May 2008 Archives

A study of carbon emissions in the 100 largest metropolitan areas of the U.S. released today by the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution states that Central Pennsylvania is No. 9 in U.S. for carbon dioxide pollution.

The figure is 1.5 times the national average of 2.24 tons. We create more carbon dioxide than someone living in South Philly or Brooklyn.

The study focused on residential energy consumption and transportation. What researchers found was that compact residential development with access to rail transportation had lower carbon emissions overall.

Among the largest single sources of carbon emissions are coal-burning electric plants, such as PPL's Brunner Island plant on the Susquehanna River.

The Harrisburg region scored near the bottom because of its development pattern, the lack of rail-based mass transit and its high volume of diesel trucks. We are also a major transportation shipping point.
pennlive.com

I was out hypermiling again, this time with my motorcycle.

If i keep it between 2300 and 2800 rpm and about 40-45 mpg, coasting, almost no braking. In a near perfect scenario between Gettysburg and York with the wind at my back and maybe the help of a tractor trailer on Route 234.

Not bad for an 800cc engine.

Ooooo! look Exxonmobileshellhess... no profit from me today for a fill-up. A few less dollars going to countries that don't like us very much and some pressure on reducing demand to reduce price.

67 mpg motorcycle grocery getter camper - greenmesh 05/18/08

The pursuit of hypermileage - greenmesh 05/12/08

(Paul Kuehnel - York Daily Record / Sunday News)

Park Cunningham hosts Gov. Ed Rendell's energy policy news conference in front of his home in North York. Rendell said Cunningham turned out to be a perfect illustration for the issues at hand: likely increases in utility rates, and how the state can prepare for them.

Rendell used one of Cunningham's recent electricity bills for $97 as an illustration. He said that amount would likely rise to $150 a month under increases projected by the state consumer advocate. The cause would be the expiration of caps on utility rates scheduled for 2010.

"This could be the straw that breaks the camel's back for ordinary Pennsylvanians," Rendell said.

Rendell's purpose in conducting the news conference was to tout his "energy independence strategy." That's his blanket term for four bills that would deal with Pennsylvania's energy policy.

The strategy Rendell endorses wouldn't reinstate the cap but would implement a number of measures meant to lower energy costs in preparation for 2010.

Three of those four bills have passed in the House of Representatives. Now they're awaiting action in the state Senate.

Irving Oil Ltd., the energy arm of the Irving family's East Coast conglomerate, is looking at producing electricity from the powerful tides in the Bay of Fundy as a way to diversify into renewable energy. Company spokeswoman Jennifer Parker said the studies could cost a total of $600,000.

Experts say tidal power offers huge potential because it is more predictable than solar or wind power, and because the density of water spins turbines with greater force than wind. And the Bay of Fundy is especially attractive because it has the highest tides in the world, and is close to an electricity transmission grid, meaning the power should be able to be brought economically to market.

A 2007 report by the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., identified seven sites in North America that might be suitable for tidal power, estimating that in total they could probably support 551 turbines, each producing one megawatt of power. Of that total, 250 would be in the Minas Pass in Nova Scotia and 66 at Head Harbour in New Brunswick (one of the sites the Irving team will now assess). globeandmail.com

I don't think the general public would be as pissed off at oil companies if they thought that their financial sacrifices at the pump were a means to an end. It's rare to find a story where an oil company is trying to diversify itself in a non-petroleum way to meet the new energy challenge.

When oil giants met with Senate last week, (Senators vs. Oil Executives vs. OPEC vs.... greenmesh 5/21) they talked of wanting to drill more in protected areas and the need to hoard their profit for a rainy day. I don't recall anyone at the table saying that they wanted to use the huge profits to diversify into renewable resources.

Using windfall oil profit to diversify, build a future business model for themselves and harmony with their customers and government is preferably (at least to me) to hoarding, calling themselves victims and trying to grab new land for drilling.

U.S., hybrids still only account for three per cent of new-car sales -- SUVs are around 14 per cent.

The four-bangers account for 37 per cent of the U.S. market, up from 30 per cent just three years ago. canada.com

Cost speaks:
"For now, the easiest, cheapest way for new-car shoppers to get better mileage is to choose a model with a conventional four-cylinder engine. And they are," said Jason Rothkop, a J.D. Power and Associates analyst recently.

