July 5th, 2009 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
I don’t have a gross fetish or anything, but I love talking about poop. Even Laura likes busting my chops about it. Sorry, I think dookie is hilarious, but crap is also a largely untapped resource. The stinky stuff is an excellent power source. And this slideshow shows how it’s being used.
The black and white drawing explains how poop was turned into power in 1922. And nowadays, poop even can power a train, and methane from both human and animal waste makes great biogas. Actually, after I have a few beers and some bean dip, I can make great biogas too.
Via TreeHugger.
Tags: biogas, methane, power, waste
Posted in The Environment | 1 Comment »
June 4th, 2009 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
Thanks to swine flu, cute innocent little pigs have gotten a bad name, but restoring pigs’ reputation may come from an unlikely place.
Their poop! In the Netherlands, a pig farm with 2,700 pigs uses their crap to produce electricity that feeds power into the Dutch national grid.
Like cats and dogs, pigs can be house broken. So these porkers poop through slats on the floor and the slurry of muck is channeled to a bunch of mixing tanks.
Once in the tanks, the poop is mixed with low-quality grain and carrot juice—to increase methane output—then bacteria breaks down the waste in a digester tank and finally the gas is sucked up into a generator to produce electricity.
This system reduces emissions, shrinks carbon footprints and may help cattle farms—known contributors to global warming—possibly become carbon neutral.
Via the Associated Press.
Tags: carbon, farming, global warming, methane
Posted in The Environment | No Comments »
January 7th, 2009 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
That big sticker on new cars at the dealership is mystifying. So much information! And I have no idea what it all means. But California is about to cram more details on there.
Starting this year, all 2009 model cars sold in California will post labels ranking the vehicle’s emission standards, specifically smog and the car’s impact on global warming.
The brainchild of California’s Air Resources Board, the new stickers will rate smog and global warming on a scale of 1 to 10. The higher the scores, the more environmentally-friendly the car is.
Most vehicles receive an average rank of 5 for both criteria.
The global warming score is based on the car’s greenhouse gas emissions and pollution caused during manufacturing. And the smog rating tallies the vehicle’s non-methane organic gases and nitrogen oxides.
To learn more, check out www.DriveClean.ca.gov.
Via earth2tech.
Tags: emissions, global warming, methane, pollution, smog
Posted in Green Living, The Environment | 1 Comment »
December 31st, 2008 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
This is cool! A little town in Japan, called Kuzumaki generates 161% of its power needs from clean energy.
A marvel, since Japan is a resource-scarce nation, importing 90% of its fuel.
The town, of 8,000 residents, utilizes solar panel arrays, wind farms and methane gas from dairy cow dung. The extra power is sold to neighboring communities.
Kuzumaki’s self-sufficiency is the brainchild of its former mayor, who lobbied for government funding and grants. Now he promotes tourism to Kuzumaki, which hosts more than 400,000 visitors a year.
But, the Kuzumaki’s population is shrinking as younger people move out and older residents die off. Even still, citizens hope their little town serves as a model for the rest of the world.
Imagine New York City or Los Angeles off the grid. It’d take a lot of cow crap!
Via Time Magazine.
Tags: Kuzumaki, methane, solar, wind
Posted in Green Living, The Environment | 1 Comment »
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