January 2008 Archives

Martin Library will host an environmental panel discussion on February 21 featuring:

I was interviewed, via keybord of course, since I will be one of the moderators. Below is the text of the interview:

5. In your opinion, how does the level of environmental awareness in York County compare to that of other similar-sized communities?

York is a land of plenty. We have enjoyed low population congestion and are blessed with resources. California is tuned into air pollution because congestion and climate patterns demanded action. The desert southwest is tuned into water supply because of the lack of it. Other than the Codorus Creek, a stray landfill and an occasional bad ozone day, York County generally has not been confronted in the face with major environmental issues. High oil prices, wars and global cries that we need to act have brought these concerns home to York.

6. What do you believe the typical Yorker can do to improve the environment?

Use less to do more. Nothing will lower pollution, lower oil prices, and stretch resources more than choosing to use less through product choice and lifestyle. This concept runs contrary to our financial model that, up until now, has promoted and thrived on people using more energy.

7. As editor of Greenmesh.com, what do you see as the most promising alternative to oil-based energy?

Experimenting with many alternatives is the best was to transition away from an oil based economy. It takes time to understand the repercussions of any form of energy production. Solar collection is the lowest impacting source of alternative energy, but in places like Pennsylvania, solar isn’t practical most of the time. We have already experienced the implications of diving head first into corn-based ethanol by higher food and feed prices.

All methods of energy production have environmental implications and placing all our eggs in one basket gives power to a new monopoly and will accentuate any negative effects of pushing a single solution of energy production....

GM wants the Chinese to think green.

Capable of running 12 km/l of petrol, instead of the 10.2 km/l the regular version is able to achieve, the LaCrosse Eco-Hybrid is, according to Shanghai GM, the “first mainstream hybrid model in China’s upper-medium vehicle segment with volume production”. It offers almost an increase of 20% in fuel economy... news.trend.az

edmunds.com did a cost analysis/review of the new two-mode hybrid full-sized General Motors platform.

The full-size hybrid SUV offers a 3.1-mpg improvement over the standard power drive system. If you drive 15,000 miles annually, the hybrid truck will consume 149 fewer gallons of fuel per year less than its conventional counterpart, this is a 19 percent improvement. Do a little more math using the current average U.S. fuel cost and you'll find that's a $456 savings per year.

Since an SUV uses far more fuel annually than a small car, even a small improvement fuel economy can make a big difference in gallons of fuel saved at the end of the year. Run the same comparative calculation using EPA fuel estimates for a Honda Civic EX and a Honda Civic Hybrid, and the annual fuel savings for the Honda works out to 139 gallons. You are saving the same fuel comparing the hybrid over non-hybrid, you just use alot more fuel to begin with.

Add a surcharge for the hybrid, $9,100 more than a comparably equipped standard Tahoe with the 5.3-liter V8 and four-speed automatic transmission, minus the IRS $2,200 tax credit and it will take 15 years to recoup the cost at 15,000 miles per year.

So the bottom line from Edmonds: Save 149 gallons a year, spend more money, get more standard equipment and better performance over a standard powered Tahoe.

The biggest question remains: Does one need a really need a huge vehicle for personal transport? A cross-over or minivan can transport the same number of people as a Tahoe. A small hybrid or economy car that gets 45mpg uses one-third the fuel of the Tahoe or to put it another way, three cars can replace one Tahoe and use the same amount of fuel.

Nuclear energy electrical production cost usually takes on a static pose, relatively stable and free from the roller coaster of Wall Street when compared to fossil fuel energy production.

Once you get over the cost of building the plant, nuclear hazards associated with the possibility of poor management and far fetched mechanical failure scenarios throwing in a few cooling and disposal issues, it's really not a bad deal in the fight for energy independence.

North Carolina consumers might just get a taste of buying energy on the wholesale market as bodies of water needed to cool several key nuke plants dry up. The plants need millions of gallons of the water to cool reactors and generate condensate steam for turbines. Once levels drop below standards needed to cool the plant, the reactor must be shut down.

If there isn't a significant rainfall for drought stricken areas, 24 (of 104 U.S. plants) in areas experiencing the most severe levels of drought could be forced to shut down.

