Armed with Science | Tag Archive

Army Scientists Improve Garbage-to-energy Prototype

Filed under Energy, STEM by jtozer on December 23, 2012 at 7:25 am {no comments}

With a zero carbon footprint, the improved TGER 2.0 prototype reduces the volume of waste in 30 to one ratio. According to ECBC scientist James Valdes, 30 cubic yards of trash could be reduced to one cubic yard of ash.

The year was 2008 and the on-going war in Iraq was a dangerous landscape for soldiers on the ground. Especially for convoys traveling to and from base camps.

Roadside bombs and enemy ambushes were frequent occurrences for U.S. Armed Forces transporting fuel, a risk that may be reduced if camps are equipped with a Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery prototype.

“If you’re a forward-operating base, you don’t want a local contractor coming in to haul your garbage out because you don’t know if they’re good guys or bad guys,” said Dr. James Valdes, a senior technologist at the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center. “You also don’t want to be hauling fuel in because those convoys are targets and risk the lives of soldiers and contractors.”

For 90 days, Camp Victory in Baghdad was home to the first two TGER prototypes, a deployable machine tactically designed to convert military field waste into immediate usable energy for forward operating bases.

The biorefinery system is a trailer-mounted hybrid technology that can support a 550-person unit that generates about 2,500 pounds of trash per day, and converts roughly a ton of that garbage–paper, plastic, packaging and food waste—into electricity via a standard 60-kilowatt diesel generator.

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Hatch Stage Field Goes Net Zero Energy

Filed under Energy, STEM by jtozer on December 9, 2012 at 7:39 am {no comments}

Waste not.

Solar panels installed at Hatch Stage Field on Fort Rucker, Ala., convert energy from the sun into usable electricity that can also be fed back onto Alabama Power’s electrical grid. The facility will be Fort Rucker’s first Net Zero facility, which means it produces more electricity than it consumes. (Courtesy photo)

It is a common adage that many people have heard throughout life, but Fort Rucker is taking the saying to heart as it implements its first Net Zero energy facility, slated for completion by the end of December.

Hatch Stage Field is in the process of installing a 51-kilowatt Photovoltaic array, which are solar panels that will be used to collect energy from the sun to convert into electricity, according to Candy Vaughan, Directorate of Public Works branch chief of utilities and energy management.

“The idea is for the field to be Net Zero, which means for us to generate more electricity than we use over the course of the year,” she said. “That will be the first place on Fort Rucker to go to Net Zero.”

The ultimate goal is complete Net Zero, according to Trevor Marshall, DPW energy engineer, which is in three components: Net Zero energy, Net Zero water and Net Zero waste.

“Net Zero energy is producing as much energy as is consumed, which we’re going to do at Hatch,” he said. “Net Zero water is turning water from aquifers, rainwater and things like that into useable water for irrigation purposes; and Net Zero waste is making sure that we don’t put any waste into landfills by recycling or reusing what we can and turning any waste we can into energy.”

Vaughan said that the solar array is directly connected to Alabama Power’s electrical grid, so any energy that is generated at the facility that isn’t used can be fed back onto the grid.

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Looking to a Greener Future

Filed under Technology, Videos by jtozer on November 11, 2012 at 7:39 am {no comments}

Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy & Environment, Katherine Hammack, recently visited military installations in Europe.

“The Army in Europe has really made an investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy,” says the Honorable Katherine Hammack. So how are they doing that you ask?

I’ll give you a hint: it sounds a lot like rolar banels.

Video provided by IMCOM’s YouTube Channel

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Hybrid Fuels & The Military

Filed under Energy, Videos by jtozer on November 2, 2012 at 7:02 am {no comments}

A summary of Office of Naval Research (ONR) on-going development of solar/fuel hybridization technologies that dramatically reduce fuel required for tactical Marine Corps operations. This video highlights the efforts of three key performers.

Video provided by the Office of Naval Research

Army Successfully Demonstrates Tactical Operations Smart Grid

Filed under STEM, Technology by jtozer on October 28, 2012 at 7:52 am {no comments}

CERDEC tested a prototype handheld application that they hope will aid in managing power for forward operating bases, allowing the grid operator to monitor the fuel level of generator sets on a handheld device without having to be present. (Photo by Edric Thompson)

The U.S. Army demonstrated a proof of concept for a smart grid that could support tactical operations this summer at its integrated capabilities testbed at Fort Dix, N.J.

The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communications-electronics RD& E Center, or CERDEC, powered portions of a Tactical Operations Center and used the event to gather data and lessons learned that would help inform/support Department of Defense efforts to develop a solution that will reduce the number of generators needed, prevent overloads and grid collapse while reducing the number of generators needed, manpower requirements for grid operation and fuel consumption by 25 percent.

“The Army has traditionally addressed power generation through a collection of application-specific, stand-alone solutions. But no matter how good the individual technology, variations in loads lead to inefficiencies during operation. It’s nearly impossible to keep generators operating at peak efficiency when they are operating by themselves. That’s why the right solution is a mix of all technologies,” said Marnie DeJong, an electrical engineer with CERDEC’s Command, Power & Integration directorate.

Microgrid systems are currently the only solution that allows the incorporation of multiple technologies, such as renewables and energy storage systems, to supplement traditional power generation techniques, DeJong explained.

