Fuel from Organic Matter: Possibilities for the State of California.
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An investigation of the amount of organic material that might be made available for energy purposes in California, its potential fuel value, and the estimated cost. Organic sources considered are (1) crops grown specifically for energy, (2) natural forests, and (3) wastes from urban, agricultural, and industrial sectors. Plants from nearly 5 million acres of farm land, not now harvested, could be converted to 11.5 percent of California's natural gas consumption. Production, hauling, and conversion costs are estimated at $2.61/million BTU of gas. Although natural forests have multiple competitive uses, trees as an energy crop would be advantageous over conventional field crops, and have equally high yields. Organic wastes converted to fuel would provide about 8 percent of the state's gas consumption. Assuming that wastes have to be collected anyway, cost of fuel production would be conversion cost, or $0.31/million BTU for the anaerobic bacterial method. 21 pp. Ref.
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