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Holy Cow! There’s more to Dung than meets the Nose.
Are we going back to the future or forward to the past? One thing is evident, Biomass Energy sources and resources are now being taken more seriously, even if they do not as yet get enough backing and the ‘Get-up and Go’ level of Government-funding they richly deserve. Biomass energy production, depending on where you live in the world, can include everything from firewood, to vegetable oil, to rice hulls and cow dung. Natural by-products and waste is burned by much of the world’s populations for cooking and heating. There are now techniques, new and old, to refine biomass into more efficient fuels such as alcohol, methane or charcoal. Although the most sustainable and sensible biomass energy sources have been from agricultural and forest industries, farmers are now adding their plans to go one further beyond the naturally recurring cycles ‘forming a loop’ between resource use and waste production with a view to growing specific biomass ‘energy crops’. It has been said that “if we grow as much new biomass as we burn in biofuels, the carbon in the atmosphere will remain in equilibrium.” 1 Prehistoric and Ancient Man, Biomass and CO2 Emissions Until lately, fuel expenditure and other effects upon the global climate have been more or less exclusively focused on Global Warming in relation to Greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) and the emissions of the Western world. It is continuously being almost ignored that Man may have only exacerbated what is, in fact, a natural cycle of events. Greenhouse gas emissions have risen to record levels over recent centuries, but until now little has been known about the atmosphere in pre-industrial times. From research on Ice-core readings going back to 2,000 years ago, it is shown that humans were influencing the climate long before the Industrial Revolution.2 According to analyses of gases trapped in ice beneath Antarctica, even though natural climate change contributed to emissions, levels of methane rose steadily in the atmosphere in the first millennium.3 Using a new technique, scientists have been able to analyze traces of methane trapped in air bubbles within ice-cores. The measurements in atmospheric methane had variations that indicate the methane count varied unexpectedly during the late pre-industrial Holocene period (c.0-1700AD), i.e. it increased (0-1000AD), but during the 700 years following a depletion occurred. The methane measurements taken imply that biomass burning emissions were high from 0-1000AD, but reduced by almost 40% over the next 700 years.4 Moreover, it has been indicated that there was occurrence of a significant perturbation to the global carbon cycle during the Early Jurassic period (early Toarcian age, approximately 183 million years ago).5 Spectral analysis of carbon-isotope measurements and of high-resolution carbonate abundance data revealed a regular cyclicity.6 Research results were: “interpreted as providing strong evidence that methane release proceeded in three rapid pulses and that these pulses were controlled by astronomically forced changes in climate, superimposed upon longer-term global warming.”7 There is therefore nothing new about natural ‘global warming’ under the Sun, most literally. Natural global warming cycles, like ‘fire’ itself, has been known to mankind for hundreds of thousands of years. The research shows that in pre-industrial times there were much higher levels of methane. This latest research adds to a body of evidence that early human settlers set fire to vast areas of jungle and grasslands e.g. in North America and in South America, in the Amazon jungles, to prepare the land for farming and settlements in the Americas. In other words, much of the man-made greenhouse gas came from small populations igniting outsize fires on a regular basis to burn off biomass (woods and grasslands) to clear land for settlements and farming, without any form of ‘fire control’ mechanisms, compared with the world today.8 Although burning subsided by c.1700AD, it is with the advent of industry that emissions started to rise again, now far exceeding the levels seen in the first millennium. The build up does not adhere to one period in time alone, it is generational.9 All over the globe, we still do not have absolute power over ‘fire’, nor control over ‘dry’ bush and forest fires in hot summers, some of which ‘wild fires’ occur totally naturally without human intervention! With the onset of climate change such fires are likely to increase as the climate gets warmer and drier. Third World Emissions – Asia’s Brown Pall Little remarked upon is the Brown Pall which hangs over Asia that blocks both sun and rain that can be easily seen from satellite pictures and, unfortunately, e.g. even be observed over Mumbai (ex-Bombay), India, and way beyond from an aero-plane window.10 Dealing with world emissions is not a ‘blame game’, but a grave matter that requires mutual global attention. Asia (India and China) with their enormous and ever-increasing populations are not exempt from this picture of world events