<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">Dear Dave,<BR>
I fully agree. In a large company which is using it's own resources to develop technology, they can budget for the hindsight type of process. I have never seen a budget for this type of work ever provided and should be. Many of the contracts with DOE which funds these projects as I understand are not available and although publically funded, should be available for review for this determination. Also, a lot of the information provided is not detailed technical information, but just accounting which of course defeats DOE's role in technical support of development. <BR>
There is also a "not my child" "fatherless" "orphan" (to be polite) syndrome in the personnel involved try to distance themselves from the failure as it isn't a good reference. When asked about their participation, they will respond with oblique answers like "I only worked on a small part of it which wasn't core to it's blah blah blah" running as fast as they can away from it. <BR>
I have recommended to the DOE that they compile a list of projects they have funded and the reasons they didn't meet goals. Some actually did technically, but not economically and were shut down after the DOE money ran out. <BR>
<BR>
Sincerely,<BR>
Leland T. "Tom" Taylor <BR>
President<BR>
Thermogenics Inc. <BR>
In a message dated 1/25/12 5:11:41 PM, dccoote@mira.net writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE CITE STYLE="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE"></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">Some years ago I worked for a large US engineering company that built<BR>
all sorts of complicated systems. One of the things they did very well<BR>
was "lessons learnt". At the end of a project the project engineers were<BR>
given time to put together documents describing what worked, what<BR>
didn't, what tools had been built for the project, new techniques<BR>
developed etc This information was stored in a central repository and<BR>
made available for future projects. This stuff was an incredibly<BR>
valuable resource as it saved engineering project managers large amounts<BR>
of time and money.<BR>
<BR>
There have been a number of spectacular failures in the area of<BR>
innovative biomass energy systems. I've found various bits and pieces on<BR>
the WWW including this list that give some insight into what has gone<BR>
wrong. But it's not clear that the lessons from the failed systems are<BR>
being used to inform new plant development.<BR>
<BR>
Does anyone know of an academic or authoritative government report that<BR>
collates and presents information and analysis on what hasn't worked at<BR>
places like Range Fuels? This would be a very useful aid for investors<BR>
or governments asked to support innovative biomass energy projects. A<BR>
reasonable question for a proponent of a new system would be how their<BR>
system avoids the problems experienced by previous plants<BR>
<BR>
Cheers<BR>
<BR>
David<BR>
<BR>
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