A Retired JPL Engineer’s Journey: From Space Probes to Carbon-Neutral Farming

IEEE Spectrum ^ | 31 October 2019 | Jay Schmuecker Editor's Picks The IFC CEO standing behind a solar panel with a few colleagues. Egypt

[Western Phil]

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my love of farms and farming never went away, and in 1999, I purchased my paternal grandfather’s 130-hectare (320-acre) property, Pinehurst Farm, which had been out of the family for 55 years. I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d do with the place, but by the time I retired in 2007, there was more and more talk about climate change due to human-caused carbon emissions. I knew that agriculture has a large carbon footprint, and I wondered if there was a way to make farming more sustainable.

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I recalled a conversation I’d had with my dad and his friend, Roy McAlister, right after I acquired the farm. Roy was the president of the American Hydrogen Association, and he owned a hydrogen-powered Nissan pickup truck. Both men were vocal advocates for replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen to reduce the United States’ dependence on oil imports. The same transition would also have a big impact on carbon emissions. And so, in 2008, I decided to create a solar-hydrogen system for Pinehurst Farm as a memorial to my father. I’d use solar power to run the equipment that would generate fuel for a hydrogen-burning tractor. Several years into the project, I decided to also make ammonia (nitrogen trihydride, or NH3) to use as tractor fuel and crop fertilizer.

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[A strike]

Jay, bend over really, Really, REALLY far, plug in and stay there.

[Rembrandt]

I think he should first attract all the Communists he can find (should be easy since
he’s a sympathizer) and they should pray for a lot of rain. Then dig out the fields to a depth of 1/2 meter, accumulate water in the new “drowned fields’ and plant rice which requires a lot of communists to tend. At harvest time, they can sell the rice to Communist countries which will respond with offers of “free health care.” Since Cuba doesn’t fulfill their promises of free health care, he can sell his rice to them then go to see them. They will make sure all his money goes to good causes and he will get free room and board at a state facility. All of his needs met! To each according to his needs and all that BS.

[antidemoncrat]

Most of the ones in Ohio where I grew up used the John Deere 2 cylinder diesel tractors and probably the power combines you spoke of but they didn’t drive cars and if I remember they didn’t use electricity.

[NewHampshireDuo]

Never been an IEEE member. AVS only.