Gasification for Electricity and Heat: Renaissance Energy
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Go to Project: Gasification for Electricity and Heat: Renaissance Energy.
The syngas generator designed for rural communities and small farms provides sustainable and renewable heat and electricity from farm biomass.
Sobre ti
Sobre ti
Nombre
Shawn
Apellido
Galvin
URL en Twitter
URL en Facebook
Sobre tu organización
Nombre de la organización
Renaissance Energy
Sitio web de la organización
País de la organización
Canadá, BC, Saltspring Island
Country where this solution is creating social impact
Canadá, BC, Saltspring Island
Region in BC where your solution creates social impact
Vancouver Island.
Tu organización es
Empresa
¿Cuánto tiempo ha estado operando la organización?
Menos de un año
Innovación
Selecciona la fase que describa mejor el momento en el que se encuentra tu emprendimiento
Idea (estás listo para lanzarla)
¿Cuánto tiempo se lleva poniendo en práctica tu iniciativa?
Sigue en fase conceptual, pero se espera que se lance pronto.
The Need: Describe the need for your solution and the size and characteristics of the community(ies) your solution is engaging
The need for our solution comes from our basic requirements as humans for food, water, heat and energy. As a society, the way villages, towns and cities access and supply energy have become unsustainable and harmful to our planet. There is a global need to both reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and dependency on fossil fuels and take action for responsible disposal of waste products generated by producing food and electricity.
Our solution engages rural/remote communities and small farms with access to wood and biomass who are using costly grid electricity or petroleum fuels to meet food, heat, and electrical requirements. Particularly rural communities running diesel generators and small farms heating greenhouses with natural gas, heating oil, or grid electricity.
La solución: ¿Cuál es tu solución? Sé específico.
The syngas generator will convert wood or agricultural biomass into syngas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen). The syngas is cooled, producing large volumes of hot water for domestic heating and greenhouse operation. The cleaned and cooled syngas can then be fed to a natural gas fueled generator and/or to a natural gas fired boiler depending on requirements of the farm or community. The system can be modulated to balance farm needs towards hot water or electricity, with the feedstock generated from wood or agriculture waste. A useful and saleable bi-product of syngas production is biochar, a valuable carbon rich fertilizer that amends soil on a long term basis thus reducing fertilizer needs by enhancing soil structure and nutrient absorption. This process returns the nutrient load of the farms biomass into productive soils capable of producing food. The syngas generator can also be mounted on mobile equipment to fuel an engine fitted with a natural gas carburetor.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include the primary activities involved in your solution.
Our solution makes a difference by giving remote, and Native comunities that are currently using diesel generators to produce power a lower cost, enviromentaly friendly way to produce power. It will also give comunities, residences, and farms a way to productively use forestry, and agricultural waste that would otherwise be burned without gain.
The Syngas generator consists of four modules allowing versatile optimization of heat and electrical production. The modules include: 1) Syngas generator, 2) Waste heat recovery system and reservoir, 3) Modified natural gas generator, 4)Modified natural gas boiler
1) The syngas generator is the primary unit which partially combusts the biomass into the component gases Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen.
2) The gases are then cleaned and cooled at the heat recovery stage producing combustion quality Syngas. This combustion process feeds hot water to the resevoir for heating.
3) The cooled Syngas can then be piped to the generator to produce electricity. The waste heat can be also be captured at the generator coolant/exhaust, and fed to the reservoir.
4) Syngas can also be piped to the natural gas boiler to produce large volumes of hot water for heating greenhouses, farm buildings and residences. This process can be run concurrently or seperately to the electrical generation.
This process allows for an on-demand thermal method of electrical generation. This is the type of power most favored by utility companies and distributors.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others working to address the same needs as you and indicate what sets you apart from them.
Currently, there are two commercially available Syngas generators available in the USA. They are Victory Gasworks and the GEK Gasifier. These companies products are sized for an individual home, and are mostly geared towards producing electricity for a residential home.
The system we will design and implement will consist of a complete unit capable of meeting the electrical, heating, and greenhouse needs of a farm or remote community responsible for agriculure, livestock, farm /community buildings and family residences.
Esta presentación se trata de
Impacto social
Historia de la fundación: Queremos saber acerca del momento en el que hiciste "¡Ajá!". Comparte la historia de dónde y cuándo el/los fundador(es) vio (vieron) el potencial de esta solución para cambiar el mundo.
We were searching for an on-demand renewable energy system that could generate power and heat. The combination of electrical and piping systems suits our mechanical and machinist skills set. We realized folks were successfully implementing this system as long ago as the 1940's. We found a proven technology that just needed our skills to package into a useable system for the modern farmer and rural/off-grid community.
Por favor, describe el objetivo de tu iniciativa: un resumen de lo que están tratando de lograr
The goal of our initiative is to utilize our skills to create sustainable energy production and community infrastructure for remote/rural communities, farmers and individuals. Our goal is a syngas system that supports the capacity and land stewardship of local agricultural producers and the larger rural community on Salt Spring Island to become self sufficient in providing heat, hot water, electricity and sustainable fuels. A larger goal is to share and support other remote/rural villages and communities in implementing Syngas units. We aim to increase the awareness and share knowledge and skills with communities that are interested. Our commitment to this goal is driven by our desire to support life affirming and positive projects that benefit the earth, individuals and communities.
¿Cuál ha sido el impacto de la solución hasta la fecha?