For North Carolina: "Currently, nuclear power costs between $5 to $7 to produce a megawatt hour," said Daniele Seitz, an energy analyst with New York-based Dahlman Rose & Co. "It would cost 10 times that amount that if you had to buy replacement power - especially during the summer." AP

For the rest of us, demand always equals increased cost.

100,000 mile testing of an ultra capacitor mated to standard lead acid batteries.

An ultra capacitor buffers energy to the battery supply allowing energy surges to be more efficient and improving battery life by reducing shock. Using a known battery type cuts cost.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia has been running a Prius equipped with lead acid batteries and an ultra capacitor.

The UltraBattery combines a supercapacitor and a lead acid battery in a single unit, creating a hybrid car battery that lasts longer, costs less and is more powerful than current technologies used in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).

“Previous tests show the UltraBattery has a life cycle that is at least four times longer and produces 50 per cent more power than conventional battery systems. It’s also about 70 per cent cheaper than the batteries currently used in HEVs,”, according to David Lamb, who leads low emissions transport research with the Energy Transformed National Research Flagship. sciencedaily.com

Kenbob writes greenmesh:

I've heard this too about red meat. Personally, when I cook I try to use meat as a complement to the dish rather than as a centerpiece. I try to eat foods that are in season too (mostly because I expect those foods to be fresher), but admittedly it can be hard.

At least this shows that there are many ways a person can act to have a positive effect on combating Global Warming. If you can't give up the SUV, maybe you can give up the red meat.

This summer I planted about $4 of seeds in the backyard. I had tomatoes and cucumbers from June through November.

I was trying to think of how many truck miles would be saved if neighborhoods could cultivate micro farming in backyards that receive normal cycles of rain, not to mention not having to drive to the store.

I was looking at wild frozen salmon a few months ago in a local grocery store. It was caught in Alaska, packaged in China and then shipped to York.

A massive amount of fuel is used in a global food economy. It has expanded and consolidated from the small farm model to a point to where the consumer has little control of content and source.

Neighborhood gardens and local cooperatives like Goldfinch Farm help cut the transportation carbon. And as a bonus, it's great to have a hand, literally, in your food.

Not that this has anything to do with green, but I love hydronic (water) heating systems.

bisque.co.uk

test

"A plant-based diet requires about one fourth as much energy as a diet rich in red meat," Brown said in a statement. "The reduction in carbon emissions in shifting from a red meat-rich diet to a plant-based diet is about the same as that in shifting from a Chevrolet Suburban SUV to a Toyota Prius hybrid car."

Brown points out that even vegetables have their environmental cost.

Most Americans have come to take for granted fresh strawberries shipped 4,800 kilometres from the West to East Coast, fresh green beans from Kenya and fresh mangoes from Mexico. All consume huge amounts of fuel for transport, contributing to the carbon emissions blamed for global warming. earthtimes.com

By the same token, "westernizing" Asian and other plant based cultures by adding more meat results in more energy needed to feed more people.

Here is a U.S. innovation that combines mass transit, small displacement engines and beer. It's the Cruzin Cooler!

A 33cc 2 cycle Motor can go up to 15mph. The electric version has a range of 15 miles. Cargo capacity 24-12oz cans with 8# ice. cruzincooler.com

General Motors Corp. said today that it has bought a stake in start-up biofuel company Coskata Inc. which has developed a commercially viable process to bring cellulose-based ethanol to the market in 2011.

Cellulosic ethanol production currently costs about double that of traditional U.S. ethanol, a plant-based distilled alcohol derived mostly from corn in the United States and from sugar in Brazil. reuters

According to the coskataenergy website website:

Coskata is a biology-based renewable energy company. Our technology enables the low-cost production of ethanol from a wide variety of input material including biomass, municipal solid waste and other carbonaceous material. Using proprietary microorganisms and patented bioreactor designs, we will produce ethanol for under US$1.00 per gallon.

What this means is that if someone is able to pull off a low cost cellulosic ethanol production method, the market for corn based ethanol and the recent acceleration in price for corn would drop.

