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Power that waffle maker with cow dung.
Updated 05 Mar : 07:38 by admin
By Nichola Groom
RIVERDALE, California (Reuters) - Imagine a vat of liquid cow manure covering the area of five football fields and 33 feet deep. Meet California's most alternative new energy.
On a dairy farm in the Golden State's agricultural heartland, utility PG&E Corp began on Tuesday producing natural gas derived from manure, in what it hopes will be a new way to power homes with renewable, if not entirely clean, energy.
The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project, the brainchild of life- long dairyman David Albers, aims to provide the natural gas needed to power 1,200 homes a day, Albers said at the facility's inauguration ceremony.
"When most people see a pile of manure, they see a pile of manure. We saw it as an opportunity for farmers, for utilities, and for California," Albers said.
In addition to being a partner in the 5,000-head Vintage Dairy, Albers is also president of BioEnergy Solutions, the company that funded and built the facility which cost millions of dollars. PG&E is simply a customer and the companies declined to give details of project finances.
As cow manure decomposes, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Scientists say controlling methane emissions from animals such as cows would be a major step in addressing climate change.
Enter the Vintage Dairy project. As luck would have it, methane can be captured and treated to produce renewable gas, and California regulators have directed PG&E and other utilities to make renewable energy at least 20 percent of their electricity supplies by 2010.
PG&E expects to reach 14 percent this year, thanks in small part at least to its partnership with BioEnergy Solutions.
To tap the renewable gas from cow manure, the Vintage Dairy farm first flushes manure into a large, octagonal pit, where it becomes about 99 percent water. It is then pumped into a covered lagoon, first passing through a screen that filters out large solids that eventually become the cows' bedding.
The covered lagoon, or "digester," is the size of nearly five football fields and about 33 feet deep. It is lined with plastic to protect the ground water and the cover, made of high density polyethylene, is held down at the edges by concrete. The digester's cover was sunken into the lagoon on Tuesday, but officials said it would be taut and raised in a few days as the gas collects underneath it.
Weights on top of the digester channel the gas to the small facility where it is "scrubbed" of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. The end product is "close to 99 percent pure methane" according to BioEnergy Chief Operating Officer Thomas Hintz.
Once it is treated, the gas is injected into PG&E's pipeline, where it will be shipped to a power plant in Northern California.
According to Albers, PG&E and California state officials, biogas is a major opportunity for dairy farmers to make extra revenue while helping the environment.
"There are a lot of lagoons like this in California that don't have lining in them," said James Boyd, commissioner and vice chair of the California Energy Commission. "There is a business case to be made for this ... climate change has really provided the incentive to do this."
Both BioEnergy Solutions and PG&E are actively courting dairy farmers, whose cow manure is now simply being used as fertilizer, allowing the methane to be released into the air as a greenhouse gas.
"With nearly 2 million dairy cows in California, the potential is great," said Roy Kuga, vice president of energy supply for San Fransisco-based PG&E. The company has a partnership with another company, Microgy, which is currently setting up biogas projects at three California dairies.
In practice, however, not every dairy could participate in such a project because some are not located close enough to the necessary gas transmission lines, PG&E officials said.
Still, for now there are plenty of dairies to get on board. A second dairy in Fresno county has already agreed to join the Vintage Dairy project and Albers estimated gas from the two dairies combined could power 2,500 homes a day. The Vintage Dairy facility could accommodate gas from up to two or three more dairies, depending on the size, officials said.
(Editing by Andre Grenon)
© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
RIVERDALE, California (Reuters) - Imagine a vat of liquid cow manure covering the area of five football fields and 33 feet deep. Meet California's most alternative new energy.
On a dairy farm in the Golden State's agricultural heartland, utility PG&E Corp began on Tuesday producing natural gas derived from manure, in what it hopes will be a new way to power homes with renewable, if not entirely clean, energy.
The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project, the brainchild of life- long dairyman David Albers, aims to provide the natural gas needed to power 1,200 homes a day, Albers said at the facility's inauguration ceremony.
"When most people see a pile of manure, they see a pile of manure. We saw it as an opportunity for farmers, for utilities, and for California," Albers said.
In addition to being a partner in the 5,000-head Vintage Dairy, Albers is also president of BioEnergy Solutions, the company that funded and built the facility which cost millions of dollars. PG&E is simply a customer and the companies declined to give details of project finances.
