[Gasification] Charcoal Gasifier No 2.

[Harmon Seaver]

Kevin Chisholm wrote:
>> 
> Solar is "unattended", while a gasifier fueled generator system requires 
>   the presence of an attendant. 

   So what? What else do you have to do with your time, Kevin? And I'm
sure it isn't going to require round the clock oversight. Although
frankly, at this point I'm a lot more inclined to use biogas made from
cattails to run a generator than woodgas. Or a combination of both,
running the lower 3 feet of the cattail top (where the starch is) into
the digester and the rest of the stalk into a gasifier.



(snip)

> The "arithmetic of small scale" is cruel. I know of one "complete 
> package" of materials from India, where the equipment costs about 
> $US10,000 for a 5 kW gasifier, engine, and generator. Then you need 
> ocean freight, transportation to site, foundations, a floor, a building, 
> access roads, engine exhaust piping, water and sewage, a grid 
> connection, etc. If lucky, the Owner will have some of these 
> requirements already in place.

    That wouldn't even remotely be in consideration as far as I'm
concerned. Build it yourself, get engines for free or from a junkyard,
buy used or surplus induction motors, etc.

> 
> Here in Nova Scotia, teh Utility doesn't want to buy power from 
> independant producers, and is willing to pay "the avoided cost" for 
> purchased power. This is about $.03 per kw-hr. The Public Utilities 
> Board beats them up to about $.05 per kw-hr. So, if you build such a 
> small scale plant, connect it to the Grid, and have it running at 100% 
> capacity, your hourly income will total $.05 x 5 = $.25 per hour.
> 

   They will change their tune shortly. Canada will be just as desperate
for energy as everyone else in the very near future. But you can always
try to get them to change now -- what worked in the US was the fact that
many people were doing it on the sneak, running their meters backwards,
and other groups were doing some heavy lobbying, and the fact that the
utilities were getting freaked about all the people feeding the grid
without any "approved" safety equipment motivated them a lot I think.
   There used to be a lot of resistance by the utilities in WI but now
they are all bending over backwards to make it easy to hook up and
net-meter.


-- 
Harmon Seaver