Meeting the 21st century's energy needs is a frequent topic at
the annual meetings of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS). In the past we've covered many
sessions on a range of topics from solar to nuclear and beyond.
One thing is quite evident at this point: there will be no
single replacement for our current dependence on coal, gas, and
oil. Rather, we'll (hopefully) implement many new technologies,
each with its own niche. In this, and one or two future posts,
I'll look into some of the ways that we can use waste products
that we'd normally throw away to provide power. And I'm going to
start in the farmyard. Yes, that's right, manure. Normally, when
we think of biofuels, we think of corn ethanol, or switchgrass,
or bioengineered organisms, but these either have problems or
aren't yet ready for market. Meanwhile, there are a lot of cows
and pigs that have something more to offer than being eaten.
Frank Mitloehner at UC Davis spoke at the AAAS meeting in
February about a project un