September 2008 Archives

My natural gas bill is going up and so will electric rates soon and my income has been stagnant the past few years, so I set up a nuclear powered clothes drier to cut costs.

I came to the conclusion that my clothes drier, burning natural gas and electricity, really serves no purpose other than to consume resources and waste my money. In the winter, the beast sucks heated air out of my house that is already heated with gas. Every ten years or so I will spend $400 on a new machine.

Here is how it works: A giant ball, of mostly hydrogen and helium gas, is compressed and hung above my yard. This gigantic nuclear reactor isn't taxed and hasn't been monopolized on yet. It's free for me to use and should last several billion years. This is my heat source.

My blower is a byproduct of the reactor called wind. It also hasn't been monopolized on and taxed yet.

By taking a rope and attaching it horizontally to two vertical objects in my yard, I was able to maximize the effect of the nuclear reaction and wind.

Dry clothes for free.

Tyler Reisinger, of Dallastown, wins the medium title for the "Guitar Hero III" competition at the York Galleria.

As cars evolve from simple gasoline engines, to hybrids, to plug-in hybrids calculating real world mileage gets more difficult to estimate. The extremes and disgruntled customers will also become more obvious.

My neighbor jokes that his Chevy pick-up gets 11 mpg whether he is going uphill, downhill, or pulling a few thousand pounds. It's a simple large displacement V-8 that doesn't have to work very hard and breaths a continuous hefty mixture of fuel.

General Motors Corp. said Friday that it had reached a preliminary agreement that cleared the way for U.S. regulators to certify the Chevrolet Volt as the first 100 mpg car. But the Environmental Protection Agency said testing guidelines hadn't been finalized. latimes.com/business

After about 20 years of using the same calculating process, in 2008 the EPA began using new testing methods, which EPA finalized in December 2006. Previous to this, hybrids were tested under old methods. While it was legal and prudent marketing to say a Toyota Prius attained 60 mpg and a Civic Hybrid 51, it wasn't realistic, which left some customers angry at the discrepancy.

Plug-in hybrids will offer a whole new chapter in EPA estimates verses consumer expectations. The numbers will be wild...

For 2009, Harley-Davidson is offering the Trike, or the Tri Glide Ultra Classic that was developed from the wheels up in combination with Lehman Trikes of South Dakota.

Harley-Davidson Open House Sept 25-Sept 27

The Tri Glide is powered by a Twin Cam 103 V-Twin engine with Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection, rated at 101 ft. lbs. of torque. It retains the 6-speed Cruise Drive transmission used on Harley-Davidson Touring motorcycles, but adds an optional electric reverse.

Harley-Davidson designed a new rear-axle assembly for the Tri Glide utilizing an aluminum center section with steel axle tubes. A belt final drive, and a rear suspension features dual air-adjustable rear shock absorbers. It's a wide stance touring Harley with a trunk.

Born out of the depression and in production until the early 1970's, Harley built another trike called the Servi-Car. It was used by mechanics, postal workers and police agencies; people who wanted a small functional working machine.

This trike has a solid axle to deal with 1930's road conditions.

The Servi-Car has an innovative hitch (see picture at right) on the front designed to mate with car bumpers of the time for car delivery and retrieval.

I can't resist an event where a company lets me ride their motorcycles on an 11 mile real world ride for free and you have to love Harley for this once a year not to miss event.

Harley-Davidson Open House Sept 25-Sept 27

A cut-a-way of the new Buell / Rotax liquid cooled 1125cc Helicon V-Twin caught my eye at the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in Washington D.C last winter.

Buell is the sport bike division of Harley-Davidson marketed to riders who aren't into the chrome and mystique, but would like to buy something American made that isn't a clone of anything.

Buell went to Austrian engine manufacturer Rotax to help them design a V-twin engine that utilizes three counter-balancers that smooth out the power monster. Rotax also makes the parallel 800 cc twin in my BMW 800 ST.

I love the quirky, one of a kind Buell designs, the low maintenance lifetime drive belt (BMW take notes here) with a tensioner that makes it feel like a drive shaft that only pulls in one direction - straight . However, I have never been a fan of a bike that the mirrors vibrate so badly you can't see what's behind you at a stop light. Previous Buells are based on HD engines.

