Food Solutions New England (FSNE) is a regional food systems learning-action network dedicated to advancing a sustainable New England food system. The FSNE network is organized around four interrelated activities:
A New England Food Vision, a bold vision that calls for our region to build the capacity to produce up to 70% of food that is produced in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner, that promotes health and is accessible by all New Englanders by 2060; New England state food planning initiatives; annual New England food summits and topical workshops; and related analysis, communication and visualization.
The UNH Sustainability Institute serves as the backbone organization for FSNE. Since its inception in 2006, FSNE has advanced its mission by linking a common agenda, shared measurement, continuous communication, and synergestic activities.
I find the design challenge of fitting the gasifier components on a tractor daunting, and have thought mostly about sticking with stationary applications - but the install at the driveonwood site looks like it would be fairly functional.
The GEK site lists several folks in my area in New England some of whom I have I have connected with. This winter there was some talk about doing a tour of all the functional units. I will attempt to photograph and document what I learn. I am especially interested in the co-generation potential and using it to provide heat and power for our farm buildings. I think a big variable to make it viable in an on-farm installation over the longer haul will be efficient chipping, storage, drying and general materials management to keep it fed with high quality fuel. I think there is a lot in developing on-farm systems and appropriate affordable equipment and associated infrastructure.
I have been thinking about a 10KW unit which could also be used to pump water to holding ponds built on the high spots when there is extra capacity. The holding ponds would initially be used for irrigation and animal water, but could be fitted with a microhydro to act like a battery of sorts. My thought is to also use the grid as a backup through a transfer switch when the unit is not running.
The forums at All Power Labs is a great resource that I have been using to try and get myself up to speed. http://gekgasifier.com/forums/