Tuesday, November 07, 2006
dung is the new black gold
I was looking at this, thinking how ridiculous an idea this electric quesadilla maker is. I was astounded to see reviews for the product and curious to see how many people love their quesadilla maker. Then I recalled the electric sandwich maker my mother brought home one day. I first saw something like it on an infomercial, I loved infomercials in those days. You load in a slice of bread, something else and then another slice of bread close it and let it heat-seal in the fun. It would even do two at a time.
Now I try to minimize electric heat appliances and ponder what life would be like if I used a wood burning stove. I always decide against it when I recall my mother telling me the story of how magical gas heat seemed because it was hot instantly. In addition to wood and coal, they burned cow patties. Today dairy farmers are encouraged to gather methane released by manure lagoons to generate power.
All together now, the oil digging makes the fertilizer, the fertilizer grows the the feed corn, the feed corn feeds and moo cow,the moo cow poops the cow dung, the anaerobic digester treats the cow dung, the cow dung releases the biogas, the generator burns the biogas, the combustion drives the pistons, the piston generate electricity, the electricity powers a quesadilla maker, the quesadilla maker generates heat!, the heat browns the corn tortilla, the corn tortilla melts the cow cheese. All thanks to fossil fuel!
Fossil fuel has enabled a complexity which has it's own sort of beauty, like oil swirls in puddles. I find it kind of fascinating, I like the way some solutions to problems are enabled by the original problem itself but enable other problems. I also realize that I have no idea how so modern populations can be sustained without such complexity seeping out across the globe, making sure everyone has something to do. I am not being completely sarcastic here, I really do admire the complexity and little wins that work their way into such a system. It's like staring into a crystal.
The cutest part is where the digester has to keep the dung at 95°F for which it uses 30% of the biogas produced. It's great that it's off the grid but 30% seems like a lot, not that I know much it compares to other power generation. I guess there is usually a lot of give in the acceptable efficiency of an energy source whose raw material is in seemingly endless supply.
Now I try to minimize electric heat appliances and ponder what life would be like if I used a wood burning stove. I always decide against it when I recall my mother telling me the story of how magical gas heat seemed because it was hot instantly. In addition to wood and coal, they burned cow patties. Today dairy farmers are encouraged to gather methane released by manure lagoons to generate power.
All together now, the oil digging makes the fertilizer, the fertilizer grows the the feed corn, the feed corn feeds and moo cow,the moo cow poops the cow dung, the anaerobic digester treats the cow dung, the cow dung releases the biogas, the generator burns the biogas, the combustion drives the pistons, the piston generate electricity, the electricity powers a quesadilla maker, the quesadilla maker generates heat!, the heat browns the corn tortilla, the corn tortilla melts the cow cheese. All thanks to fossil fuel!
Fossil fuel has enabled a complexity which has it's own sort of beauty, like oil swirls in puddles. I find it kind of fascinating, I like the way some solutions to problems are enabled by the original problem itself but enable other problems. I also realize that I have no idea how so modern populations can be sustained without such complexity seeping out across the globe, making sure everyone has something to do. I am not being completely sarcastic here, I really do admire the complexity and little wins that work their way into such a system. It's like staring into a crystal.
The cutest part is where the digester has to keep the dung at 95°F for which it uses 30% of the biogas produced. It's great that it's off the grid but 30% seems like a lot, not that I know much it compares to other power generation. I guess there is usually a lot of give in the acceptable efficiency of an energy source whose raw material is in seemingly endless supply.
Labels: energy, farm, india, kitchen gear
