All Power Labs: Difference between revisions
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'''All Power Labs''' (APL) is a [[renewable energy]] company based in [[Berkeley, California]]. APL designs and manufactures [[biomass]] [[Gasification|gasifiers]] and builds and markets small-scale (15 kW - 150 kW) electrical generators fueled by these gasifiers. In 2013, All Power Labs reached an installed base of 500 machines in approximately 40 countries.<ref name="FastCompany">{{cite web|last1=Dean|first1=Josh|title=Meet the Radical Berkeley Artist Whose Company is Turning Trash Into Electricity|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/3027127/meet-the-radical-berkeley-artist-whose-company-is-turning-trash-into-electricity|website=Fast Company|accessdate=31 July 2015|language=English|date=28 March 2014}}</ref> As of 2015, APL employed 30 staff, including engineering, manufacturing, management, sales, and technical support staff, on the site of the former Shipyard, an approximately 20,000 sq.ft. facility that includes APL’s offices, R&D, manufacturing and production facilities.<ref name="Gigaom">{{cite web|last1=Fehrenbacher|first1=Katie|title=This Berkeley Startup & its Energy Machines Are About to Take off|url=https://gigaom.com/2015/02/04/this-berkeley-startup-its-energy-machines-are-about-to-take-off/|website=Gigaom|publisher=Knowingly Inc.|accessdate=31 July 2015|date=4 February 2014}}</ref> |
'''All Power Labs''' (APL) is a [[renewable energy]] company based in [[Berkeley, California]]. APL designs and manufactures [[biomass]] [[Gasification|gasifiers]] and builds and markets small-scale (15 kW - 150 kW) electrical generators fueled by these gasifiers. In 2013, All Power Labs reached an installed base of 500 machines in approximately 40 countries.<ref name="FastCompany">{{cite web|last1=Dean|first1=Josh|title=Meet the Radical Berkeley Artist Whose Company is Turning Trash Into Electricity|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/3027127/meet-the-radical-berkeley-artist-whose-company-is-turning-trash-into-electricity|website=Fast Company|accessdate=31 July 2015|language=English|date=28 March 2014}}</ref> As of 2015, APL employed 30 staff, including engineering, manufacturing, management, sales, and technical support staff, on the site of the former Shipyard, an approximately 20,000 sq.ft. facility that includes APL’s offices, R&D, manufacturing and production facilities.<ref name="Gigaom">{{cite web|last1=Fehrenbacher|first1=Katie|title=This Berkeley Startup & its Energy Machines Are About to Take off|url=https://gigaom.com/2015/02/04/this-berkeley-startup-its-energy-machines-are-about-to-take-off/|website=Gigaom|publisher=Knowingly Inc.|accessdate=31 July 2015|date=4 February 2014}}</ref> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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Jim Mason and Jessica Hobbs founded APL in 2007 on the site of, and based on, the work of the former Shipyard. The Shipyard was a collaborative art-development space established in 2001 by Mason in a dozen shipping-container workspaces assembled around a small machine shop in West Berkeley. Containers were rented out to a mix of artists, engineers and scientists he selected mostly from among his collaborators on art projects for the Burning Man festival.<ref name="Doherty2007">{{cite book|author=Brian Doherty|title=This Is Burning Man|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=799JDtofMpEC|date=3 September 2007|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0-316-02892-9}}</ref> Unable to get approval for a grid-power connection due to zoning issues,<ref name=SFChronicle /> the Shipyard community assembled an off-grid power system combining 2 kW of used photovoltaic panels, a 4000 amp hour surplus telecommunication battery bank, a pair of used diesel generators running on biodiesel made in an on-site biodiesel-reactor facility, and began experimenting with [[Biomass]] [[Gasification]] as a potential power source.<ref name=reason>{{cite web|last1=Doherty|first1=Brian|title=Power from the People|url=http://reason.com/archives/2008/04/28/power-from-the-people/|website=reason.com|publisher=ReasonFoundation|accessdate=31 July 2015|language=English|date=May 2008}}</ref><ref name=HuffPo>{{cite web|last1=Duffy|first1=Ryan|title=Now What Episode 10: Trash Powered|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-duffy/trash-powered-power-electricity_b_8813142.html|website=Huffington Post|language=English|date=21 December 2015}}</ref> |
Jim Mason and Jessica Hobbs founded APL in 2007 on the site of, and based on, the work of the former Shipyard. The Shipyard was a collaborative art-development space established in 2001 by Mason in a dozen shipping-container workspaces assembled around a small machine shop in West Berkeley. Containers were rented out to a mix of artists, engineers and scientists he selected mostly from among his collaborators on art projects for the Burning Man festival.<ref name="Doherty2007">{{cite book|author=Brian Doherty|title=This Is Burning Man|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=799JDtofMpEC|date=3 September 2007|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0-316-02892-9}}</ref> Unable to get approval for a grid-power connection due to zoning issues,<ref name=SFChronicle /> the Shipyard community assembled an off-grid power system combining 2 kW of used photovoltaic panels, a 4000 amp hour surplus telecommunication battery bank, a pair of used diesel generators running on biodiesel made in an on-site biodiesel-reactor facility, and began experimenting with [[Biomass]] [[Gasification]] as a potential power source.<ref name=reason>{{cite web|last1=Doherty|first1=Brian|title=Power from the People|url=http://reason.com/archives/2008/04/28/power-from-the-people/|website=reason.com|publisher=ReasonFoundation|accessdate=31 July 2015|language=English|date=May 2008}}</ref><ref name=HuffPo>{{cite web|last1=Duffy|first1=Ryan|title=Now What Episode 10: Trash Powered|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-duffy/trash-powered-power-electricity_b_8813142.html|website=Huffington Post|language=English|date=21 December 2015}}</ref> |
