AUGIWorld Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 28) On The Page Back Just so we understand each other… The editors and readers of AUGIWorld have encouraged me to continue writing in the green vein. The only rule from the editor has been to pretty much to do what I like, as long as I can tie it to the CAD industry. Since we all know that CAD touches just about every aspect of life, this has been a pretty easy rule to follow. I believe that in the near future, renewable energy will become a major industry that employs a lot of engineers. I hope many of you find work and satisfaction in this field. Agricultural processes produce millions of tons of solid waste per year. This includes biological waste material from beef, poultry, and fish production. Much of this material is used to create cattle feed, unwittingly turning a major component of our food chain into cannibals. It is theorized that the results of bovine cannibalism are the horrific diseases we call Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), its human counterpart. These diseases travel through the food chain via a hypothetical aberrant genetic component called a “prion.” David Kingsley Where we’re going, we don’t need roads! Remember the scene in the movie Back to the Future when Doc Brown returns from the future and frantically dumps a bunch of garbage into the “Mr. Fusion” sticking out of the back of the DeLorean? In “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Captain Picard often stood in front of the “replicator” and said “Earl Grey, Hot.” This usually meant that First Officer Riker was on his way in and had some ‘splainin’ to do. In a few seconds, the atoms from some unknown source were rearranged into a cup of tea, including the cup and saucer, and heated to precisely 90 degrees C. Some of you probably think that given enough time, you could do that in LISP. The oil is carbon neutral and, unlike fossil fuel, contains no sulfur. The long-term vision is for small and large municipalities to build many local TCP facilities that convert locally produced solid waste into fuel oil for local industrial processes and electrical power plants. If all available solid waste materials were processed using TCP, it could offset all foreign oil imports at the current 4 billion barrel per year level. The first commercial TCP plant is operational in Carthage, Missouri. It produces an average of 500 barrels of oil per day from 300 tons of turkey and pork waste. As with any emerging technology, the plant has not been without its setbacks and controversies. The primary issue seems to be that it smells really bad. Following a shutdown ordered by the mayor of Carthage, the smell persisted, indicating that the TCP facility was not the source. Another factor is that poor city planning located the plant four blocks from the town social center. I’ll keep sniffing around and report my findings to you. The Thermal Conversion Process (TCP) (changingworldtech.com) You may be surprised to learn how close this Hollywood technology is to reality. Changing World Technologies Inc. has developed the Thermal Conversion Process, also called thermal depolymerization. TCP is a refining process that takes common municipal solid waste and agricultural waste materials and breaks them into their elemental components. The primary product is a high-quality, low-sulfur diesel fuel. The Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 created a new classification for this fuel type called “renewable diesel.” It can be distributed using the existing petroleum infrastructure. Some solid waste materials including used plastics, tires, and e-waste (your old computer parts and cell phones) are currently being disposed of through incineration. This releases dioxin into the atmosphere where it travels great distances. Dioxin is highly toxic, a known carcinogen, and does not naturally break down into less toxic forms. It is absorbed by all plants, animals, the watershed, and the humans that consume them. Almost all dioxin is created through manufacturing processes. We can stop making it any time we want. TCP breaks down dioxin and destroys prions, thus reducing the environmental presence of these extremely dangerous toxins and pathogens. A TCP plant is comparable in complexity to a petroleum refinery. It can operate efficiently at small and large scales. The municipal solid waste stream typically sent to landfills and incinerators can be diverted into a TCP plant and converted into manageable and saleable raw materials such as fuel oil, carbon, and fertilizers. Renewable energy legislation As of this writing, the renewable energy tax credit extension had passed the senate by 98-2 vote and was on its way to passage in the house. Hopefully the bill will be law by the time you read this. A key factor in the new bill is that the tax credits will be in effect for eight years. Numerous new technologies have been added to the list including buying high mpg cars, conserving energy with home insulation, high-efficiency furnaces, air conditioners, and water heaters, and installing solar panels. Eight years should be long enough for new renewable energy industries to establish themselves and no longer need tax subsidies. To learn more about the myriad of renewable energy technologies being explored today, I highly recommend reading Energy Power Shift by Barry J. Hanson. David Kingsley served from 1999-2004 on the AUGI Board of Directors and is the Director of Electrons at CADPlayer Web Courseware. He can be reached at djkingsley@cad-tv.com. w w w. A U G I . c o m 28 http://www.changingworldtech.com http://www.augi.com
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