or responsibility for them. Hundreds of millions of people burn low-quality coal, wood, and cow dung for cooking and heating, polluting the atmosphere with domestic ‘dung fires’ and have continued so to do for thousands of years. It is why the western world sorely needs their collaboration, for our and their sakes, in order to try to exert ‘damage limitation’ worldwide; for we cannot hope for a reversal under Nature’s terms and conditions – we cannot stop what Nature decrees - but needs must find economically practical and sensible ways to reduce the impact of exacerbating natural cyclical climate change. The Brown Cloud shrouding Asia is also part of a serious health threat to women and children in developing countries from burning of pernicious household fuels. India currently bears the largest number of ‘indoor air pollution’ (IAP)-related health problems in the world, with 75% of households burning wood, dung, and crop residues, which are traditional biomass fuels. It is said that an estimated 500,000 women and children die in India each year from IAP-related causes, which represents 25% percent of estimated IAP-related deaths worldwide.11 American scientists’ studies of the Zimbabwean population have shown that household use of high pollution cooking fuels may cause reduced birth weight11A and that household use of high pollution biomass fuels is associated with acute respiratory illness (ARI) in children of pre-school age.11B In addition, a recent study also suggests that exposure to Biomass fuel’s smoke (BMF) of cooking fires leads to greater levels of DNA damage than exposure to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) combustion products!11C Great News: The Biogas Support Programme Nepal Because of health hazards and world pollution, is the reason why a little bit of good news from Nepal is so very much more important and encouraging than it may seem. The project known as Biogas Support Programme, Nepal, (BSP), is a model biogas project creating a win-win situation for the rural Nepalese, the industrialized world and the environment.12 A calculation is quoted stating that the new biogas “generated from cattle dung in rural Nepal has lit around 140,000 domestic fires, saving 400,000 tonnes of firewood, 800,000 litres of kerosene and preventing 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases from escaping into the atmosphere.”13 BSP has been implemented in 66 of the nation’s 75 Nepalese districts when most development work has come to a standstill in almost all districts because of the Maoist insurgency.14 The scheme recently won the celebrated ‘Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy’ and is being replicated in some Asian and African countries. Each BSP biogas plant (mechanism) is said to save some 4.6 tonnes of greenhouse gases per annum from entering the atmosphere.15 A biogas plant will save the carbon dioxide that would otherwise have been emitted by the burning of firewood. And, burning the cattle’s methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, ensures it also does not enter the air. Plus the byproduct from the plant is compost manure, which does not contribute anything to the greenhouse effect. The biogas plant uses a simple and natural technology – dung goes in and gas comes out. Neat! How? Dung is mixed by hand with water and fed into an underground ‘digesting plant’. The bacteria that come with dung from the cow’s stomach breaks down the waste in the underground ‘air-tight’ digester. In the absence of oxygen, the mixing of the cow dung with water leads to a reaction that produces a gas comprising up to 70% methane and the remainder CO2.16 The digested slurry flows to an outlet tank and ends up in the compost pit, while the gas is tapped from the top of the plant’s dome with a pipe that ends in the burner of the kitchen stove.17 This is a very real terrific ‘happening’; the Dutch aid group SNV, the BSP’s main backer, is now replicating the project in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia and some African countries. There is another attractive and welcome byproduct of BSP for Nepal, the project produces jobs. In Nepal there are already 57 private companies specializing in ‘digester’ construction and developing ancillary industries, which gives employment to 11,000 people.18 A report prepared by the European Biomass industry Association and the WWF Conservation Group states that switching to farms producing ethanol and other biomass fuel could create hundreds of thousands of jobs while reducing one billion tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.19 The possible down-side of these helpful innovations, which lies within the Kyoto Agreement, is that other countries that are OTT on emissions can and will race to buy the conservation countries’ ‘credits’. Nevertheless, this simple technical modernization of a traditional biomass fuel use is a wonderful and uncomplicated solution to give an effective form of power supply, which is created from natural and renewable resources. It is an all-round highly advantageous use of cow dung. There may also be a spin-off regarding controversial slaughter of