Comments on: As opposed to crappier fuels

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:54:42 +0000

Expect parents pooling money to buy electric heaters (or charcoal for bonfires) in San Francisco schools by the end of the year.

By: CGHill

CGHill — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:19:44 +0000

Which reminds me of the story of the time someone broke into the winter home of the circus and stole a bag of what turned out to be elephant dung. At the inevitable press conference, the manager was philosophical about the loss: “Unexpected, yes, but it’s nothing we can’t replace.”

By: Lisa paul

Lisa paul — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:07:27 +0000

In San Francisco, we have a successful pilot program to turn dog poo from dog parks into methane fuel. by the end of the year, most of the City’s schools will probably be heated by it.

Poo. It’s the one resource you can count on always being renewed!

By: anon in tx

anon in tx — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:57:10 +0000

Methane is a gas, I don’t know what they mean by euro/liter

1 Liter Diesel = 36500 BTU = 1021.6 Liters methane (@ STP)
or 1.8 Liter liquid CH4 (either refrigerated at -116.8 °F or compressed to 667 psi)

The BTU equivalent price is .37 euro/liter (liquid CH4); since neither refrigeration nor compression is free .27 euro/l is a losing proposition.

By: CGHill

CGHill — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:38:19 +0000

As with all such equations, a liberal application of a Fudge Factor.

By: Gabrielle Dolly

Gabrielle Dolly — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:16:39 +0000

Um… But it’s still burning hydrocarbons. So how is that a net carbon savings or whatever lie they’re calling it?

GFD

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:46:33 +0000

I suppose the logical next step is to attach a sort of collecting gas mask to all the cows and sheep and harvest their burps.

(I always make a joke in Gen Bio when I talk about how ruminants burp up methane, about how it’s a good thing cattle neither have opposable thumbs nor join fraternities, or else there would be a lot of young bulls out there trying to light their burps. It never gets a laugh. I suppose it’s perhaps a bit too whimsical and esoteric. Or maybe the fratboys get offended, I don’ t know.)

By: Don Smith

Don Smith — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:53:06 +0000

The inevitable question: “What is it going to smell like coming out of the tail pipe?”

Good news and bad news.

Both Los Angeles and Las Vegas have announced that they are going to start recycling treated sewage water by re-introducing it into underground water reservoirs. Because of shrinking supplies in the western United States.

That is the bad news.

Now for the Good News … “There probably isn’t going to be enough of it to go around.”

BCO