by Chas Bonner
Most of today’s news is dreary and depressing---news from the Middle East, news about our national and worldwide economy, news about our educational systems, etc.
Despite the continuing drumbeat of negative news, there is always positive, especially if we are open and receptive. A reason for reading “Popular Science Magazine“ is the interesting and innovative ideas that fill the magazine.
A recent issue discussed plasma, and a “mad scientist’s” discovery of a plasma furnace system that could reduce a city land-fill to a brick half the size of a car. Although not yet commercialized, his system will not only reduce a huge garbage problem around the world, it also created 65% more energy than it used.
Another company recently discovered a process to take shredded garbage, introduce it into a plasma furnace, and at 30,000 degrees (created by an electric arc which strips electrons off the nucleus of air molecules) produces a syngas that can then be burned to create energy, and that is in addition to the energy created by the plasma reaction.
And how might this benefit agriculture? Today, methane from livestock is a big problem, but more and more dairies and livestock operations are beginning to capture some of that gas, and not only create energy, but also comply with increasingly tough state laws. In fact, a recent study in Idaho identified sources of air pollution in the state. The greatest source, as expected, was transportation at an estimated 27% of all air pollution. The second highest source, totally unexpected, was methane from animals at 26% of all air pollution.
The good news is that every problem can become an opportunity. To clean up methane will prove costly at first, but hopefully pay big dividends down the road. Free Gas!
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