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Something Old, Something New: Other Energy Possibilities
By Laura Knoy on Thursday, May 21, 2009.
Tidal Power, hydroelectricity, geothermal energy and landfill gas: energy pioneers are exploring many new ways to create electricity. They’re looking at harnessing the power of our rivers and dams, our ocean tides, the heat deep below the earth and the methane breakdown in huge trash dumps. We'll look at new fuels that could possibly feed New Hampshire’s grid in the future and old ways that are getting a second look.
Guest
- John Rogers, senior energy analyst for the Clean Energy Program for the Union Concerned Scientists
We'll also hear from
- Ken Baldwin, professor of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering and Director for the Center of Ocean Engineering at the University of New Hampshire; he was also the co-chair of the New Hampshire Tidal Energy Commission and co-edited the report on tidal energy possibilities in the state
- Mark Weisflog, owner of KW Management in Nashua that installs geothermal heating units
- Paul Chamberlin, Assistant Vice President for Energy and Campus Development at the University of New Hampshire who oversaw UNH's Landfill Gas Pipeline Project, ECOline
- Bob Gundersen, Hydro manager for PSNH, which operates the Smith Hydroelectric Plant in Berlin
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I called in Tuesday and was just getting started on my explanation of the "carbon negative" opportunities coming our way through the utilization of any and all biomasses through pyrolysis when I was cut off. Dang. Energy can be extracted, heat and electricity generated, oils, volatile gasses and such captured. What you are left with is charcoal, which, when deliberately produced with the intention of incorporating it into the soil is termed "biochar".
Some benefits of incorporating biochar into soils:
• Nutrient and moisture holding improvements
• yield increase
• agricultural runoff and toxics remediation, etc.,
• but probably most importantly the enhancement of soil life. It creates what has been termed a "microbial reef" in the soil.
Carbon sequestration is soon going to be recognized as far more important than extracting every last BTU. Carbon trading schemes are coming into play. This is a strategy where you can actually weigh the carbon you are sequestering.
There have been international conferences. Text books are coming out, most recently "Biochar for Environmental Management".
I've been an enthusiastic student of biochar for 3 years now, ever since reading the book "1491, New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus" by Charles Mann where I first learned of the anthropomorphic "Terra preta" (black soils) of the Amazon basin that once supported a population of 20 million people. Anthropologist, archeologists, soil scientists, engineers, academics at dozens of universities and now entrepreneurs are all on board trying to figure out the best ways to engage with this multifunctional concept. The idea has been endorsed by the likes of James Hansen (the NASA climate scientist), Bill McKibben, and James Lovelock (father of the Gaia hypothesis, who now says that this strategy, the permanent sequestration of carbon as charcoal, is "our last chance to save mankind").
Check here:
http://www.biochar-international.org/
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/
http://www.carbon-negative.us/
Thanks
Doug
There used to be a charcoal kiln along 106 in Loudon near the Concord line, about where the Red Roof Inn is now. It was a brick building shaped like a Pope's hat. I was interested to hear how little difference it would make in energy output if wood instead of being burned to make electricity instead was burned to make biochar. The advantage is that you get to sell the carbon credits for putting the carbon into the ground, which should easily make up for the loss of revenue. If not, raise the carbon tax until it becomes not only viable, but essential.
There is no question that we need to be tightening up our use and especially waste of fuels in NH. Building efficiency into each system, whether residential, industrial, commercial, at any scale, is an idea whose time has come. Retrofitting our built environment can cut energy use and also reduce the amount of heat islands we have created through the use of black surfaces. We are about cooling the planet, not just reducing carbon and other greenhouse gases.
As for tapping new energy sources, there is a percentage efficiency involved in the conversion of energy to the desired use of that energy. Conversion of solar and wind energy to electricity is fairly straightforward and the supply is nearly endless. Conversion of biomass to electricity is wasteful compared to conversion of biomass to heat. We need to protect our forests as well from overharvesting.
Biochar is becoming recognized as a useful and practical tool for both sequestering carbon and improving the health and longevity of the soil. We are returning the carbon we have unintentionally released to the atmosphere to its place on the earth. Farming practices, deforestation and fossil fuels are all part of the problem. Biochar is a solution anyone can manage in their backyard or on a large scale. Check the web page for updates and local workshops.
www.carbon-negative.us
this is the correct link - the homepage link above will not accept the web address
There is low-flow hydropower, generators that don't need a big river, or dams. We ought to be able to put them in every stream that has flow. And people who have streams and old dams on their property ought to be assisted with the cost and the installation if they would like to have this. Your guest is right that there is no magic bullet, but this would certainly add to the mix.
When talking about wind power a few days ago, putting wind turbins on a platform in the ocean was mentioned. Could hydropower generators be put on the bottom of that platform to generate electricity with the wind and the waves at the same time?
The answer is that there is very little energy available from waves compared to the energy that is available from the wind and from solar, but it is an interesting idea. Since there is such a large amount of energy available from sun and wind (1,000 times what we need from solar, 10 times what we need from wind), it is unlikely that all other sources combined will be used for more than 10% of our total energy. The sun causes the wind and the wind causes the waves...
About 25 years ago, I attended a wastewater treatment conference in Orlando Florida. A visit to Disney World was offered as one of the concurrent sessions. The attraction? Not the rides or newly opened EPCOT Center. We're talking wastewater geeks here. No, it was the Disney water and sewage treatment plant!
Like all things Disney, it was a wonder to behold. Prominently featured was their two-phase anaerobic digestion system. In essence, a combination of fiberous plant materials and sewage sludge is fermented in a giant Thermos. The methane produced is captured and used, the residual liquids are squeezed off and sent back thru the WWTF, and the residual solids (of which there's little remaining) are composted and used as a soil amendment. It's similar to VT's Cow Power project, but on a much larger and more complex scale.
It's a remarkable system and, while not all aspects of it transfer well to northern climates (their carbon feed comes from water hyacinths used for the tertiary water treatment), the concept of digestion certainly would.
Inasmuch as most of NH's WWTFs have reached their design life and capacity and need replacement, I should think this technology would be one that could contribute to both diversifying our energy supply base and reducing the volume of sewage sludge needing to be disposed of in landfills.
http://www.gastechnology.org/webroot/app/xn/xd.aspx?it=enweb&xd=4reports...