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Dead trees = energy independence?

Two University of Montana researchers are developing a mobile device that turns dead trees into green energy.
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On Thursday, lawmakers at the Capitol got to see it in action.

The device, called a mobile biomass generator, is capable of turning wood chips into enough electricity to power five to seven homes, say its designers.

Researchers Brian Kern and Paul Williamson, of UM’s Alternative Energies Technologies program http://www.h2education.com/ , said the heart and soul of the semi trailer-sized machine is a downdraft gasifier. The gasifier takes combustible material such as wood chips, corn stalks, switch grass or other organic material, and heats it in the absence of oxygen. The material doesn’t burn in the conventional sense, but instead decomposes during a process called dry distillation, which produces hydrogen and methane, which is then burned by a V-6 engine that runs an electrical generator.

By JOHN S. ADAMS Tribune Capitol Bureau

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090123/NEWS01/901230319/1002/rss

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Tree death rate in Pacific Northwest doubled in 17 years http://matr.net/article-32630.html

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