The Sunday Diigo Links Post (weekly)

• Technology Review: Converting Garbage into Fuel

  Brief article in MIT Tech Review on strides made in gasification processes (turning garbage/ waste into fuel & electricity), in this case *without* using incineration. That last bit is key, since incineration is a huge polluter.

  And the new method(s) aren’t commercially viable yet:
  QUOTE
  There may still be hurdles to commercial success. Childress notes that waste gasification may still face problems with local regulations. And companies using similar technologies have failed in the past. Nevertheless, some waste-gasification companies are reporting initial success. For example, Enerkem, based in Alberta, Edmonton, has opened a commercial facility to convert used utility poles into methanol and ethanol. It has signed an agreement with the city of Edmonton to process 100,000 tons of municipal solid waste a year for 25 years, although that’s still a relatively small amount compared with other options for disposing of waste.
  UNQUOTE

  tags: garbage, waste, waste_management, fuel, mit_techreview, gasification

• Natural petroleum seeps release equivalent of eight to 80 Exxon Valdez oil spills « Watts Up With That?

  Many (145) comments on this blog post, based on a press release describing the petroleum or oil seeps from the ocean floor near Santa Barbara, California. One of the commenters points to Thomas Gold’s work, too (“Deep Hot Biosphere,” eg.). There is much we don’t understand about the so-called “fossil” fuels…

  tags: anthony_watts, science, petroleum

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.