I recently have been taking on a number of home Do-It-Yourself projects.  In these economic times, who couldn’t use saving a little cash on a home repair or renovation?  DYI must be all the rage.

The most daunting yet was when my toilet started leaking.  I researched the problem and determined that it was definitely the wax seal, meaning that I’d have to pull out the entire toilet just to replace that seal.  After talking it over with my wife, we decided that since we hated the old toilet anyway, and it would hardly be any more work, that we’d just replace the whole toilet while we were at it.

Now, in better times, I might have called a plumber for something as serious as that.  A toilet is not something that you want to screw up!  But it was not just an opportunity to save money, but an opportunity to learn, and I’m glad I took it.

Yes, there was a part where it was pretty disgusting.  I have a whole new appreciation for plumbers now, and the ____ that they must deal with.  But, you know, other than the heavy lifting, (you don’t really think about how toilets can easily weigh 100lbs. or more, which can be a bit much to heft up a flight of stairs by yourself) it was actually a lot easier than I expected it to be.  And though I was a little worried that I might have done something wrong, there have been no leaks since, so I know I got it right.

It was a strangely rewarding experience.

I love learning new things, and new skills.  What fun is life if you’re not at least challenged a little?  And now I know that if I ever have to do it again, I can replace an old toilet.

And in this time of economic struggle, I invite you to do the same.  Well, okay, so it doesn’t have to be something as gross as a toilet.  But try something new.  Do something yourself that you normally would have paid someone else to do.  Get out of your comfort zone and learn.  It’s a great feeling when you accomplish something that you never expected to be tested with.  And who couldn’t use saving a little money these days?

As for the toilet itself, an American Standard Cadet 3, I highly recommend it!  I don’t know how they get so much flushing power out of a WaterSense 1.28 gallon flush, but boy do they ever!  You really can go green without suffering from a lack of performance.

Some German and Australian scientists have been working on a project to revolutionize renewable resources.  They have found a way to make synthetic “natural gas” from carbon dioxide (CO2), water, and electricity, much in the same way hydrogen can be produced from water.  Dr Michael Specht of the Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung (Solar energy and Waterstuff [Hydrogen] Research center – ZSW) explains:

“Our demonstration system in Stuttgart splits water using electrolysis. The result is hydrogen and oxygen.  A chemical reaction of hydrogen with carbon dioxide generates methane – and that is nothing other than natural gas, produced synthetically.”

And the process they currently use will supposedly will scale up remarkably well.  Plans are to create a double-digit megawatt-range unit by 2012 to prove that it really can be done, and to provide homes with synthetic natural gas.

Brilliant!

Err … maybe.

The thought behind it is that electricity is a somewhat wasteful system as during lulls in usage the generation has no useful way to store large amounts of energy for when the peak usage times hit.  This is especially a hindrance to renewable green sources of electricity like wind and solar where peaks of energy production rely upon the timetable of Mother Nature and not upon peak usages by mankind.  Where as converting electricity into natural gas allows one to store a lot of energy created during lulls to take the load off during peaks.

Colleague Dr Michael Sterner explains, “Surplus wind and solar energy can be stored in this manner. During times of high wind speeds, wind turbines generate more power than is currently needed. This surplus energy is being more frequently reflected at the power exchange market through negative electricity prices.”

Plus there are other theoretical benefits, like the ability to modify vehicles to run on Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) which is just a compressed form of natural gas that turns it from a gaseous state to a liquid state.

Which is all well and good.  In theory.

One might want to remind the world that we can however already do this with hydrogen.

And then there’s the conversion efficiency, which is only 60% efficient.  Where as processes like just pumping water up higher into a dam to store as potential energy for a hydroelectric plant are more than 70% efficient.

But the largest concern would be that according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methane gas has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 21, meaning that methane is twenty one times more effective as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2).  So while proponents of synthetic  natural gas try to tell you that their methods are carbon-neutral, thus not harming our environment any more than it is saving it, this is not necessarily the case.  Any of their synthetic natural gas going up up and away is far more damaging to the environment than CO2.  Where as hydrogen isn’t.

But then one of the main problems with hydrogen is that, being the smallest atom, it escapes easily from systems that try to hold or transport it.  Where as methane, a much larger molecule, has no such problems.

So then, is it really such a great idea?  Yes, potentially, it holds a lot of interesting promise.  But then so does generating hydrogen from electrolysis.  Where as, potentially, it also holds a number of potential concerns, where as generating hydrogen from electrolysis doesn’t.

It’s certainly something to think about, and goes to show that when we put our heads to it, we can come up with all manner of interesting solutions to any problem.  And that it is likely a combination of efforts that will solve the world’s woes and not any one singular invention or ingenuity.