[Digestion] H2O as a GHG?

[Katahdin Energy Works]

I didn't want to get lost on this Gorebal warming tangent; but it's very
relevant to the financial incentives and permitting for building
bio-refineries.

We're now applying for Renewable Energy Credits for one project--once the
digester is up and running we calculate gas and energy production, do the
formula and submit a request to a carbon trader. They send us a check
covering the lifespan of the digester. 

Then you have regulatory hurdles and applications to DEP, and local boards.
Everyone has CO2 on the brain; so you have to address it; and lurking in the
background is a sales rep. or consultant ready to 'help you' with your
application. 

I'd rather incorporate CO2 reduction not as a goal unto itself; but as an
opportunity to make yet another small profit for a burdened family
farmer..i.e. converting it to a saleable product, isolating it and selling
it to a greenhouse, etc. 

I'm a systems thinker; so I naturally see the CO2 just going back into an
organic growth cycle that eventually winds up in the belly of a cow, which
goes into the digester and back into the cycle.

Need I remind everyone; that CO2 is heavier than air and it takes various
transport mechanisms to get it into the upper atmosphere---if it was lighter
there would be no organic life!  This is why the upper (greenhouse) layer is
93% water vapour. 

And for newcomers to the discussion of Gorebal Warming, the problem is that
natural nighttime radiative cooling has been slowed by the addition of water
vapour into the atmosphere above 25,000 ft. The DIURNAL temps, i.e. diff.
between daytime and nighttime temps reveal how much we've heated up since
the dawn of jet aviation 50 years ago.  When aviation was halted for nearly
a week after 9/11, temps were lowered by 1 degree C!

The SWISS have banned over flights about 20,000(?) and are considering
banning night flights to further reduce H20 emissions...I tend to respect
SWISS science, so if they base their public policy on it, I feel compelled
to go along. 

Read my article or go GOOGLE it if you want to understand the rationale or
science more fully---esp. the UK and EU policy findings, or go find that
blog by Russian Cosmonauts who study radiative cooling from outer space and
have measured its impact. You can easily find stats on source emissions from
power plants; but there aren't many people who've looked at Earth from the
vantage point of outer space and can measure radiative heat
transfers...besides, contrails diminishes their ability to spy on us, thus
the concern. I tend not to argue with Soviet Science, either; as wacky as it
seems at times. 

Frank J. Heller, MPA
KATAHDIN ENERGY WORKS
12 Belmont St.
Brunswick, ME 04011-3004
207.729.6090
http://mysite.verizon.net/fjheller/


-----Original Message-----
From: digestion-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:digestion-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Ken Calvert
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 8:57 AM
To: Digestion at listserv.repp.org
Subject: Re: [Digestion] H2O as a GHG?

Frank,  I am responding to your comment below, that water vapour is a 
GreenHouse Gas?  You said   " I think it's silly to sequester CO2--but then 
again, I think the fundamental  cause of global warming are aviation 
emissions of H20 into the greenhouse
layer"
   Now as I understood the situation,  water vapour might block IR re 
radiation and heat the earth, but the moment that it condenses into clouds 
it does a complete flip and reflects the initial radiation coming in and is 
a potent antidote to our greenhouse anxieties.  Yes we do need to mimimise 
on the  GHG nasties, especially the synthetic ones, but when the world 
starts to get too hot, all we need to do is to  run a few Stratocruisers at 
sub-stratospheric heights and  dump off a few extra tonnes of water droplets

to enhance our cloud cover and  we can ward off the dreaded whatevers.  I 
have read somewhere about ships that could spray enough spray/spume into the

prevailing winds to make a serious impact on the GHG problem.

    This Group is to do with anaerobic digestion, and I have no wish to 
squew it off track.
What I am wondering however, is how much extra rainfall would we require to 
dissolve out a bit more CO2 and minimise on that too?  Rainwater is pH 5.7, 
because of the dissolved CO2  that ends up back in the soil water and 
dissolves surface limestones etc.   Can someone point me to a webpage or 
three that  discusses these matters?
Thanks a lot, Ken C.




_______________________________________________
Digestion mailing list
Digestion at listserv.repp.org
http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_listserv.repp.org
Beginner's Guide to Biogas
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/
http://info.bioenergylists.org