[Stoves] FW: Announcement of the IIEA-Project Gaia Appropriate Scale Alcohol Fuel Production Seminar -- Global Solution for Cooking, etc.

Sun Nov 7 12:25:21 CST 2010

Lloyd,

 Thanks for considering us but we are not really into a mass production activity. Rather we are focussing on production by the masses in the form of hundreds of small entrepreneur / producer teams catering to their own local markets. 

It could be that you are seeing this as a way to go for larger small business teams catering to the more urban areas too but I'm not convinced of the real demand for it, given the plethora of cheap natural gas and petroleum there, unless the government has decided to put its foot down ...

But here are some numbers to banter around for comparisons sake: 
The 12 to 15 (150 gram, hollow core, wet process biomass briquettes made by any of the 20 odd hand presses out in circulation now, --even with a good 5 to 8 kw hammer mill to speed up material preparation--- will  cost the family of say five persons, about 15% of the briquette producer's daily wage. 

Just out of curiosity, how does that compute in comparison to local solid fuel costs , if indeed such is the predominant fuel type in use ? 

Richard Stanley

On Nov 7, 2010, at 12:49 AM, Lloyd Helferty wrote:

> Harry,
> 
>   Might I recommend someone who is a briquetting expert? (although not a biochar expert)
> (It's not easy to find both, although I'm quite open to learning to become an expert in both... -- right now I know a lot more from the biochar side than from the briquetting side, but I do wish to support both.)
> 
>  Roger Samson from REAP Canada knows all about briquetting and cubing, including (probably) all the companies.
>  He is also a "stove" expert.
>  http://www.reap-canada.com/
> 
> Another option  might be to contact Richard Stanley, the Director of the "Legacy Foundation" in Ashland, OR
> www.legacyfound.org
> They have developed a micro-enterprise-based briquetting technology which converts things like non-productive agricultural residues into "economic and environmentally sound heating and cooking fuel for families and communities in developing countries"... and can even be used in the USA -- for things like yard wastes and junk mail.
> 
> P.S. I have a possible alternate project for you, if you are interested. I know someone in Mexico who would really like to start a "drylands feedstock" ethanol industry in Mexico using Agave** as the feedstock.
>   We would like to announce that "a major project will be going ahead" ... He wants to make the announcement sometime before COP16 in Cancun.
> He claims he can produce >500 tonnes of biomass per hectare (after year 3), equivalent to 50+ tonnes of dry-bone biomass with 75% cellulose content. Each hectare could produce 25+ tonnes of biochar AFTER  yielding up to 10,000 gallons of ethanol per hectare per year (5,000 gallons of distilled ethanol and 5,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol).
> 
> ** One hectare of agave produces 3X more sugars than sugarcane, 4X more cellulose than the fastest growing eucalyptus and 5X more biomass than the GMO poplar tree designed in the USA for cellulosic biofuels production.
> 
> Note:  Every year ~3 million tonnes of agave leaves are left in the field to rot (the tequila industry in Mexico doesn't use the leaves for tequila production, although they have a higher sugar content than sugarcane).  Around 10% of the total plant weight is formed of sugars. (~20-30% of agave stem's weight is sugars (fructans), which is why they use it to make Tequila and many other liquors. Of course, there is no reason why it can not also be used to produce liquid biofuels - and the leftover "bagasse" could be used to make Biochar.)
> 
> Note some advantages of Agave:
>     • Thrives on dry land/ "marginal land". Most efficient use of soil, water* and light.
>             * thrives with only 190mm of rain per year
>     • Massive production. Year-around harvesting.
>     • Very high yields with very low or no inputs
>     • Very high quality biomass and sugars
>     • Very low cost of production. Not a commodity, so prices are not volatile
>     • Very versatile: biofuels, bioproducts, chemicals
>     • World-wide geographical distribution***
> 
> *** By running a pilot project in Mexico and learning how this industry might work, in time what it learned in Mexico could probably eventually be translated to the rest of the "Drylands" around the world.
> Note also that Drylands cover about 40% of the Earth's surface today (>60 million square Km is "dryland", with >25 million square Km of "semiarid" land; equivalent to ~20% of US territory and >75% of Mexico) and this will likely expand as the Global Climate changes (whether this change is natural or not). These drylands already support over 2 billion people.
> 
>   Lloyd Helferty, Engineering Technologist
>   Principal, Biochar Consulting (Canada)
>   www.biochar-consulting.ca
>   603-48 Suncrest Blvd, Thornhill, ON, Canada
>   905-707-8754; 647-886-8754 (cell)
>      Skype: lloyd.helferty
>   Steering Committee member, Canadian Biochar Initiative
>   President, Co-founder & CBI Liaison, Biochar-Ontario
>     Advisory Committee Member, IBI
>   http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1404717
>   http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42237506675
>   http://groups.google.com/group/biochar-ontario
>   http://www.meetup.com/biocharontario/
>   http://grassrootsintelligence.blogspot.com
>    www.biochar.ca
> 
> Biochar Offsets Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2446475
> 
> On 11/2/2010 1:39 PM, Erin Rasmussen wrote:
>> 
>> The International Institute for Ecological Agriculture (IIEA) and Project
>> Gaia
>> invite you to attend the
>> 
>> The Appropriate-scale Alcohol Fuel Production Seminar:
>> Global Solutions for Cooking, Refrigeration, Electricity and Transport
>> 
