Biomass // Current

Dodge pickup that runs on wood 1.6 mpp (that's miles per pound)

Wayne Keith is headed to Las Vegas in an old Dodge pickup that runs on, of all things, wood. He gets about 1.6 mpp (that's miles per pound) and reckons he needs about 1,000 pounds to get there. No problem. He's carrying a chainsaw and a list of lumberyards along the way.

Such are the provisions you need for Escape from Berkeley, a madcap alt-fuel race that mashes up Mad Max and Cannonball Run with a touch of the Darpa Challenge and Burning Man. If the rules are simple -- no petroleum allowed, and fuel must be scavenged along the way -- the challenge is anything but.

"The basic premise is build a vehicle out of junk, we'll give you the equivalent of one gallon of gas and you have to drive 600 miles to Las Vegas. Oh, and you can't buy any fuel along the way," says Jim Mason, the artist and inventor behind the race. "That's a pretty heavy stone to carry."

That isn't keeping the 10 teams lining up for this weekend's race from giving it a try in everything from a veggie-oil Lotus 7 to a steam-powered three-wheeler that looks like it rolled right out of the 19th century.

The race has drawn geeks and gearheads, artists and academics and even a rancher from Alabama, none of whom are waiting for General Motors or Toyota to lead us beyond oil. They've cobbled together an impressive fleet of street-legal and roadworthy cars, proving automakers aren't the only ones who can make autos. "I think energy will be our next hacking culture," Mason says. "If there's any goal here, it's to see how we can move energy from a commodity culture to a hacker culture."

Mason started hacking World War II-era Imbert wood gas technology three years ago. He's developed a DIY gasifier kit (he's sold 35 of them, at two grand a pop) and installed it in the 1989 Honda he's making the run to Vegas in. "A gasifier isn't a practical solution for urban transit," he concedes. "But it shows it can be done."

Still, if there's a favorite to take the $5,000 grand price, it's Alabama rancher Keith Wayne. He's making the run in a 1987 Dodge Dakota pickup truck, which is the fourth truck he's converted to run on wood gas. He's already put 30,000 miles on it, so he knows it works. "Gasification is a little tricky to grasp, but once you understand it, it's pretty simple," he says. "It takes a lot of rigging and welding and doing and redoing. But it's a cheap ride, and it's carbon-neutral. The scientists at Auburn (University) tell me it's cleaner than an electric car."

Those scientists oughta know, because one of them -- Dr. David Bransby -- is Keith's teammate. They're making their way across the country in a pair of wood-gas pickups, spreading the gasification gospel before making the run to Vegas. "We've been in touch with Lowe's and Home Depot and other places that will have scrap, and we'll be getting wood from them along the way," Keith says. As for those stretches of road where there's nothing but scrub and brush, well, Keith's got a chain saw and the rules allow him one gallon of gas, so he figures he's got it covered.

"We're looking forward to it," he says. "You get a group of people together, give them rules like this and tell them to drive from Point A to Point B without gas, well, there might be something come out of it you've never seen before."

Wayne Keith is headed to Las Vegas in an old Dodge pickup that runs on, of all things, wood. He gets about 1.6 mpp (that's... more

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1 month ago

first commercial algae plant to genereate power and clean smoke stack

The promise of commercial algae fuel is getting closer to reality with GreenFuel Technologies announcement of a $92 million deal... more

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1 month ago

Gas from Tobacco

Instead of using Food products and Trees lets use someting smarter for making fuel. Hey the big tobacco might just find a way... more

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1 month ago

Growing algae for biofuel

"It's actually like growing tomatoes; the algae need similar things," he says. This crop uses the warmth, light... more

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1 month ago

oil and energy news

LG Electronics will buy a 75 per cent stake in Conergy’s solar module plant in Germany, the South Korean company said... more

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3 months ago

"Green" waterproof paper!

Scientists at the University of Queensland have invented a way which they claim can help in the production of waterproof papers by utilising the cellulose in unused sugarcane plant material.

According to lead scientist Dr Bill Doherty, the untapped "green" potential of sugarcane's biomass is enormous and extremely exciting for the sugarcane industry, which now can be used to produce waterproof papers.

