Green Energy News | July 29, 1996

July 29, 1996 – Vol.1 No.18

ENERGIES... week of July 29,1996

BIODIESEL FUEL made from soybeans can be used in place of the petro-based stuff. Compared with low-sulfur diesel, biodiesel fuel offers the same performance with lower emissions, but most of all it is a source of renewable energy. While the use of biodiesel has grown steadily in Europe, in the US only demonstration projects and biodiesel-petroleum diesel blends have been attempted. Trains, buses and boats have been converted to the soybean fuel for public and government evaluation, while a new 30 million gallon per year plant to supply biodiesel fuel has been constructed in Quincy, MA.

For more information contact the National Biodiesel Board, (800) 841-5849, the American Biofuels Association, (703) 522-3392, and the United Soybean Board, (800) 989-8721.

HOT DRY ROCKS beneath our feet may be a solution for almost limitless energy. The core of Mother Earth is hot enough to supply all of our energy needs into the foreseeable future. The problem is getting at it. While geothermal energy plants have proven economically appealing and reliable, they require sources of naturally heated ground water to run generators. There aren’t many of those sources available worldwide.

Hot rock technology is different. Cool water is forced down a well and into fissures in the rock where it is heated into steam or hot water. Pumped or forced to the surface it can run a steam turbine or pass through a heat exchanger. A system can be a closed loop and is absolutely pollution free.

Economics may be the only drawback to the system. Sometimes the hot rocks may be a mile or two below the surface. Not easy drilling. The Los Alamos National Laboratory in Fenton Hill, NM is working on a system intended to be turned over to private operators for commercial use.

SERAPHIM is a concept released by Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM for a cheaper alternative to mag-lev trains. The SEgmented RAil PHased Induction Motor high speed train would use conventional tracks and a segmented aluminum third rail. Magnetic propulsion coils in the train triggered by optical sensors detect the aluminum rail segments. By generating opposing magnetic fields the train can push off the edge of each segment, propelling it along.