[Gasification] [Bioenergy] What do you think of theNoahproject? OT

[Pels, J.R. (Jan)]

Dear All,

The only thing I did was answering the question in the title: What do
you think of the Noah Project. I used the link provided in the posting.

Sorry for sparking a discussion on appropriate use of country names. It
was my intention - exactly as formulated by Max, see below - to describe
the information provided on the Noah Project as indicative for the hype
that many American companies create around themselves. 

Thanks for the lecture on USA business models. I lived for 3 year in
North America (1 year Canada, 2 years USA), so I know more or less how
it works. From those years I have kept a healthy suspicion (and
aversion) against companies with 'too good to be true' stories and
claims about their products. Time after time the balloon deflates when
you punch the smallest hole in the PR bubble. 

The really sad thing is that not everyone in Europe knows how it works
in North America. It happens that investors/sponsors believe the
American's bluff and waste their money while a "PR conservative"
European company would have been the better choice. I know it is the
free market; I know it is their own choice where to invest; I know that
they should have done their homework. But I have seen it happening from
nearby in fuel cells. And the same can easily happen in gasification. I
have already heard some inexperienced people, who want to invest in
biomass and who know that the demonstration plant here is experiencing
some problems. They have read a few webpages of 'successful' US
companies much like the Noah Project and asked me why 'we' keep on
struggling and not importing 'their' technology? 

Jan Pels

PS I won't go into details of the example above. 

========================================
Dr. Jan R. Pels
ECN - Biomass, Coals and Environmental Research
P.O. Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands
telephone: +31-224-564884; fax: +31-224-568487
mobile: +31-6-10923218
e-mail: pels at ecn.nl
========================================
 
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org 
> [mailto:gasification-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of 
> Max Kennedy
> Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 5:38 PM
> To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
> Subject: Re: [Gasification] [Bioenergy] What do you think of 
> theNoahproject? OT
> 
> No, it refers to a geographical region, much like saying 
> North American or European vs American or German.  Including 
> a country or region in a description may indeed be 
> appropriate.  In the example of "American blah blah blah" it 
> is indicative of the hype, if you will, prior to 
> accomplishment typical of american culture as compared to 
> other cultures. European for example, where the tendency is 
> to at least have a proven prototype before coming out with 
> the extravagent claims may be catagorized as "conservative".  
> These are generalities and of course there are exceptions to 
> all such but this does not invalidate the observation.  It is 
> not something to take offense at but an observation of what 
> makes us different.
> 
> Max K