interesting read....wood chips powering military base 24/7

[SidecarFlip]

Candidly, I don't know who Rex Tillerson is and I don't care. What I do know is a subsidy, any subsidy paid by the government is yours (and my) tax dollars being used poorly, whether it's big oil, ethanol or wood chips., solar or wind power, makes no difference. When everything and everyone is on entitlement (thats what a subsidy is....entitlement), at some point there won't be anything left, but rest assured, your governmant will just extract more taxes to cove the deficit.

Frankly, I'm not about 'green' anything. Green equals deficit in my book. Far as having a bio-fuel stove, I do that because it's cheaper than ptopane. If I had NG, I wouldn't have a stove at all.. However, I'd still make parts and sell them to all you 'greenies'. I like making money, I'm a capitalist......

 

[SidecarFlip]

Never heard of him. But thern I never heard of Barak Obama prior to his election.....

 

[woodgeek]

Frankly, I'm not about 'green' anything. Green equals deficit in my book. Far as having a bio-fuel stove, I do that because it's cheaper than ptopane. If I had NG, I wouldn't have a stove at all.. However, I'd still make parts and sell them to all you 'greenies'. I like making money, I'm a capitalist......

Stick around, the green capitalists are coming. And energy in the future will be cheap.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Stick around, the green capitalists are coming. And energy in the future will be cheap.

I'm 65 so I don't have much time to wait....

 

[BrotherBart]

Rex better get my dividend check here by the 10th. And the retirement check here by the 25th.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Rex better get my dividend check here by the 10th. And the retirement check here by the 25th.

Retirement.... Thats why I'm still working. Too many toys, not enough retirement funds.

 

[BrotherBart]

Two smart investments allowed me to retire early. Exxon stock and birth control pills.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Two smart investments allowed me to retire early. Exxon stock and birth control pills.

Neither are very 'green'......

I won the lotto and invested it. Problem is, my wife wants me outta the house. At least she let me blow a wad on a laser cutter....

 

[TMonter]

How did you make those calculations? Let's say a truck transports 5 ton of woodchips. That's 10,000 lb. At 7000 usable BTU per pound I get 70 million BTU. 1 gallon of diesel has 140,000 BTU. That would mean the truck would need more than 500 gallons of diesel to drive the chips around. I guess that truck would need to travel a LOT more than 50 miles to exceed the BTU in the chips.

Average chip truck is 25 tons and average distance traveled for most projects to the delivery point is less than 50 miles. If you assume an average MPG on a fully loaded wood chip truck of 3-5 MPG fully loaded and double that empty, the delivered BTU is significantly more than the energy expended for delivery. Average BTU for delivered wood chips at 40-45% moisture is 5300 Btu/lb or 10.6 million Btu/Ton.

 

[TMonter]

Wrong, oil did grow (from) trees, millions of years ago. Far as a good part of the money goes abroad statement, thats becoming less and less as time goes on and as we become a net exporter instead of a net importer.

Tell you want I know... If we didn't get free biomass (wood chips) to run out plant boiler (pictured in my avitar), we'd shut it down and have in the past and ran NG. The only way it's a profit maker is when the fuel is free. When we can't get it, it's cold as the winter. And that don't include the million five startup and construction cost either. Thats just day-to day operation.

Biomass boilers aren't viable unless the fuel source is free or almost free. You can think they are and the gummit will tell you they are but they aren't (unless of course you don't pay the tarrif and have the taxpayers paying it), then, they are the best thing since sliced bread.

Woodchips might provide income for American workers but, there are a helluva lot more American workers working in refineries and oil fields than workers processing wood chips.... Be real.

Actually biomass boilers are generally viable when the primary fuel for boilers (usually natural gas or oil) exceed the cost of wood chips by a 1.5 or 2:1 margin depending on the assumed payback period (usually 7-12 years).

 

[Ncountry]

I live less than 10 miles from Fort Drum and try and get some Firewood around here now Better bring your checkbook. . It has also affected the pellets supply and price . So as some of us locals say just another benefit of having the base around ..

The local logger/pellet/chip producer has their plant running at its 100,000 ton capacity as well as supplying 70,000 tons to the plant on Drum. If one is a fan of forests they should never look at what is left when the

leave a job.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Must be some type of closed system gassification boiler if they are mixing old tires with the wood chips. This type of thing is limited to the amount of waste wood available. Possible recycled newspaper and cardboard could also be used.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Since the Govt is the largest user of fuel it makes sense for them to develop alternatives to imported oil ond other fuels. As a matter of national security and also economic security.

 

[begreen]

Looks like they are going to have to change their signs now to "Loose chips, sink ships."

 

[Jags]

Semper Fri.

 

[Retired Guy]

One issue with the Fort Drum biofuel program is the shortage of firewood in the neighboring counties.