cows in India, where their commercial ‘dung’ value could contribute towards their religious preservation and medicinal worth. For example, whatever we in the West may think about practices outside of our own culture, scientists at the Centre of Medicinal Plants in Lucknow aver that distilled ‘cow urine’ enhances the effects of any medicine that is used in traditional Indian medicine along with dung and fat.20 To give some idea of cow dung’s more lowly commercial value, in the capital of Dhaka, Bangladesh, in the cold of winter in 2003, where cow dung is used for cooking and heating fuel, animal dung shot up in price. This led to the making of a ‘cow dung cake’ used for fertilizer selling for just under $2 a cake.21 Chickening- in on the Biomass act Only about 25% of the Bangladesh population has access to electricity, which suffers chronic shortages. In the western Faridpur district of Bangladesh, the United Nations has funded a power station that generates electricity from poultry waste. The plant runs on chicken droppings from 5,000 poultry farms, which are stored, dried and turned into combustible fuel. Dung really is the dung thing! 22 Cow Dung Goes Electric In America, cow dung waste is being turned into electricity, although it is not actually the manure that’s the power source but the bacteria within it. The voltage arises from electrons freed when the bacteria digest cellulose in the cow’s gut i.e. the microbes living in the rumen chamber of the cow’s stomach break down cellulose, the tough carbohydrate produced by plants. This process aids the cow’s digestion, whilst it releases electrons scientists can then harness for use in a battery.23 About a litre of microbe-rich rumen fluid is used to produce 600 millivolts of electricity, which is about half the voltage required to run one rechargeable AA battery.24 While this is a very small amount of electricity; it demonstrates that cow waste can be used to create electricity. The ‘end’ aim of this study conducted at Ohio State University, USA, is eventually to produce ‘fuel cells’. Despite the fact that this is an interesting experiment and the scientists’ ‘fuel cell’ powered by dung lasted well over 30 days without a decrease in the voltage output, (the cell generated 300-400mV), the size of the cell is such i.e. the 2 required fuel cells measure 30cm high and 15cm in diameter each, 24B that as yet this is not a practical strategy to generate electricity for ‘fuel cells’. Nonetheless, the work has revealed a unique other potential use for cow dung. As one wag put it: “I know what you’re thinking … will I one day have a lap-top computer or car powered by something that has passed through a cow’s bottom? The answer is yes, possibly, but not in manure format.”24A Cow Dung Traditional Uses It’s small wonder that cow dung should find itself another place in our modern world. Cows’ and bull’s dung (and urine) in India is sacred to the Hindu religion and have many uses. Cow dung has provided man with fuel for millennia and used it as fertilizer. It may be used as a seed protector, a heat source (cow dung is naturally hot – compost makes it hotter and it is put into glass-houses to heat them or run pipes through to get hot water). It is employed as a purifier (natural antiseptic qualities), floor coating, mud brick additive (improves resistance to disintegration), a skin tonic (mixed with crushed Neem leaves); the smoke is a mosquito repellent, dung is a pond PH balancer, and it is even used to make Frisbees!25 The Western world may not credit or understand the value placed on cows’ and bulls’ urine or dung in it’s religious context or in ancient and traditional medicine, but one thing is certain dung’s use for Biomass Methane Gas fuel is going to alter how we all look in future at such a valuable commodity. Cows and Sweet Flatus Amusing though it may sound, it is known that livestock in Australia contribute approximately 14% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, which is no laughing matter. Recent research has shown that most methane produced by cows and sheep emerges from the animal’s mouth rather than the anus.26 So, it is really the ‘belches’ of the livestock into the atmosphere that contributes to global warming. This fact has been taken so seriously that New Zealand researchers are investigating methods of breeding methane-free sheep! 27 Japanese researchers have also been looking into the matter regarding steers.28 Cow dung is not valued equally or popular everywhere. For example, the high-jinks of ‘common grazing’ Highland cattle in a corner of the Scottish Highlands is met by some with more of a Phawr! Than a Wow! In the village of Plockton, Ross-shire, long-horned cattle have grazed on the village green for hundreds of years, but their cow-pat deposits are scorned by some, whilst others consider them (the cattle) a ‘tourist attraction’.29 Whereas the smell of horse-dung is not considered unpleasant by many, the odour of cow-pats is not the most popular of countryside aromas, especially to those with urban back-grounds who are fast rising in number as country dwellers. Still, the odour of cow-pats is about to change.
