On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 2:28 AM, doug.williams <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Colleagues, > > Am I a pricker of delusional balloons, or > just another failed wana-be, out to spoil others aspirations? > > From my perspective, I wasted 23 > years facilitating other peoples dreams, and won the Booby prize of > gasification experience, plus another 12 years of waiting for energy experts > predictions to come true. > > What then, is there to offer future generations about gasification? Teach > them to do it better, faster, and cleaner, cheaper, is that the best on > offer for our expertise acquired at such great expense of time and money? > > My obligations to gasification continue for another two years, in which > time, my associates will have completed a very demanding five year > apprenticeship in the black art of gasification. Will their efforts be ready > for 2015 when the next oil crunch comes, or is the carrot on the stick > always going to remain the same? Who really cares anyway? > I'd hate to think that the time will come when gasifier commercials implore > us to buy now, but wait, ring now and get a second free,etc,etc, but I jest > don't I? >
doug, this has to be the most depressing note you've ever written to the list. i hope you do not in fact feel your efforts have been such a waste, nor find the future to be so dim. you must in truth realize that you are one of the very few reasons any of this exists currently. you are one of the three legs of the table (the two toms being the other two), that made it possible for us to even be here debating things. it was largely you three that carried this proposition through two decades when no one really cared, or didn't see why it was important, nor what it might do in time. this is broadly acknowledged and i hope you find some satisfaction in this. you were also my first teacher on this list. then tom reed was through his books. that in later years i have come to disagree with you on some tech particulars is a rather minor part of the story arc. i hope you can keep these disagreements in context. they should be opportunities for learning and progress. all of us here owe you a tremendous debt and acknowledgment and say so regularly. now that the world seems to be caring again about this tech, and we have a major new tool in the garage to make it work (the web), i hope you will enjoy some of what you have worked so hard for and contributed so much to make possible. there are no end of projects that need doing. while doing so, i hope you will also consider resisting the veiled and not so veiled suggestions that this particular one of your students is somehow proceeding with dishonesty. this has been a theme from you for about two years now, and frankly, i'm tired of it. it would be difficult for me and our group to be doing this in any more open and exposed manner. all our work is up online for all to consider and critique. it is exhaustively documented in hard data, and any hand waving labelled as such. we have regular open workshops at our facility with large numbers of people who review all the details and see all the warts. between the workshops people walk through regularly to see and consider. our successes and failures are very public, and for most this has led to feeling of transparency and honesty in the endeavor not found elsewhere. i'm not sure how to create any more intimate opportunities for others to kick the tires and see if things hold air. if you continue to find things otherwise, you are again invited to come see things for yourself during one of your california visits. same for greg, who is likely the biggest enthusiast of contrary suggestions at the moment. you both have been invited multiple times to our facility. you both continue to be invited. the next workshop, again with some form of long duration gasifier-genset run, will happen late feb most likely. yes, the regular writing of grumpy and pessimistic notes is more enjoyable, but i do not find it to equal increased honesty. i just find it sad. it has been a very interesting process going from prototypes to demos to pr to having a good deal of machines out in the world. things change rather significantly once one's machines are out of the shop and in the hands of others. you can no longer make sure they are used "correctly", and you can no longer control the messaging that happens around them. people do stranger things than one could ever imagine. odd stories get told that bear little resemblance to what you said, intended, or in fact did. dealing with the general public can easily insult any optimism one might have left regarding the human animal. but fortunately the opposite is also true. for me gasification has been a fabulous filter to find interesting people around the world. many of the most interesting ones show up regularly at our place. for this i feel very fortunate and have much gratitude. at the same time, i am often baffled by the suspicion of progress, resistance to science, and borderline ludditism one finds around wood gas discussions. in many instances, right here. if we really can do no better than what was done in 1906, why are any of us even bothering? defending such a position seems absurd to me. progress is clearly possible. small scale gasification is likely even a solvable problem. i'm highly confident we all can and will. all here can participate in and benefit from the emerging solutions. it can be a shared and collaborative endeavor, rewarding all here who have co-taught each other. the pie is massive. there is no zero sum problem. thus i disagree with the across the board pessimism of your note and counter with optimism. it is an optimism i find supported by current evidence and experience. a grateful student, jim _______________________________________________ Gasification mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/
