Treehugger - Latest Comments in U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Tim — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:20:38 -0000

I think the city of Morgantown WV uses some system to turn garbage into electricity.

I think we need to recycle much more that we do. Every spring we sent a large amount of leaves, grass, and tree trimmings to the land fill. This could be used by the city instead of going into the dump.

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Korean Avenger — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:37:05 -0000

I know this is a grand innovation in recycling and conservationism, and I certainly hope that it makes its way from the battlefield to civilian use quickly, but as a jackass I have to say that I'm relieved that ther's finally a use for all those discarded piles of S.O.S. (chipped creamed beef).

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Tyler — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:37:12 -0000

The military has some different motivations for reducing demands on fossil fuel than environmentalists, but they've got the budget to make ideas like this a reality. Much of our consumer technology was originally developed by the military, so hopefully their focus on alternative energy has the same effect.

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Gerald Shields — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:25:32 -0000

Interesting. We might be seeing this technology at the landfills within 3 years. The only worry though is air pollution. If you can get away with it without much pollution then it's a winner. The one thing we can do is make a hella bunch of garbage! Then the new formula will be "Garbage In, Energy Out!" (Forgive me for that last pun). :)

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Biofuelsimon — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:24:22 -0000

This is a great idea, if we could convert the waste that society produces into fuel, and its only a step from propane and ethane to liquid fuels, then this could make a big difference to our reliance on food crops for biofuels. Good to see the Army (any army) using a bit of imagination.

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Austin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:10:18 -0000

This is a great technology. I wonder what kind of waste is leftover from the process? Why not install a few of these at landfills?

I remember reading about many processes that produced somewhat similar results, I wonder what this one uses?

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Ruben — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:05:29 -0000

I think this sort of unit will have an important role in managing urban waste. The current vogue of picking up compost in big diesel trucks (a la Toronto and San Francisco) clearly does not have much of a future.

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

DR — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:25:30 -0000

I wonder what the exhaust is like. With the mix of trash, I imagine it would be quite toxic. If the exhaust is safe, could this be used in a residential area? Perhaps by a a restaurant (big trash producers) to offset some of their poser costs, or by an apartment building...

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

Tyler — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:56:28 -0000

Re: U.S. Army to Generate Electricity from Kitchen Waste

PM — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:31:24 -0000

This is a great innovation. These kind of solutions really have a future! Maybe electric vehicle technology would find an interested market by developing the technology for military applications. maybe Zap will come out with a Hummer-type vehicle.