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Thursday, June 16, 1977
University Daily Kansan
Cottonwoods may solve future energy problems
By RICK ALM Staff Writer
The trees would be planted on land near campus, harvested, processed into methane gas and stored in natural gas storage areas until needed, he said.
The energy forest would supplement a planned solid waste steam-generating incinerator that would burn solid wastes from Douglas, Shawnee, Franklin and Jefferson counties to supply all KU's future steam needs.
Smith said he decided on cottonwood trees because they are native to the state, fast-growing and subject to anaerobic bacteria digestion. The bacteria, he said, decompose the wood to produce methane gas, which is cleanly like natural gas and carbon dioxide.
At temperatures of 35-40 degrees centigrade and normal atmospheric pressure, anaerobic bacteria, which do not require oxygen, digest fatty acids produced by other bacteria to yield a 50 per cent mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, Smith said.
Smih said a one- or two-acre grow would be sufficient meet KU's requirements for a project.
The energy project, Smith said, is a long-range one.
Once it is approved, it will take five to seven years to grow the trees.
The organ rooting into alternative energy sources for the University several years ago, he said, when he foresaw that impending shortages and higher prices for fossil fuels probably would force KU to abandon its present gas-fired generating plant as its primary source of heating and cooling.
"I DIDN'T FIND anyone else worrying
about it," he said, "so I took it upon myself to study the question."
After careful review, Smith said, he narrowed the feasible choices to coal gasification and a new generating plant to produce synthetic natural gas. The existing plant could not be converted, he said, but both systems would the existing steam-delivery system.
Smith's proposal to build a trash-burning power plant at KU was the subject of a study delivered to the Kansas Board of Regents in mid-November by the Omaha consulting firm of Henningson, Durham and Richardson.
In their study, the consultants re-evaluated and confirmed Smith's figures on population and projected university energy needs. They added data on existing technology construction and maintenance costs and potential sources of additional energy.
After the consultants' study, the Kansas Legislature appropriated $100,000, available July 1, to conduct more detailed studies for energy alternatives. Smith said.
THE APPROPRIATION IS in addition to a four-year, $200,000 grant to begin studies obtained last year from the federally-funded Ozark Regional Commission.
In his original proposal, Smith estimated that the 200 tons of garbage generated daily within 50 miles of Lawrence would be enough to warm all but the coldest and warmest months.
It is in these peak-use periods that the methane gas would be hurped. Smith said.
At current prices, however, the methane gas produced from an energy forest would not be price-competitive with cheap natural gas.
The local residential rate for natural gas is now $1.30 for 1,000 cubic feet, Smith said. The average rate is about $1.56 per cubic foot.
produced at a cost of $3 or $4 a 1,000 cubic feet, he said.
Smith said that price rises of natural gas over the next decade might make the proposed energy project ultimately cheaper.
Smith estimated that in addition to the 500-acre forest, KU would need 8,000 tons of waste wood for a severe winter and 3,000 tons for a mild one.
"It is now disposed of in a host of ways with very little use," he said.
Trees grown on the energy forest would be supplemented by waste wood, 25,000 tons of which is generated each year within 48 miles of Lawrence, according to Smith.
DESPIETE THE APARENT abundance of waste wood, KU will still need its own energy forest, Smith said. As the energy shortage deepens, Smith said, more users would be competing for alternative sources of energy.
Smith said he hoped the University could obtain the land free of charge. He is now considering a site in the Wakarusa River valley.
The Henningson, Durham and Richardson study estimated costs of $14 million for both the solid waste and coal gasification plants.
Operating costs, exclusive of fuel costs, are the same for both systems. Smith said.
However, large potential savings lie in fuel costs. Smith's figures indicated it would cost $2 million more a year to run the coal-fired plant than using electricity in the solid waste plant would be free.
The solid waste 'burner' could meet all the pollution control standards easily. Suggest
The plans at KU, meanwhile, will proceed along a timetable for planning, design and construction that would put the plant in operation by 1981, Smith said.