The new Helicon® V-Twin is a symphony of motorcycle ecstasy. Lots of torque, a subtle trashy mechanical sound, and an assertive exhaust that lets you know it's a stealth rocket without sounding noisy.

The engine uses a "Hydraulic Vacuum Assist (HVA) Slipper-Action clutch that eases clutch pull and limits back-torque during hard downshifts". The result is one silky clutch/transmission combination.

Now if they would put this engine in the Buell Ulysses series (I'm more of an upright rider)... and trim down the cc to about 800 (I want to get 60+ mpg) .. that would be about perfect for me.

Toyota will unveil a compressed natural gas (CNG) hybrid Camry at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November.

Honda currently has the only CNG vehicle available in the U.S.

The Chrysler EV combines the electric-drive components of an electric vehicle with an integrated small-displacement engine and generator to produce additional electricity to power the electric-drive system when needed.

The Chrysler EV Range-extended Electric Vehicle can drive 40 miles on all-electric power, and boasts a range of 400 miles on approximately eight gallons of gasoline.

The sports car version is 100% electric 270hp 450 lbs. of torque, 0-60 in less than 5 seconds with a 150 mile range.

The video says the electric equivalent costs about 75 cents a gallon.

chrysler.com press release

Dedicated website with videos
www.chryslerllc.com

John Layton Sr. asked God for the chance to see his son serving in Iraq one more time. The career Navy veteran is suffering from a terminal illness. His son, Air Force Tech. Sgt. John was given emergency leave.

Given the current economic conditions, I think we all can agree that the U.S. needs a new economic/industrial policy.

CEO's Say US Needs New Industrial Policy.... a variety of economic statistics as evidence that the U.S. industrial sector is suffering overall. He noted that manufacturing currently makes up less than 12% of the U.S. economy, compared with nearly 22% of the U.S. economy three decades ago. cnn.com/money

I call it the Moral greening of Capitalism... There is a possibility of a depression, taxpayer buyout of bad debt insulating the risk in free-market with socialism, decades of outsourcing, do nothing energy plans that promote dependence and suck the life out of the economy... consumers, who sweated to create the wealth in the first place, taken hostage, roughed up and mugged.

I get up in the morning excited about the future of the day, next week, ten years from now.

The future: a simple concept to guide principles.

Allan Dameshek is honored during the Jewish Family Services of York 20th Anniversary Gala at the Out Door Country Club in York .

He went from the shoe business into the Jew business.

That's how Allan Dameshek sums up the half-century journey that took him from managing Bara Bootery in downtown York to creating Jewish Family Services of York.

Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles (PZEV) are vehicles that came about due to California emission standards dating back to the early 1990's. This technology has trickled over into the 50 state market.

The designation means a near pollution free vehicle without the hybrid hype and warrantied at that level for 150,000 miles. It doesn't necessarily mean that the vehicle gets good gas mileage. Some PZEV might not necessarily have high gas mileage.

• PZEV pollute as much as 90% less than other new cars.
• Fifty percent of pollution comes from the oldest 10% of cars. One 1970's car equals the pollution of hundreds of PZEV vehicles.
• 600,000 PZEV's are already on California roads.

The technology crosses over into all 50 states in some cars. I tried researching a comprehensive list and it got confusing. For example: A 2008 Prius is 50 PZEV compliant, Subaru offers PZEV in Legacy and Outback, but doesn't extend the warranty beyond California. PZEV vehicles have been build by manufacturers from Chrysler to Hyundai.

Continue reading to learn the specifics of how Subaru make it's 2.5 boxer engine a PZEV

A walk down Cherry Lane, in York, asking random people their opinion of an unnamed piece of art by local artist Jeff Koons. The art in quest is currently on display at the at the Palace of Versailles in France.

Canine Meadows, a new dog park at John C. Rudy County Park, is a popular place for dogs and people to socialize. Thirteen and a half acres. Fenced play areas. Free water. Everyone plays with others their size.

Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, voted with his fellow Republicans against the (energy) bill, calling it an example of "what is wrong with Washington."

Instead of addressing the interest of all Americans, Platts said the bill would continue to prohibit drilling in the locations where most of the oil and natural gas can be found. inyork.com/ydr 08/18/08

And in about 7+ years when this oil and gas hits the global market (a free and open oil market) where the value is controlled by those who have most of the oil (OPEC), the price effect will be nothing. The thirst by developing nations will continue to pressure that market and will only be more severe in following decades.

Oil is a dead end. The cry for drilling will continue until the day we run out and then there will be panic for a solution.

What is wrong with Washington is that it has allowed it's vision to be powered by whatever the monopoly is of the time.

What is wrong with Washington is that we should have been building a national resource of renewable energy decades ago so we wouldn't be so controlled by this mess now.

What is wrong with Washington is that it lacks innovative heroes who can dig through the think of the crowd, the flow of money, and look beyond the rhetoric of the day to the survival of future generations.

Congress' earlier attempts this year to renew wind, and solar tax credits, with a measure proposing higher taxes on the oil and gas industry to pay for it have been shot down.

"It's pretty remarkable. ... Wind turbines are used in political ads, yet we stand on the verge of not extending the credit which supports the growth of the largest-growing sector of the utility and energy area in the country," - Hunter Armistead, head of renewable energy for Babcock & Brown, the private-equity firm with 20 U.S. wind farms generating 1,600 megawatts wsj.com

House approves offshore drilling with alternatives, drillers revolt - greenmesh 9/08

Tom Smith, York County's West Nile Virus coordinator, checks traps after a Summer of area mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile Virus.

Sen. Barack Obama recently visited Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation in West Manchester Township. Bob Silknitter, of Red Lion, raised his hand and wondered why Sen. Obama never mentions hydroelectric power during his campaign speeches exhorting clean energy alternatives.

Solar and wind can be micro installations. Small businesses, and individuals are capable of exploiting this technology now and adding renewable energy to the electric grid.

You can't dam up your backyard and build a hydro station. It would be very difficult, if impossible, for Met-Ed to dam up a portion of the Susquehanna River and build a new hydro station.

New technology will make this cheaper and more available. If people are inspired and demand their government to provide incentives to empower all of us to be energy independent.

Hydro installations are huge capital expenditures taken on by government or huge power companies. Waterways in the United States are highly regulated and highly developed with people. In short, it is really difficult to build new hydro installations.

At the turn of the century about half of US power was generated by hydro, now that amount is down to 10%. Hydro takes a huge amount of land and water and most of those ideal situations have been used in the U.S.

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey has some great charts and graphs about hydro power in the U.S.

Most of the work done by Voith and American Hydro here in York is turbine replacement and to increase efficiency of the turbines at existing installations so utilities can squeeze more power out of falling water. The craftsmanship and innovation at these plants constantly evolves the planet's oldest form of producing power.

It really isn't realistic to promote hydro in the way one would promote solar and wind.

Commercial hydroelectric generation in the U.S. has been around since the 1880's Companies like Voith and American should be commended for constantly making technology this old even better.

The solar cell was invented about the same time (1883) but the evolution and application as part of our energy plan are quite different.

And a face...

A lithium-ion battery pack supplemented by a variety of propulsion possibilities will power the Chevrolet Volt, including gas and, in some vehicles, E85 ethanol to recharge the battery while you drive beyond the 40-mile battery range.

How about a clean running diesel? Diesels love to run in constant speed applications like generators.

Fully charged in 3 (220) or 8 hours (110) depending on the power source, the vehicle differs from a hybrid in that it uses its internal combustion engine to charge the batteries that turn the wheels. The ICE never drives the wheels.

Citing a 10-cent per kilowatt electric utility rate, GM estimates Volt owners will spend about 80 cents per day recharging without filling up at a gas station. boston.com

So do you think these will roll out of Chevy dealers?

The House voted today 236-189 to allow oil drilling off the nation's Atlantic and Pacific coasts if states agree -- but only 50 or more miles out.