Paul Kuehnel - York Daily Record / Sunday News

The memorial in Hallam listing the names of veterans now features the names of post-World War II troops. Martin Kondor's memory pulled the project together. Kondor, was killed in 2004 while serving in Iraq.

For decades, a memorial listing the names of veterans sat at the northwest corner of Hallam's Market and Prospect streets. In recent years, it was nothing more than a background blur for some residents.

Officials in Hallam and Hellam Township hope local residents will notice it now. The local Veterans of Foreign Wars post and the municipalities hold a parade and ceremony to celebrate changes to the nearly 64-year-old memorial.

BUSKIRK, N.Y. (AP) — A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings.

That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world's oil supply. Now, she's preparing for the world as we know it to disappear.

Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore off plane travel. She began relying on a wood-burning stove.

These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering U.S. economy, and are largely focused on saving themselves. (AP)

I can't say that I would choose to live on the edge of peril. I find too much hope and enjoyment in life to risk that for even one day by adopting a doomsday view of the future.

However, how cool would it be if everyone cut their driving in half, came up with a random alternative to heat their home that the commodities market wouldn't harness for profit. Gather the tax free, corporate free, sun, wind and water on their own properties and use their own soil to provide themselves food and fuel. The price oil, natural gas and electricity would plunge from the lack of demand and the individual would gain a degree of independence.

Doomsday averted.

A solution: build more interesting, high mileage small cars like they do other places?

"We saw a real change in the industry demand in pickups and SUV in the first two weeks of May," said Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally. "It seems to us we reached a tipping point."

Ford now believes that the change in vehicle choice is structural, not cyclical, Mulally said.

Mulally said the company in July will detail longer-term changes, including personnel reductions. cnn.money

It seems like the "tipping point" might have been five or six years ago. Sales of Toyota's subcompact Yaris increased 46 percent in April from a year earlier, and Honda's tiny Fit was up by 54 percent. Ford's own compact Focus model jumped 32 percent.

Ford's is pumping $1 billion into it's Brazilian operations to keep the stampede going. Ford do Brasil has had 15 quarters of profit and earnings are up 72-percent over last year (autoblog.com) from building tiny flex-fuel cars like the Fiesta that run on Brazil's abundant sugar cane ethanol.

With demand increasing for its stylish new models, Ford of Europe's sales soared by an impressive 93,500 units in 2007 to a record 1,833,600, a rise of 5.4 per cent on the previous year. Market share improved to 8.9 per cent. autochannel.com

(Paul Kuehnel - York Daily Record / Sunday News)

World War II veteran Jerry Cohen, age 88, is the last active member of Post 205 of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA. Assisted by Jewish Family Services, Cohen continues the post's annual tradition of replacing flags at South Hills Hebrew Cemetery.

A controlled burn out of control

Oil executives from the five biggest international oil companies were drilled today by the angry eyes of Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The scenario played out much as it has played out before.

Executives: We are victims, we need to drill more, give us your wilderness. If you dare tax us it will just cost you more. The cost is in the price of a barrel of oil of which we are not responsible.

J. Stephen Simon, executive vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp., said profits have been huge "in absolute terms" but must be viewed in the context of the massive scale of the industry." He also said high earnings are needed "in the current up cycle" to pay for investments in the long term when profits will be down. (AP)

Senators: Dianne Feinstein D-Calif.: “You seem to have a litany of complaints that you are all just hapless victims of a system,” Ms. Feinstein said. “You blame one thing or another that most people would say is just simply the cost of doing business. Yet you rack up record profits, quarter after quarter after quarter, and apparently have no ethical compass about the price of gasoline and think you are victims. I don’t think you are victims.” nyt.com/business

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Exxon's annual profits increased from $11.5 billion to $40.6 billion in the past five years and there was no explanation for "why profits have gone up so high when the consumer is suffering so much."(AP)

The Bush administration sometimes viewed as fueling the oil mess is helplessly caught in the gears. Jay Leno joked last night in his monologue that while the president was in the Middle East trying to cut a deal with OPEC to raise output, the price of gasoline at the pump went up 8 cents.

Speculation at it's best. As the value of the dollar slides, and the economy erodes investment flows into oil dollars. It's such a good bet because it just keeps going up, and up and up. Until. Anyone want to buy an overpriced house on Long Island, New York now?

The solutions of taxing, to grab some of the money flow, or adding to the volume of oil will just feed the machine.

We started the 1970's driving huge Chrysler Newports and ended the decade driving Dodge Omni's. The solution is in the hands of the desperate consumer. Cut demand by obsessive conservation; speculation and price will fall.

