The latest innovation in waste disposal is not in converting it into fuel or electricity, but in how the waste is contained and transported. Currently, steel containers of trash are delivered to landfills via gas guzzling big rigs where sitting waste causes problems such as groundwater pollution. TransLoad America hopes to remedy these problems with a German shrink-wrapping technology.

The technology "compresses tons of garbage into dense cylindrical bales and seals them hermetically in several layers of plastic film," after which TransLoad plans to transport them to landfills through the use of rail lines. This system provides benefits to the environment and reduces cost. Groundwater pollution is prevented by the use of "impermeable plastic" wrap and shipping by rail cuts down on fuel use and emissions. Only 22 tons of waste can be transported through traditional trucks, while a boxcar of bales can hold 100 tons. TransLoad already custom designed and ordered 1,200 rail cars to make the process even more efficient.

With a launch date of early 2008, TransLoad hopes to change the way trash is handled. Aiming even higher, they hope to use future technology to change its landfills into producers of "biofuels, electricity, [and] heat" with its bales as the source.

Via: Wired

The people at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have been working on renewable and sustainable energy since 1977, when they first began researching ways to harness solar energy. They're convinced that cellulosic biomass ethanol is the only sustainable source of liquid transportation fuel we can mass produce without negatively impacting our food or fiber supplies. We at EcoGeek happen to agree with them. To this end, researchers at NREL in Golden, Colorado are using computer models to help predict the function of cellobiohydrolase and other enzymes in chemical reactions which turn biomass into sugar, which can then be fermented into ethanol. Understanding these complex and sometimes unpredictable reactions may hold the key to fulfilling the NREL's goal of supplanting 30% of our gasoline consumption in the US with ethanol on a cost-competitive basis by 2030.

Part of the research wing of the US Department of Energy - which underwent a budget cut of 35% in 2006 - NREL budget constraints led to the decision to lay off 32 workers last year. Included in the layoffs were eight full-time researchers working on biomass and hydrogen energy projects. A bipartisan group of Colorado congressmen has been working fervently to restore the funding to the projects, and they came up big: in recognition of NREL's vision, research and hard work in biomass and other areas of renewable research, an extra $107 million has been added to its 2007 budget, a 50% increase over last year's $209.6 million. The money will go towards facilities, equipment, and an expansion of its Integrated Biorefinery Research Facility, in addition to operational expansions.

It looks like the politicians in Washington are learning to cooperate again, at least on important issues like renewable energy. After several divisive years of controversy and heated political discourse, it's good to know that some politicians are fighting global warming by getting rid of all that hot air.

via LongmontFYI