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Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

notechmagazine.com

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Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#41

Post by tiagod »

celticninja wrote: post #38
cheesysam wrote: post #33

I'm not sure disrupting the ecosystem at the bottom of the pond is an ecologically sound move. Biodiversity is important! Obviously I understand this is a proof of concept and not the solution to fossil fuels.

it probably speeds things up rather than killing them, and you know on the scale of BP pouring millions of oil into the ocean, I reckon what this guy is doing is absoloutley fine and the environmental damage is well within range of what the local environment can cope with and recover from within a reasonably small time frame.

It's "probably" ok? Based on what?

Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#42

Post by ada1981 »

fy20 wrote: post #3

If you want to do this seriously, you could probably do quite well by creating biogas from kitchen scraps: https://www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/other-renew...

I’m curious what moped km per day one could generate with human waste, food and yard scraps.

Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#43

Post by rambambram »

maCDzP wrote: post #19

This made me chuckle. I am guessing he is trying to show how ridiculous our life style is without fossil fuels?

Definitely. This is an art project (ArteZ is an art school in The Netherlands) and the naming suggests a lot of fun! - Slootmotor: already explained in article - Uitsloot: pun on exhaust gas and ditch - Plompstation: pun on gas station and pond/water

Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#44

Post by rjmunro »

zabzonk wrote: post #10
Xylakant wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but methane has a much stronger greenhouse effects than the resulting CO2 and water vapor. So that's still net-positive.

Actually, H2O is the most potent common greenhouse gas, then methane, and then CO2. If you burn methane (CH4) you end up with 2 molecules of H20 and one of CO2. Which to me would seem to be worse than one molecule of CH4 - but I might be wrong. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could comment?

I thought that clouds reflected sunlight back to space and had a cooling effect. Interesting that I may be wrong about that.

Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#45

Post by pjc50 »

qwertox wrote: post #34

Searching for the terms "secu" and "safe" doesn't yield any results. I know this is more of an art project, but in a photo he's driving through a city. What are the security implications of this? Also searching for "poly" doesn't yield any results, so I'm left to hope that the is using polycarbonate to provide some kind of safety shielding in case things go south. Also not on http://uitsloot.nl/sloot-motor/

I don't understand what the security implications might be? It's just the normal gas that's available from mains gas everywhere, in a low-pressure tank. Probably no more dangerous than existing CNG/LPG vehicles.

Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#46

Post by adrianN »

mnw21cam wrote: post #32
hannob wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can probably do that, but don't delude yourself that you're doing anything for the environment. Methane itself is a very potent greenhouse gas. Everything you do with methane is only environmentally friendly if you have a very low leakage rate. Whatever homegrown DIY biogas facility you're creating very likely does not do that.

If you're collecting something that would be produced anyway, it's going to be a net bonus.

A well aerated compost pile would likely produce less Methane.

Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#47

Post by ChrisRR »

Xophmeister wrote: post #39
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #17

> Eight hours of hoeing in a ditch supplies him with enough fuel to ride his vehicle for 20 km Hmm, this is an art project but you can cycle 20km fairly leisurely in an hour. 8 hours of toiling in the ditches probably might be better used growing vegetables so your food isn’t being driven in?

One could easily walk 20km in 8 hours.

At an average pace you could walk 20km in half that time

Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#49

Post by Broken_Hippo »

Hendrikto wrote: post #30
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, maybe not. It isn't like most folks can live off of a garden plot of a normal house, if you even have a garden plot. I cannot cycle 20km fairly leisurely in an hour: I live in a mountainous area, but lived most of my life on flat ground and going uphill is freaking difficult, even if I'm going at a leisurely speed - and sometimes, downhill is brakes all the way down. And I don't know how much this person drive…

> I cannot cycle 20km fairly leisurely in an hour: I live in a mountainous area Not a good counter argument. In this case, the moped will also use more fuel.

Sure, it isn't the best, but I know lots of other folks cannot either, and reasons vary. The point really is that cycling 20km isn't realistic for a wide swath of population.

And sure, it might use more fuel... when you go uphill. Downhill, you might not even need the power.

Re: Inventor harvests methane gas from ditches and ponds to power his moped

#50

Post by slightwinder »

Isn't this just a low-scale biogas-collector+engine? Biogas is already used in farming and commecial transportation since some decades. So the point here is that there are also other sources we can collect it from?

This remindes me of those guys who collect grease from diners and others foodshops to refine it into fuel for their cars.

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