Re: DIG-L: a note on "philosophical" vs. "technical" discussions

[aj574@detroit.freenet.org (Lowell Prag)]

This is in response to a private email I received from a person who is
developing his own digester company and prefers not to have me reprint his
proprietary text: 

Hi Dean,

To continue the discussion, I don't agree with your economic analysis of
why the USA is behind Europe. Yes, Europe has more direct subsidies but
you have forgotten that the USA has more hidden subsides for fossil fuels.
Just compare our fuel prices to those of Europe. If our fossil fuel prices
were truly governed in an "open market", they would be much higher and
viable alternative energy technologies would have long ago made it to the
marketplace. 

In spite of the constraints that the artifically low fuel prices in the
USA put on the development of alternative energy technologies, the USA
marketplace has demanded more energy efficient technologies due to the
hard work of advocates explaining the feasibility to the general public
and DOE providing much help in research and development. Two excellent
examples are DOE's backing of photovoltaic research and fuel cells, in
addition to DOE's work in assisting many other areas of energy efficient
technology. 

In short, if you think you have a better mouse trap and need capital to
prove it, I think DOE would be the first place to start looking, because I
think you are wrong in stating that they don't think anaerobic digesters
for methane recovery are viable. 

What they may in fact think, is that presently there is not enough people
in the USA who really know how to design them correctly, set them up
correctly, and run them correctly, which is in fact, true. 

Prove to them that you are on the right track with the
expertise to succeed and I believe they will help you.

A good place to start is with the regional DOE biomass office in your 
area of the USA. Each office has a "request for proposals" section: 

U.S. Department of Energy, Regional Biomass Energy Program
http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/rbep.html

These people are for real and are committed to 
making biomass technology a reality in the USA.


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         .   From: Lowell Prag  -  Email: aj574@detroit.freenet.org  .
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