Dutch stop subsidising heat generation by burning wood chips

 DutchNews, April 23, 2022 

Ministers have agreed to immediately stop giving subsidies for the use of biomass, or wood chips, to generate heat for city heating schemes and greenhouses, the economic affairs ministry has confirmed. 

Dutch biomass plants, which are supposed to help comply with EU climate goals, have been given billions of euros in subsidies in the last few years. They have, however, become deeply controversial because of longer-term damage to the environment. 

‘Organic raw materials play an important role in achieving a climate-neutral and circular economy,’ climate minister Rob Jetten said in a statement. ‘They are also crucial in becoming less dependent on fossil fuels… at the same time, the government is aware of the concerns.’ 

The government, he said, would approve the use of sustainable bio-based raw materials where they make the greatest contribution to sustainability and where alternatives are limited. 

This includes bioconcrete, paint based on bio-based raw, green gas as a replacement for natural gas, or as a fuel for heavy road transport, aviation and maritime shipping. 

Pollution 

In July 2020, the Dutch government’s senior advisory body SER recommended that subsidies for the use of biomass in power stations be phased out quickly. 

However, the Dutch environmental assessment agency PBL says the use of biomass may be unavoidable if the Netherlands is to meet the EU targets. 

Without using biomass, the Netherlands will have to install wind turbines and solar panels more quickly than it is currently doing, and other difficult choices will have to be made, the PBL said. 

The use of biomass, such as wood chips, as a fuel generated an extra 19 megatons in carbon dioxide emissions in 2020, according to calculations by national statistics agency CBS. 

The Netherlands has also been under fire for importing wood chips from the US and the Baltic states to burn in power plants.

Green energy usage topped oil and gas for the first time last week

DutchNews, April 11, 2022 

Photo: DutchNews.nl

More than half the energy used in the Netherlands last week came from renewable sources for the first time, according to website Energieopwek.nl, an alliance between gas company Gasunie and national grid groups Tennet and Netbeheer Nederland. 

Almost 54% of the energy used last week was officially classed as green although 10% of the total was generated by biomass, which campaign groups do not always consider to be sustainable. Solar power accounted for 11% and wind energy 31%. 

Although the number of wind turbines and solar panels in the Netherlands has expanded considerably, last week’s windy, yet sunny, weather also had a major role in the record-breaking week. 

The use of biomass, or organic material, is controversial because the Netherlands imports large quantities of wood chips from abroad to burn in power stations.

Dutch to phase out subsidies for wood-fired power stations

DutchNews, October 19, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The government is planning to phase out the use of subsidies for power stations which are powered by biomass, or which generate heat for city heating schemes. 

Biomass is predominantly made up of wood chips and vegetable and fruit waste, but has come under fire as a source of fuel because of both high levels of carbon emissions and the over-use of wood, some of which is imported from the US. 

The agreement decision to phase out the use of subsidies was taken at Friday’s cabinet meeting because there are, ministers agree, enough greener alternatives for generating both electricity and heat. This would be on condition the alternatives are both achievable and affordable, economic affairs minister Eric Wiebes has told MPs in a briefing. 

The government will decide when subsidies should be phased out by the end of the year and has asked the environmental assessment agency PBL for its recommendations. 

The PBL had said in January that the use of biomass may be unavoidable if the Netherlands is to meet the EU targets on energy neutrality.  Without using biomass, the Netherlands will have to install wind turbines and solar panels more quickly than it is currently doing, and other difficult choices will have to be made, the PBL said. 

In total, 628 biomass installations in the Netherlands will get some €11.4bn in subsidies over the next few years, the AD reported earlier. 

Vattenfall 

In June, Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall said it had decided to postpone plans to build the Netherlands’ biggest biomass fired power station because of the ongoing discussion about how green biomass actually is. 

The plant was to be built in Diemen on the outskirts of Amsterdam, but both locals and the town council have major doubts about the project. 

The first step in finalising the decision involves the Dutch government giving clarity about its plans and the role of biomass in reaching climate change targets, the company said. 

The government’s advisory body SER has also recommended that subsidies for biomass power be phased out. 

Despite the subsidy decision, the government ‘remains convinced that the use of biomass is necessary in the transition to a climate neutral and circular economy by 2030 and 2050.’

