Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Global Warming - A Suggestion.

GLOBAL WARNING - A SUGGESTION. 11/07/2007

On the morning of 10 / 07 / 2007 there was a broadcast news item, reporting on the impact of the production of methane by cattle, stated to be as high as 7% of the world’s CO2 emissions, and therefore a serious factor in global warming. As it happens, methane can be used to generate clean electricity. A year or so back I visited the old brickfields at Calvert in Buckinghamshire, where there is a huge landfill operation in progress. A question, “What happens about the methane gas?”, produced the reply that it was collected and used to supply two electricity generators, which produced all the current required for activities on the site and a surplus for the national grid. It is, admittedly, not very advanced technology, but cattle which are kept over wintering in farm sheds do produce large volumes of methane, which could be collected and stored in cylinders and tanks. That supply could then be used to generate electric current on a substantial scale. Several reports in the media have featured the efforts of scientists to develop more easily digestible grasses for cattle which would reduce the volume of methane, but this is less urgent than the need to use methane to generate clean electricity, so reducing the current reliance on fossil fuels for that purpose.

Michael B. Buck.