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I am an engineer working on a project to upgrade a combined cycle power plant in California.  The plant burns the methane produced from sewage digesters, in a sewage treatment plant.  This is an easy way to generate green energy.  The technology for combined cycle power plants is well developed.  The gas turbine is essentially a jet engine.  The heat generated from the jet engine is used to heat up steam to generate more energy in a standard steam turbine.  This technology is very well developed on both large and small scale.

Converting methane to power and CO2 is a good bet, because methane is a horrible green house gas, much worse than CO2.  By converting it we generate power with something that was waste in the past.  

Sewage treatment plants and landfills can be used to generate electricity that otherwise would be burnt in flares, or released to the atmosphere.  

We should increase the electric power we produce with the green technologies we currently have fully developed instead of waiting for the magic bullet technology to solve our greenhouse gas problem.   

posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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