Vattenvall puts plan to build NL’s biggest biomass power plant on ice

DutchNews, June 25, 2020

Photo:Depositphotos.com

Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall has decided to postpone plans to build the Netherlands’ biggest biomass fired power station because of the ongoing discussion about how green biomass actually is. 

The plant is to be built in Diemen on the outskirts of Amsterdam, but both locals and the town council have major doubts about the project. Biomass is predominantly made up of wood chips and vegetable and fruit waste. 

‘We see the public discussion around biomass increasing, and we are not deaf although we miss the nuance in the debate,’ Vattenfall Netherlands CEO Martijn Hagens said in a statement on Thursday. 

The first step in finalising the decision involves the Dutch government giving clarity about its plans and the role of biomass in reaching climate change targets, he said. ‘We expect to take a final decision after next summer.’ 

Support for the use of wood pellets to generate electricity is crumbling in The Hague and there is now a majority in parliament for ending subsidies for new biomass power plants. 

In particular, the way wood is being imported from abroad to burn in Dutch power stations has come in for criticism, both in the Netherlands and in the US. Some experts also claim wood is more polluting than coal, which the Dutch government is keen to phase out. 

The founder of the Urgenda climate movement, which won a landmark court case to force the government to cut pollution, has added her voice to the campaign against the use of biomass. 

‘To put it crudely, it is better to use gas and plant trees than use biomass and cut down trees,’ Marjan Minnesma told radio programme Dit is de Dag last week. Gas, she said, creates half the pollution that burning biomass does.

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Related Article:

Coalition party MPs call for an end to subsidies for biomass power stations

Biomass-fired electricity plants are on balance more polluting than coal: report

DutchNews, October 30, 2019 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Power stations which burn wood, food waste and other plant-based products emit more carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide than coal-fired power stations, according to an as-yet unpublished report drawn up for the infrastructure ministry. 

Generating the same amount of power in a biomass power station creates more pollutants than traditional coal because the process is less efficient and needs more fuel, the AD reported. And compared with gas, biomass emits twice as much nitrogen-based pollution.

The Netherlands has agreed to close its remaining coal-fired power stations by 2030 in an effort to meet the Paris agreements on climate change. The government has also pledged to end the production of gas from under the province of Groningen in 2020. 

The government is pumping billions of euros in subsidies into building biomass plants and wood which is seen by the EU as a climate-neutral source of energy because the carbon dioxide is absorbed by newly-planted trees. 

According to research by the AD, 628 biomass installations in the Netherlands will get some €11.4bn in subsidies in the coming years, of which €2.6bn is going to the RWE power plants in Geertruidenberg and Eemshaven. 

And RWE will import thousands of tonnes of wood pellets from the US next year to burn in Dutch biomass power plants in a move that has been strongly criticized by local campaign groups. 

Wasting money 

Earlier this month, the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) said that governments should stop wasting billions of euros on subsidising biomass power plants because it is unsustainable. 

EASAC also said burning wood does not produce very much energy and the net amount of CO2 which is released is greater than when burning coal or gas. 

A number of regional health boards (GGDs) have also written to economic affairs minister Erik Wiebes warning him to be aware of the impact climate change policies can have on health. 

Plans to build more biomass-fired power stations plus wind and solar farms will all have an effect on humans but the health ministry has not been involved in the talks, the boards say.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Dutch firm to recycle babies’ nappies to produce sustainable energy

DutchNews, September 18, 2018 

Waste processing plant ARN is building a separate facility for recycling babies’ nappies in an initiative supported by 8 local councils in the Nijmegen region. 

Babies use around 5,000 nappies until they are potty trained, with half a million nappy wearing children each year, sustainability advisor Milieu Centraal has calculated. More elderly are people are using incontinence pads as well. 

The process involves placing the nappies in a reactor which reaches temperature of up to 250 degrees at high pressure. ‘The nappies, including their contents of urine and faecal matter, become liquid and separate into different materials,’ process developer and patent holder Willem Elsinga told broadcaster NOS. 

‘The high temperature gets rid of the bacteria, traces of medication and viruses so all the products we make from the diapers will be safe. Otherwise we couldn’t sell them,’ the broadcaster quotes him as saying. 

