Illinois
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Electricity from gas?

Energy Secretary Federico Pena in late October announced that a government and industry partnership, the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, has developed a way to extract hydrogen from gasoline to power a fuel cell. A fuel cell combines oxygen from the air with hydrogen to produce electricity, which in turn can power a car. Transportation accounts for two-thirds of U.S. petroleum consumption.

"We've proven you can get electricity from gasoline," said Alien Buckman of fuel cell developer Plug Power LLC, of Latham, New York. Buckman said the technology also could be used in homes and buildings to provide heat and electricity.

The result could be a vast reduction in automobile pollution and a doubling in fuel mileage, Pena said. Electric cars would be far more practical because they could use a variety of fuels and eliminate the lengthy recharging time required of batteries. "This breakthrough puts us on the road to pollution-free vehicles," Pena said, although it could be a decade before the new technology is available commercially.

The technology was successfully tested in Cambridge, Mass., with a fuel-cell stack producing 50 kilowatts, the amount of power needed to operate a car. Developers said their fuel cell system could generate electricity from many fuels — gasoline, ethanol, methanol and natural gas among them — or alternative fuels produced in the future. A fuel processor converts the raw fuel into hydrogen, which is run through a carbon monoxide removal system before it is fed into a fuel cell to produce electricity.

Kids and fire

More than 8,451 fires causing 69 deaths, 815 injuries, and $36 million in damage in the past five years were set by children, the Illinois Juvenile Firesetters Task Force reports.

The task force has issued a study urging an interagency approach to deal with the problem of youthful firesellers. The task force urges developing a statewide juvenile firesetter referral and counseling program and a statewide awareness and educational program, among other recommendations.

Toyota unveils hybrid car

Toyota this month will begin selling the world's first hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle aimed at a mass market. The car, called Prius (pronounced PREE-us), is a small, four-door sedan comparable in size to the Corolla model. It will be sold only in Japan at first, but may become available in other markets including the USA. Toyota says the Prius has achieved 66 miles per gallon and its engine emits only half the carbon dioxide of standard engines. When the car hits Japanese dealerships on Dec. 10, it'll carry a base sticker price of $17,900.

The Prius is powered by battery any time it is maintaining speed. The gasoline engine powers the car during acceleration, and operates to recharge batteries. Toyota officials say shifts between electric and gasoline operation are imperceptible to drivers and passengers.

Honor the memory

Illinois Electric cooperatives will award two $1,000 academic scholarships next year through a memorial scholarship program.

High school seniors planning to attend college in Illinois are eligible to participate. One scholarship will be awarded to the child of an electric cooperative member. The other will go to the child of an electric cooperative employee or director.

The program, now in its third year, honors past rural electric cooperative leaders while assisting electric cooperative youth. Deadline for application is Jan. 1.

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Branching out

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has given Southern Illinois University at Carbondale a state grant to begin an urban forestry program that will focus on public education, community forestry service, volunteer organization and professional training for students.

"While we don't have urban areas like Chicago or St. Louis, we do have many communities," said Paul Roth, an SIUC forestry professor. "Our communities have trees, but don't know much about them. A lot of people think you can plant a tree and it will do fine on its own, but trees are like babies—they need care and attention or you have problems later on." He said some communities have been forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove dead and dying trees.

The $58,500 grant will help pay for community surveys to study and assess existing trees, identify needs and problems and then create workshops, seminars and publications to meet those needs. The plan also calls for a central resource center in the region to house reference materials, perhaps eventually with satellite centers.

Several Illinois electric cooperatives employ a certified utility arborist. Although their job is to clear trees from utility lines, they try to do so in a way that will leave a healthy tree. A dead or dying tree is more likely to fall across a power line causing an outage. Electric cooperatives also promote the effective use of shade trees and trees for shelter belts. However, they strongly encourage members to plant trees 50 feet from power lines or to plant low-growing trees. For a list of low-growing species call your local electric cooperative.

A Cinderella story?

Southern Illinois Power Cooperative at Lake of Egypt, the electricity generator for three other Southern Illinois cooperatives, gives cinders to the Illinois Department of Transportation to fight snow and ice on highways in the winter.

Although there is a market for the waste byproduct, the co-op donates the cinders to the state.

Tourism poised for growth

A change made by Illinois legislators now ties state Bureau of Tourism funding to the Hotel-Motel Tax, meaning its budget hinges on its success. Previously the Legislature was required to approve budget amounts for various tourism promotions.

As a result of the switch, the department says there will be a $2 million increase (from $8 million to $10 million) in grants earmarked for local convention and visitor bureaus to promote their own destinations and attractions, the first increase since 1991. Domestic advertising will rise from $10 million to $10.2 million, the first increase since 1985. The bureau's total budget is $37.1 million.

The department's new three-year program emphasizes heritage and is designed to help communities develop products. "The Illinois Heritage Development Program engages and encourages a wide variety of private-sector partners as well as close working ties with local communities and state agencies concerned with transportation, historic preservation, community development, natural resources and other disciplines," said Donna Shaw, the bureau's director. "We are making tourism a prime development tool for communities statewide over the next three years."

Pork petro? Mussel power?

The University of Illinois is developing a new fuel product from hog waste that eliminates the odor in the process. Meanwhile, a Southern Illinois University researcher is studying whether zebra mussels can filter livestock manure waste water.

The new fuel in the works at the U of I, dubbed pork petro, is made by heating and pressurizing hog manure to produce fuel gas, fuel oil and ash. A side benefit is the elimination of hog odors once the manure goes through the process, called pirolisis. Pirolisis was developed in the early 1970s using coal and wood. The raw materials were too expensive, but the on-farm potential provides a new application.

Livestock manure is efficient because it's already been processed by the animal and has the bonus of removing the odor. "This is the ultimate solution to create renewable energy and to protect the environment on the farm," said U of I researcher Yuan Hui Zhang. He expects, once the technology is refined, that every farm could afford a unit, similar to a septic system or furnace for a home.

At the same time, Richard Steffen at SIU is beginning a study to see if zebra mussels could clean up livestock waste water. Zebra mussels, which grow to only about an inch to an inch and a half, each can filter about a quart of water a day.

Wiring barns

Producers who are installing electric systems in livestock and poultry barns, farm shops and grain storage areas, might be interested in The Agricultural Wiring Handbook.

Recommendations in the handbook are combined with diagrams, tables and specific references to the National Electrical Code. The 96-page publication is available from the National Food and Energy council, 601 Business Loop 70 West. Suite 216D, Columbia, Mo. 65203.

6 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING DECEMBER 1997