The bill rolls back $18 billion in oil industry tax breaks and imposes new oil and gas royalties, while giving tax incentives for wind and solar industries and for conservation. (AP)

President Bush vetoed the bill saying "its a waste of time" and opponents argue that 50 miles is beyond where most of the estimated 18 billion barrels of oil is located.

Republicans who recently shouted "Drill Baby Drill" at their national convention hate the bill and the Democrats say drilling needs to be part of a comprehensive alternative plan.

The Republican's believe that the bill is an election year gimmick against the will of the people which is to lower gas prices.

Fifteen Republicans crossed the aisle to support the bill Tuesday. Thirteen Democrats voted against it.

Since we really don't control the the world oil market, of which the rest of the world has the majority of the oil and the oil we drill in the future will just flow on the world market.
Domestic drilling + OPEC = no impact (greenmesh 9/08)

As the United States feeds a global economy with outsourcing and imports the demand for global oil will just increase far greater than anything we can drill.

Even if we drill tomorrow it will take years before oil hits the world market.

The drilling initiative is almost pointless in the long or short-term, though it squeaks out a tiny addition to the world oil supply beyond the next decade.

The alternative is to...find an alternative? I don't get the problem with the bill.

Gene Schenck, vice president of the York Fair, discusses changes for the York Fair in 2009 on the last day of the fair. Features the bands Vocal Trash, Carolina Rain and Hendrick's Racing Pigs.

I am fascinated by machines that blend methods of locomotion we are familiar with and executes them in different combinations. Larry Weirich recently flew his home built hovercraft off of the Goldsboro Marina into the Susquehanna River.

Instead of cutting though the water like a standard boat, a hovercraft floats on a cushion of air and is propelled by pushing air.

Weirich says that if a standard boat and a hovercraft have the same horsepower, the hovercraft will go faster because it doesn't have to deal with the friction of cutting through water.

Some other vehicles and their frictional properties...

You would think a govenment wouldn't have to legislate to promote alternative energy when the oil machine seems to be so good at destroying it's own market. Reports of surges in gasoline prices are coming in with the tides of Hurricane Ike.

$6 a gallon in Florida, $5.59 in South Carolina and $4.79 in Virginia.

Nineteen percent of the U.S. refining capacity is clustered beneath the spiral of Hurricane Ike.

"A lot of it is simply incredible," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said, "and a lot of the price increases make no sense economically in terms of supply and demand." (AP)

We need to think long-term investment, pay cash up front for current expenses, take responsibility for use, and stop handling finances with smoke and mirrors.

After we are done hiding future costs in lease deals and creating special interest groups to defeat tolling we are left with one big problem - The infrastructure is crumbling and it needs not only money now, but a long-term investment solution so we don't have to panic and sell the back 50 acres of the farm every 10 years to get out of debt.

The trucker associations are cheering, the local residents who don't want a fee to get out of town are happy, and businesses who somehow think people will stop coming to the I-80 corridor are thrilled. I have never figured out the last one; when there are only two major east and west routes in Pennsylvania and one has already been tolled for the past 75 years.

Gov. Rendell is again pleading for a quick infusion of cash from the Abertis-Citi consortium in return for questionable long-term investment for Pennsylvanians.

The Feds rejected the plan to toll the turnpike because I-80 tolls "appear to have been predetermined by the Pennsylvania General Assembly based on considerations largely unrelated to the true costs" of operating and maintaining I-80. philly.com

It sounds like the The Federal Highway Administration needs to broaden their definition of what tolls can be used for and those who drew up the current toll plan need some better lawyers who understand the federal guidelines, unless they were just trying to push the evolution of the way tolls can be used and hoped for some creativity.

President Bush has suggested that agencies become more creative in coming up with ways to fund highways, making a political u-turn from veto mode to approve an $8-billion rescue plan for the federal highway fund. latimes.com

The reality is that our roads and bridges are crumbling. We need to come up with ways to finance public transportation. As everyone tries to grab a bit more of their share of the pie the cost of living spirals upward. Someone has to pay for the surfaces that transports and profits private enterprise.