The plant will turn the diapers into four products: green gas, plastics, fertiliser and biomass, which Elsinga says, can be used as an alternative for coal to fire coal plants. 

An earlier initiative to recycle diapers in Arnhem ten years ago failed. According to Elsinga that experiment came too early. ‘Everything has to be right: enough diapers, affordable technology and a market that is ready for the products at the end of the line.’ 

But now local councils are trying to reduce the amount of left-over waste after traditional glass, paper and plastics recycling. ‘We are producing between 150 and 200 kilos of residual waste per head of the population and local councils are keen on separate waste collection. This sort of thing fits in perfectly,’ Elsinga told NOS. 

If all goes according to plan, the new plant will come into operation in December.

Fed-up with a growing mountain of stinking disposable nappies, a Dutch firm has started building the country's first recycling plant to turn poo into profit https://t.co/B7ettpjAZQ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 18, 2018

Dutch MPs want a stop to billion euro biomass power station subsidies

DutchNews, December 8, 2016

Photo: Depositphotos.com

 A majority of MPs have called on the government to immediately stop paying billions of euros to energy companies to encourage them to use more environmentally-friendly biomass. 

They want economic affairs minister Henk Kamp to stop accepting any more requests for subsidies under rules to stimulate greener energy production. 

Earlier this week, the Financieele Dagblad said coal-fired electricity plants in the Netherlands are set to receive an estimated €2bn to €2.5bn in state subsidies to stimulate the use of biomass. 

MPs say it is unclear what the money is being spent on and point to the rising cost of biomass, compared with the drop in the cost of solar and wind energy. The origin of biomass, mainly from woods in Europe and North America, is also controversial. 

‘Trees are being chopped down in Canada, shipped by boat to the Netherlands, turned into wood chips and burned in power stations. This subsidy must stop,’ said Labour MP Jan Vos. 

The motion to end subsidies was not supported by the ruling VVD or the Christian Democrats. The CDA says it is concerned that targets for reducing CO2 emissions will not be met without the use of biomass to replace coal, a point which minister Kamp reiterated later to news agency ANP.

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Bavarian village pioneers clean energy revolution

Yahoo – AFP, Pauline Curtet, July 13, 2016

A row of wind turbines towers on the edge of the picturesque Bavarian village of
Wildpoldsried, population 2,600, where rolling meadows meet pine forests and Alpine
peaks line the horizon (AFP Photo/Christof Stache)

Wildpoldsried (Germany) (AFP) - A row of wind turbines towers on the edge of the picturesque Bavarian village of Wildpoldsried, population 2,600, where rolling meadows meet pine forests and Alpine peaks line the horizon.

"I love them," says Thomas Pfluger, a local resident, gazing at the windmills jutting out above the tree-tops. "To look at them, it makes me proud."

Pfluger's home village, with its old Catholic church and traditional beer garden, may be rural Bavaria at its most idyllic, but it's also at the cutting edge of Germany's green energy revolution.

Known as the "Renewables Village," it uses mainly wind, solar and biomass to meet all its electricity needs, and sells the rest back into the national grid at a profit.

Like many other communities in Germany, Wildpoldsried took advantage of generous subsidies and price guarantees that were rolled out in recent years to boost alternative energy.

To ensure local acceptance, Wildpoldsried relied on a simple idea: to involve the entire village and spread the benefits among its people.

Like 300 other locals, Pfluger, a 55-year-old IT developer, put his money into the wind farm, which offered guaranteed, above-market-rate returns for 20 years.

"I invested 100,000 euros ($110,000) in the wind turbines," he said. "Every year, I get about six percent of this amount as profit."

Village mayor Arno Zengerle, 59, stressed that "the participation of the citizens is the most important thing".

"They must profit from the renewable energy. If only private investors from the outside took part, it wouldn't work."

So far business has been good. Last year, the village produced five times more electricity than it consumed.

The goal for this year is to raise that ratio to seven-fold.

Pfluger's home village, with its old Catholic church and traditional beer garden, 

may be rural Bavaria at its most idyllic, but it's also at the cutting edge of Germany's 

green energy revolution (AFP Photo/Christof Stache)

'Logical choice'

Martin Hartmann, who lives in a beautiful old house with flower boxes in a cozy village street, opted for solar and has covered his garage roof with photovoltaic panels.

