Kilowatts from Cow-pies Review

            The future of water in an industrial setting is a real problem with the growth in population over the last 100 years. The Earth’s surface is covered with 70% water, and only 2.5% of that water is fresh water. Most industrial facilities cannot operate by using salt water, and the combination of these factors makes fresh water a precious commodity. The film “Kilowatts from Cow-pies” gave some solutions to this problem. The most impressive system set up in the movie to me was the first facility Kaplan Farms. The plan was a complete circle with water cleaning to reuse the cow pies and create methane to run the facility. Another impressive point of the design of their facility was that the land they chose to build on was a brownfield site. They integrated an automated system for gathering cow feces with water and sent the slurry water to an anaerobic digester. The digester would then break down the wastes and release methane. That methane was then collected and piped to an electric generator and burned as fuel, which was used to power the facilities. After that process, the water was drained into one of three separation ponds, where it was cleaned up through settling, algae, and then fish before being pumped back up and reused. The dried feces was then composted with left over from the slaughterhouse to become fertilizer for the fields that grew hay for the cows. This closed system is an ideal example for industrial applications and a possible crossover design for other businesses. Closing the loops in the industry is good for the environment and a sound business practice that increases profits.

Natural Break Down by Compost

The video I watched was on Veterans composting in Maryland. It is a veteran own operated company that makes compost. The owner could not find a job after returning from overseas deployment was discharged, so he created a job by composting, and he found others like himself to employ. They talk about getting their primary source of Nitrogen from the food scraps and yard clippings for their company. The carbon they use comes from the tree grinding from a local tree company. In this particular operation, they use 3 parts wood chips to 1 part food scraps to create their windrows. They maintain a tempter of 150 degrees inside the piles and use blowers to provide oxygen to feed natural bacteria into the banks. They sift out all contaminates (things that don't break down fast, like plastic or glass) and large debris after about two months of composting. Composting can also eliminate waste from wastewater facilities and ground-up tree trimmings. The compost at Veterans compost is then sent to another pile where it is sold by the truckload, or they hand load bags of compost to deal with. The narrator of this video recommends that people take the time and smell the compost before buying it because if it does not have a natural smell, it needs to be done correctly or may not have sat long enough. The equipment used for this operation is a barrel sifter, conveyor belt, and bobcat to load, turn and move the finished material.  

United States and High Speed Rail

            High-speed rail has never taken off in the United States, although America was once a pioneer in rail transportation during the country's expansion during the 19th and 20th centuries. Many state and national factions have proposed various proposals to realize high-speed rail's convenience and cost savings. High Speed Rail (HRS) can reduce fossil fuel usage by moving more people quickly rather than individual automobiles. HSR has been utilized worldwide for decades, and in the United States, it is still seen as a pipe dream even though President Obama has intended to provide funding for 80% of U.S. citizens to access HSR. Siemens (a company specializing in sustainable innovations) had a bullet train on display in D.C. that may be used in the proposed 520-mile HSR system through California’s Central Valley. That project was approved by the voters in 2008, and that construction started in 2013. Although the U.S. Congress seems unable to appropriate funding for HSR projects, the XpressWest Company has secured a $100 million investment from a consortium led by the China Railway Group to build a 230-mile HSR line between L.A. and Las Vegas. In Texas, construction for a 200+ MPH bullet train from Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth is set to start in 2017. The use of HSR has proven to reduce emissions from automobiles and planes in nations worldwide and can do the same while revamping the U.S. culture to a more sustainable society.

No Well Water Collection.