General Motors already has many underutilized flex-fuel vehicles in the nation's vehicle fleet that could use ethanol if a viable method of low cost production was invented.

The website for AFS Trinity reads,

"On January 13th, the world of hybrids will change forever"

AFS Trinity has been working on a plug-in hybrid system that can turn a car into a triple digit mileage maker.

The main thrust of evolution behind the AFS system is an ultra capacitor that buffers the charge between it's batteries and regeneration system. The company says that the padding effect of the ultra capacitor and advanced electronic controls helps keep Lithium Ion batteries from overheating from the demands of heavy discharge and recharging. A major hurtle in using these batteries in plug-in hybrid electric cars.

The vehicle, plugged in overnight, can run solely on electric at all speeds for about 45 miles at which point it will be supplemented by a gasoline engine. The company hopes to sell the idea to an OEM vehicle builder or market it themselves.

Update:

DETROIT, January 13, 2008 . . . In just completed road tests, a 2007 SUV straight off an American automaker’s showroom floor and subsequently equipped with the patent pending Extreme Hybrid™ (XH™) drive train, exceeded 150 mpg, AFS Trinity Power Corporation reported today at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.

Americans bought more Toyota Prius hybrids last year than Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles, the top-selling SUV for more than a decade.

The Explorer led the SUV pack in the 1990s to replace the minivan as the family car, about 6 million have driven out of showrooms over the past 18 years.

Filling an Explorer fuel tank now costs close to $70, against $30 five years ago. The traditional SUV "is a dead market", says George Magliano, director of automotive industry analysis at consultant Global Insight.
Financial Times/ft.com

You really can't fault someone from Baltimore for seeking a better quality of life by buying a house here in York and commuting to Baltimore. Real estate prices, taxes and a high cost for life that come with high population densities in urban areas like Baltimore has pushed people into their cars and up Interstate 83.

Unfortunately, this consumes a massive amount of gasoline, clogs roads and creates bedroom communities that rob both Baltimore, York and in the end the commuter of a fully functioning life as they seek to survive in an never ending spiral of costs.

Once in a land long, long ago. cities like York were built up around factories. People walked to work, or took electric trolleys. They went to churches, pubs and stores in their community and were able to invest the time spent commuting into their children and neighborhoods. When your whole life is your community, you have an intense interest in preserving it's whole.

Baltimore City will contribute $1,000 per employee, which will be matched by over 85 participating employers. Employees will be required to contribute a minimum of $1,000 cash toward the purchase of their home. It's the idea of getting people back to living where they work.

livebaltimore.com/hb/inc/lnyw/

Indian manufacturer Tata motors of India has unveiled its it's $2,500 "people's car" today. The car targets the massive poor population of Indian that has not yet been drawn into car transportation. The car averages 50 miles per gallon.

Chief U.N. climate scientist Rajendra Pachauri, who shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize, said last month that he was "having nightmares" about the prospect of the low-cost car, reported The Associated Press.

"If you're talking about urban environment, it will cause serious problems," Jamie Leather, a transport specialist with the Asian Development Bank, told AP. "It's a major concern."

AP reported that in 2005, Indian vehicles released 219 million tons of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.
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By 2035, that number is projected to increase to 1,467 million tons, due largely to the expanding middle-class and the expected rise of low-cost cars, according to the Asian Development Bank. cnn.com/business

As a global economy further expands wealth and markets for third world countries, so do the need for resources.

In the U.S., a 50 mpg car that meets European emissions specs that costs $2,500 would be a net gain for an entrenched car population. While used $2,500 cars are available for those with lean incomes, they are often cars that create higher pollution and use more gas.

Vernon Township, up near Lake Erie, like many areas of Pennsylvania has farmland to burn and is struggling with the idea of building ethanol plants. Northwestern Pennsylvania was the nation’s petroleum pioneer.

Crawford County ethanol plant still doesn't add up for experts
- Meadville Tribune

James Dunn from Penn State University recommends. As Dunn sees it, the bottom line on corn ethanol is simple. “I wouldn’t do it in Pennsylvania,” he said, summing up his presentation to the task force. “The math doesn’t work.”

