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  • From: Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Fwd: [grazersedge] Re: Energy Reqs-Graze vs Grain
  • Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 13:10:06 -0600

In light of our earlier talk on mathane I'll send this along.
Mark L


> I don't see oil being used for ag as a problem.
> However I would love to be able to blow methane
> into my tractor as Mark Ludwig has suggested.
> I don't know how realistic it is but I would like to
> see methane digesters get to the point that they are
> cheap enough and small enough that they could be used
> to power a small farm from that farms manure.
>
> Russ
> WI

Russ,

You may know this,I'm not so sure the general public does, but the
use of petroleum based products and natural gas are extremely high in
agriculture. I believe ag is the second biggest user next to
transportation, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it's a top user.
It's not so much what we pour in our machines, but what is used
directly/indirectly in producing fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides
etc. Some of the wetting agents for these sythetics continue to be
petroleum based solvents such as napthalene. Fertilizers such as
anhydrous require huge volumes of natural gas. The list is long.

I didn't respond for that reason. I met a man named Al Rutan who
turned out to be the methane man. (I didn't intend to make a song of
it, that's just what came off the keyboard)! He's a dairy farmer
from Liberty Center Iowa. He has successfully built small-scale
methane digesters. He gave a presentation complete with diagrams and
slides of his work. He's a nuts and bolts kind of person. I would
venture to guess that much of his work has been emulated by the big
boys. I think you could say that he was methane, when methane wasn't
cool! He did a 5 part series of articles on it for Home Power
Magazine. They will allow you to download this information free,
directly off the web. They are at www.homepower.com The articles
are found as follows:

Issue 26 page 24
Issue 27 page 44
Issue 28 page 39
Issue 30 page 42
Issue 40 page 82

If a man had the initiative, I believe he could build himself a
digester based on this information alone.

Steve Heyer
SE WI



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Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM




  • [permaculture] Fwd: [grazersedge] Re: Energy Reqs-Graze vs Grain, Mark, 03/28/2002

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