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Manure-Powered Generators On The Rise
Sunkist writes "The San Francisco Chronicle has a report on Marin County rancher Albert Straus that, after 25 years of work, began using a generator powered by manure. While this type of 'power' has been in use for a while, recent legislation has made it more widespread. From the article, 'The Straus Farms' covered-lagoon methane generator, powered by methane billowing off a covered pool of decomposing bovine waste, is expected to save the operation between $5,000 and $6,000 per month in energy costs.' Let's hear it for poop!"
...So it's a good thing the US didn't sign the accord. Still pretty sh*tty in terms of greenhouse gas emissions so it wouldn't help meet Kyoto targets. Oh well, Kyoto is all about politics and shifting wealth and does nothing meaningful to address climate change or environmental protection anyways (I'll put away the flamethrower now).
On the upside, sh*t is a renewable resource and supply has historically exceeded demand, so it a cheap source of energy. And because it is renewable it could be argued that it is "good" greenhouse emissions as it is less disruptive on the "carbon cycle" of the global environment (that is, we are not pulling carbon sources out of the ground that have been out of the cycle for a bazillion years and disrupting natures balance to the same degree).
Good to see some creative ways to address our energy needs. Curious to know what is done with the crap left over when its usefulness as a power source is done. Good fertiliser I suppose and I'd hope a great deal less aromatic.
I don't see the value in attaching the emotional tag of old-growth to trees.
It's called a smokescreen or a strawman.
You see, most people see huge swaths of forest in the Appalchians, the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest, so the envirofascists (yes, it's a correct usage, look up what fascism actually is), can't sell deforestation. So instead, they create a new kind of forest called an "old-growth" forest that they can make as rare as they want by changing the definition.
That then become the crisis around which they can rally money and power.
It's the same trick they pulled with the Spotted Owl. They called it endangered and shut down logging in all these areas in Northern California and Oregon. Turns out they deliberately misrepresented the owl's habitat. It was so rare in heavy forests because that's not its natural habitat. Turns out the Spotted Owl is common as squirrels in suburbs, where the tree density is lighter.
Environmentalism has never been about the environment, it's always been about fighting capitalism.
The next time you see a Green, talk with him a while. It won't take long until you crack the shell and see a Red.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.