Earlier this month, we told you that our Canadian friends, in Canada, had decided to go ahead and build a facility that will turn waste products into energy.  Well, as per usual, we Americans looked at that and decided we wanted one, so now I can proudly announce that by 2010, the United States will have a plant that will turn 90,000 tons of waste into 10.5 million gallons of ethanol, per year.  U.S.A.!  U.S.A.!  U.S.A.!

Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc., a company based right near where I’m sitting here in the Bay Area, will build the facility ten miles East of Reno, Nevada, at a cost of $120 million.  In a press release announcing the news, Fulcrum CEO E. James Macias says,

Converting garbage waste into a clean, renewable fuel for cars has profound social and environmental benefits.  It will help mitigate our dependence on imported oil, lower the price of gasoline, reduce the amount of waste landfilled, lower greenhouse gases and create a new industry of jobs and economic growth.  Unlike conventional ethanol technology, which uses corn and other agricultural feedstock, our plant will utilize processed municipal solid waste which will not affect the cost or availability of our nation’s food supply.

Like the plant being built in Canada, the new facility will use gasification technology to convert waste into energy.  Which still sounds made up, but I suppose if people are investing millions of dollars into the technology, it must work pretty well.

So, that all sounds pretty good, no?  As well, this plant is just a start - Fulcrum is developing more of these facilities across the nation.  That’s right, Canada, your one gasification building is no match for our millions and millions we’ll have all over the U.S. by 2015.  I assume all Americans will have our own portable gasification thingies by that time, and you Canadians’ll still be caring about hockey.

Anyhow, takepart here and visit the Gasification Technologies Council to learn more about how these plants work.