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APL's initial goal was education and experimentation in open-source alternative energy technologies in an attempt to create a do-it-yourself (DIY) power-hacking culture. Within the first year, the company limited its focus to the open-source development of biomass gasification technology,<ref name=reason /> and began to design and manufacture a range of open-source DIY Gasifier Experimenters Kits (GEK), whose plans and cad files were made available online.<ref name=FastCompany /> |
APL's initial goal was education and experimentation in open-source alternative energy technologies in an attempt to create a do-it-yourself (DIY) power-hacking culture. Within the first year, the company limited its focus to the open-source development of biomass gasification technology,<ref name=reason /> and began to design and manufacture a range of open-source DIY Gasifier Experimenters Kits (GEK), whose plans and cad files were made available online.<ref name=FastCompany /> By 2013 they had abandoned the open-source model and limited production to proprietary, patent-protected energy products, culminating by 2015 in establishing a board of directors including renewable energy academics such as [[Daniel Kammen]] and biomass-power business advocates.<ref name="SFChronicle">{{cite news|last1=Baker|first1=David|title=Their site burns hot – and green|url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Meet-the-Berkeley-burners-trying-to-hack-climate-6662070.php|accessdate=November 30, 2015|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|date=November 30, 2015|location=Section D}}</ref> |
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==Water Abundance XPRIZE== |
==Water Abundance XPRIZE== |
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During a 24 |
During a 24-hour period ending on September 29, 2018, at the APL facility in Berkeley, California, APL along with the Skysource/Skywater Alliance, claimed the $1.5 million Water XPRIZE, which required the production of at least 2,000 liters of water in a 24 hour period at a cost of less than 2 cents per liter powered by renewable energy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Grand Prize Winner In $1.75m Water Abundance Xprize Announced At Xprize Visioneering 2018 |url=https://water.xprize.org/prizes/water-abundance/articles/waxp-grand-prize-winner |website=Water Abundance XPRIZE |publisher=XPRIZE |accessdate=26 October 2018}}</ref> The system employed an APL produced PP30 Biomass Gasifier Genset powering three Skysource designed Skywater 300 [[atmospheric water generator]]s which extracted water from the atmosphere and the additional moisture generated by the drying of the woodchips used to fuel the gasifier.<ref>{{cite web |title=XPrize-winning team sources fresh water from the air |url=https://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/design-and-architecture/xprize-winning-team-sources-fresh-water-from-the-air |website=KCRW Design and Architecture Podcast |publisher=KCRW |accessdate=26 October 2018}}</ref> |
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==Products== |
==Products== |
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In 2010, APL began to manufacture an integrated biomass gasifier-genset named the Power Pallet in 10 kW and 20 kW ratings. By the end of 2013 the GEK kits and 10 kW version were abandoned along with the company's open-source |
In 2010, APL began to manufacture an integrated biomass gasifier-genset it named the Power Pallet in 10 kW and 20 kW ratings. By the end of 2013 the GEK kits and 10 kW version were abandoned along with the company's open-source distribution of its plans and designs, releasing a 20 kW unit using a proprietary gasifier design based on Mason’s patents.<ref name=Gigaom /> In late 2016, the company’s principal product was the PP30 Power Pallet 25 kW biomass genset which included formerly optional [[Combined Heat and Power]] (CHP) and [[Grid-tied Electrical System]] features as standard equipment<ref name=cnet>{{cite news|last1=Terdiman|first1=Daniel|title=Carbon-negative Energy a Reality at Last,-- and Cheap Too|url=http://www.cnet.com/news/carbon-negative-energy-a-reality-at-last-and-cheap-too/|accessdate=31 July 2015|agency=cnet|issue=US Edition Sci Tech|publisher=CBS Interactive|date=19 October 2013}}</ref>. A principal segment of their PP30 market is directed at addressing [[energy poverty]] in the developing world.