When Shakespeare wrote: ‘I know a bank on whereon the wild thyme blows’, it is doubtful that in his wildest Midsummer-Night’s Dream’s 30 he was referring to the flatus of cows, but certain he spoke of scented romantic fairyland love. Be that as it may, the fact remains that the wonderful sweet stimulating scent of Thyme is likely to emanate from EU cattle sometime in the future. Increasing awareness of the hazards associated with the use of antibiotic and chemical feed additives has accelerated investigations into plants and their extracts as cattle feed additives.31 According to the project led by scientists at the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland, funded by the EU and contributed to by the Swiss Government, aromatic plant oils in cattle feed could make cows less flatulent, their dung smell sweeter and could create a “safe green alternative” to existing additives such as antibiotics.32 Natural plant extracts contain essential oils which have been found to have a beneficial effect on bacteria in the cow’s rumen, the first section of the stomach.33 Using aromatic extracts of herbs such as thyme, mint and others could reduce the level of fermentation in the rumen, causing less flatulence and deliver a more tolerable smell.34 In fact, “plant secondary compounds, of which essential oils and saponins comprise a small proportion, have great potential as ‘natural’ manipulators of rumen fermentation to benefit the farmer and the environment in the future.”35 “You are what you eat”, which may seem to have little to do with the methane content of animal faeces, belches or flatus, but this applies to all of the animal kingdom. For sure human animals, unless they have something radically wrong with their stomachs which causes their flatus to be equally intolerable as that of lower animals, have emissions that are entirely effected by their food and beverage intake. If you are a senior citizen, you may have noticed that before intensive farming, when all cows grazed in tranquil bovine pleasure on sweet clovered pastures, their milk too was sweet. It is therefore not surprising that the content of natural herbs in their diet can be beneficial both to them and to us. New Types of Biomass Fuel in the News Do we really appreciate our planet’s Plant-life? Not only are plants our potential and future in providing alternative clean fuel for ‘renewable energy power’, they are our saviours when it comes to cleaning up the mess we have already made with poisons and nuclear events. For example, Indian mustard plants (Brassica juncea) is used for phyto-remediation of soil contaminated by arsenic and lead;36 Ryegrass (Lolium perenne cv. Melvina) and Indian mustard (Brassica juncea cv. Vitasso) are being used as ‘test plants’ to clear up spills in the nuclear fuel cycle that have led to soil contamination with uranium.37 The latter process could take 10-50 years to reach the desired point of decontamination at the rate of up to 3.5% and 4.6% of the soil activity being removed annually by the biomass, but it is still exceedingly useful and plant-based methods can improve.38 Various plants have been and are being trialed for use in soil decontamination, but remarkably it is relatives of the humble cabbage that are consistently successful. Currently, many types of plants for biomass fuel are being investigated, e.g. American researchers have recently found Rye straw and Bermuda grass to be a potential for ethanol production.39 Willow, Poplar, Miscanthus and Hemp are the main energy crops that have been under consideration in the Netherlands since the 1990s. Several experimental trials and semi-demonstration fields have been established in different regions of that country, managed by national research institutes and as part of specific projects.40 Closer to home, in the UK The ‘Energy White Paper’ said that biomass may become one of the largest contributors to the renewals generation mix aimed at meeting the target of 20% of electricity produced from renewables by 2020.41 So who’s the New Kid on the UK Block?
