BioTown, USA's latest upgrades include biomass-to-electricity generator
Do we have any readers representing BioTown, USA, AKA Reynolds, Indiana? This tiny town (population ~550) is trying to become energy self-sufficient and is using biofuels and biomass-generated electricity to get there. We've written about this project before (links below) and now that the next phase - called, um, Phase II - of the project has broken ground.The actual groundbreaking was for a facility where biomass will be converted to electricity. The Phase II biomass facility includes an anaerobic digester, a gasifier, and a fast pyrolysis system (details here) and should start producing power later this year.
Since 2005, the BioTown, USA project has been working on making Reynolds run on pure bioenergy. They have a long way to go. While the town did get E85 and B20 pumps last year - and 20 residents got free two-year leases on flex-fuel vehicles - none of that spells energy self-sufficiency. In 2005, the town used 384,000 gallons of gasoline and more than 8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity along with nearly 150 million cubic feet of natural gas.
Up next for Reynolds is Phase III, which is all about the synthetic natural gas made from biomass and agricultural waste. There's more on BioTown here.
Related:
[Source: BioTown, USA]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
FD 9:08AM (3/29/2007)
I applaude the efforts, but they need to spend the money up front on conservation and efficiency of the users in the system, homes, etc. then they won't need to spend as much on alternative energy sources.
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