<ref name= SFChronicle /><ref name= HuffPo /> In 2015, using a California Energy Commission (CEC) grant intended to incentivize forest-fire remediation in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, APL continued development of a 150 kW version of a shipping-container-based genset named the Powertainer<ref name="Cal Ag">{{cite journal|last1=Downing|first1=Jim|title=Following the fuel: How portable biomass energy generation may help rural communities|journal=California Agriculture|date=September 2015|volume=69|issue=3|page=141|url=http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v069n03p141&fulltext=yes#|accessdate=October 10, 2015}}</ref> that was initially built as a 100 kW rated prototype in 2012 with the assistance of a US Department of Energy grant.<ref name=BiomassMag>{{cite web|last1=Voegele|first1=Erin|title=Demonstrating Portable Energy: A modular gasification technology produces on-demand, biomass-based syngas.|url=http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/8016/demonstrating-portable-energy|website=Biomass Magazine|publisher=BBI International|accessdate=22 October 2015}}</ref> |
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All Power Labs also distributes waste biochar to Bay Area community-based agriculture as part of its spin-off biochar program, Local Carbon Network<ref>{{cite web |title=Biochar in Berkeley? |url=https://edibleeastbay.com/2019/08/16/biochar-in-berkeley/ |website=Edible East Bay |access-date=16 August 2019}}</ref>, and continues to support the open-source distribution of a Biochar Experimenter’s Kit (BEK) which includes plans for building and operating a gasification-based biochar retort intended to support research in biochar production and use. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cheong |first1=Kah |last2=Zainal |first2=Haryati |last3=Loh |first3=Soh |last4=Kong |first4=Sieng-Huat |last5=Bachmann |first5=Robert |title=Palm Kernel Shell Biochar Production, Characteristics and Carbon Sequestration Potential |journal=Journal of Oil Palm Research |date=September 2019 |doi=10.21894/jopr.2019.0041}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boateng |first1=A.A. |last2=Mullen |first2=C.A |title=Fast pyrolysis of biomass thermally pretreated by torrefaction |journal=Journal of Analytical & Applied Pyrolysis |date=12/12/2012 |volume=100 |pages=95-102}}</ref> |
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All Power Labs also began to produce the Biochar Experimenter’s Kit which focuses on producing biochar, which also produces wood gas to run an internal combustion engine.<ref>[http://www.allpowerlabs.com/products/biochar Biochar]</ref><ref>[http://www.allpowerlabs.com/products/biochar ALL POWER LABS LLC AND THE BIOCHAR EXPERIMENTER’S KIT (BEK)]</ref> |
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==Operation== |
==Operation== |
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Revision as of 19:12, 8 January 2021
 | This article reads like a press release or a news article and may be largely based on routine coverage. (September 2020) |
 | |
| Industry | renewable energy |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 in Berkeley, California |
| Products | Biomass Gasifiers, Electrical Generators |
| Website | www |
All Power Labs (APL) is a renewable energy company based in Berkeley, California. APL designs and manufactures biomass gasifiers and builds and markets small-scale (15 kW - 150 kW) electrical generators fueled by these gasifiers. In 2013, All Power Labs reached an installed base of 500 machines in approximately 40 countries.[1] As of 2015, APL employed 30 staff, including engineering, manufacturing, management, sales, and technical support staff, on the site of the former Shipyard, an approximately 20,000 sq.ft. facility that includes APL’s offices, R&D, manufacturing and production facilities.[2]
History
Jim Mason and Jessica Hobbs founded APL in 2007 on the site of, and based on, the work of the former Shipyard. The Shipyard was a collaborative art-development space established in 2001 by Mason in a dozen shipping-container workspaces assembled around a small machine shop in West Berkeley. Containers were rented out to a mix of artists, engineers and scientists he selected mostly from among his collaborators on art projects for the Burning Man festival.[3] Unable to get approval for a grid-power connection due to zoning issues,[4] the Shipyard community assembled an off-grid power system combining 2 kW of used photovoltaic panels, a 4000 amp hour surplus telecommunication battery bank, a pair of used diesel generators running on biodiesel made in an on-site biodiesel-reactor facility, and began experimenting with Biomass Gasification as a potential power source.[5][6]
APL's initial goal was education and experimentation in open-source alternative energy technologies in an attempt to create a do-it-yourself (DIY) power-hacking culture. Within the first year, the company limited its focus to the open-source development of biomass gasification technology,[5] and began to design and manufacture a range of open-source DIY Gasifier Experimenters Kits (GEK), whose plans and cad files were made available online.[1] By 2013 they had abandoned the open-source model and limited production to proprietary, patent-protected energy products, culminating by 2015 in establishing a board of directors including renewable energy academics such as Daniel Kammen and biomass-power business advocates.[4]
Water Abundance XPRIZE
