Straw into gold and blood from stones?
Some recent NPR pieces on alternative fuels.
I've been enjoying a recent series on NPR examining alternate fuels, and kept meaning to post some links. All links include a spot to click for the audio.
From yesterday, we have a visit with Brian Foody, a Canadian entrepreneur whose ethanol plant is promising regional ethanol plants that use inedible materials such as wheat straw instead of corn, and which - unlike corn-produced ethanol - would require little energy to run. At the moment his bottlenecks are capitalization and a further refining of the enzymes used to break the tough cellulose down into fermentable sugars. The offer of renewable, low-pollution energy that makes use of what's largely treated as a waste product by the agricultural industry - usually either left to rot or burned in the fields - is terrific.
While far less focused a program, Nobel Laureate George Olah emphasized a methanol economy during an April 28th Talk of the Nation.
Tying in with that is a later program (May 8th) on methanol fuel cells.
Far more speculative than the ethanol piece I started with, and a little too shrouded in various commercial interests and secretive technology, there are nonetheless some promising sounds coming from the area of coal gassification.
One item that's come up repeatedly in these and similar pieces and related articles is how so much of the technology began to rise decades ago only to be plowed under during renewed periods of relatively cheap oil. In most cases, fortunately, a few hold-outs continued to tinker.
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Comments
Still, it's nice to see people are out there trying to plug the gap.