Inspirational and good news.
Australia seems to be turning green. Last week they announced that they are making a massive solar power plant and now they’re making using wind to generate electricity. The wind farm will be the biggest one in the southern atmosphere.
“The wind farm would have the capacity to generate enough power for almost 190,000 homes every year, Victoria state planning minister Rob Hulls said of the 55 square kilometre (22 square mile) project to be built at Macarthur in the state’s west.”
It seems like that neat engine, which is powered by trash, in that car from Back to the Future is almost real! Researchers at UC Davis have found a way to turn leftovers from meals into biogas that can be used to generate electricity or make fuel. That in itself is not revolutionary, what is though, is that they found an effective (cheap) way to do this on a large scale.
The machine will use leftovers from restaurants to make energy, thus making it also a waster-diversion program to boot.
“The Biogas Energy Project is the first large-scale demonstration in the United States of a new technology developed in the past eight years by Ruihong Zhang, a UC Davis professor of biological and agricultural engineering. The technology, called an “anaerobic phased solids digester,” has been licensed from the university and adapted for commercial use by Onsite Power Systems Inc.”
Google is going to power it’s corporate headquarters using solar power! The installation at the Googleplex will generate a total capacity of 1.6 megawatts which is “enough to supply 1,000 average California homes.”
The Googleplex has a lot of space on its roof it looks like. This is a great thing for any corporation to consider doing. I believe that Google is actually quite concerned about the amount of power an average PC uses because of the cost. Maybe this is their solution since computer makers are dropping the ball.
Since it is Friday and we try to cover more ridiculous news, here is a gasoline made from pig poo.
A NASCAR feul specialists has found a way to take run of the mill pig waste and turn it into a high-octane adventure! Dean Gokel says he can produce 110 octane “pigoline” that is indistinguishable on a molecular level from petroleum-based additives.
“Here’s how it is supposed to work: First, he prepares the waste, turning it “into the consistency of a milkshake,” and then pumps it into the reactor. The hogs, kindly, do much of the hard work, breaking food into the big carbon-based molecules found in manure. Gokel’s process fractures long carbon chains and ring structures into chemicals closer to gasoline, such as C10 or better yet, C8 (basically, octane). Those smaller molecules are distilled off as a vapor, which is collected and eventually used as a fuel additive. The amines–nitrogen products–left behind can then be packed off and sold as commercial chemicals. Gokel is only running five-gallon batches, but there is no significant waste from it. The process takes about three hours.”
In Bangkok there is a house that uses solar power and some bio-power to keep everything running. It is a great example of how individual houses can supply their own existence. This particular house was made by the very architect who lives there.
“The Bio-solar home’s energy is generated entirely through solar panelling. A sufficient water supply is maintained collectively via rain, dew and condensation from a cooling system which can also be recycled and used to replenish the garden”
This hose reminds me of living off the gird in a mobile home.