Normally, I would have posted this in the News of the Weird thread, but with all the global warming threads popping up in the Backroom, I thought this one deserved a seperate thread.
Fear no longer, fellow Orgah's. Global warming will be put to an end:
The world is freaked out about climate change, global warming, and greenhouse gasses, and it could be up to skippy and his stomach juices to save the day.
We all know kangaroos are pretty special, but it's their lack of flatulence, or more precisely the lack of methane emissions, that has researchers excited.
While they eat pretty much the same thing, cows end up producing a lot of methane, and kangaroos don't.
Researchers think a whopping 10 percent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions could be permanently eliminated if scientists can introduce microbes found in the stomach of kangaroos into livestock feed.
Dr Athol Klieve is a senior research scientist in microbial biotechnology at the DPI, "When you ferment grass in the stomach like kangaroos do, they produce hydrogen, and you have to get rid of that hydrogen, or it slows down and stops the fermentation of the material...The production of methane is actually one solution to the problem of getting rid of hydrogen...There are alternative mechanisms of getting rid of that of that hydrogen. One of these is to produce acetate. Acetate is used by the animal as a major part of its energy resources.
“We’ve been able to isolate a number of species of bacteria that do take hydrogen through to acetate and it’s those bacteria that we hope to be able to move across to sheep and cattle, to bring down the methane emissions in sheep and cattle”, Dr Athol Klieve.
And it's not only the atmosphere that will be able to breathe a sigh of relief, farmers could save feed money, “Methane is actually a loss of feed energy. It’s an inefficient use of your feed. If you can, instead of using that feed energy as methane to the atmosphere and causing greenhouse problems, if you can convert that to something like acetate, that’s more energy available for the animal for growth and production”, Dr Athol Klieve.
12-07-2007, 15:56
Peasant Phill
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Hey I'm all with you guys when it comes to banning farting but we're going to add extra microbes to are food chain to lessen methane gass emissions?
Just because skippy has the guts to stand against those little buggers don't mean that we do.
12-07-2007, 16:46
Vladimir
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Acetate? Fingernail polish remover? Good for the environment?
12-07-2007, 16:56
drone
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
I foresee many exploding cows before the kinks are worked out. :yes:
12-07-2007, 18:17
Sasaki Kojiro
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vladimir
Acetate? Fingernail polish remover? Good for the environment?
That's acetone.
12-07-2007, 18:27
Vladimir
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro
That's acetone.
Good, thanks. I was going to say that I thought passing habanero peppers was bad.
12-07-2007, 23:00
woad&fangs
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
I hope that this actually works. If something can save the farmers money and help out the environment at the same time then it is absolutely brilliant.
12-07-2007, 23:43
Uesugi Kenshin
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Quote:
Originally Posted by woad&fangs
I hope that this actually works. If something can save the farmers money and help out the environment at the same time then it is absolutely brilliant.
Why don't we just capture the methane and burn it to create power?
Oh and any idea if this will have an effect on the effectiveness of "cow power?"
There's a company around here, I forgot the name though, that makes electricity from cow pies. Basically they put the stuff in a tank with some microbes and the things eat the poo releasing a flammable gas iirc, almost certainly methane, then they burn it and it turns a turbine and they make a lot of clean power! Also it makes farmers money and would be able to provide quite a bit of if not all the electricity needed by rural areas where cows are raised! I'm a big fan of cow-power. I'd look up some links, but I have to go in a few minutes so I have no time..
12-08-2007, 01:22
Caius
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Quote:
Originally Posted by The title
Kangaroos have stomachal problems and they can save the world
Fixed.
12-08-2007, 23:46
Papewaio
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Or you could just eat the national symbol which is a leaner meat then cow.
So a healthier option for the individual, that is better for the environment and costs about half the price.
12-09-2007, 00:15
Slug For A Butt
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin
Why don't we just capture the methane and burn it to create power?
A wise statement. Surely we are looking for energy sources rather than squandering them.
I reckon I could power a town of 2156 homes for a fortnight after every curry.
HARNESS ME, I BEG YOU!:tnt:
12-09-2007, 19:01
Uesugi Kenshin
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slug For A Butt
A wise statement. Surely we are looking for energy sources rather than squandering them.
I reckon I could power a town of 2156 homes for a fortnight after every curry.
HARNESS ME, I BEG YOU!:tnt:
Hmmm even more convenient. We could have special ports in walls and on toilets to capture the flatulence caused by spicy food!
12-09-2007, 22:38
Gregoshi
Re: FARTING KANGAROOS WILL SAVE THE WORLD
Pumping your own gas could take on a whole new meaning! :laugh4:
