Wood gasification

Lucas has assembled a crack team for a possible New Madrid earthquake. One of the members of his team is Scott Spence, who specializes in alternative energy. He has an interesting set up including a wood gasification system.

Believe it or not, the process of gasification has been around for hundreds of years, attributed to William Murdoch in the late 18th century. As opposed to simple combustion, gasification uses a much smaller amount of oxygen and a very high amount of pressure.

Under these conditions, any sort of fuel such as wood or coal is turned into a gas – char in the case of coal. The pressure turns this gas into a liquid which is filtered through a cooling chamber and filtered for impurities like sulfur. The end result is a product called syngas which can be used much like natural gas.

Due to the refining process, gasification does not pollute the air like firing a coal stove does. In addition, setting up one at home is fairly easy and many people on youtube have made their own gasifiers. FEMA even released public plans for use in a gas crisis!

“Why isn’t there brown rice?”

This was a comment from one of Lucas’s family members but I think it bears some inspection. Lucas claimed that white rice stored better than brown rice. I haven’t been able to verify, but the numbers on any type of rice stored in an oxygen free environment are roughly 30 years.

While there may not be a big difference in storage time, there are a number of nutritional differences to keep in mind. Mainstream health would have you believe that brown rice is simply the better alternative. Because it includes the husk, all sorts of minerals and vitamins are attributed to be contained within.

There may be more than meets the eye. Rice husks contain phytic acid, which if you recall are responsible for keeping seeds from sprouting. They do this through the binding of minerals. While the minerals contained within brown rice may show up when using a calorimeter, they are not necessarily absorbed.

Moreover, regular consumption of brown rice has been show to affect mineral absorption globally in a number of studies. In addition, phytates  are considered lectins, a known cause of inflammation. It’s a big price to pay for the supposed fiber benefits of brown rice. While a diet heavily based on carbohydrates is not ideal, minimizing phytates can offer some damage control with the rest of the nutrients.

Food dehydration

Another practice that Lucas and his family has taken up is food dehydration. I have had all sorts of fun with my dehydrator so far  and it is an easy way to make your food more storable. Removing water greatly reduces the ability of bacteria to form on your food. Storing in a vaccuum sealed contained can further improve longevity.

Important disclaimer – beef jerky will not keep for much longer than a month without secondary storage. While it is great for portability it is not necessarily shelf stable.