African black majority rule urged
LONDON (AP)—Leaders of the Commonwealth of Nations, issuing their first—ever rebuke to a fellow member, took note yesterday of "sustained disregard for the sanctity of life and of massive violation of basic human rights in Uganda."
But the final communique of a 38-nation Commonwealth conference here neither mentioned Uganda President Idi Amin, whose military government has been accused of war crimes against Ugandan aides to reign of terror, nor spouses of an sanctions against him.
The communique minced no words,
however in a length denunciation of white minority governments in southern Africa, and to call for a speed-up of efforts to force them to accept transition to black majority
THE UGANDA STATEMENT, which constituted only a tiny fraction of the final document, was a compromise between two groups: Amin and others—predominantly African—that feared the issue would be resolved by direct extract from the southern Africa question.
Amin upstaged the eight-day meeting
from the start with repeated announcements that he would crash the conference and with demands that he should be backed through a switch to Buckinghall Palace.
Uganda radio added to the confusion with reports that Amin was en route, touching off speculation that he was flying over Europe looking for a place to land.
In the end, Amin stayed home. But in an apparent swipe at the British, he announced that a former British subject who had taken Uganda citizenship had been arrested as a spy and would be executed if convicted by a military court.
SUMMER BUS PASS
"KU on Wheels"
Good for unlimited rides Only $800
—Save on gas
—Save car wear and tear
—Save time
—Save energy and the environment
ON SALE SENATE OFFICE
105B (Second Level) Kansas Union
KU ON WHEELS SUMMER BUS SCHEDULE
Leave 9th and Mass. (Downstreet) to KU and Dormitories
for the past hour
6:50 am to 8:10 am
6:50 am to 8:10 am
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15, 35, 55 minutes past hour
6:55 am to 5:15 pm
Leave JRP to Oliver, Ellsworth, Campus and Downtown
6:00 am to 5:20 pm
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Leave Oliver to Ellsworth, Campus and Downtown
7:00 am to 8:25 pm
7:07 am to 8:27 pm
The Reds gave up pitcher Pat Zachry, infield pitcher and minor league outfielder Sage Harden.
Cincinnati (UPF)—The wire service learned early tonight that star pitcher Tom Seaver's two-year feud with the New York Mets' front office has ended. The Cincinnati Reds acquired the star right-hander in a trade within hours of the midnight deadline.
The Seaver feud with the Mets' front office started when the pitcher took a strong union stand during the 1976 strike by the Major League Players Association. Then, Seaver asked to renegotiate a three-year contract he signed last year.
Leave Ellsworth to Campus and Downtown
for the first hour
7:15 am to 9:35 pm
The Mets refused to renegotiate, and Seaver asked to be traded. Because of his seniority in the league and with the Mets, he could reject a deal. But he said he had been able to accept the offer. Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or Los Angeles.
Leave Union to Downtown
2, 22, 42 minutes past hour
7:22 am to 5:42 pm
Seaver is pitched into Reds' lap
His request followed reports of big salaries that went to Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi and other free agents. Seaver's contract reportedly pays $225,000 a year.
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The deal with the Reds reportedly had fallen through earlier today after ace reliever Rawy Eastwick said he would play out his option this year no matter which team he was working for. Zachary appalled that he was an acceptable substitute for the Mets.
Seaver is 7-3 this season with an even three earned-ran-average. Zachary was a coookie of the year in the National League but, thus far this year he has a 3-7 record.
Taco Tico Introduces
Coupon good thru Sun., June 19, 1977
One coupon per customer
Buy one Sancho Dinner, and with this coupon receive another dinner of your choice FREE.
Sancho Dinners
Sancho Dinner...$ 145
Burrito Dinner...$ 145
Enchilada Dinner...$ 125
Tamale Dinner...$ 125
IBM NEEDS OUTSTANDING PEOPLE
And we can offer outstanding career opportunities in Engineering Programming or Marketing We will be interviewing at
The University of Kansas on June 30,1977
To find out about IBM and let us find out about you, sign up for an interview at the Placement Office or write to: Ms. M. Dawkins, College Relations Representative, IBM Corporation, One IBM Plaza, Chicago, Illinois 60611.
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