Only a Pond Apart | Green Energy News

January 27, 2002 – Vol.6 No.44

ONLY A POND APART.

Both speak the same language. They often work together on military projects. You’d think that to save a dollar or a pound the U.S. and the U.K. would work together on energy research.

Future Energy Resources (FERCO) has received an additional $3 million from the U.S. Government for further development of its Vermont gasifier and SilvaGas process. The SilvaGas process can accept a wide range of biomass feedstock - agricultural, municipal and forestry waste and energy crops - to be converted to a clean-burning medium-Btu gas. This gas can be used in place of natural gas for combustion in a conventional gas turbine for carbon-neutral power generation.

The gasifier is being developed as a flexible testing platform for biofuels. Funding will be used for further development of gas clean-up, gas turbine power generation and the handling of biofuel feedstock.

The U.K. Government, through the Department of Trade and Industries Renewables Programme, has awarded GBP 7.3 million ($10.2 million) to a partnership of Alstrom Power UK and First Renewables for a biofuels development program which seems similar to the FERCO technology. The U.K. funding will be used to further the development of the ARBRE (ARable Biomass Renewable Energy) technology developed by First Renewables. The funding will be used to scale up the ARBRE design by a factor of five, improve its performance and develop gas turbine power generation for the technology.

Work together on energy technology? Probably never. After all one country sits on the left and shifts with the right. The other doesn’t. Visit FERCO at http://www.future-energy.com/ ARBRE at http://www.arbre.co.uk/ .