During a 24-hour period ending on September 29, 2018, at the APL facility in Berkeley, California, APL along with the Skysource/Skywater Alliance, claimed the $1.5 million Water XPRIZE, which required the production of at least 2,000 liters of water in a 24 hour period at a cost of less than 2 cents per liter powered by renewable energy.[7] The system employed an APL produced PP30 Biomass Gasifier Genset powering three Skysource designed Skywater 300 atmospheric water generators which extracted water from the atmosphere and the additional moisture generated by the drying of the woodchips used to fuel the gasifier.[8]
Products
In 2010, APL began to manufacture an integrated biomass gasifier-genset it named the Power Pallet in 10 kW and 20 kW ratings. By the end of 2013 the GEK kits and 10 kW version were abandoned along with the company's open-source distribution of its plans and designs, releasing a 20 kW unit using a proprietary gasifier design based on Mason’s patents.[2] In late 2016, the company’s principal product was the PP30 Power Pallet 25 kW biomass genset which included formerly optional Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and Grid-tied Electrical System features as standard equipment[9]. A principal segment of their PP30 market is directed at addressing energy poverty in the developing world.[4][6] In 2015, using a California Energy Commission (CEC) grant intended to incentivize forest-fire remediation in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, APL continued development of a 150 kW version of a shipping-container-based genset named the Powertainer[10] that was initially built as a 100 kW rated prototype in 2012 with the assistance of a US Department of Energy grant.[11]
All Power Labs also distributes waste biochar to Bay Area community-based agriculture as part of its spin-off biochar program, Local Carbon Network[12], and continues to support the open-source distribution of a Biochar Experimenter’s Kit (BEK) which includes plans for building and operating a gasification-based biochar retort intended to support research in biochar production and use. [13][14]
Operation
Biomass Gasification uses high temperatures in an low-oxygen environment to covert woody feedstocks into a Syngas fuel composed predominantly of flammable hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) gases. When waste biomass is used as the feedstock and the biochar byproduct is sequestered, such as when used as a soil amendment, the operation results in Negative carbon dioxide emission.[15][4][16] APL's gasifiers use a variety of lignocellulosic biomass (woody biomass) such as wood chips, nut shells, and other agricultural bi-products as feedstock,[4] at the rate of approximately 1kg/kWh.
References
- ^ a b Dean, Josh (28 March 2014). "Meet the Radical Berkeley Artist Whose Company is Turning Trash Into Electricity". Fast Company. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- ^ a b Fehrenbacher, Katie (4 February 2014). "This Berkeley Startup & its Energy Machines Are About to Take off". Gigaom. Knowingly Inc. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- ^ Brian Doherty (3 September 2007). This Is Burning Man. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-02892-9.
- ^ a b c d e Baker, David (November 30, 2015). "Their site burns hot – and green". Section D: San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
- ^ a b Doherty, Brian (May 2008). "Power from the People". reason.com. ReasonFoundation. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- ^ a b Duffy, Ryan (21 December 2015). "Now What Episode 10: Trash Powered". Huffington Post.
- ^ "Grand Prize Winner In $1.75m Water Abundance Xprize Announced At Xprize Visioneering 2018". Water Abundance XPRIZE. XPRIZE. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ^ "XPrize-winning team sources fresh water from the air". KCRW Design and Architecture Podcast. KCRW. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
- ^ Terdiman, Daniel (19 October 2013). "Carbon-negative Energy a Reality at Last,-- and Cheap Too". No. US Edition Sci Tech. CBS Interactive. cnet. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
- ^ Downing, Jim (September 2015). "Following the fuel: How portable biomass energy generation may help rural communities". California Agriculture. 69 (3): 141. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
- ^ Voegele, Erin. "Demonstrating Portable Energy: A modular gasification technology produces on-demand, biomass-based syngas". Biomass Magazine. BBI International. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ^ "Biochar in Berkeley?". Edible East Bay. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ Cheong, Kah; Zainal, Haryati; Loh, Soh; Kong, Sieng-Huat; Bachmann, Robert (September 2019). "Palm Kernel Shell Biochar Production, Characteristics and Carbon Sequestration Potential". Journal of Oil Palm Research. doi:10.21894/jopr.2019.0041.
- ^ Boateng, A.A.; Mullen, C.A (12/12/2012). "Fast pyrolysis of biomass thermally pretreated by torrefaction". Journal of Analytical & Applied Pyrolysis. 100: 95–102.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Nguyen, Tuan. "Carbon-Negative Energy Is Here! This Device Makes Clean Energy and Fertilizer". Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ^ Amador, Giana. "Philanthropy Beyond Carbon Neutrality: Unlocking the Potential of Carbon Removal Solutions". Center for Carbon Removal. p. 16. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.