This Ethanol Flow diagram shows how the distilling process separates the grain into its constituent parts (starch, fiber, and protein) that can then be used as high value elements of a system that leverages its input into a generative process. This creates fuel, and high quality food/fertilizer that can be cycled through an agricultural system as feedstock then as material for methane digester which produces energy and heat. An Ethanol system like the one illustrated above can be an integral part of a community or homestead-scale permaculture system that provides food, fuel and fodder for a zero waste system.This diagram was passed on to our design group by Luke Stagel of Pesco-Beam during the first day of the ethanol business design simulation at the Financial Permaculture Course. To follow this course as it develops check out the Financial Permaculture Blog to read the up to the minutes blog reports from Gaia University Associates as they document this leading edge participatory design forum for regenerative business solutions.
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1 comments:
I believe people's doubts about the viability of ethanol as a fuel is simply because they have been fed a model similar to the one we have for gasoline... The model we use for gasoline fuel now is poorly designed... We need to push forward the image you put forth, where ethanol production is designed in a whole systems approach, with zero waste, where ethanol is but one of many local farm outputs. It is with this model that we will achieve fuel independence in our communities.
Do you know of any communities that are fuel independant, or are progressing toward that vision?
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