This proposal has garnered many discussions among community members. Several small farms have indicated a firm interest in installing this system. We included a quote from a community supporter. Roy Naud “I have witnessed a huge interest in the modular gasification system that Shawn has designed, and believe it would do great good on this island, and rural areas around the world. My property houses several dwellings, which could all be heated and electrified with such a unit, as well as heating a greenhouse for vegetable production. I understand that Stowel Lake Farm, Brandon Bauer's Farm/Permaculture School, and two other farms are all very interested in installing such a unit on their land. Currently they just want to see a working prototype with some runtime and a hard quotation on the price. I would love to see Shawn complete a working model, he will find success after such a unit is on a trailer and being used for teaching, demonstration, and proof of concept purposes.”
Cuál es tu impacto proyectado para los próximos 5 años?
We aim to create a collaborative forum where the project can receive critical, constructive feedback on design, feasibility and implementation.
We aim to build a complete mobile working model. It will be used for teaching and demonstration on Salt Spring Island and surrounding communities.
We aim to create a network of people committed to skill sharing with the goal of fostering individuals and communities to build and create syngas models unique to where they live.
We aim to implement one working unit on Stowel Lake Farm,a moderate size farm that has active agricultural, livestock and residential and farm buildings.
These aims are in alignment with our larger vision to aim to support converting rural communities and small farms from diesel electrical generation to Syngas.
Las iniciativas ganadoras presentan un plan fuerte de cómo van a alcanzar y realizar un seguimiento del crecimiento. Identifica tus metas a seis meses para el crecimiento de tu impacto
Identifica tres grandes tareas que tendrás que completar para llegar a las metas de seis meses.
Tarea 1
Process Flow Diagram with component detail, build the demonstration unit, continue with community support building
Tarea 2
Operating demonstration unit on farms on Salt Spring Island, engage community with teaching/education forums.
Tarea 3
Testing and design refinement of model unit, garner community feedback through community discussions and forums.
¡Ahora piensa en grande! Identifica tu meta de impacto a 12 meses.
Identifica tres grandes tareas que tendrás que completar para llegar a tu meta de impacto a 12 meses
Tarea 1
Create manufacturing plan to expand production and minimize construction costs.
Tarea 2
Develop financing model with credit union to allow communities access to financial backing.
Tarea 3
Complete first major installation of community scaled unit on local farm on Salt Spring Island.
Sostenibilidad
Cuéntanos sobre tus alianzas.
Stowel Lake Farm on Saltspring Island is supporting the project by contributing working and community space for if necessary, tools, funding networks and expertise and is motivated to installing a working model.
Brandon Bauer of Entelechi Farm and Nursery, a well known farmer and permaculture educator has long been involved in the planning and design of this project and has enthusiastically supported this project over the last several years. He is currently building a new permaculture school and is very interested in making a syngas and biochar unit part of his educational programs.
Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your solution? If so, where and why?
Where: Surrounding farms located in remote communities and First Nation Villages on Vancouver Island using diesel generators for power production.
Why: Many of these communities have ready access to large volumes of waste wood, beetle kill wood and driftwood, and could readily convert existing diesel electric generation to biomass fired power generation off of the already working engine/generator infrastructure.
¿Qué tipo de sistema operativo y factores internos de la organización hacen que tu innovación sea un éxito?
This will begin as a traditional small start-up corporate structure, with collective principles, consensus decision making format and profit sharing for employees. We both have a strong commitment to the princicples of collectivity and consensus decision making frameworks. Consensus is a decision making style that makes room for everyone's voice to be heard equally and for conflicts to be resolved respectfully and transparently. We aim to expand an already dynamic, creative, and productive shop environment based on past success of the two founders (Devin Coverdale and Shawn Galvin). This shop will prioritize 1/2 to 1 day off per week for shop staff to use shop facilities to pursue their own creative innovative endeavors building beautiful things that do some good in the world.
Por favor, pon en claro las necesidades u ofertas que hayas mencionado anteriormente y/o sugiere categorías de apoyo que no están especificadas en la lista
The two founders have a combined 20 years experience in the Electrical, Piping, and Mechanical fields. We have experience with small to mid size design build projects. We are both small business owners. We both volunteer in our community on land based projects.
| Adjunto | Tamaño |
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| Condenser Shawng.jpg | 221.56 KB |
| David Karr.jpeg | 111.15 KB |
| Lisa Lloyd.png | 171.73 KB |
| Leonard Cler-Cunningham.jpeg | 146.51 KB |
| Roy Naud.jpeg | 154.6 KB |
| Brandon Bauer.jpeg | 149.23 KB |
| Patti Bauer.jpeg | 117.42 KB |
| 2012-09-03_gasifier_cap_ex.jpg | 281.38 KB |
| Stowel Lake Farm.jpg | 63.9 KB |
| essentializer_retort_cap.jpg | 599.68 KB |
| Retort and Gooseneck.jpg | 303.64 KB |
| essentializer_retort_construction.jpg | 861.96 KB |
| essentializer_jig_construction.jpg | 846.35 KB |
| boiler_and_retort.jpg | 257.28 KB |
| Our Community.jpg | 168.57 KB |
 | 40 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago Devin Coverdale said: I would like to do some more writing on the social impact and 6-12 month business planning. about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 40 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 45 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 45 weeks ago Shawn Galvin updated this Competition Entry. |