Crude oil rose to a record $135 a barrel today.

Honda Motor Co said today that it will launch its planned dedicated hybrid sedan in Japan, North America and Europe in early 2009.

The dedicated hybrid body design will likely look like the hydrogen fueled Honda Clarity. Chief Executive Takeo Fukui also said that a gasoline-electric hybrid version of the Honda Fit is expected. Honda has been working to drastically reduce production costs of their hybrid drive systems to narrow the premium difference between a gas only powered vehicle. reuters.com

Ford will be slowly phasing in a turbo combined with a direct injection gasoline engine across their product line in 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder engines. The updated engine technology is expected to increase fuel economy up to 20% and reduce 15% of CO2 emissions while increasing performance per liter of engine. The new technology will be available in half a million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles annually in North America during the next five years. ford.com

Direct injection of gasoline into the cylinder allows a more precise timing of the detonation of fuel. In a computerized combination with a turbo, it breaths and squeezes a bit more energy out of a drop of gasoline.

(Paul Kuehnel - York Daily Record / Sunday News)

The Rosies, a "Tony Awards-style" event open to the public, honors the best of York County's high school theater by bringing together hundreds of teenage thespians to compete for five prizes based on the evening's live performances.

And the Rosies went to...
Best Female Performer: Jillian Ambrose from Northeastern High School
Best Male Performer: A.J. D'Alfonso from Kennard-Dale High School
Best Production Number with Dance: William Penn Senior High School for "Aida"
Most Creative or Original Performance: Kennard-Dale High School for "42nd Street"
Best Overall Performance: Central York High School for "Crazy for You"

Due to the AP/MSN player randomly serving the wrong video, you may need to link to the permalink below to view the correct video.

(Paul Kuehnel - York Daily Record / Sunday News)

The Spring Garden Band has been performing for more than 150 years. The band played at two presidential inaugurations, state fairs across the country and recorded under contract with RCA.

When I was looking for a new motorcycle, I tried to find the highest mileage scooter that was capable of not getting run over on the highway. You would think that mileage ratings for motorcycles would be more transparent, but there is no government mile per gallon standard that manufactures are required to publish with the sale of the motorcycle so it becomes a guessing game based on internet searching.

Ironically, most motorcycles with a usable/flexilble engine size really don't get very good mileage and many with huge over 1,000cc displacements rate below my Civic Hybrid which has about the same size gasoline engine (1,200cc). I was replacing a 919cc in-line 4cyl Honda that got in the 45-50 mpg range and before that a carburated 4cyl Honda that got about the same.

For most people buying a motorcycle, it is more an emotional experience of coolness and/or chrome and that is how they are marketed. It's about the ride and the "lifestyle" more than a statement of responsible fuel use.

It is assumed that any motorcycle will get great mileage and if you compare it to most four wheeled vehicles on the road 45-50 mpg is probably double. However, from the perspective of a car owner who normally gets 45-50 mpg in my car, I expect more from a motorcycle.

I have always liked the saying: Live so that others (and things) can simply live. However, when our role in the economy is to be a "consumer", existence can become secondary to the goal of consumption.

In a letter published Friday in the medical journal Lancet, two scientists write that obese people are disproportionately responsible for high food prices and greenhouse gas emissions because they consume 18% more food energy due to their greater body mass -- and require increased quantities of fuel to transport themselves and the food they eat. "Promotion of a normal distribution of BMI would reduce the global demand for, and thus the price of, food," write the authors, Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts of the evocatively named London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. latimes.com

I headed down to Durham, North Carolina for a graduation over the weekend. I was trying to squeeze the most mileage I could out of a 2005 Civic Hybrid with a manual transmission with 65,000 miles on it. I think 56.7 miles per gallon might be a record for me.

My secret formula: Use cruise control and set it to 65. I did have the impossible to recreate advantage of no traffic jams on Interstate 95.

The York Water Co. is looking to increase water rates this year. Chief Financial Officer Kathy Miller said the company plans to say how much that increase will be and when it will take effect in the next few weeks. York Water Co.'s net income was down about 9 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

Part of the reason for a decrease in water use per person is an increase in water-efficient appliances and overall water conservation by customers, Miller said. inyork.com/ydr

With most materials and services in a free market, as the demand declines so does the price. In this instance, our reward for conservation, is a higher price.

It's a unique circumstance for a business...

When Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, it pushed a wall of water through the Irrawaddy Delta, a low-lying, densely populated area that had been stripped of its protective trees.

The delta had lost most of its mangrove forests along the coast to shrimp farms and rice paddies over the past decade. That removed what scientists say is one of nature's best defenses against violent storms. iht.com

At least 65,000 people are dead or missing and entire villages are submerged in the Irrawaddy delta after Saturday's cyclone.

Plants are natural filters for sediment and slow down the natural violence of water.

Imagine Central Pennsylvania when it was only virgin forest. Streams didn't swell up after a rainstorm as they do today because water was trapped in trees and slowed by grasses. Slow running streams don't erode as quickly and become deep trenches so sediment from flooding has the opportunity to deposit on the banks and create fertile soil.

As with the mangrove forests, disturbing grasses on our coasts and increasing erosion of natural sand barriers leaves inland areas more vulnerable.

Humans are attracted to water and coastal areas for economy and aesthetics. The combination of reduced defense, increased population and the random fury of nature paints a picture of reoccurring disaster.

(Paul Kuehnel - York Daily Record / Sunday News)

It's called speed networking;you meet many other business people in a short time. The idea is for participants to meet as many people as possible and cut out all the awkwardness. The York County Chamber held sessions at the Business and Technology Expo this week.

Due to the AP/MSN player randomly serving the wrong video, you may need to link to the permalink below to view the correct video.

Once upon a time, the philosophy behind letting a diesel engine idle was that it did more wear and tear on the engine and the fuel cost was marginal. Plus, long haul drivers sleep and relax in their trucks so it becomes a home away from home that needs power and climate control for a good night sleep.

Local New Oxford blogger (youngtrucker.blogspot.com) reminds fellow drivers to use an auxiliary power unit (APU). The small motor generator combination powers the mobile home of a driver while greatly reducing fuel cost by not running the large engine.

Each year, U.S. Trucks consume more than 1 billion gallons of diesel fuel without even moving. More specifically, the University of California, Davis estimates that each year the average truck consumes approximately 1,818 gallons of diesel fuel while idling. Under this assumption, those calculations result in over $6,000 in fuel costs at a national average of $3.00/ gallon per truck, per year. peakpowertools.com

And that was last week the current average price for road diesel in the US is $4.15 (5/5/08) That is an increase of $1.36 in the past year. In York County, $4.29 is about the lowest price today for a gallon of diesel.

It's no question that the price of diesel has an impact on the bottom line of farming. Virtually all mobile machinery on a farm runs on diesel.
Joe Lerew, a fruit grower, slowly drives a tractor across the rolling hills of his Adams County farm planting apple trees. Even without paying road taxes for farm diesel fuel, it costs Lerew $3.80 cents a gallon.

According to Lerew, the high price of fuel has made it costly for the west cost to market apples here giving him a cost advantage, and since Pennsylvania is cradled between Washington, D.C., Boston and New York, there is a hungry market for fruit craving to shed the cost of transportation.

Buying food produced close to home means less fuel is burned from seed to dinner table.

(Paul Kuehnel - York Daily Record / Sunday News)

"This is an act of kindness," 9-year-old Daryl said, as the pair handed the silver-haired woman a carnation and a small basket of candy and snacks. "I hope you have a good day."

Daryl, Livia and nine other children in the Empowering Youth TREND program spent Tuesday afternoon surprising neighbors with acts of kindness. They filled small baskets with goodies, gathered carnations donated by Lincolnway Flower Shop and set out to help others.

The Olde Towne East Neighborhood Association sparked the event, said Greg Clayton, the group's president. The association is tired of the bad reputation the youths in the community have gotten, he said.

"We're trying to change that perception of kids," he said. Jerri Zimmerman, a community resource assistant with York City Police, runs the TREND program. The kids head to the Community Resource Center on Reinecke Place every afternoon to use computers and participate in activities.

Children want to do good things, but sometimes they don't know how, Zimmerman said.

Due to the AP/MSN player randomly serving the wrong video, you may need to link to the permalink below to view the correct video.

As Clinton and McCain are still hot on the gas tax holiday, 230 economists -- Democrats, Republicans, advisers to past presidents and four Nobel laureates -- signed a letter today opposing proposals to suspend the 18-cent federal gas tax for the summer driving season. washingtonpost.com

First, research shows that waiving the gas tax would generate major profits for oil companies rather than significantly lowering prices for consumers," they wrote. "Second, it would encourage people to keep buying costly imported oil and do nothing to encourage conservation. Third, a tax holiday would provide very little relief to families feeling squeezed.

