Recycling Energy Center

A recycling/energy center for the surrounding neighborhood could be central to the economy and service of the community. At the core would be a highly efficient biomass waste combustion/energy system, developed by Larry Dobson and his company, Northern Light Research & Development. It will burn household refuse and biomass waste more cleanly and efficiently than most residential and commercial heating systems. A prototype has been tested by Bonneville/DOE to burn cleaner than any wood burning system yet tested.

When trees and biomass crops are planted to replace the burned fuel, the carbon dioxide and water emitted from combustion is again turned into plant matter and stored solar energy, so there is no net gain in greenhouse gases, no pollution from the energy cycle.  There may, however, be other deleterious effects involved in the way the fuel is grown and harvested, such as species and soil impoverishment, disruption of the ecosystem and reduction of biodiversity from monoculture cropping, soil deterioration, etc. These long term concerns must be addressed by the community along with other sustainability and quality of life issues.

This technology can be incorporated into the community energy system and serve as a recycling center for the larger community, providing jobs for some of the residents. The central furnace can be fueled with locally available paper and wood waste not otherwise recyclable, tree trimmings from local tree trimmers, even the most common household refuse, including plastics, can be burned with virtually no emissions other than carbon dioxide and steam. A chipper could be part of the recycling center to process neighborhood prunings and windfall trees and branches into fuel. Recycled aluminum and glass could be melted down and turned into useful products.

In Germany, where tile roofs last several hundred years (rather than the 15 to 25-year life-span of our asphalt and wood roofs), glass tiles are interspersed between the clay ones for light. These glass tiles last indefinitely and would be a useful and profitable product from our glutted recycled glass market. Other new recycled products, such as lightweight foamed glass roofing tiles and building insulation from recycled glass could be developed by the community to provide income and important directions for other recycling endeavors throughout the world.

This inexpensive source of high temperature heat could support other manufacturing and employment opportunities. Glass-blowing, pottery kilns, a bronze foundry and wrought-iron facilities could be incorporated into the plan, as well as other low-level heat needs such as processing steam, curing and drying facilities. A steam or heat engine could produce direct shaft power to replace electric motor power for operations such as pottery wheels, public washing-machines, clothes dryers, fans, grinders, saws, drills, etc.

Northern Light R&D has worked with Sunpower Stirling to commercialize a residential cogeneration system incorporating their advanced Stirling cycle external heat engine electric generator.  It will provide all the electricity, hot water, space heating, cooking, drying and waste disposal needs of a household. The integrated components of the system will be fully automated to provide efficiencies several times that of separate stand-alone units. The community could continue the development of this technology.

With second and third-level heat cycling, all the heating, hot water and laundry needs of the larger community could be efficiently met. Other businesses serving the surrounding community could take advantage of the available heat in such facilities as a sauna, steam-bath, heated pool, aquaculture ponds and greenhouses.  Food processing from the extensive community gardens, as well as the surrounding community, could take advantage of this free heat for canning, blanching, drying and other activities.

By integrating the energy needs of the whole system, unparalleled efficiencies many times better than presently available could be easily realized.  This is a primary key to success in making our businesses profitable, eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels (and the consequent greenhouse gas buildup) and making our lives more elegantly simple.

Cogeneration

Small, efficient, cost-effective cogeneration systems fueled with biomass promise the greatest near-term potential for solving the world's energy needs of any available renewable energy option. The energy and environmental crisis we are facing on all fronts has forced us Americans to re-evaluate our "mega" approach to problem solving. Utilities are suddenly looking to conservation and efficiency as an alternative to building more power plants. Decentralized electric power cogeneration is preferred to wasteful large central power plants.  We must use less, use it more efficiently, reuse it again and again.  The operating principles are Conserve, Reuse, Recycle.

Applying these principles to energy and waste recycling, we must conclude that small decentralized settings are the best cogeneration sites. A community could recycle local biomass, household waste and low grade paper into energy for a recycling operation, providing heat, mechanical power, and electricity for transforming recycled glass into foamed building insulation and roofing tiles, for an aluminum foundry, pottery and glass blowing studios, etc.. The waste heat, too, could be recycled first back into the combustion air, then into process steam or used in a Laundromat, car wash, sauna, heated swimming pool or greenhouses.

Other Features that could be Included

* Built-in facilities for health, balance, exploration of new potentials: Gymnasium, swimming pool, spa, sweat-lodge, cold-plunge (preferably above ocean or lake with water- slide down)

* Designed to be an energy self-sufficient and productive organism: agriculture/food-wise, an invaluable asset to the surrounding populace, serving inspiration/healing for outside seekers.

*As a recycling center for surrounding neighborhood, it could include:

1. Biomass waste combustion: community collection center for source-separated community wastes - producing cheap high-grade heat for:         

 2. Recycled Glass Transformation Company - creating roofing tiles, bubble-glass

insulation, glass blocks, generally useful glass products, teaching glass-blowing

3. Aluminum Recycling Foundry - making useful products for the community; part of trade- school/ R & D laboratory

4. Pottery studio, offering ceramics products, classes, therapy, local mineral evaluation. (pottery & glass are best kept local because of heavy transportation costs and local abundance of raw material)

5. Infra-red heat therapy / sweat-lodge.

6. Sterling or other heat-engine creating mechanical and electrical power. Direct mechanical power most efficient to operate water-pumps, public washing-machines & clothes driers, fans for greenhouses, heat system, Baking & cooking facilities for community/hotel kitchen, Restaurant, bakery, heat for local canning, drying of food from bioregion.

8. Steam generator for heat, pressure, steam bath, food processing of Harvest Kitchens, preservation, restaurant, bakery.

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