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Forest fire power generation

Pre-emptive
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It is notable that numerous forested areas of your planet are highly vulnerable to destructive wildfires.

Wildfires are in fact all a part of the natural cycle - the problem is not fires, but the unparalleled stupidity of humans.

Destruction of property could be mitigated by a simple biomass scheme.

This is based on the fact that the biomass concerned is, sooner or later, going to burn anyway. Thus the scheme is - once the equipment is manufactured - intrinsically "carbon neutral".

We envisage a very large tracked machine, articulated to operate on very steep, unstable slopes, incorporating a closed-cycle steam turbine powerplant. The machine moves slowly across the landscape, clean-cutting a swath at least 25m wide, gathering up all flammable material in its path - not just cutting trees, but ripping the roots out of the ground - and feeding it into a furnace to generate electric power. Useable timber (large logs) and ash from the furnace is returned to the soil via a chute at the rear, ensuring minerals are retained. The logs can be collected later. The machine unreels a very long flexible EHV cable behind itself, through which electricity is fed into the nearest available grid line through an export meter - apart from the energy the system uses to move itself, and power its systems.

In doing this, the machine creates firebreaks, but because it is slow-moving and noisy - and there is no actual fire - is much less destructive to wildlife who have plenty of time to get out of the way,

Remember, the biomass is going to burn anyway at some point, and in a much more damaging way; this scheme actually turns a problem into a benefit.

8th of 7, Dec 25 2019

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