Greenmesh: Gas tax "holiday" is a bad idea part II (5/2)
Greenmesh: Reducing gas tax is a bad idea (4/27)

Interesting New York Times story about people questioning the electromagnetic fields in a hybrid car. (Fear, but Few Facts, on Hybrid Risk 4/27) The underlying premise of the story is that some people are using hand held meters that read electromagnetic fields and are worried, while manufactures say that the vehicles clear their own tests. Scientists say that they don't have any data that suggests any ill effects.

Hybrid cars move around huge blocks of electrical energy that create electrical fields when active. There is a motor with windings and thick cables that run under your seat. The electrical energy is the vehicle's torque. To define if electromagnetic fields are a problem is a difficult task.

A magnetic field is generated when power is flowing. So during hard acceleration and braking in a hybrid, electrons are flowing rapidly. During cruising when the batteries have been topped off, there is little current flow. So even if magnetic fields were a problem, everyone has different driving habits and routines and is subject to different amounts of electromagnetic fields.

We live around all kinds of magnetic fields. Sit on an electric train above the traction motor and you are sitting on an a big magnetic field. A heated seat, like an electric blanket, creates a constant low energy field and cell phone create fields inches from your brain that vary by the distance to a tower and the amount a person talks on the phone.

It's hard to quantify and analyze new hazards when our world is filled with existing chemical and electromagnetic interventions that are all contaminating our bodies more than if we lived in the virgin forest and hunted rabbits.

We can enjoy spending a few less dollars on gas and send a few less dollars to oil producing countries that don't like us until someone comes up with some evidence that hybrid cars kill us faster than everything else we have created.

The concept of a fuel cell for fueling cars and small electronics is just waiting to come of age.

Sony has combined a Lithium-polymer battery with a new hybrid fuel cell. The methanol powered fuel cell also recharges a battery during operation allowing the 1.2-inch by 2.0-inch power pack device to shed off excess power to the battery and power on after the fuel source has been depleted. intomobile.com

General Motors has reprogrammed the Chevrolet Cobalt with "engine mapping, lower roller resistance tires and perhaps some gearing adjustments" (autoblog) to squeeze out 5 more miles per gallon. It jumps from 31 to 36 mpg on the highway and increases just shy of that difference in the city. The thriftier Cobalt gets a badge that says XFE

Big Oil makes big profit and pays big taxes.

Some of the presidential candidates are screaming for a windfall profit tax on oil companies.

From 2003 to 2007, Exxon's earnings grew by 89%, while income taxes grew by 170%. Much of that growth was overseas. Exxon paid $9.3 billion in worldwide income taxes in the first quarter of 2008, representing a 49% tax rate on its gross income of $20.2 billion.

businessweek.com

In related news, When Congress passed the 2007 energy bill in December, it kept tax credits for oil and gas companies while allowing those for wind and solar power to expire this year.

The evil "big oil" equation is more than a few companies being evil profit mongers. It is about a profit stream that has developed that feeds things like dividends, commodities, and retirement accounts via 401-K and pension investments.

It's a tidal wave of money blasting it's way through Capitalism. It's too much of one thing, one force, one method of thinking; tunnel vision blinded by rows of zeros after the $.

I can't believe this concept continues as a viable election tool. It's just an all around costly negative that pulls money out of public transportation dollars, promotes consumption, raises oil revenue, and sets us up for a 18 cent spike in the fall when some other "crisis" will already have a grip on the oil market.

GRAHAM, N.C. - Hillary Clinton criticized Barack Obama yesterday for opposing the concept of suspending the gas tax during the peak summer driving months, a plan both she and Republican John McCain have endorsed. (Boston Globe)

Reducing Gas Tax is a bad idea - Part I - Greenmesh.com - April 27

Researchers at Hewlett-Packard have developed a working unit of a memory circuit that has existed in theory for 37 years, which could ultimately replace RAM and make computers more intelligent by tracking data it has retained.

Using a principle similar to the synapse of the brain, the memory can "learn" by repeated tasks.

A memristor circuit requires lower voltage and less time to turn on than competitive memory like DRAM and flash, Williams said. "Because it [uses] less voltage and less time, of course, it uses much less power," Williams said. Denser cells also allow memristor circuits to store more data than flash memory. PC World