I found some pro/con information about biogas. Turns out there's precious little in the way of negatives, the main one being that it is not something that can be done on a wide scale. In the situation of the city's needs, however, this new plant could eventually generate enough biogas to cover the energy costs for the city's sewage/composting facilities. Local sustainability is a good thing, and think of all the good things the city could do with the millions saved annually.
Schmack Bio-Energy is the name of the new company building the plant in Akron, a collaboration between a German company that invented the technology and the American company running the current composting outfit at the sewage plant. On their web site, I found this list of possible sources to turn into biogas:
 |  | Municipal Waste Water |
| Institutional & Industrial Organic Waste | |
| Yard Waste | |
| Farm Animal Waste | |
| Agricultural Crops and Residual |
Small biogas operations on farms could give farmers a sustainable fuel and a means of recycling farm wastes. So even though biogas cannot fuel an entire city, it can provide the means to make smaller concerns self-sufficient -- and there's everything to like about that.
Let's have more green initiatives, Mr Mayor, please.
1 comment:
Go Akron!
I just saw a sad report on the island nation of Tuvaru in the South Pacific which is slowly being covered by thte ocean as the level rises.
They had recently completed a project that turned much of the atolls waste in biogas for free energy and it is now in danger because the sea water is rising in the water table.
On the other hand, bio gas converters are a neighborhood and household feature in much of China now!
Post a Comment