The emergency water scenario I am choosing is in a mountain environment because I have lived for the last 20 years and am comfortable. The most straightforward setup for water collection is a location on a south-facing slope that is 1/2 to 3/4 the way up the mountain to gain water pressure through gravity and pipe reduction. Ideally, the top is a Plato usable for planting a small garden and a possible wind turbine. Then down from that, a pole barn where the shed roof is metal and used to collect water that funnels down the hill into a storage tank. The shed is also covered in metal, which can collect condensation at dew points and direct the water into the storage tank. This tank will have three places for water to go. The bottom is the cold water that runs to the cabin. In the middle is water that has stratified with heat and is a little warmer, and it will go out about 3/4 of the way up to a couple of black barrels to be heated further for hot water. The third outlet is at the top of the storage tank, and the overflow runs to a lower-elevation pond than the cabin. This way, the water system does not need to be maintained when no one is staying at the place and can be used when required. The pond can house fish that can be eaten, and the runoff water filtered through mushrooms brings in-game that can be hunted. This is an ideal place to grow water plants like duckweed that can be harvested to feed livestock like chickens. This is a well-designed water system for a remote self-sustaining cabin in the woods.      

Gasification can run Generators to Cars.

The All Power Labs makes a Gasifier Experimenter’s Kit (GEK), a small-scale gasification system that produces power from bio-mass. The company claim that the generators are a carbon-negative source of electricity, and their product can generate on-demand power for 1/4 the operating cost of diesel at 1/2 the capital cost of solar. All Power Labs offers many different systems. Along with the GEK Gasifier, the PP20 Power Pallet shown in the pictures, the PC 20 Power Cube, and the 150KW Powertainer come in a 20′ shipping container. These machines are carbon-negative because a gasifier can impersonate the natural process of releasing atmospheric carbon (CO2) when a plant dies. The engines turn biomass into valuable energy while capturing some carbon that can be sequestered. I think the best way for All Power labs to improve on this product is to make the 150KW Powertainer able to run off from the dried waste at the water treatment plants. This could be used in every small town in the United States and may be cut a step out of the treatment process, thus saving water and making a positive all the way around. Gasifiers were experimented with in Germany during WWII to run automobiles and save on fossil fuels, and the technology works. 

 

What about electric planes?

The one place that Co2 emissions reduction is not talked about as much is with airplanes, but the Air-bus E Fan may be taking steps to change that. This plane was developed by Airbus Group-led European program; the E-Fan and demonstrator were explicitly designed for electric power at the time, a world's first. The 2.0 version is a two-seater for pilot training, and the 4.0 version is a four-seater for licensed pilots. The planes could replace the modern-day puddle jumper Cessna's. The pros of the electric airplane are reducing CO2 emissions by 75% per kilometer per passenger. The electric aircraft is also projected to reduce NOx emissions by 90% and reduce noise by 65%. Finding a solution to air travel is essential to reversing the carbon emissions caused by transportation. Planes have yet to go through any steps in reducing emissions, and this is the first I have seen in an honest attempt to develop a commercially viable solution in the plane industry. Airbus has come out with a new fuel motor this year that is 15% more efficient than other conventional motors. And Airbus also practices sustainable business policies in their Whales facility, Broughton. They feature biomass and gas-fired boilers, photostatic panels, solar water heaters, and rain harvesters to reduce their environmental impact. This kind of sustainable innovation and practice is an example of what more businesses must actively move toward to increase the quality of life for future generations. 

Climate Change is Second to the Real Reason

            Hans Rosling is a statistician who believes that the greatest invention in the world was the laundry machine. After his grandmother received her first laundry machine, she found enough time to teach him two languages. He is also the inventor of the gap finder, which gives the ability to compare different countries and their economic diversities. The one thing he measured as a statistician, informally, of course, is how educated the media was how educated they were on the number of children around the world who had been inoculated for diseases like measles. The result was that the media needed to be more informed than the general public, and less than 25% of everyone knew the correct answer. The information people receive is skewed by personal bias, outdated facts, and news bias. This coupled with a natural intuition, in part, is why we as a species are falling future behind even statically speaking, getting the correct answer by chance. The importance of being adequately informed has risen on the projection of economic growth is moving further away from the traditional western preconceived notion that has stood for generations. This means that to compete globally, a person needs to have the best possible information, and only being right 25% of the time will help anyone become successful. Going off this information, does it make sense to be informed of global changes? The only way this would not be important is if the projected plan was that human civilizations were not planning on living on this planet in future generations. The moral of this article is to look to the future for yourself and make decisions now for your children’s future.