As cow manure decomposes, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Scientists say controlling methane emissions from animals such as cows would be a major step in addressing climate change.
Enter the Vintage Dairy project. As luck would have it, methane can be captured and treated to produce renewable gas, and California regulators have directed PG&E and other utilities to make renewable energy at least 20 percent of their electricity supplies by 2010.
PG&E expects to reach 14 percent this year, thanks in small part at least to its partnership with BioEnergy Solutions.
To tap the renewable gas from cow manure, the Vintage Dairy farm first flushes manure into a large, octagonal pit, where it becomes about 99 percent water. It is then pumped into a covered lagoon, first passing through a screen that filters out large solids that eventually become the cows' bedding.
The covered lagoon, or "digester," is the size of nearly five football fields and about 33 feet deep. It is lined with plastic to protect the ground water and the cover, made of high density polyethylene, is held down at the edges by concrete. The digester's cover was sunken into the lagoon on Tuesday, but officials said it would be taut and raised in a few days as the gas collects underneath it.
Weights on top of the digester channel the gas to the small facility where it is "scrubbed" of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. The end product is "close to 99 percent pure methane" according to BioEnergy Chief Operating Officer Thomas Hintz.
Once it is treated, the gas is injected into PG&E's pipeline, where it will be shipped to a power plant in Northern California.
According to Albers, PG&E and California state officials, biogas is a major opportunity for dairy farmers to make extra revenue while helping the environment.
"There are a lot of lagoons like this in California that don't have lining in them," said James Boyd, commissioner and vice chair of the California Energy Commission. "There is a business case to be made for this ... climate change has really provided the incentive to do this."
Both BioEnergy Solutions and PG&E are actively courting dairy farmers, whose cow manure is now simply being used as fertilizer, allowing the methane to be released into the air as a greenhouse gas.
"With nearly 2 million dairy cows in California, the potential is great," said Roy Kuga, vice president of energy supply for San Fransisco-based PG&E. The company has a partnership with another company, Microgy, which is currently setting up biogas projects at three California dairies.
In practice, however, not every dairy could participate in such a project because some are not located close enough to the necessary gas transmission lines, PG&E officials said.
Still, for now there are plenty of dairies to get on board. A second dairy in Fresno county has already agreed to join the Vintage Dairy project and Albers estimated gas from the two dairies combined could power 2,500 homes a day. The Vintage Dairy facility could accommodate gas from up to two or three more dairies, depending on the size, officials said.
(Editing by Andre Grenon)
© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
comment(s): 0
Joke #2
Updated 29 Feb : 13:26 by admin
The Purina Diet
I was in Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina for my dogs and was
in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog........
Duh!
I was feeling a bit crabby so on impulse, I told her no, I was
starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I'd
ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I
wakened in an intensive care unit with tubes coming out of most of my
orifices and IV's in both arms.
Her eyes about bugged out of her head. I went on and on with
the bogus diet story and she was totally buying it .
I told her that it was an easy, inexpensive diet and that the way it works is to load your pockets or purse with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The package said the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.
Have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was
by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her.
Horrified, she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me
and was that why I ended up in the hospital.
I said no.....
I'd been sitting in the street licking my butt when a car hit me.
I thought the tall guy was going to have to be carried out of the store.
I was in Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina for my dogs and was
in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog........
Duh!
I was feeling a bit crabby so on impulse, I told her no, I was
starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I'd
ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I
wakened in an intensive care unit with tubes coming out of most of my
orifices and IV's in both arms.
Her eyes about bugged out of her head. I went on and on with
the bogus diet story and she was totally buying it .
I told her that it was an easy, inexpensive diet and that the way it works is to load your pockets or purse with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The package said the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.
Have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was
by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her.
Horrified, she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me
and was that why I ended up in the hospital.
I said no.....
I'd been sitting in the street licking my butt when a car hit me.
I thought the tall guy was going to have to be carried out of the store.
Webpage test
Updated 27 Feb : 12:03 by admin
this is a test
Joke of the day.
