The solution to high oil prices and energy crisis lies in… Tifton?
May 28, 2008 at 1:21 pm by Thomas Wheatley in News
Sounds strange, but bear with me.
J.C. Bell, an agricultural researcher who lives in Tifton, recently made Internet headlines as the mysterious man who holds the answers to the nation’s energy problems. He didn’t shoot a hole in the ground and up came a’bubblin’ crude. He stood downwind from a gassy cow and smelled opportunity.
“Let me tell you, cows have a great ability to make gas,” Bell says during a phone interview.
The key to the cow’s talent, he says, is a bacteria living in its body that produces hydrocarbon. When it interacts with waste, it produces gas. After four years of under-the-radar research, Bell says he’s identified the bacteria and now plans to genetically modify and produce it on a mass scale, and in turn use it to convert waste into fuel. Bell’s operation is building several pilot plants and production facilities capable of pumping our 500-1,000 barrels per day from each.
He says the result, which he hopes to see by October next year, wouldn’t require a change in the energy infrastructure. Unlike electric cars, which would necessitate a sweeping retrofit of charging stations and a reexamination of the power grid, Bell claims his idea could be pumped directly into your gas tank. It wouldn’t replace our need for fossil fuels, he says, but it would ease our dependence on them.
He claims the result would be cheap and could be tinkered to replicate any form of fuel upon which we’re dependent — be it gasoline, octane, hectane, diesel, jet fuel and so on. He says he’s already presented the idea to the curious departments of Agriculture and Energy. Hell, even the Pentagon’s interested. Double hell, he’s been approached by the three biggest oil companies in the country — not to buy him out, but to work with him, he says. Bell won’t allow his photo to be taken since his concept caught people’s attention, he says — he wisely wishes to stay below the radar.
Bell’s discovery is one of many new alternatives garnering attention at a time when Americans are feeling squeezed by high energy prices which show no signs of dropping any time soon. Whether it’s snake oil or a Godsend remains to be seen; environmental experts contacted by CL say Bell’s claims remain an oddity. That doesn’t mean his findings are discredited, mind you — they’re just so out-of-this-world and innovative that no one has tried them yet.
What would this mean for Atlanta? It’d be a boon for Bell, that’s for sure. The government would most likely tax it in order to continue to generate revenue to pay for roads and bridges, as they do now with motor fuel. But he said it could be sold for 50 cents.
But cheap fuel could result in less interest in public transit — which would be disastrous for a surging city like Atlanta. Even if we had cars that ran on oxygen, we’d still have congestion. And roads are getting mighty expensive to build — thanks to the costs of materials and rights-of-way. If you want to ease congestion, you still have to come up with a multi-faceted approach. And as more and more people move in town, we’re jamming more and more cars in tighter and tighter spaces.
Bring on the gas from the cow, but bring on the rails as well.
(Photo courtesy of Purdue University)
Send to a friend:
Leave a Reply