposing of bodies, too.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  5. Distributed Energy by heli0 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The California Energy Commission has some info on different types of distributed energy resources 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.

    --
    Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
  6. Re:Practical? by bobbozzo · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
    Nothing to see here; Move along.
  7. In full scale use in many countries by vinsci · · Score: 5, Informative
    These guys developed waste treatment to commercial scale years ago, and it's successfully deployed in full scale in several countries.
    The WAASA PROCESS, 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.

    --

    Trusted Computing FAQ | Free Dawit Isaak!
  8. Re:Practical? by rgmoore · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --

    There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.

  9. Calorific Values Of Fuels by heli0 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

    --
    Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
  10. Why you didn't read the article? by benjamindees · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
    "I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
  11. Agricultural surplus by 2toise · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.