Did you ever think of this alternative energy source? I bet you didn't. As you see in the picture above it is onions, yes onions! A farmer find out that you can actually turn onion juice into fuel. The upfront cost of this process is killer to a farm actually. It is a total of around 9.5 million dollars for this process. On the bright side of this process is though it saves so much money on a farms annual electric bill.
Gills Onions (an onion farming company) saved a total of $700,000. These savings came from using the fuel from the onions to power refrigerators and for their lighting. The company then saved another $400,000 on their disposal costs. With all of these savings in hand, how do they even make the fuel from the onions? I'll tell you. They use an anaerobic digester, which converts the treated onion waste into bio gas and then finally it is turned into methane. After you have the methane is it put into a 600-kilowatt fuel cell to finally produce electricity.
I cannot believe this is even real. Onions for electricity? Who would have thought of that. I think a comparison to a real life situation for me would be turning off the faucet while I am brushing my teeth. I probably waste a lot of money right there in those seconds.
Questions:
1. Did you ever think this could happen?
2. Do you think that when more people read about this it will be used throughout the world?
3. Do you think you may ever use this?
I have to say that this surprised me a little bit. I knew that there were many different ideas for fuel being made, for example corn, but I didn't know about onions. The entire process is very interesting, and I'm also interested in how it saves money on other things for the company. This is definitely a great discovery, and not only for people planning on using the onions as energy. This could inspire people to find new energy sources, which is crucial. With this discovery I'm sure that others will be made in the near future, so that we can change non-renewable resources into renewable ones (like coal).
ReplyDeleteI can imagine people using this energy source, but I don't see many in the near future. If it were more cost-effective I could see the popularity rise some, but the likelihood of that happening soon is low. I don't think that I will personally ever use this, but I can picture myself using something more efficient and cost-effective in the future.
I totally saw this coming! Nah, just kidding, this is quite bazarre. Although alternate energy sources are very helpful to your money and the environment in the long run, they are extremely expensive and aren't always reliable. For example, solar powers can be damaged by storms, or blocked by snow or clouds. Onions being used for fuel is an interesting discovery, but it won't be a very popular method at all. We shouldn't be looking for silly alternate energy sources like onions. We should be enhancing our main alternate energy sources like wind power, solar energy, and hydroelectricity. These are the most important things we should be spending our time on, because once we get those sources right, we can look to find the silly ones like onions.
ReplyDelete1. I don't think anyone saw this coming, but then again, no one knows about it.
2. No, because I don't think that anyone would want to waste their money on a newly discovered energy source.
3. No, because it will soon be forgotten because of the rising popularity of the natural energy sources (wind, sun, water, etc.).
I don’t think any kid our age (even someone as crazy as Ben) could have surmised this but it doesn’t seem like a concept that too different from using fuel from corn or other plants.
ReplyDeleteNow, I would loved to be proved wrong, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this will not be anywhere near a considerable method to power farms. I don’t mean to be critical but it seems like turning salt water into fresh water: a lot of expensive machinery for a method that won’t be a decent contributor to alternative energy. I also think this falls into the category of cool and bizarre but won’t help a bit. Like Jake: “We shouldn't be looking for silly alternate energy sources like onions.” Instead we should be embracing our methods that are starting to make a difference (like solar, wind, water, and geothermal) and try to grow and expand off of that. You know make them even more effective and costly efficient.
In addition I hope those 700,000 and 400,000 dollars saved are annually or else that system is a recipe for bankruptcy. But the biggest problem I have is that it costs $9,500,000!!!! Didn’t we just get finished talking about how hard farming is and how a lot of farmers can barely feed themselves?? Except for some really being profitable farms it doesn’t seem like a lot of farmers will be able to afford this system. I get that it could be a weird bragging right thing like “My farm’s powered by unions.” But you still have 7 million dollars to pay off don’t you?’ Also it seems like those farms would smell really bad 24/7
1. I never considered onions for energy so no I didn’t think it could happen
2. Like I said it doesn’t seem like a feasible energy method so I can’t imagine this inspiring anyone
3. I can’t imagine using this in the future but you never know because it’s the unpredictable future.
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ReplyDeleteThis is definatley a surprising article. 1) I never really thought anything like this could be possible. However, i never wouldvge thought of any of the other alternative energy cources so thats not saying much. 2) It will probably never be used throughout the workld though because it sounds like its really only helpful on farms, or atleast thats the impression I got from the article. it ounds like its too expensive for a regular homeowner to buy the materials needed to do this. 3) i will probably never use this. It just doesnt seem efficient enough to me. I must say this article certainly makes me wonder what other foods can be used to make energy. Can all food be used as fuels? what makes onions a source of fuel? What other foods have what onions have? While onions seem to not be an efficent energy source at this point in time, I suppose it is possible that one day it will be. You never know...
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