Run your car from grass clippings!

  Several years ago I became interested in the paranormal phenomenon Will-o-the wisp . A supposedly sentient light often seen by travelers in the forest. I had read that one potential explanation for the phenomenon was swamp gas. So I set out to create an experiment that would recreate the environment of a swamp I accomplished this by collecting some dirt and leaves with a few twigs and grass clippings mixed into the mix. I placed all of these into a soda bottle and filled the bottle with water and tightly screwed the cap on, I then placed the bottle where it would be in direct sunlight and let it set for three days. I observed a pocket of "air" that slowly grew over the days. It was at day 3 that the pressure began to concern me. So I took the thing inside, lit a candle and set the candle close to the bottle. I then slowly unscrewed the cap and there was a hissing noise followed by a WHOOF!!! and a burst of heat. I just sat there stunned because I did not know at the time that swamp gas was quite so flammable and I thought to myself, Why aren't we using this for something??

My propane powered lawn tractor.

    After some more research I knew that swamp gases main constituent is methane.  I then stumbled across a little known fact that you could run an internal combustion engine off from propane. I also learned of a few people who had succeeded in years past to use methane. So I knew this was possible, I began experiments using propane as an analog for methane. I ran a tube from the propane tank into the gas intake of the engine of a lawnmower. (I know very little of internal combustion engines) I turned the knob on the tank and hopped on switched the key over and it started right up. It was not as loud or as powerful as a gasoline powered engine but I think that could be solved with a simple redesign of engines. I did a few tests to make sure it was not just gasoline residing in the fuel lines by turning the knob on the tank and having the engine cut out.


   I built upon my Ideas and came up with several devices that one could build that they could empty their grass clippings into and yard debris. Wait a few weeks and have a decent fuel supply from their own back yard. I would work for fallen twigs and branches, it would work with dead leaves, just about any organic material even leftover foodstuff. I also designed a concept for methane farming with huge concrete ponds with waste material at the bottom could be anything that would normally be dumped. There would be small boats that would come through the ponds agitating the organic muck at the bottom releasing the methane up into holding tanks which could then be processed and pressurized. And when everything is all digested you end up with a rich fertilizer left over. I personally find this a much better alternative than say drilling for gas. You could even take these boats out into a swamp and harvest the natural methane at surface level no drilling and dangerous equipment involved. However I will admit I do not know the amount of methane that would be produced by these methods and whether or not it would be economically feasible to do this on a large scale. But it can be done and it is clean renewable energy. It should be noted that natural gas is primarily methane. Why not get it from the surface instead of drilling deep into the ground. Its already here and in easy reach at your nearest swamp and ponds, I have even observed it bubbling up from lake bottoms.

  One test I did was a took a modified soda bottle out into a swamp and poked a stick into the bottom to release the methane. I did this until the bottle was filled, then I turned the bottle upside down and lit a lighter near the mouth. Then I squeezed the bottle and a nice flame shot out of the bottle. This proved that natural swamp gas does actively contain methane and that my theories could work on a large scale. I never did observe any swamp gas manifesting in the form of willo-the-wisp but I did come across an interesting energy source that I would like to see replace some of our antiquated techniques.

(Edit this is actually a revisit from a previous blog that I had, I have added more information from my research and a more in depth visit of the concept.)