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Lean, Mean GREENS Machine of the Corps

Filed under Energy, STEM by jtozer on October 26, 2012 at 7:36 am {one comment}

A new solar-powered energy distribution system is being tested near Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Calif., by Marines of Bravo Battery 1-10, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Uriel Avendano)

To increase the daily productivity of missions in remote locations and decrease the warfighters dependence on traditional energy sources, the Corps has developed the first generation of Ground Renewable Expeditionary Energy Network Systems (GREENS).

This solar-powered energy distribution system is being tested near Marine Corps Air Station Yuma on the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Calif., by Marines of Bravo Battery 1-10, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. as a part of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course

Instead of using a fuel-powered generator or motor, these Marines are setting up photo-voltaic solar panels to provide the sustained energy needed to fire artillery down range.

The GREENS components, working in conjunction with one another, deliver a continuous and reliable power source to Marines in the field.

The concept of this particular renewable technology dates as far back as 2006, but didn’t get a jump start until 2009.

“2009 was when the expeditionary energy and strategic implementation plan was first conceived and developed. 2010 was when the expeditionary energy office stood up under the direct guidance of the commandant. We’ve been doing expeditionary energy and evaluation ever since,” said Maj. Anthony McNair, requirements and technologies team member for the USMC Expeditionary Energy Office Headquarters.

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Turning Trash Mountains Into Molehills

Filed under Education & Culture, STEM by jtozer on October 12, 2012 at 7:12 am {no comments}

Grafenwoehr Elementary fourth-grader Xander Mattkins inspects a large pile of recyclable plastics before it is sorted at the Bergler Sorting Plant in Steinfels, Germany. Garrison leaders are involving youth as part of a larger campaign to change the community’s attitude toward waste, recycling and repurposing. (U.S. Army photo by Molly Hayden)

Army installations are small communities. They house, employ, feed, exercise, entertain and support thousands of soldiers and their families. These installations also fix cars, provide medical and veterinary treatment, mend and dry-clean clothes and sell computers.

To provide a convenient, livable plot of land for their communities, garrisons produce and eventually discard staggering amounts of waste. For reference, U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, a large installation about 140 miles north of Munich, generated 15,000 metric tons of waste in 2011.

“Americans have more refuse than their German neighbors, per capita,” said Juergen Alex, chief of the USAG Grafenwoehr Directorate of Public Works’ Utilities Branch.

When it comes to energy, the output is similarly overgrown. In 2011, Grafenwoehr spent more than $36 million on heat, electricity, gas and sewage services inside its gates.

With both eyes on future resources, natural as well as economic, the Army recently reassessed the sustainability of its energy, water and waste usage and deemed them superfluous. So, instead of trimming services in a move that could negatively impact quality of life for soldiers and their families, the Army is taking steps toward Net Zero energy, water and waste installations.

What is Net Zero?

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Biological Energy

Filed under Energy by jtozer on September 19, 2012 at 7:24 am {no comments}

Energy efficiency is the hottest trend these days.

Everyone wants to talk about it. Do stuff about it. Make changes to it. Come up with alternatives to the sources we have. Panic over the possibility that we might run out of it or not have enough of it. Simply put, energy and the things we use to get it are loud, screaming issues for our society.

So it goes without saying (not really) that an alternative energy source of any sort might be of use to humanity. Especially one that uses something we have a lot of, like say waste water or carbon dioxide. Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a device that could take the muck we don’t want and convert it into energy that we need? And wouldn’t it also be awesome if that device could potentially work forever without needing to be recharged?

I know you might be thinking, “But Jessica, you sly fox you, that’s just crazy science fiction talk that is”. And while yes, I am a sly fox, this particular type of science is in no way fiction. Not anymore.

Dr. Lenny Tender at the LASR facility, located at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Ian Graham)

Meet Dr. Lenny Tender.

Dr. Tender is a research chemist – and the branch head – at the center for bimolecular science and engineering at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. where he has spent over a decade perfecting a science that uses benthic microbial fuel cells. That’s a device that uses a method of extracting energy from the biological elements of sediment under water.

A device that uses the squishy sand at the beach to power stuff? How does THAT work?

“Benthic microbial fuel cell is a device that extracts electricity from the sea floor,” Dr. Tender explains. “That’s what benthic means; it’s the interface between the sediment on the bottom of a marine environment and the overlying water. This technology being developed to persistently operate oceanographic sensors. It’s able to generate electricity just like a windmill.”

Which means that the benthic microbial fuel cell is just that; an energy harvester. Whoa.

But wait, this doesn’t mean we ought to take all of our alkaline batteries and just toss ‘em out. Obviously there’s a process.

“At that at the bottom of the marine environment we have a sediment,” explains Dr. Tender, “and in the mud at the bottom of a harbor, river, lake or the ocean. This sediment actually has quite a bit of fuel in it.”

Think of anything that has ever lived in the marine environment; phytoplankton, sea creatures, etc. When they die they wind up settling down on the sea floor, just like leaves on the lawn. So those creatures, as they start decomposing, represent a pretty potent fuel source. Glucose for example. That is the geological precursor for petroleum.

It’s also the sort of stuff that’s sitting there mixed into the sediment on the sea floor.

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