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ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
by JANE BOGNER
SUNDAY, October 03, 2004

There are so many things we take for granted. On-demand energy is one. Sitting here at my old computer typing, deleting, moving and printing text is so much easier than hand writing and shuffling paper. We rarely think about where our electricity comes from. When my sister and I were driving in the Sierra Nevada of Spain, we rounded a hairpin turn and saw enormous wind machines dotting the mountainside. These blades were double or triple the size of the ones in the Altamont Pass.

Many scientists are experimenting in alternative energy sources with the goal of making our planet sustainable. Here are a few novel approaches: 

Bacteria Power. Scientists at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst are developing a microbial fuel cell (MFC). This highly efficient fuel cell uses a recently discovered bacterium to turn garbage into electricity. They are experimenting with a prototype lawn mower that is powered by a MFC filled with leaves. It takes about a week to recharge the mower’s battery. Another MFC is filled with raw human waste and bacteria which is producing electricity. Harmful organic matter is broken down in the process so the MFC can serve as a mini sewage treatment plant.

Water Power. Homes on the Arctic tip of Norway are getting power from the moon via a unique subsea power station driven by the rise and fall of the tide. A tidal current in a sea channel near the town of Hammerfest turns the 10-meter blades of a turbine bolted to the seabed. This undersea windmill is expected to generate about 700,000 kilowatt hours of non-polluting energy a year; enough to light and heat about 30 homes.

Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) signed a deal with a Spanish electricity utility for a pilot project to harvest energy from ocean waves. They are placing ten power-generating buoys a half-mile off Spain's north coast. OPT has been ocean testing these buoys since 1997, and has another pilot running off Hawaii with the support of the U.S. Navy.
Wave farms take up less space per megawatt than either windfarms or conventional shore-based generators. OPT believes the 100 megawatt plants will be able to produce energy at an operating cost of 3-4 cents per kilowatt hour, compared with 5-6 cents for wind.

In Canada, engineers are pulling water from the depths of Lake Ontario to cool buildings in downtown Toronto. This water continues into the city system, where it is treated to use as drinking water. A company called Enwave reported that Deep Lake Water Cooling reduces electricity use by 75 percent and will eliminate 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking 8,000 cars off the streets of Toronto. 

Manure Power. A Tokyo-area zoo, weary of spending more than $275,000 a year to dispose of 1,060 tons of animal waste, has a new plan. An experimental processing plant at the zoo will ferment the droppings to create biogas. This biogas (methane) will fuel the buses that shuttle visitors around the zoo. A bi-product is fertilizer which will be used to grow food for zoo animals. Every California “happy” dairy cow produces120 pounds of manure each a day. Dairy farmer Albert Straus of Marin County puts this manure in a covered lagoon where it decomposes and generates methane gas. Straus captures the gas and uses it to power his farm, his creamery, and his electric car. The state energy commission recently allocated $10 million in matching funds to encourage California’s 1,950 commercial dairies with their 2 million cows to build methane digesters.

Landfill Power. Officials in Monterrey, Mexico are working with a local energy company to construct an electricity plant at the landfill. The plant will turn methane produced by decomposing organic waste into energy which will then be sold to local municipalities at 10 to 15 percent below the market rate. Garbage energy has tremendous promise for impoverished and off-the-grid regions. Locally, methane gas from our closed landfill in American Canyon generates electricity which is sold to PG&E. Soon new micro turbines will come online to produce electricity for the city plants in American Canyon.

VALLEJO COMPOSTING CLASS

VALCORE’s last free backyard and earthworm composting class will be held at 38 Sheridan from 10am to Noon on October 16. Two composting bins will be given away to two Vallejo residents. Call 55-EARTH for more information.

VALCORE Recycling Vice President Jane Bogner's "A Sorted Affair" is published every other week in the Times-Herald, Community Outlook Section. For recycling information call Genie Kaggerud, VALCORE Recycling manager at 645-8258 or visit www.VALCORErecycling.org.

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