Garbage in - power out
Do you think it's possible? It sounded incredible to me. I remember, in the movie Back To The Future, the unit that powered Doc Brown's cool DeLorean car/time machine. It was called Mr. Fusion and was powered by organic junk.
Well hello McFly...a guy named Jim Mason is building gasification machines he calls the Power Pallet that turns garbage into power.
The Power Pallet converts biomass (specifically nutshells, wood chips, corncobs) to hydrogen-rich gas which powers a four cylinder engine that generates electricity. It puts out 12-20 kilowats of juice. He's not going to be able to go back in time but you can certainly charge your phone and run your refrigerator at the same time.
His company All Power Labs has sold a bunch of them. What's fascinating is that areas of the planet that do not have access to fossil fuels but do have biomass have bought them. Places like Haiti and Mali who look upon this machine as a miracle.
It's not a perfect machine and apparently very finicky but the idea is very alluring and has the potential to transform our energy production.
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The website does not discuss how the machine works, but since it is gasification, it probably involves digestion of the shells, husks, etc. chemically, This means having chemicals onsite and professional, trained personnel to operate the equipment. I can't see this working in one's "backyard". However, the concept of using them in poor, developing countries (with trained personnel and modern support equipment) sounds good.
Please note that the concept of turning garbage into electricity is not new at all and is, in fact, many decades old. In Westchester Co., NY, most garbage is combusted with the hot air released used to heat water and make steam and to turn a turbine to produce electricity. In the "old" days in NYC, many apartment buildings had their own incinerators, but they were not professionally maintained and black smoke commonly came out (and electricity not produced). They were banned permanently in the early 1990's. But Westchester's is professionally run and has controls for air pollutants.
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It was determined that the numerous rapes of women were part of a cycle of violence (women leave protective camps to collect fuel for cooking - best available fuel is twigs and wood in forested area - men and boys in forested area kidnap and rape the women and girls...Soooo if you don't have to gather wood you reduce the chance some guy will rape you.
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The way of the future will be small contained nuclear fusion...as soon as we find a nearby planet that can supply us with enough dilitheum (sp?) crystals to get us through the night.
Then again...think of the poor liberals' dilemma when excessive garbage and waste becomes a source of clean energy!!!
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