As per the title, I’m curious of your thoughts on this concept. Methane from landfills are already used as a source of energy in many cases, but according to the EPA, a tremendous amount are not, and contribute 14% to the US’s methane gas emissions.

I’m not terribly happy how the inventors of this tech are trying to keep it a trade secret, and their estimate that an installation will cost between 1 to 10 million takes it out of reach a backyard solarpunk from taking advantage of it (though it sounds like it could be DIY’d with enough know-how).

On the face of it, if it makes more landfills become viable as a source of energy to reduce use of fossil fuels, it seems like it could be a useful tool against climate change. The best case scenario would be that a local energy co-op is able to afford the initial startup cost to get it operational, ideally using repurposed engines from used cars.

What do y’all make of it?

  • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.netOP
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    3 months ago

    Wow, that is a fantastic article and a terrific resource. @JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net, this might interest you as well, since all I could think of while reading it was your wonderful rendering of a solarpunk sailing container ship. The ideas about offshore cargo hubs to distribute the cargo with smaller electric boats as well is good food for fiction and art, methinks :)

    Thank you for sharing it, Puddle!

    So that’s one use case down, leaving mostly just airplanes where that biofuel would be specifically useful.

    • JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      Thanks for bringing me in! Both these articles are great, and both are good additions to resource lists I’ve put together for solarpunk writers/artists - I’ve added the auto engine one to my list of alternative uses for car parts, and the battery ship info to my nautical solarpunk piece. Thanks again!