New News

Eventually I will run out of witty titles... hey, I think that's already started!

I've never heard of this man but he sounded like quite a guy:

"The Challenge Bibendum was Edouard Michelin's idea, stemming from his deeply held belief that all physical reality is ultimately perishable but that its eventual demise could be delayed or made less painful if available resources are managed intelligently."

Link here

Edouard Michelin is, or rather was, the chief executive of Michelin Tire. He apparently drowned last week but his legacy lives on in this interesting alternative fuel program! What a cool way to be remembered!

"Dignity. I think that's important, don't you?"

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"Our capital system (the extraction of oil) is not limited by rate of supply - but it is finite. Reducing the capital that we consume does not get us to a sustainable world. Beating your spouse less hard is no answer!"

Pretty hard-core way of looking at it but I can't say I disagree. This article is a little pie-in-the-sky but that's how I like my alternative energy press: optimistic. They're basically saying that conventional wisdom does not apply to an unconventional situation. If you've ever had doubts about the hydro picture, this helps you see things in a different light.

Link here

"Hugo Spowers's engineering degree and MBA were sufficient to convince him that the barriers were neither technical nor financial but human."

I agree whole-heartedly...

Ford is Funny

I can picture W saying this:

"People got to have trucks," said Corinna Sadler, Internet sales manager at Frederick Motor Co. "We've got to do something to keep them in their trucks, and Ford's addressing it."

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyid=49481

Some interesting MPG tips:

"As a rule of thumb, each five miles per hour over 60 is like paying an additional 20 cents per gallon of gas," Mr. Harrington said.

In Cali prices, I'm paying about $4.40... every morning. ACK!

"Another tip is to avoid idling. Today's cars do not need to be warmed up like the vehicles in the past and no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed, Mr. Harrington said. "The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it," he said.

Something else I do wrong...

"Unneeded weight caused by using a trunk as an additional storage area also decreases mileage, Mr. Harrington said. "

Subwoofers don't count though, right?

THIS, my friends, is the future of science

When I first got this job sorting, categorizing and segregating chemicals, I thought "where do all these things come from?" Turns out, many of the strange chemicals that are used out there are byproducts of other reactions for things you would never think of. Everything we use, eat and apply is made through some kind of chemical process and those processes always have waste of some form. As society progresses and continues to have more and different needs, we have more and different manufacturing processes producing more and different types of waste. Tires, cosmetics, cleaning products, petroleum refining, everything has a unique waste product that can sometimes be put to work somewhere else. Even chocolate!!

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025546.000-chocolate-generates-electrical-power.html

OK so, wow, they're powering a fan but think about it this way: Let's say Hershey's has a factory, a big one, that makes all kinds of yummy, delicious confections. A mysterious salesperson comes knocking on the door and says "hey, my company has found a way to take the stuff you pay to get rid of and turn it into something you can sell." Several million dollars later, Hershey's has a low-cost hydrogen fuel pump for they're employees, a massive fuel cell stack to offset their electricity costs and a pipeline to sell hydrogen back to the energy grid. Utopian? I think not!

Slacking off...

Well, not actually... spent most of yesterday cleaning the car and working on the book. Last week was a MESS!! Glad it's over. On to the news...

Just when I thought I couldn't hate him anymore:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/31/politics/main1671380.shtml

The URL mentions politics and I mentioned hating a particular person. Could this be another ridiculous Bush move?

"...the tiny Industrial Technologies Program routinely saves the United States $7 worth of energy for each dollar it spends, proponents say. So, with energy prices spiking and President Bush pushing for more energy research, the ITP would seem a natural candidate for more funding. In fact, its budget is set to get chopped by a third from its 2005 level. It's one of more than a dozen energy-efficiency efforts that the Energy Department plans to trim or eliminate in a $115 million cost-saving move. "

ACK!!! Why?!? You cut a program that has an ROI of 7 times what is put in?? Here's why:

"the Bush administration is anxious to fund its new Advanced Energy Initiative, long-term research into nuclear, coal, wind, solar, and hydrogen power."

So, I can't be too pissed but, seriously, the total cut is $115m, how much is coming out of the ITP? Enough to make a difference? Something like this energy initiative needs (I can only assume) BILLIONS, not a couple hundred million, gimmee a break. This guy needs to go back to school. Wait a sec, do I see a hidden motivation? It's the usual sespect:

"When energy prices are high, you don't need to subsidize conservation efforts," says Jerry Taylor, director of natural resource studies for the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank. "These are subsidies that qualify as corporate welfare."

UGH!

"That National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently released its Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, which measures the gases in the atmosphere - including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons - that affect the planet's climate.

"The index showed an increase in carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, but a leveling off of methane and decline of two other chlorofluorocarbons."

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2621.htm

Surprise surprise, more CO2 in the atmosphere.... at least other markers are going down which could be an indicator ofconsciensciousness.

I'm posting this just to make sure everyone is aware that greenhouse gases are REAL and MEASURABLE. Whether they are reaching critical mass and we're cooking ourselves slowly or there is nothing to worry about, emmitted carbon structures do exist in the air and we did put them there.

On a different note:

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20060528/NEWS/105280052

"The hydrogen will be produced through electrolysis - the process of using electricity of spilling water into hydrogen and oxygen. "

Uhhhh... what? Spilling water? At least I just learned about this group: http://www.nrel.gov/

Quick and ..well... clean!

All the news that's fit to blog:

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Chattanooga, TN is testing a fridge-sized fuel cell (converts natural gas to electricity and hydrogen... theoretically this is the type we will see in our homes for the first wave of this technology. Pump in CNG [clean natural gas], power the home with electricity and fuel your hydro car overnight):

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/05/28/1661313.htm

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Article about coal gasification if you know nothing about it; basically a better way of using coal for energy (i.e. instead of burning it). I didn't know that coal produces half of our energy, that's surprising.

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2006/05/28/business/16417673.txt

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This is what happens when governments stops TALKING and starts THINKING. A very cool mass transit idea from Bristol, UK

http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage5285.html

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Detractors (eyes rolling)... this guy has so many facts wrong it's silly. Oh well, at least he's pulling for other green methods instead of traching the idea that we should move on from petroleum.

http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=15059_0_11_0_C

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I never knew that oil drilled out of Alaska or offshores was considered an alternative to oil. No, that's not a typo, this Congressman's big "alternative energy plan" is drilling offshore and in the ANWR. Ugh... not as bad as some of the stuff going on, though, and he's also promoting nuclear energy (not Chernobyl nuclear, Koeberg nuclear, read up). Plus, anyone that promotes hydrogen fuel cells has a special place in my heart!

http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=communique&newsid=12014

BTW: Read both sides of the ANWR debate... it sounds bad from the get-go but really is not as horrible as you might think. Regardless, drilling for more oil is very short-sighted but typical of this administration.

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Funniest picture in weeks: