Anybody seen this NBC newscast about new energy technology?

Question

This company in California called Full Circle Energy, Inc. has the technology to turn ANY type waste into energy without emitting carbon dioxide or other pollutants. The energy generated from this technology comes in the form of electricity, ethanol, and fuel for hydrogen vehicles. I just learned that many places in the world, especially the Middle East, derive their drinkable water from a method called desalinization. I guess this has been going on for a while, but apparently the energy cost is astronomic. This new technology will allow for desalinization to be available to countries around the globe.

Dr. Edbertho Leal-Quiros is the Chief Scientist. He is a world renowned plasma physicist. He has created technology that is three times more efficient than any of today's energy methods and it will be available for a fraction of the current cost of energy. Full Cirlce Energy, Inc. has teamed up with some industrial goliaths, such as Siemens Westinghouse, to complete projects around the world.

A friend of mine sent me a link to an NBC newscast that said that this technology will be up and running in no more than 18 months. According to NBC this technology is only partially new. We have been using coal gasification to generate energy for a long time, but with Full Circle Energy, Inc. we will be able to do it more efficiently and without ANY pollution. If this is all true then the problem of global warming will be solved and all of the world’s energy needs will be met.

I’m all for envrionmentally friendly means of generating energy but I don’t know much about it. I would love to hear what some pro-green advocates think about this company/technology. Are there any environmental advocate groups who support this company?

NBC newscast
http://interamericasinc.com/FullCircleEnergy.html

Full Circle Energy, Inc. homepage
http://fullcircleenergy.net/

Grizzbr1, I am a little confused with your comment. First of all reducing and reusing is without a doubt the best way to protect the environment. I completely agree with you on that. However, if we stopped producing materials that are harmful to the earth today we would still have trillions upon trillions of tons of non-biodegradable waste polluting the earth's soil. So, as far as I can tell we do need something (whether it be this technology or another) to eliminate waste. To date there are cities that don't have enough room in their landfills for all of the waste. So, what you say is a "really bad idea" is, in my opinion, a really good idea. You say that it is harmful to the environment. According to the newscast this technology has been completely updated, yet you say that it has been around for a long time. How can destroying toxic waste be bad for the environment? Maybe I am completely wrong, but I was wondering if you could say why this technology is bad?

Answer 1

That is a very energy intesive way to break down garbage into raw materials to burn. In a green economy this is a stupid idea right up there with let's dump iron into the ocean to grow algae that eats CO2. It takes much less energy to reduce and reuse than to recycle, and definitely less than totally destroying an object physically and chemically in order to convert it to fossil fuel.

REALLY BAD IDEA!

Though the waste treatment end of it is in wide use already, the technology they want to add to it is harmful to the environment.

The idea has been around for a long time, but it never was a good idea.

P.S. There are passive solar desalination methods. Take a look at the salt ponds in South San Francisco Bay ... they were used to separate salt from water to ... collect the salt.

Answer 2

i'm marking this question to return to this, but I read about plasma technology back in the mid 1980s and it was not cost effective.

as for desalination, that is world war 2 technology if I recall, and the other things arab countries were doing was sending super tankers to the antartic and harvesting ice and bringing it back as water, One interesting attempt was to wrap it in plastic and drag it back, I don't know how that turned out or if it was tried.

Answer 3

There are lots of interesting ideas like that but they can't compete with cheap oil and simple, established technologies. That will change as oil prices rise due to China importing more and more oil and driving up world prices.