“Fuel Up with Banana Peels,” is an article that contains a lot of wasteful product with great information. Considering our place in time and the limit of resources we have now, this article is not promoting such a bad idea. Now, it is not saying to throw banana peels into your gas tank. The idea that researchers have shown in a single step is that they can take pulverized coal or any other product that contains carbon and directly transform the fuels chemical energy into electricity by electrochemically oxidizing the carbon. The byproduct of this is carbon dioxide. Not to worry, it is emitted in such a pure form that it is easy to contain. There are many other products that contain carbon, including: banana peels, human waste, coal, coffee grounds and much more. Think of all the stuff that could produce energy for the world. There is so much human waste we could light up the whole world for years!! Obviously products for this new energy option are also very easy to find. We would finally have a place for all of the carbon based trash to go. There would not be a problem with burning trash or city dumps. Many problems would be solved. This new technology can help reduce the dependence on foreign oil as well. There are of course problems with this idea. The process is only seventy percent effective and it is very costly. Carbon fuel cells cost a lot. Plus, if it is so expensive it will be hard to find people who are going to want to switch to the new technology if the traditional energy is still working just fine. The only way that they will switch is if we finally run out of resources and they have too. Like stated in the article, it might take a decade for a carbon fuel system to pay for itself, which is probably longer that most users are willing to wait.
I believe that this technology like any technology is a great idea. The scientists are trying to find alternate ways to fuel the world are doing a great job. People are going to have to start realizing that we are running out of resources. Yes, there are down sides to the fact that it is expensive and I do not want to pay for it myself. And probably won’t have too. The financially stable will be the ones to try it out and see for them selves. Not the Imaginary goods seller. The poor will not be able to afford the new inventions, technologies and alternate ways of living. So what about them? What do they do? How do they survive? As researchers continue to research and explore new ways to keep this world surviving I am confident they will figure out something, even if it means using our own human waste to fuel our cars and light up our houses.
http://www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2782,69713,00.html?tw=rss.PLANET