"Our work is revealing how we may actually use more of the entire sugarcane plant, millions of tonnes of unused plant matter (or biomass), for future manufacturing and energy production of which waterproof cardboard might provide just one very promising commercial option," Dr Doherty said.

The process requires the extraction of cellulose (taken from the cane biomass) and then combined with new fermentation technology to make a type of lignin that would form the basis of a waterproof coating for variety of papers.

"Our process would potentially allow sugarcane growers and mills to team up with paper manufacturers to produce an internationally sought-after waterproof and biodegradable products — all made from natural materials and all 100 per cent recyclable and environmentally friendly.

"Across the globe, food and beverage manufacturers are dependent on paper based packaging and cardboard to store and transport their goods safely to the consumer.

"Today, the only available technology to manufacturers is cardboard coated with a petroleum-based wax which renders the packaging non-recyclable or petroleum based plastics. Fully recyclable, waterproof paper board could reduce billions of tonnes of landfill around the world," Dr Doherty said.

"Our process would potentially allow sugarcane growers and mills to team up with paper manufacturers to produce an internationally sought-after waterproof and biodegradable products — all made from natural materials and all 100 per cent recyclable and environmentally friendly.

"Across the globe, food and beverage manufacturers are dependent on paper based packaging and cardboard to store and transport their goods safely to the consumer.

"Today, the only available technology to manufacturers is cardboard coated with a petroleum-based wax which renders the packaging non-recyclable or petroleum based plastics. Fully recyclable, waterproof paper board could reduce billions of tonnes of landfill around the world," Dr Doherty said.Scientists at the University of Queensland have invented a way which they claim can help in the production of waterproof papers by... more

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4 months ago

Barely Alive, Seafloor Microbes Might Resemble Exo-Organisms

Deep below the sea floor live massive colonies of primitive microbes. Almost like one-celled zombies, these microbes use so... more

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4 months ago

We can get OIL from almost ANYTHING!

This article is a little old (from March) but piggybacks the discussion about energy following my coal vs. nuclear post- ... more

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5 months ago

"Global Limits of Biomass Energy" Reports Science Daily

Current environmental energy news from scientist Bill Brown, TouchArt's friend up in Taos at New Mexico Global Warming and... more

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5 months ago

Taking biofuel crops off land and cultivating them at sea

The dream of tackling climate change with biofuels has been tarnished by the rush to produce them on land. Not only are there serious environmental costs, including deforestation, water use, production of greenhouse gases, and energy-efficiency limitations, but there are rising concerns about the effects on the world's poor. Already the price of food is being driven up as land is taken away from food production, increasing the cost of food and nutrition for those who can least afford it.

It is curious then that, bar a brief mention in a recent paper on sustainable biofuels by the UK-based Royal Society, the potential for biomass production at sea is largely ignored.

A vast resource

The oceans are the largest active carbon sink on the planet, covering more than 70 per cent of its surface area, and are predicted to grow as sea levels rise. Our seas also receive a larger proportion of the world's sunshine than land does, particularly in the tropical and subtropical belt where land is more scarce. To agriculturalists, the oceans are vast and grossly underused fields well-provided with sunlight and water.

The full potential for sea cultivation (mariculture) has only recently been recognised. The 'blue revolution' of freshwater aquaculture and mariculture is growing exponentially.

Statistics from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization show mariculture is strongest in Asia and the Pacific. While aquaculture production has risen sixty-fold since the early 1950s (to 59.4 million tonnes in 2004) and is worth around US$70 billion, 91.5 per cent of this was produced in Asia and the Pacific.

Similarly, 99.8 per cent of the eight million or so tonnes of seaweed produced each year, with a market of nearly US$6 billion, come from Asia and the Pacific, primarily China, Japan and Korea.

Seaweeds as fuel

Until now, seaweed has been valued mainly as food, but also as fertiliser, animal feed, and recently for a growing phycocolloid industry producing algin, agar and carrageenan. But it could also be a major fuel.
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After reading this it looks like a partial solution that could be viable. It frees up land for use to grow food, will not use up scarce water resources, and does not use up carbon resources as other energy sources do.
The dream of tackling climate change with biofuels has been tarnished by the rush to produce them on land. Not only are there... more