"It was a logical choice," said the 33-year-old printer.

"I was born here, I grew up with the idea that Wildpoldsried is the 'energy village', so I got interested in it very early," he said, his eyes fixed on real-time power stats on his smartphone.

Across the village, all public buildings are energy self-sufficient or produce a surplus, which earn the municipality several million euros a year.

"In other words, local taxes are not very high here," smiled Zengerle, of the conservative Christian Social Union party.

Zengerle often hosts foreign delegations of diplomats, experts and journalists -- about 100 visits a year -- to inform them about the clean energy model.

Some companies have been drawn to Wildpoldsried, including Sonnen GmbH, which makes batteries for storing excess wind and solar power, and which employs 140 people here.

Its founder and boss Christoph Ostermann, 45, said: "When I look out the window, I see solar panels on a lot of roofs, windmills that are spinning.

"Wildpoldsried has been (energy) independent for a long time, so for a company like ours, it's inspiring."

As Nuclear Plants Shut Down, Renewable Energy Could Boom

Golden age

The village benefited from the golden age of generous grants, guaranteed prices and priority access to the grid that were the key planks of the energy transition.

As Germany is phasing out nuclear energy and, more slowly, trying to leave behind carbon fuels, the scheme has raised the share of clean energy to about one third of national consumption.

By mid-century this is meant to rise to 80 percent. To get there, Germany has just shifted gear to a more market-based approach that is meant to put a lid on costs.

The flipside of the energy transition has been that the cost of subsidised green power has been passed onto households who pay for it through surcharges on their power bills.

In future, providers of green power will have to bid in competitive tenders, letting market forces shape the way ahead.

Environmental groups fear for the future of the energy transition, and a shift away from local cooperatives to big business.

"In our country, renewable energy is at risk of going backwards," said the mayor. "There is a consensus on the idea of getting out of nuclear energy, but not on its replacement."

Wildpoldsried, however, is on the safe side, having already locked itself into a green energy system and pushing on with more reforms, including switching its street lighting to highly-efficient LED bulbs.

Pfluger said he has never regretted the choice, despite some naysayers.

"Some people say that wind turbines are not beautiful," he shrugged. "I prefer to have wind turbines in my area rather than a nuclear power plant."

No coal will be burnt at Eemshaven power station

DutchNews, March 30, 2016

Photo: Depositphotos.com

A controversial power station in northern Groningen will not burn coal and instead will be taken ‘carbon-emissions free’, energy company Nuon said. 

Nuon has begun a research project with Delft University of Technology to investigate using the plant as a super battery to store energy generated by wind and solar power farms. 

Working with the university’s Professor Fokko Mulder, Nuon is looking at storing seasonal surpluses after particularly windy or sunny weather in the form of ammonia. This could then be turned into energy in the plant, without releasing more carbon dioxide. 

Alexander van Ofwegen, director of Nuon Heat, said: ‘There are three steps. First, you convert your electricity from wind into liquid ammonia. A chemical process is involved in this, which binds hydrogen to nitrogen to make ammonia. Then you save the ammonia in large tanks, which can be there as long as needed. So you always have a supply of fuel for those times when there is little wind or sun.’ 

The idea – which is yet to be tested – could be rolled out in around five years. It aims to address an under-reported issue with renewable energy sources: the sun doesn’t always shine, nor is it always windy, but we always want electricity. 

According to other reports, this means the end of potential coal burning at the plant, which became operational in 2013. It had been built to run on biomass, gas and also coal, but under pressure from environmental agencies, the coal unit was temporarily suspended in 2011. 

More wind power not biomass is key to Dutch energy needs: report

DutchNews, February 9, 2016

The Netherlands should build extra offshore wind farms if the government presses ahead with plans to close all coal-fired power stations, according to a new report for energy group Eneco and environmental group Natuur & Milieu. 

An additional offshore wind farm will be cheaper than the current plans to use more biomass, provide 6,000 jobs and will be better for the environment, the report states. The report was drawn up by research bureau CE Delft. 