Perennial Elephant Grass (Miscanthus spps.) grown for biomass fuel in the UK has been grabbing attention from press and the media (BBC1 TV ‘Countryfile’ programme Sunday 2nd October 2005) with good reason. This extraordinary crop (Miscanthus x giganteus) is one that can be grown successfully in a temperate climate.42 It provides a high output for small input and is set to present a scenic silver shimmer across the fields of Europe. At a recent Dublin conference, scientists suggested from studies that a species of the 4m-high Miscanthus crop (Miscanthus x giganteus), which needs little fertilizer to produce very high yields, would make a productive biomass ‘energy crop’ to be burned in power stations to generate electricity.43 “If we grew Miscanthus on 10% of suitable land in the 15-Member EU, then we could generate 9% of the gross electricity production.”44 Looking for a switch to throw against fears of global warming, and perhaps the convolutions of the expensive Black Oil economy and all that it entails, burning the biomass grass that’s as ‘high as an elephant’s eye’ to generate electricity could help mediate CO2 emissions. Miscanthus is broadly neutral in terms of its carbon dioxide emissions, the major gas at present thought to be responsible for warming the planet. Unlike burning coal out of the ground, which creates a net gain of carbon to the atmosphere, “As the plant grows it is drawing carbon dioxide out of the air. When you burn it, you put that carbon dioxide back, so the net effect on atmospheric CO2 is zero.”45 An aside advantage of the crop is that harvesting takes place at times of the year when machinery is not being used on food crops.46 The typical yield of Miscanthus trails in Europe of ‘dry’ biomass material per hectare has been 12 tonnes per hectare, but the American contingent’s work has produced yields of 60 tonnes per hectare.47 Even the lower production level is significant according to researchers, as in energy content this would replace about 36 barrels of crude oil!48 The plant is being taken seriously in the UK, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is now funding a major breeding programme.49 One farmers’ co-operative plans to cultivate 10,000 acres for burning in the next three years, but farmers generally and DEFRA need to get together on this one – the sooner the better – because Miscanthus could actually make a major contribution without any big technological breakthroughs to achieve what is required.50 Greater Miscanthus’ ecological news is yet to come from this environmentally friendly crop. Up in Warwickshire, researchers at the University of Warwicks’ ‘Warwick Manufacturing Group’ are collaborating with a group of 20 West-country elephant grass farmers to use the plant to produce biodegradable plastic car parts, such as wheel rims.51 We know the venture is commercially viable too. They have already joined forces and established a company, ‘Biomass Industrial Crops Limited’ (Bical), to exploit the plant’s potential. Bical is now a multinational company with interests in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe – wherever Elephant grass grows so will they, 52 because car manufacturers will be increasingly called upon to have a strategy in place to dispose of vehicles at the end of their lives in an environmentally friendly manner. It is far better to be able to compost car parts than to put them into landfills. Olive residue for burning power When it comes to biomass innovation, the Irish are holding out a half-way biomass Olive branch or leading the way from the olive-groves of Spain to the AES power station at Kilroot, Carrickfergus, County Antrim, which has successfully completed trials to burn olive residue biomass with coal.53 Last spring Turkish researchers at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ankara, found that sewage sludge can be burned together with other fuels, especially with olive cake, which they predicted to be a good additive fuel for the combustion lower quality fuels.54 In Northern Ireland the olive pellets added to coal will mean less coal is burned and less CO2 emissions generated. In the trials, 4,500 tonnes of olive pellets from Spain were blended with coal, AES’s current main fuel, then ground in the coal mills and burned in existing boilers, 55 which is practical and excellent news. This will not only assist the climate change predicament: “The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions will also result in lower costs for customers”56 - another splendid result for biomass fuels.
Olive Grove (Olea europaea) Location: Manfredonia (Puglia,
