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Cow Burps Tapped For Fuel
Dave Knott writes with this intriguing snippet from CBC: "Argentine scientists have found a way to transform the gas created by the bovine digestive system into fuel, an innovation that could curb greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Using a system of valves and pumps, the experimental technique developed by Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) channels the digestive gases from bovine stomach cavities through a tube and into a tank. The gases — which otherwise are commonly known as burps, or "eruptos" in Spanish — are then processed to separate methane from other gases such as carbon dioxide. Each head of cattle emits between 250 and 300 liters of pure methane a day, enough energy to keep a refrigerator running for 24 hours."
And then you have to "insert tubes" into the poor cows to do this? PETA is going to have a COW! Uh.. Wait...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
turn the cow into a battery
I don't think Carrie-Ann Moss looked that bad.
I hated that part of the matrix. The original story was that the humans were used for their brains. The machines lived inside the networked human collective mind, because the human brain was--in this fictitious universe--the most powerful and energy efficient computer. But the studio thought that was too abstract, and so came up with the battery idea.
I always thought the human battery idea was sort of like saying we use potatoes to power the LHC.
I visualize a vast tower full of tubing hooked to burping cows powering a massive AI and all the humans are jacked into the other side living in the Mootrix.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Why cows already have portholes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannulated_cow
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
But the studio thought that was too abstract, and so came up with the battery idea.
It actually makes sense when you realize that the 'free' humans were not picked for their mastery of science. Someone was lied to by a program, Morpheus believed the person (probably through a chain of re-tellers), and that's what he told Mr. Anderson. They were all too busy fighting their odd war of survival to notice that the science they accepted was wrong, and that electricity could not be the AI's motive for keeping the Matrix up and running.
AKA: unreliable narrator.
I guess that's the big question. My gas company charges 14 cents per cubic meter (1000 litres), so if each cow produced 250 litres a day, you'd get about 3.5 cents per day for each head of cattle. Probably not enough to even pay for the food. Especially considering that's the price to the consumer. You're not going to get anywhere close to 14 cents per cubic meter for bulk methane. However, if you're already raising the cattle for milk or meat, it could be a good way to add an extra source of income. Although at the price you could get, you probably wouldn't even end up breaking even on the collection system.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
One time I sneezed half the papers off my desk. They should look into that too because its an awful lot of energy.