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The Energy Matrix
The energy matrix examines the full spectrum of future energy sources and associated problems. It is meant to be a thought provoking publication for students who will be our future technocrats, engineers, and physicists. We will include concepts such as solar, DG, CHP and concepts that are not practical today such as ice engines. Send Comments to BilPat4342@AOL.com
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Cost of burning, wood pellets, corn or coal compared. I learned from a recent email that both wood pellets and corn could be burnt in stoves. Modern split log, wood, or corn stoves produce 90% less smoke than older conventional stoves. I also learned that outside furnace systems were being used to efficiently heat homes in rural areas. These pellet stoves had automatic pellet feeders and can work for days or weeks unattended.
Coal at $35.00/ton versus $100.00 a barrel oil. 11/7/2007: With crude oil approaching $100.00 per barrel it is time for US to do some comparative shopping. Windmills are great, but coal is here today and is used to generate half our nation's electricity. Dollar Cost: (MMBtu=1000000Btu)
Crude Oil: Carbon Cost in pounds CO2/MMBtu
Roughly 66% of energy of gasoline is wasted as heat by typical car during city driving. Roughly 66% of coal energy is wasted in cooling towers or rivers at coal power plants. Thus, both coal powered electric cars and gasoline or diesel cars have about the same thermal efficiency.
Index for all Editions Ice Energy Density versus Battery
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Cost of burning, wood pellets, corn or coal compared. A reader wrote the following in an email. "I just bought a wood pellet stove to heat my house as a way to lower my carbon
foot print and hopefully save $$$. It is interesting that a 40 lb bag of wood
pellets cost $6.00 at our local hardware stores and a 40 lb bag of corn at our
Walmart costs $5.45 for cracked corn and $5.89 for whole corn."
Corn I calculated that 143 lb of corn = One MMBtu (One Million British thermal units) From above quote:
About three 48 pound Bushels per MMBtu Cost of three bushels of
corn $12.00 Read: Government Report on Corn as heating fuel
WOOD From above quote pellets cost 15 cents a pound. Wood 8000 Btu/lb $11.25 per MMBtu buying bulk
Heating Oil and
Propane
Coal Per DOE/EIA
Utilities paid on average $36.00 per ton Utilities paid $9.83 per MMBtu liquid petroleum and $7.50 per MMBtu natural gas per DOE/EIA in fiscal year 2007.
Reference Links Cord weight, BTU's Price of coal http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/CarolineGeorges.shtml http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/coalnews/coalmar.html Cost of Corn http://www.umext.maine.edu/piscataquis/farming/Vol4Iss1/corn.htm http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/AE_corn_pellets.html
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Refining Tar Sand oil in great lakes region meets with considerable opposition. Nov 2, 2007
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Send Comments to BilPat4342@AOL.com
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