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2013replacedieselgenjudges 2013replacedieselgenjudges

Jul 8, 2013
11:56

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The proposal is well written with a good background, clear community impact, implementation costs and timeline.

2013replacedieselgenjudges 2013replacedieselgenjudges

Jul 31, 2013
03:40

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The proposal is well written with a good background, clear community impact and implementation costs and timeline. The technology is fairly new, and as a result the scalability may be an issue.

Mark Capron

Aug 1, 2013
10:00

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Dear Judges, Thank you for the opportunity to further clarify our proposal. Converting diesel-fueled internal combustion engines (or turbines) methane-fueled is routine with years of operational data. The conversion can be either partial biogas with instant mix change or full methane with a day to change back and forth between blended fuel and 100% methane. The scalability questions are in the seaweed production. Managed seaweed ecosystems are not so much new as an international combination and local adaptation of well proven technologies with greatest uncertainty in the cost of growing and harvesting seaweed.

Anohar John

Aug 7, 2013
08:24

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A very good projects with outline specified and labeled

Mark Capron

Aug 30, 2013
10:44

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Dear Judges, Human nature is to keep using whatever one has already bought. It is difficult for people and organizations to abandon (dispose) of their diesel engines and the trained workers who supply them and keep them running. This proposal can scale rapidly because it does not abandon existing workers or infrastructure in transportation, electricity generation, and agriculture portable pumps. Also, the partial diesel use adjusts for changing biogas supply while ensuring 24/7 energy reliability. Working with human nature, this proposal is a step toward reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations because a single engine flexing seamlessly between: mixed methane/diesel, or all diesel is the most inexpensive, sustainable way to reduce carbon intensity, providing at least some of the methane is biomethane. As the biomethane supply reliability improves, those same engines are converted a second time to all methane. IPCC reports have long recognize fugitive methane emissions from landfills are a huge contributor to global warming, especially considering the crucial next 20 years using the latest NASA multiplier of 105 x CO2. Although this proposal is presented in tandem with our on-the-ground work in Fiji, (see Scaling renewables and Agriculture and forestry) where it will be implemented soon using biogas from seaweed, the concept is applicable to all sources of biomethane, including landfills, wastewater (sewage) treatment plants, manure digesters, etc. We discovered that the main sewage treatment plant for Greater Suva (330,000 population) was until last year releasing all its biomethane to the atmosphere. Then through a grant, it installed a flare, better for the climate, but still wasting tons of biomethane that could be fed into one of the many diesel engines currently used to power Suva with expensive electricity. We would like to make clear that our proposal includes using and developing all sources of commercially viable biomethane, including landfills, wastewater treatment plants, manure digesters, or any locations of decomposing biomatter, etc. All of these sources would actually provide very inexpensive biomethane since the waste matter is already collected and anaerobic digestion is already happening or is easily arranged. Production and collection of the biogas can be very cheap (in some cases, using our unique inexpensive digestion containers).

Mark Capron

Aug 31, 2013
09:35

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We did a quick calculation that the sewage from the 300,000 people of Suva should provide sufficient biomethane to produce at least 500 kW of electricity. If Fiji is currently paying USD $100 per barrel for diesel ($2.38/gallon) electricity costs $0.17/kWh for the fuel alone, while the cost of cleaning the “free” methane from the wastewater treatment plant should produce fuel for electricity at less than $0.05/kWh. At a 90% capacity factor, this could save $500,000 USD per year, while the initial conversion of a 500 kW engine to run on diesel/methane mixture would only cost about $50,000.