Some 14% of the Netherlands’ energy needs are due to be derived from sustainable sources within the next four years. The current level is around 5%. 

A key plank of the government’s programme is increasing the use of biomass, such as wooden pallets and wood chips. However, the CE Delft report states this is an expensive alternative to wind and solar power. 

Coal closures

Some biomass is burned in coal-fired power stations which are more polluting than gas or biomass-focused electricity producers. Nor do the government’s current calculations take into account the fact that five of the country’s 11 coal-fired power stations are being shut down permanently. 

Last March parliament approved the construction of three large offshore wind farms 18 to 22 kilometres off the coast of Zeeland, Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. Many seaside resorts oppose the wind farms, saying they will spoil the view for holidaymakers and day-trippers. 

The energy agreement signed between ministers, industry and green groups in 2013 included major offshore wind farms.

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UK's first 'poo bus' goes into regular service

Bio-Bus fuelled by human and household waste, which first ran between Bristol and Bath, will operate 15-mile route four days a week

The Guardian, Press Association, Sunday 15 March 2015

Bristol’s Bio Bus runs on faeces and household waste. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Britain’s first “poo bus”, which runs on human and household waste, goes into regular service later this month.

Powered by biomethane gas, the Bio-Bus will use waste from more than 32,000 households along its 15-mile route.

Operated by First West of England, the bus will fill up at a site in Avonmouth, Bristol, where sewage and inedible food waste is turned into biomethane gas.

The bus, which can seat up to 40 people, was unveiled last autumn. First is showing the bus in Bristol on Tuesday before it starts operating four days a week from 25 March.

If the route is successful, First will consider introducing more “poo buses”. The managing director, James Freeman, said: “Since its original unveiling last year, the Bio-Bus has generated worldwide attention and so it’s our great privilege to bring it to the city.

“The Bio-Bus previously made an appearance running between Bath and Bristol airport at the end of last year, but it’s only actually been used once before in the centre of Bristol itself.

“The very fact that it’s running in the city should help to open up a serious debate about how buses are best fuelled, and what is good for the environment.”

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Dutch green groups reach deal on biomass for energy production

DutchNews.nl, March 13, 2015

Environmental organisations have reached agreement on the origins of biomass used in coal-fired power stations after two years of talks, the economic affairs ministry is quoted as saying on Friday. 

The agreement ends deadlock over the use of biomass – plant and vegetable matter – as an additional fuel in Dutch power stations. 

The use of biomass has gone down sharply because it is no longer subsidised pending the end of the dispute and this is threatening Dutch sustainable energy targets, website nu.nl reports. 

Organisations such as Greenpeace have been divided over the definition of sustainable biomass and its sources amid concerns not all plantations are fully sustainable. They say wood waste should only be used which comes from FSC certified forestry. 

Ed Nijpels, VVD stalwart and in charge of monitoring the energy agreement, says the Netherlands has the strictest biomass definition in the world. However, he has welcomed the breakthrough, nu.nl reportsed. 

Economic affairs minister Henk Kamp says the agreement will increase the share of sustainable energy used in the Netherlands from 4.5% to 5.7%. However, this is still a long way below the 2020 target of 14%.

Bill Gates drinks cup of water that used to be human poop (VIDEO)

RT.com, January 07, 2015

Screenshot from YouTube user thegatesnotes

Billionaire activist Bill Gates is backing an innovation in water filtration that turns human poop into drinking water. The OmniProcessor could bring clean water to millions of people and help solve the problem of debilitating diseases.

The OmniProcessor, designed and built by Seattle engineering firm Janicki Bioenergy, burns human waste to produce electricity and water. The processor powers itself through the use of a steam engine and does not emit an odor. The machine could handle 14 tons of waste from 100,000 people, producing up to 86,000 liters of drinkable water a day, and net 250 kw of electricity.

At a demonstration of the OmniProcessor shown on GatesNotes, a smiling Bill Gates drank water from the machine, which was previously untreated sewage.

“It’s water,” said Gates in the video.

He wrote on his blog: "The water tasted as good as any I’ve had out of a bottle. And having studied the engineering behind it, I would happily drink it every day. It’s that safe."

