Duckweed Power

RupertofOZ

Quote:

An Ashland company has teamed up with an East Coast engineer who has figured out how to generate cheap, clean electricity from a plant all too familiar to people who frequent the Lithia Park ponds — duckweed — and then use exhaust from the generator to grow more duckweed.

Pacific Domes of Ashland, a global marketer of geodesic domes, is now selling BioEnergy Domes developed by Rudy Behrens, an aerospace engineer whose patented system is capable of producing a megawatt of electricity for the same price as coal or nuclear energy — and significantly cheaper than wind or solar. The systems are green, sustainable, and can be either small enough for a single home or large enough for a municipal utility.

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /103140310

earthbound

But have they actually built it and are they selling it, or are they just talking about it? Can't really find anything much on their website www.pacificdomes.com

Would be great if they can make it happen.

ivansng

Sounds like a business (expansion) opportunity EB...

RupertofOZ

Yeah EB... they're marketing them as "BioEnergy Domes"... about $15,000 for a backyard system..

http://www.pacificdomes.com/bioenergy_domes.html

And a couple of US aquaponic ops have jumped in...

http://www.pacificdomes.com/aquaponic_domes.html

And this bloke...

Quote:

Sean Roberts, who farms five leased acres off East Butler Creek Road outside of Ashland, is in the process of installing one of the BioEnergy Domes at his Fiddle Faddle Farm. But he's going to do more than generate electricity.

In addition to growing duckweed for electricity, he's planning to grow fish and other vegetables in the dome. Just as duckweed is stimulated by the water vapor and carbon dioxide, so are other plants.

netab32

I love this idea... what a brilliant replacement for coal... and gets rid of the problems that are inherent with wind and solar too.

I like the term 'green coal' and the fact that it can be pelletised and used for either fuel, food or fertiliser.

Wasnt much detail included regarding the details... but would you just throw it on once it is dried? Or would it NEED to be compressed into bricks or pellets?

Might dry some and give it a go... see how well it works in our fireplace. I would love to get my hands on one of those contraptions that you use to make fire bricks with newspaper... Would be interesting to see how they would dry internally...

... :think:

earthbound

Yeah I read through that and listened to most of the radio talk as well, just struggled to find any real answers or details about it nor any pictures of any kind.. They say they are drying the duckweed then burning it to produce energy.. For me this just raises soo many questions, how are they growing the duckweed, got to be some inputs surely, they said they are growing fish and vegetables in the same duckweed system, wouldn't the veggies be using valuable nutrients and space you want to save for the duckweed production?

Sketchy details, lack of data and no pictures brings out the skeptic in me.. Plus the fact that if they have done it and they are available and they will produce enough power for a house, well, I want to know more about it, I want to see it... What sort of output can they have, how labour intensive is it? So many questions....

netab32

Yup agree with you EB... were very light on in the info department... but I suppose if they have a patented turnkey system they wouldnt want to give too much away.

Was just googling Biomass Generators... looks like its definitely worth a little research and might be fun to test some of the theory behind it :wink:

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Duckweed Power

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