host posted on May 04, 2009 09:36
By Adam Smith
The North Jefferson News
If green technology is the wave of the future, the City of Fultondale wants to help lead the charge.
On Wednesday, the city will host a demonstration on how gas from burned wood chips, or biomass, can be converted to power. A team from Auburn University will set up a gasification unit in the parking lot of Target in the Colonial Promenade shopping center.
Darryl Aldrich, of Fultondale’s inspections department, said he’s excited to see the outcome of the demonstration. Since 2007, he has worked with city leaders and others from Auburn, Alabama Power and state agencies to find a way to use limbs, grass and other biomass materials for energy purposes.
Last year, the city received a $150,000 grant from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs to aid gasification research and development. Fultondale has also partnered with the Alabama Green Initiative, created to assist municipalities in applying for and receiving green-only funds from President Barack Obama’s stimulus package.
“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for the northern part of the county and state to fully use their biomass for renewable energy sources,” Aldrich said. “We’re taking this material to landfills and just covering it up, but all of this biomass has value. A lot of people don’t know this technology is available or that it’s here.”
While burning the materials can create fuels like biodiesel, next week’s demonstration will focus on electricity. In addition to setting up the gasification unit, the Auburn team will also attempt to provide power to a portable housing unit.
Aldrich said the process of extracting the methane gas from the biomass is not an easy one and requires a slow-burn method. Students and staff from Auburn will conduct the energy experiments while collecting data and analyzing results.
The demonstrations will take place May 6-7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The public is invited to stop by and watch the energy conversion process take place.
School tours of the demonstration will be held on May 7. Aldrich said green energy may provide jobs for today’s elementary and high school students.
“That’s going to be their future as far as technology and engineering goes,” he said. “Who knows what our kids are going to be paying for energy when they get older.”