Thoughts from Jones, and a Suggestion

This morning, I came up with an idea to fix New Orleans. In a nut-shell:

Ship all our garbage, that we've been hearing for so many years there's no room for, to be used as landfill. Raise the city high enough above sea level to protect it from a category 12 (or something) hurricane, and get rid of the need for levees. Then, tap the methane from the garbage to generate electricity. Use methane powered microturbines so that power goes right from the source to homes without a large grid that will be knocked out by high winds. Voila! Welcome to New New Orleans, let's get drunk.

Now, I've read this wonderful post from Phelony Jones, and I see a new opportunity.

Sooner or later, this country is going to realize that we need to build refining capacity. While I agree with Jones that $100 a person could build one heck of a refinery and probably expedite the project to boot, there is a serious opportunity here for someone to jump ahead of the curve.

The power industry has figured out how to build micro power stations, single generator units that supply a neighborhood for example. How quickly could someone get ahead if they had plans for a micro refinery? By building small, you avoid a lot of the time consuming civil engineering and site surveys. The unit could be a single design, requiring no re-engineering each time. The tough part with a refinery is the piping infrastructure, but what if you could get by with trucks?

The idea seems far-fetched now, but we seem determined to overrun our refining capacity to the point where we WILL need to do something in very short order when someone finally recognizes the problem. At that point, the cost difference won't matter. If you're in a position to do something with this million-dollar idea, you can thank me by writing a check.

Got any other problems? Send them my way. I'm on a roll today.