Italy) They’ve really caught the Biomass bug! The trials indicated that the AES power station could become the largest renewable energy producer in Northern Ireland. And, as AES sees it, it is also an opportunity for agriculture. There are electrifying prospects; they envision further investment in ‘energy crops’ grown by local farmers and further trials may include wood pellets, sunflower seeds and palm kernels that have already been used in UK power stations.57 Additionally, along the chain of ‘clean’ olive products’ waste, Israeli researchers investigating ways to treat Olive Mill Waste-water found using biomass of a citrus juice producing company and a citric acid manufacturing factory to be the most efficient sources of micro-organisms to anaerobically treat both sodium acetate solution and Olive Mill waste-water; reducing the concentrations of polyphenols and other toxicants originally present.58 Conversely, Italian research has also been looking into the use of Olive mill solid residues as heavy metal sorbent material, because biosorption of heavy metals is an alternative technology to remove these pollutants from aqueous solutions using inactive and dead biomasses such as agricultural and industrial wastes, algae and bacteria.59 The potential, probabilities and possibilities for uses of Plant-life is really exciting. Vegetable Oil is on the Road A while back an article entitled “Veggie Fuelled Cars – You Can’t be Serious!” appeared on Herbsphere. Following on from this, use of Biodiesel has been going ahead fast in the States. The really encouraging news is that in Charleston, Western Virginia, Upshur County School buses are running on biodiesel, primarily vegetable oils.60 It is good to know that this practice is among a slowly growing number of country transportation directors and across the nation who are switching from straight diesel to a mixture of diesel and biodiesel. In fact Biodiesel use has been growing since 1992 when the American Congress passed the Energy Policy Act in a move to reduce the nation’s dependency on foreign oil. This has since been approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an alternative fuel. A National Biodiesel Board was established in 1992 by soybean commodity groups to promote the use and research of biodiesel, and since 1999, biodiesel use nationwide has grown from 500,000 gallons to 25,000,000 gallons this year (2005). School systems have now contributed about 100 systems nationwide that have made the switch and the number is growing. With a country fleet of 1,300 school buses and 1,600 other vehicles, Las Vegas school system uses about 3,000,000 gallons a year and is very proud that they have been able to displace 600,000 gallons of petrol fuel. While there appears to be no appreciable increase in miles-per-gallon, the fuel produces fewer emissions and is healthier for the 24 million schoolchildren who use the buses daily. With recent petroleum price increases coupled with state and federal incentives, biodiesel is now an economical choice. What is more, “the EPA is requiring refiners to produce lower sulfur diesel fuel beginning 2006, and diesel engine manufacturers to build cleaner burning engines by 2010. The agency estimates the new rule will cut emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides, soot, carbon monoxide, acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide and other air pollutants, preventing 8,300 premature deaths, more than 9,500 hospitalizations and 1.5 million lost work days.” One can only say in admiration, ‘well done’. In Britain, car-owners are fined and taxed, in many cases right off the road. Why can’t the UK do something like this? COMMENT: There will be many voices that have called in the wilderness that these biomass and other clean ‘energy power’ innovations needed to be underway at least a quarter of a century ago, which is true. Do I hear mumblings of Nuclear Power ‘clean energy’! I doubt it, for it produces a constant threat to the environment and people, as well as a deadly waste that is undisposable for generations and a remains static threat to health. German research proves turbine Windmills are not economical or efficient. Wind is not always there, but destructive hurricanes and other lesser climatic events are. Yet there is insufficient empowering encouragement and financial incentives for other forms of alternative ‘energy power’. Funding and interest is lacking for the most consistent and constant source of energy power, ‘Wave-power’, with cables to carry electricity generated to where it is required. We need to work with what we have got, seaside or land-locked, to create Clean Energy Power for all. No more Black Oil Economy constrained by OPEC and the Middle East would release us and Third World countries from that yolk. No more Oil Wars – Water Wars may be next, but if Governments start to think and plan properly now about the future, who knows what wonderful novel concepts and creations may be invented to aid such problems. One thing is certain, just as we need help to solve these radical extant and pending troubles, countries with overblown populations need help to become responsible for their emissions, provision of utilities and ‘energy power’ too. In this Third Millennium, we are all, worldwide, being brought back to basic elements of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind! References: 1. Green Empowerment - Biomass Energy Fuels – http://www.greenempowerment.org/otherrenewable.htm
& Hayes,
Denis.
The Official Earthday Guide to
Planet Repair.
