| LIST 81 | 3 Uncommon Sources of Power |
1
Manure
Everyday, out of the hind ends of billions of living creatures, plops enough material to light up the world. Just heat shit in an extremely hot oven (a gasifier), and it gives off methane, which can be ignited to create steam for power. A slower method involves dumping the crap into an oxygenless tank, where anaerobic bacteria make the methane. The only byproduct is an environmentally-friendly ash that can be used as fertilizer.
Earth Resources, Inc. has set up a prototype chickenshit plant in Georgia that can power 25 homes with 6,000 pounds of dung a day. Several state governments—and those of Britain and Greece—have expressed interest in the operation. John C. McKissick of the University of Georgia says: “If we do it right, we're already the Saudi Arabia of the US with the potential chicken litter as an energy source.”
A fully functional cow-flop facility was opened in Wisconsin in June 2001. The state's power companies buy the electricity generated, which is enough to juice up 250 homes. Similar efforts are underway across the globe, from Alberta to the Ukraine.
2
Sugar
In the “sugar platform” process, biomass—which includes anything from dung to trees, peanut shells to fats and grease—is broken down via enzymes. The resulting glucose is converted to fuels and chemicals, while the residue is used for heat and power. The US Department of Energy expects to see this process in use between 2006 and 2010.
3
Volcanoes
Geothermal energy is created by capturing and converting the natural heat of the earth. Presently, this type of energy almost always comes from reservoirs of hot water, but some successful attempts have harnessed the energy of volcanoes. In 1985 the US Geological Survey wrote: “The internal heat associated with young volcanic systems has been harnessed to produce geothermal energy. For example, the electrical energy generated from The Geysers geothermal field in northern California can meet the present power consumption of the city of San Francisco.” Hawai'i has also been using volcano power. 