Updated 25 Feb : 07:36 by admin
Indian Winter
IT WAS ALREADY LATE FALL AND THE INDIANS ON A REMOTE RESERVATION IN SOUTH DAKOTA ASKED THEIR NEW CHIEF IF THE COMING WINTER WAS GOING TO BE COLD OR MILD. SINCE HE WAS A CHIEF IN A MODERN SOCIETY HE HAD NEVER BEEN TAUGHT THE OLD SECRETS. WHEN HE LOOKED AT THE SKY HE COULDN'T TELL WHAT THE WINTER WAS GOING TO BE LIKE. NEVERTHELESS, TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE, HE TOLD HIS TRIBE THAT THE WINTER WAS INDEED GOING TO BE COLD AND THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE VILLAGE SHOULD COLLECT FIREWOOD TO BE PREPARED.
BUT BEING A PRACTICAL LEADER, AFTER SEVERAL DAYS HE GOT AN IDEA. HE WENT TO THE PHONE BOOTH, CALLED THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND ASKED, "IS THE COMING WINTER GOING TO BE COLD?"
"IT LOOKS LIKE THIS WINTER IS GOING TO BE QUITE COLD," THE
METEOROLOGIST AT THE WEATHER SERVICE RESPONDED.
SO THE CHIEF WENT BACK TO HIS PEOPLE AND TOLD THEM TO COLLECT EVEN MORE FIREWOOD IN ORDER TO BE PREPARED.
A WEEK LATER HE CALLED THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AGAIN. "DOES IT STILL LOOK LIKE IT IS GOING TO BE A VERY COLD WINTER?"
"YES," THE MAN AT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AGAIN REPLIED, "IT'S GOING TO BE A VERY COLD WINTER."
THE CHIEF AGAIN WENT BACK TO HIS PEOPLE AND ORDERED THEM TO COLLECT EVERY SCRAP OF FIREWOOD THEY COULD FIND.
TWO WEEKS LATER THE CHIEF CALLED THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AGAIN. "ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THE WINTER IS G OING TO BE VERY COLD?"
"ABSOLUTELY," THE MAN REPLIED. "IT'S LOOKING MORE AND MORE LIKE IT IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE COLDEST WINTERS WE'VE EVER SEEN."
"HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE?" THE CHIEF ASKED.
THE WEATHERMAN REPLIED, "THE INDIANS ARE COLLECTING FIREWOOD LIKE CRAZY."
**Remember this whenever you get advice from a government official**
IT WAS ALREADY LATE FALL AND THE INDIANS ON A REMOTE RESERVATION IN SOUTH DAKOTA ASKED THEIR NEW CHIEF IF THE COMING WINTER WAS GOING TO BE COLD OR MILD. SINCE HE WAS A CHIEF IN A MODERN SOCIETY HE HAD NEVER BEEN TAUGHT THE OLD SECRETS. WHEN HE LOOKED AT THE SKY HE COULDN'T TELL WHAT THE WINTER WAS GOING TO BE LIKE. NEVERTHELESS, TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE, HE TOLD HIS TRIBE THAT THE WINTER WAS INDEED GOING TO BE COLD AND THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE VILLAGE SHOULD COLLECT FIREWOOD TO BE PREPARED.
BUT BEING A PRACTICAL LEADER, AFTER SEVERAL DAYS HE GOT AN IDEA. HE WENT TO THE PHONE BOOTH, CALLED THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND ASKED, "IS THE COMING WINTER GOING TO BE COLD?"
"IT LOOKS LIKE THIS WINTER IS GOING TO BE QUITE COLD," THE
METEOROLOGIST AT THE WEATHER SERVICE RESPONDED.
SO THE CHIEF WENT BACK TO HIS PEOPLE AND TOLD THEM TO COLLECT EVEN MORE FIREWOOD IN ORDER TO BE PREPARED.
A WEEK LATER HE CALLED THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AGAIN. "DOES IT STILL LOOK LIKE IT IS GOING TO BE A VERY COLD WINTER?"
"YES," THE MAN AT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AGAIN REPLIED, "IT'S GOING TO BE A VERY COLD WINTER."
THE CHIEF AGAIN WENT BACK TO HIS PEOPLE AND ORDERED THEM TO COLLECT EVERY SCRAP OF FIREWOOD THEY COULD FIND.
TWO WEEKS LATER THE CHIEF CALLED THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AGAIN. "ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THE WINTER IS G OING TO BE VERY COLD?"