>> Monday, November 29 - Thursday, December 2, 2010
>> Embassy Suites, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
>> 
>> (See the announcement:
>> http://www.bioenergylists.org/content/appropriate-scale-alcohol-fuel )
>> 
>> The International Institute for Ecological Agriculture (IIEA) and Project
>> Gaia cordially invite you to attend a seminar focused on the global
>> production and use of appropriate-scale alcohol fuel. Alcohol fuels offer an
>> abundant supply of energy for cooking, heating, refrigeration, electricity
>> and transportation needs.
>> 
>> Worldwide, over three billion people lack access to modern forms of energy
>> and cook with traditional stoves that burn polluting fuels. Illnesses
>> resulting from indoor air pollution claim almost 2 million lives worldwide
>> each year. In many parts of the world pneumonia in infants and small
>> children is the primary cause of death, and evidence links kitchen smoke to
>> chronic bronchitis in women, low birth-weight in children, active TB, and
>> many other ailments. Clean-burning stoves and alcohol fuels can dramatically
>> change these statistics.
>> 
>> During the 3½ day educational seminar, participants will gain an in-depth
>> understanding of ways to:
>> 
>>     * Provide pollution-free energy for safe indoor cooking and other uses
>>     * Stabilize domestic fuel production costs to less than 30 cents/liter
>> (USD)
>>     * Curb deforestation, black carbon emissions and global warming—while
>> earning carbon credits
>>     * Integrate domestic food and energy production
>>     * Identify high-value, high-yield crops for all climates to produce
>> sustainable energy and increase soil fertility
>>     * Create and encourage permanent local jobs
>>     * Learn about micro distillery manufacturing investment and distribution
>> opportunities and how to couple stoves with distilleries
>> 
>> Registration for this unique program is limited and “invitation only”. The
>> seminar is ideally suited to the information needs of government and NGO
>> officials, energy, agriculture, public health, economic and environmental
>> policy makers, secondary and university educators, labor leaders, motor
>> fleet and facility supervisors, climate policy experts, infrastructure
>> investment bankers, waste water treatment managers and domestic food
>> production professionals.
>> 
>> Seminar Registration is $700.00 USD per participant
>> To book your room reservation, please use (
>> http://embassysuites.hilton.com/en/es/groups/personalized/A/ATLLXES-IEG-2010
>> 1128/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG ) or call 404-261-7733
>> Group Name: The Intl’ Institute for Ecological Agriculture - Group Code: IEG
>> 
>> For program details, venue logistics or to register, please contact:
>> Tom Harvey/ IIEA: +01 (530) 257-3533 at thcommunications at gmail.com Brady
>> Luceno/ Project Gaia: +1 (717) 334-5594 at bluceno at projectgaia.com
>> Find IIEA at www.permaculture.com and Project Gaia at www.projectgaia.com
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Harry Stokes [mailto:hstokesoffice at gmail.com]
>> Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 6:31 PM
>> To: 'Tom Miles'
>> Cc: Joe Obueh (PG); 'Brady Luceno'; 'Gulce Askin'
>> Subject: Announcement of the IIEA-Project Gaia Appropriate Scale Alcohol
>> Fuel Production Seminar -- Global Solution for Cooking, etc.
>> 
>> Dear Tom,
>> 
>> Would you kindly put the attached announcement of the Atlanta seminar on the
>> Bioenergy Listserv?  That would be terrific if you would.
>> 
>> The announcement is the first attachment.  The second attachment is provided
>> to show you what types of topics will be covered by David Blume of IIEA.
>> 
>> David is author of the best-selling book "Alcohol Can Be a Gas" which is a
>> great read, and also a technical storehouse of knowledge.  Not only is the
>> book really fun to read, it is also the most valuable resource on small
>> scale distillation--and maybe distillation science in general--that I have
>> ever encountered.  It is a great achievement.
>> 
>> If you know of anywhere else we should announce this, please let us know.
>> 
>> David Blume and a core team of developers are raising capital for a business
>> that will essentially mass produce small, efficient, simple but highly
>> engineered micro distilleries.  These distilleries will be produced for
>> maybe half the cost or less of a large distillery, on a unit cost basis, and
>> the economics of ethanol production from these plants, especially
>> considering the value of co-products, will be enormously good.
>> 
>> We hope to put these micro distilleries to use in Africa and Haiti.  We are
>> being inundated with interest in the idea.  A number of West Africans are
>> already signed up for the Atlanta seminar.  We would like to draw in some
>> people from Central America as well.
>> 
>> David and his team are raising investment capital for the plant, and are
>> putting out a private placement offer for purchase of shares in the
>> business.  They have a detailed prospectus that could go out to seriously
>> interested investors.
>> 
>> Would you be interested?  Or do you know others who might be?  If you are or
>> do, I will send you a one-page prospectus introduction and information on
>> how to contact Blume Distillation LLC. This is not for the Listserv, but
>> just for you and people you would pass it on to one-on-one.
>> 
>> Best wishes,
>> 
>> Harry
>> 
>> P.S. We are looking for a briquetting and biochar expert for the Haiti
>> project, and I was in touch with Lloyd Helferty, some time back.  This would
>> have to be a group or business that would be able to come in and piggyback
>> on what we are doing, without needing to draw resources from us--e.g. a team
>> member that could pull their own weight.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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