Keystone Ethanol Energy Producers, a company formed to bring a corn-based ethanol plant to Crawford or Mercer counties, has a consultant coming in September to help choose a site.

A new gas-electric Saturn Vue hybrid will leapfrog models like the Toyota Highlander hybrid to become the world's most fuel-efficient V6 SUV when it goes on sale late this year, General Motors Corp. promises.

The Vue Green Line 2 Mode will debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit later this month.

Saturn hasn't revealed fuel economy figures, but tests indicate a 60% improvement in city fuel economy and nearly 50% on the highway. The mileage improvements, GM insiders suggest, would work out to 25 to 26 m.p.g. in the city and around 34 m.p.g. on the highway. Detroit Free Press

This is the dual-mode hybrid transmission that has been developed as a joint venture between Chrysler, GM and BMW that recently appeared in GM's full-sized trucks.

The Saturn VUE was previously offered in a mild hybrid version that drove and recharge/charge system off the alternator belt that didn't offer much mileage improvement.

I was walking around the Pennsylvania Farm Show looking for new green inventions and i stumbled across an old wagon that said "Coal Oil". Living in a state where coal is plentiful and oil is getting more expensive, it made me pause.

Coal Oil has been around since the 1850's. Coal was distilled with other materials and a liquid fuel was derived. The Third Reich made 600,000 barrels a day of petrol and aviation gas during WWII.

The technology was improved greatly in South Africa in the apartheid years to reduce dependence on imported oil. Today there are three CTL plants in what is now democratic South Africa, converting coal into 150,000 barrels a day (equal to the output of a medium-sized oilfield). In addition to petrol, diesel and avgas, the process produces a wide range of by-products such as petrochemicals, waxes, feedstocks for plastics manufacture, and fuel gas. moneyweek.com

the United States has about 265 billion tons of coal reserves. If we continue to use coal at the same rate as we do today, we will have enough coal to last 285 years. This vast amount of coal makes the United States the world leader in known coal reserves lsa.colorado.edu

However, generation of coal to liquid fuel in it's current level of technology generates massive amounts of green house gasses and other pollutants, plus coal accounts for a large portion of electricity generation and raising the demand for coal by the production of liquid fuel would trickle into electrical generation rates.

Consumer Reports Feb 2008, based on their own testing.
Overall mpg (combined city/highway)
1. Toyota Prius CVT 44
2. Honda Civic Hybrid CVT 37
3. Toyota Camary CVT 34
4. Toyota Yaris 34
5. Honda Fit Sport 34
6. Toyota Yaris (auto), base 33
7. Honda Fit (auto), base 32
8. Honda Civic EX 31
9. Hyundai Accent GS 30
10. Kia RioS SX 30
11. Mazda3 30
12. Mini Cooper S 30

Does a bird know it is 2008, or what day it is... what day does your dog think it is? Are you any much older at 30, than you were at 29?

Oil reached an historic $100 a barrel for five reasons over a long period of time

Supply
We can't pump enough to meet the perceived demand. Most models suggest that world oil supplies will peak around 2010, while world population will continues to balloon.
Demand
North American has always been a large consumer of oil, however, we have been preaching the gospel of Capitalism to far away markets like China and India so that we can expand markets for cars and refrigerators.... To live like us they must consume like us. People living with simple means have been taught that they need to consume.
Sagging dollar
The value of the dollar has been falling which may sound great for exporting, but for oil producing countries, it means that they get paid less. There is an incentive to keep the price high right now by foreign producers.
Scary stuff
People fear supply cuts due to global unrest and how government manages fear. Real or perceived, fear makes a good investment in oil more valuable
It's a great investment
As much as people would like to blame big oil companies and commodity traders. There is a good possibility that your 401-K or pension is partially invested in oil because it has been such a good speculation. Speculation of profit builds profit and price.

We can't do much about supply or global events, but we can control consumption and place our fears and investment practices in perspective. One hundred is just a number; to fear it only makes the price higher.

Interesting little device that lets you convert kilowatts into dollars before your eyes.

www.p3international.com