"ABSOLUTELY," THE MAN REPLIED. "IT'S LOOKING MORE AND MORE LIKE IT IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE COLDEST WINTERS WE'VE EVER SEEN."
"HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE?" THE CHIEF ASKED.
THE WEATHERMAN REPLIED, "THE INDIANS ARE COLLECTING FIREWOOD LIKE CRAZY."
**Remember this whenever you get advice from a government official**
Gaming Shop?
Updated 24 Jan : 10:48 by admin
Thought I'd get some insight with the public about a local Gaming shop. It would consist of byoc (bring you own computer) or a mix of both byoc and several shop owned computers. We could also host XBOX and XBOX360 lan party's. Drinks and snacks would be available for purchase, and no tobacco or alcohol permitted on the site.
A small list of the games installed and available would be.
1. Quake3
2. Quake4
3. Halo 1, 2 and 3
Please click comments to post your feedback.
A small list of the games installed and available would be.
1. Quake3
2. Quake4
3. Halo 1, 2 and 3
Please click comments to post your feedback.
History of De Kalb?
Updated 21 Jan : 14:32 by admin
My sister and I will be starting a history of De Kalb, TX. to post on this page soon.
If anyone has unique infomation they would like to contribute please contact me via email daniel@dekalbtx.com.
Have a nice day and God bless you.
If anyone has unique infomation they would like to contribute please contact me via email daniel@dekalbtx.com.
Have a nice day and God bless you.
Sell it on EBAY!!
Updated 27 Dec : 10:43 by admin
Need to sell something one eBay.com?
No need to set up the account or worry about shipping.
Just go by Computer Services Located at 104 N runnels in De Kalb TX. or call (903) 667-3796.
The following fees apply.
A $5.00 insertion fee on items under $100 and what other final closing fees through eBay.
Click here for Ebay fees
Pictures of the item can be provided by you or we can take them for you in the shop.
Check with Daniel or Wanda for additional details.
God bless you and have a great day.
Daniel Hicks
admin of DeKalbtx.com
No need to set up the account or worry about shipping.
Just go by Computer Services Located at 104 N runnels in De Kalb TX. or call (903) 667-3796.
The following fees apply.
A $5.00 insertion fee on items under $100 and what other final closing fees through eBay.
Click here for Ebay fees
Pictures of the item can be provided by you or we can take them for you in the shop.
Check with Daniel or Wanda for additional details.
God bless you and have a great day.
Daniel Hicks
admin of DeKalbtx.com
Bargains and Discounts NOW OPEN
Updated 27 Dec : 10:19 by admin
Bargains and Discounts is now open.
With a little bit of everything in stock, we're sure to have whatever you would want form kitchenware to camping goods.
We are open Monday - Saturday 9am to 5pm.
You have a blessed day and God bless you.
Daniel Hicks
With a little bit of everything in stock, we're sure to have whatever you would want form kitchenware to camping goods.
We are open Monday - Saturday 9am to 5pm.
You have a blessed day and God bless you.
Daniel Hicks
De Kalb Classifieds
Updated 07 Nov : 11:48 by admin
De Kalb Classifieds is now up and you can post items for sale, garage sales and any other news there.
Have a Good Day and God bless you.
De Kalb Classifieds
Have a Good Day and God bless you.
De Kalb Classifieds
Welcome to DEKALBTX.COM
Updated 12 Sep : 08:54 by admin
Hello, and welcome to Dekalbtx.com.
The site is under a little construction but should be up and going full strength soon.
If you would like to post any news, community events,garage sales or anything you like please click HERE.
Or if you would like to submit an article to be published on the front page here click HERE
To join Deklabtx.com please click HERE and register for an account. The first 10 users to register get a free dekalbtx email address. daniel@dekalbtx.com :)
Have a great day and God bless you.
Daniel Hicks
The site is under a little construction but should be up and going full strength soon.
If you would like to post any news, community events,garage sales or anything you like please click HERE.
Or if you would like to submit an article to be published on the front page here click HERE
To join Deklabtx.com please click HERE and register for an account. The first 10 users to register get a free dekalbtx email address. daniel@dekalbtx.com :)
Have a great day and God bless you.
Daniel Hicks
This site is powered by E107 CMS and is maintained by Daniel Hicks
God Bless you
God Bless you
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