Gates said that 2.5 billion people – or 40 percent of the global population – have no access to safe sanitation, and many people use facilities that do not safely dispose of human waste. About 1.5 million children die every year from contaminated food and water, and half of all patients in hospitals are there because of problems with water and sanitation. It is extremely costly to try and create sewage infrastructure in cities and towns that already exist, so Gates thinks the low cost water treatment machine could be revolutionary.

Screenshot from YouTube user thegatesnotes

“If you can get thousands of these things out there, then you’ve ensured the people really will grow up in a healthy way,” Gates told Wired. “They’ll live much higher quality lives. You will save a lot of lives. And you’ll have local entrepreneurs who are maintaining these things.”

The OmniProcessor, which costs $1.5 million, will undergo a pilot launch in Dakar, Senegal later this year.

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"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

Central America’s New Coffee Buzz: Renewable Energy

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Katell Abiven, Dec 05, 2014

A worker stands by a biodigestor at La Hermandad farm in San Ramon, about
30 kilometers from Matagalpa, Nicaragua, on Nov. 19, 2014. (AFP Photo/Inti Ocon)

Matagalpa, Nicaragua. That morning cup of coffee gives many of us a needed boost, but Central American coffee farmers have found a new source of energy in their beans: turning agricultural wastewater into biogas.

An often-overlooked byproduct of the world’s favorite stimulant, the water used to process raw coffee beans is usually dumped back into the environment untreated.

In Central America, locals call it “honey water” because of its sweet taste and yellowish color.

Extremely polluting, it is high in methane gas — a leading contributor to global warming produced, in this case, by the fermentation of the coffee tree’s berries.

Across Nicaragua, the 1.3 million sacks of coffee produced annually generate pollution equivalent to about 20,000 cars.

Now a pilot project at 19 farms in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras is treating that water, separating out the methane and using it to fuel electric generators.

“Look how high that flame is,” said Sarahi Pastran as she cooked bananas in her kitchen at the La Hermandad coffee cooperative in San Ramon de Matagalpa in Nicaragua.

Her stove was connected to a pipe that ran across her lush yard and connected to a biogas generator fueled by coffee byproducts that used to pollute local rivers.

The project was launched in 2010 by Dutch sustainable farming group UTZ Certified, seeking to use less water in coffee growing and use it more creatively.

“It used to cause a lot of pollution … and it smelled,” said Francisco Blandon of the wastewater that his family farm used to produce.

“A lot of families live by the river. They bathe there, wash their laundry. It gave them rashes and intestinal parasites when they drank it,” said Blandon, 39, as two of his four children ran around barefoot on the dirt floor of their house about an hour north of San Ramon.

A man shows how to regulate with lime the
 pH of water used to wash the coffee beans at
 La Hermandad farm in San Ramon, about
30 kilometers from Matagalpa, Nicaragua,
on Nov. 19, 2014. (AFP Photo/Inti Ocon)

‘Hit the jackpot’

Blandon said he was skeptical when a team of extension workers first tried to sign him up for the project in 2010.

“But they were so insistent. … Less than a month later, it was up and running,” he said.

“Now the neighbors who visit say ‘Wow, you hit the jackpot!’” said his wife, Fatima Valenzuela Altamiro, 35.

She used to cook with wood that filled her kitchen with noxious smoke. Her husband had to cut down about five trees every season.

The first time biogas came out of the tube in her kitchen, “it was amazing,” she said.

“What a surprise when that flame appeared!”

The apparatus to extract the gas costs several thousand dollars. It was 75 percent funded by the Dutch government, 25 percent by local cooperatives.

“We’ve had very good results,” said Vera Espindola Rafael, Latin America coordinator for UTZ Certified, which also runs a labeling program to guarantee that coffee is produced with sustainable practices and fair labor conditions.

“We’ve achieved all the goals we set: producing biogas, reducing pollution and using less water.”

Water use at the La Hermandad farm has fallen by more than 80 percent, said technical manager Marvin Mairena.

Different farms need different mechanisms to extract methane gas, depending on their size.

Some produce biogas only during the harvest season, others produce it year-round by replacing coffee with animal waste.

UTZ has started rolling out the project in Colombia, Peru and Brazil. It is looking for funds to do the same in Kenya and Vietnam.

Agence France-Presse

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