Island Press. Washington D.C.: 2000. 2. “Ancient humans ‘altered’ climate” by Helen Briggs, BBC News Science Reporter, 8th September 2005. 3. ‘Unexpected changes to the global methane budget over the past 2000 years.’ Ferretti DF, et al. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Uv. of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. Science 2005 Sep 9; 309(5741): 1714-7. And: ‘Holocene biomass burning and global dynamics of the carbon cycle.’ Carcaillet C, et al. Dept. of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Swedish Uv. of Agricultural Sciences, Umea. Sweden. Chemosphere 2002 Dec; 49(8): 845-63. 4. ‘Astronomical pacing of methane release in the Early Jurassic period.’ Kemp DB, et al. Department of Earth Sciences, Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space & Astronomical Research, The Open Uv., Milton Keynes, UK. Nature 2005 Sep 15; 437(7057): 396-9. 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid. 7. ‘Unexpected changes to the global methane budget over the past 2000 years.’ Ferretti DF, et al. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Uv. of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. Science 2005 Sep 9; 309(5741): 1714-7. 8. “Ancient humans ‘altered’ climate” by Helen Briggs, BBC News Science Reporter, 8th September 2005. 9. ‘Contributions of past and present human generations to committed warming caused by carbon dioxide.’ Friedlingstein P, Solomon S. Institut Pierre Simpon Laplace/Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Commissariat a l;Energie Atomique-Saclay, L’Orme des Merisiers, Gif sue Yvette, France. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2005 Aug 2; 102(31): 10832-6. Epub 2005 Jul 21. 10. “A Darkening Sky – A smoky shroud over Asia blocks both sun and rain” by Charles Petit, U. S. News & World Report, March 10, 2003. www.physsci.uci.edu/psnews/?id=89 11. ‘Indoor Air Pollution’ – Fighting a massive health threat in India: http://wbln1018.worldbank.org 11A. ‘Maternal exposure to biomass smoke and reduced birth weight in Zimbabwe.’ Mishra V, et al. Population and Health Studies, East-West Centre, Honolulu, HI, USA. Ann Epidemiol. 2004 Nov; 14(10): 740-7. 11B. ‘Indoor air pollution from biomass combustion and acute respiratory illness in preschool age children in Zimbabwe.’ Mishra V. Population and Health Studies, East-West Centre, Honolulu, HI, USA. Int J Epidemiol 2003 Oct; 32(5): 847-53 11C. ‘DNA damage in lymphocytes of rural Indian women exposed to biomass fuel smoke as assessed by the Comet assay.’ Pandy AK, et al. Developmental Toxicology Div., Ind. Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow, India. Environ Mol Mutagen. 2005 Jun; 45(5):435-41. 12. ‘Cow Dung for the Climate’ by Navin Singh Khadka BBC Online Nepal Service 22nd September 2005. 13. Ibid 14. Ibid 15. Ibid 16. Ibid 17. Ibid 18. Ibid 19. Ibid 20. ‘India targets cow slaughter’ by Jyotsna Sing, BBC Correspondent in Delhi, BBC News Online, 11th August 2003. 21. ‘Dung heats chilly Bangladesh’ by Alastair Lawson-Tancred, BBC Correspondent in Dhaka, BBC News Online 7th January, 2003. 22. Ibid. 23. ‘Cow Waste Turned Into Electricity’ by Hector Duarte Jr., - All Headline News Reporter, 5th September 2005. http://geek.com/news/geeknews/2005Sep/bpd20050907032170.htm 24. Ibid. 24A. ‘US battery boffins build cow dung fuel cell.’ Moo-bile applications by Tony Smith, 7th September 2005. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/07/dung_battery/ 24B. ‘Fuel Cells Powered by Cow Dung.’ http://www.threadwatch.org/node/3749 25. ‘101 Uses for Cow Dung and Urine’ Bhaktavatsala HKS, 13th October 1997. ‘Private ownership//AND Proposal For Cow Training – PAMHO AGTSP. http://www.iscowp.org/Nuggets/101%20Uses%20for%20Cow%20Dung.htm 26. Flatus‘ Alternative name for Flatulence. Re: Global Warming - http://www.gasbgon.co.uk/flatulence_cushion_a_to_z_of_flatulence.htm 27. Ibid. 28. ‘Effect of Japanese horseradish oil on methane production and ruminal fermentation in vitro and in steers.’ Mohammed N, et al. Bioresearch Corporation of Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan. 29. Wandering cows have dung it now.’ BBC News Online 9th April 2002. 30. "A Midsummer-Night’s Dream" Play by William Shakespeare, Act ii. Scene.1 31. ‘Antimicrobial properties of plant secondary metabolites.’ Wallace RJ. Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen, UK. Proc Nutr. Soc. 2004 Nov; 63(4): 621-9. Review. ‘Effect of plant oils and organic acids on rumen fermentation in vitro.’ Jalc D, Kididayova S, Nerud F. Instiutte of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia. Folia Microbiol (Praha). 2002; 47(2): 171-7. ‘Influence of Yucca shidigera extract on ruminal ammonia concentrations and ruminal micro-organisms.’ Wallace RJ, et al. Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, UK. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1994 Jun; 60(6): 1762-7. 32. Cow feed researchers smell success.’ BBC News Online 30th January, 2002. 31. Ibid. 32. Ibid. 33. Ibid. 34. Ibid. 35. ‘Antimicrobial properties of plant secondary metabolites.’ Wallace RJ. Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen, UK. Proc Nutr. Soc. 2004 Nov; 63(4): 621-9. Review. 36. ‘Phytoremediation of arsenic and lead in contaminated soil using Chinese brake ferns (Pteris vittata) and Indian mustard (Brassica juncea).’ Salido Al, et al. Dept. of Chemistry and Physics, Western Carolina Uv., Cullowhee, NC, USA. Int J Phytoremediation 2003; 5(2): 89-103. 37. ‘Phytoextraction for clean-up of low-level uranium contaminated soil evaluated.’ Vandenhove H, Van Hees M. Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK-CEN, Radioecology Section, Radiation Protection Department, Boertang 200, Mol, Belgium. J Environ Radioact. 2004; 72(1-2): 41-5. 38. Ibid. 39. ‘Dilute acid pretreatment of Rye straw and Bermuda grass for ethanol production.’ Sun Y, Cheng JJ. Dept. of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State Uv., Raleigh, NC, USA. Biorsour Technol. 2005 Sep; 96(14): 1599-606. NB: Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) 40. Biobase: The Netherlands – http://www.eeci.net/countries/NL.html “Abstract: This article presents an overview of energy crops in the Netherlands. The current status of energy crop production, pretreatment and utilization is summarized and an overview is given of the national biomass policy, recent trends, developments and constraints. A. Brown and R Vendendaal (BTG), EECO: European Energy crop Overview, Country report for the Netherlands July 1996. 41. DEFRA – Energy: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/acu/energy/energy.htm 42. ‘Potential mechanisms of low-temperature tolerance of C4 photosynthesis in Miscanthus x giganteus: an in vivo analysis.’ Naidu SL, Long SP. Dept. of Crop Sciences, Uv. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA. Planta 2004 Nov; 220(1): 145.55. Epub 2004 Jul 17. ‘Cold tolerance of C4 photosynthesis in Miscanthus x giganteus: adaptation in amounts and sequences of C4 photosynthetic enzymes.’ Naidu SL, et al. Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA. Plant Physoil. 2003 Jul; 132(3): 1688-97. 43. ‘Tall grasses set to power Europe’ by Jonathan Amos, BBC News Science Reporter, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. 7th September 2005. 44. Ibid. Quote: to British Association’s Festival of Science by Professor Mike Jones, Irish expert on plants and climate. 45. Ibid. Quote: Professor Steve Long, Uv. of Illinois, USA. 46. Ibid. 47. Ibid. 48. Ibid. 49. Ibid. 50. Ibid. 51. ‘Growing Green Cars’ – Uv. of Warwick: http://www.warwick.ac.uk http://www.hero.ac.uk/uk/research/archives/2001/growing_green_cars977.cfm 52. Ibid. 53. ‘Olive power could cut emissions.’ BBC Online News 7th September 2005. 54. ‘Emission characteristics of co-combustion of sewage sludge with olive cake and lignite coal in a circulating fluidized bed.’ Toraman OY, et al. Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Project Department, Ankara, Turkey. J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 2004 Apr; 39(4): 973-86. 55. ‘Olive power could cut emissions.’ BBC Online News 7th September 2005. 56. Ibid. Quote: Shane Lynch, Managing Director of AES Kilroot. 57. Ibid. UK Power stations have used aforementioned biomass fuels, including Drax, Fiddler's Ferry and Ferrybridge. 58. ‘Biomass selection for optimal anaerobic treatment of olive mill wastewater.’ Sabbah I, et al. The Regional Research & Development Centre, The Galilee Society, Shefa Amr, Israel. Environ Technol 2005 Jan; 26(1): 47-54. 59. ‘Olive mill solid residues as heavy metal sorbent material: a preliminary study.’ Pagnanelli F, et al. Dipartimemnto di Chimica, Cacolta de SMFN, Universita degli Studi La Sapienza, Rome, Italy. Waste Manag. 2002; 22(8): 901-7. 60. ‘Counties switch to biodiesel school buses.’ By Brian Farkas, AP Writer, 1st October 2005. |
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