"Using Waste, Swedish City Cuts Its Fossil Fuel Use"
Article By Elisabeth Rosenthal
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/science/earth/11fossil.html?partner=rss&emc=rssPublished December 10, 2010
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
Summary
Kristianstad, Sweden promised 10 years ago that they will limit themselves from fossil fuels. The city and the nearby towns use less oil and gas no
w. They do not use
much fossil fuels for heating purposes. The towns consisting 80,000 people have turned 180 degrees from 20 years ago. They do not use just any alternative fuel. Instead, they have a generator that produces energy by processing waste such as potato peels, manure, or stale cookies. It can produce energy from almost anything. The machine that generates the electricity is a 10 year old power plant that changes the waste into a biogas which is a form of methane. After they started seeing the fuel works, they began using other waste like food waste. This town is mostly farm so there were many waste. The product could heat the house or even fuel a car. It decreased the carbon dioxide output by one fourth. It also decreased the dependency on fossil fuels to a half. Europe is beginning to use the biogas system, but in the U.S., it is rare. The use of biogas is like using natural gas, but they both pollute less than the other fossil fuels. After all, the biological waste is just sitting there waiting for it to be decomposed so it will affect the global warming anyway. Why not use it?
Reflection/Opinion
I think using biogas is a great idea because it is cheaper. It uses 3.8 million dollars less than fossil fuels does in a year and it is made locally. It is better to use the waste than let it sit and contribute to global warming. It is going to affect it anyway. Since the fossil fuels are expensive in Europe, it is wise to use biogas because Kristianstad is a farmland. I hope the U.S. will have biogas fuels because we have many farmland and wastes. Our fuel costs are going up and so is the population in the world. We will have to have more coals, but it is running out. We will have to depend on something else like bio waste product that is refined.
Questions
1) Do you think we need biogas? Why or Why not?
2) Will U.S. depend more on biogas in the future? Why or Why not?
3) Why should we use bio waste to make fuel?
4) How much money do you think the Swedish people in Kristianstad used on fossil fuels?
(Guess, don't need to look up unless you want to.) Explain your reasoning.
By James Jung
What a waste of cookies! But seriously, its very cool that they are using old food and waste to generate energy. I think that it's great that they are making use of their waste and not letting it rot away in a landfill somewhere.
ReplyDelete3) We should make use of biogas for fuel becuase our main sources of energy are non-renewable energy and we will need a reliable new source of energy beore long.
Here is a link to a picture of a biogas tank:
http://www.sln.org.uk/geography/images/Uganda/22.Biogas%20tank.JPG
I think it is a great idea to use biogas. This would pollute the air less than fossil fuels and actually put a use to our waste. It would also be good to use biogas because it is less expensive. If we use this energy source people wouldn't have to pay as much money as they do now for heating and fueling cars. The use of biogas would be a great advancement to the United States.
ReplyDelete1. Do you think that the U.S. will use biogas in the future? Why or why not?
2. Why do you think we don't use biogas as an alternate energy source? Explain.
3. If the U.S. did turn to biogas, do you think people would use more waste so they wouldn't have to go back to the more expensive way of fueling things? Explain.
Biogas is a good way to save energy and a smart way for us humans to use. This can help us to conserve energy and not just throw away old food but recycle it to use it for something new. If trash is just piled up in a landfill, then it will affect our environment negatively. Also, if we use the waste then there would be no pollution and we would save much more money.
ReplyDelete1) Yes we need them because we spend too much money and time to process fossil fuels.
2)The U.S. will eventually depend on biogas if they run out of fossil fuels which it will soon.
This is a link to an article about seedtrees' biogas http://www.seedtree.org/biogas.html
I think that is it is a great idea to use all the leftover foods for energy. Not only does this cut down on pollution in the air, but also the pollution on the ground. I think that we Americans should try to act like the people of Kristianstad. We would cut down on amount of pollution in this country by a lot. We would also save a lot of money.
ReplyDelete4. I guess that the people in Kristianstad use 30% fossil fuels, 70% biogas. Since it would not be a smart idea to depend completely on one resource, they will depend on the fossil fuels slightly. That doesn't mean they will use no fossil fuels at all, but they will use very little when they need it. I'm sure the biogas will work pretty well if there this still trash.
Here is a link to an article about a biogas car.
http://www.bioenergy-news.com/index.php?/Industry-News?item_id=3000