Pennsylvania taxpayers need the best deal over the long-haul. I define long-haul as generational and not the next five years.

So here are our choices:

• Lease out the turnpike and get the fat check in the mail NOW!!. Long term profit and control for the next century goes to global private business.


• Raise taxes for everyone to pay for crumbling roads and public transportation.


• Have a point of use charge, tolling, that narrows the "tax" to transportation for transportation needs and targets the true cost of long-haul trucking and driving millions of private vehicles on public roads.

What drives my opinion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike leasing deal
(greenmesh 8/08)
Leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike is a bad idea - part 2
(greenmesh 8/08)
Why can't "WE" keep making a profit on the turnpike?
(greenmesh 6/08)

It Broke !

I went on break, came back and the IR tubes wouldn't relight. I have been careful not to shock them. I called the company that markets The Silent Paint Remover and they offered free replacement of the tubes with a 2 day turn around. I am not sure if it's a fluke or the nature of using a fragile heating element in a tool that moves around all day.

There is another IR paint remover called the Speedheater and it uses tiny shock springs on the tubes and sockets, and costs $300 more than my unit with some tools thrown into the package.

I only have a 3'.3' square left to strip of a 30'x10' porch floor.. ug.

Previous Infrared Paint Remover entry

OPEC oil ministers agreed today to trim overall output by more than 500,000 barrels a day in a compromise meant to avoid new turmoil in crude markets while seeking to bolster falling prices.

The news sent oil prices rising. Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 97 cents to $104.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (AP)

Oil had a short-lived dip below $100 due to sluggish demand and weakening global economies.

During the Republican National Convention, more than once, the people in the crowd responded to speakers with the chant, "Dril. Dril. Drill." It's an exciting knee-jerk reaction akin to the gas tax holiday (greenmesh 5/08).

We import over 50 percent of our oil from foreign entities that control the global price based on their own internal manipulation of the supply.

Of the 1,143.355 billion barrels of world proved reserves of oil, the United States has 20,972. (U.S. Energy Information Administration 8/27/08)

It really doesn't matter how much you drill here when someone who owns the majority of the resource can manipulate the price. It isn't like we get to keep what is drilled for ourselves.

Oil companies are global companies. When they are given the green light to start drilling that company sells the oil on the global market. Then those who have a majority of the resource (OPEC) manipulate their output to regulate price.

So drilling domestically really won't change the equation other than bolstering profits for global oil companies constantly thirsty for new sources of oil to prove to stockholders that there is a future supply of oil.

And it makes a great chant for conventions by people who are longing to take the situation unsolved for decades, because it is too profitable for those who control it, into their own hands and start boring it with a drill.

We are just feeding the machine by drilling with no short or long-term solution for consumers. If anything, if we don't let global oil companies drill our oil sometime decades from now, OPEC will suck themselves dry and we will still have dwindling reserves. This isn't likely though because we are always tapping our own reserves.

We Should be chanting, hydrogen hydrogen hydrogen... or solar, solar, solar or maybe, Think, Think Think !! and come up with some plausible alternative energy sources and implement them.

I can recall presidents since the 1970's, Republican and Democrat, all saying we need to free ourselves from the dependence of foreign oil. Some were mildly successful.

Here we sit in 2008 with the same dependence on foreign oil we enjoyed thirty years ago chanting "drill, drill, drill".

I have been avoiding stripping paint on an old house construction project. Actually, the porch I rebuilt 16 years ago on my last old house construction project needs to be stripped first.

Paint formulation in the past few years has been going though a transformation as volatile compounds are removed in favor of water based mixtures. I use water based paint for everything, except porch floors where the latex substitute just doesn't seem to work well.

So now I have several layers of different formulations of paint on some really sound red pine that needs to be stripped.

I have been eying this really overpriced infrared paint remover for some time and a week of vacation and perpetual procrastination seemed like a tipping point to cough up the money.

Chemical Paint removers wind up in landfills and soak the wood with stuff that may retard a lasting finish

Sanding is really time consuming and makes alot of dust possibly making lead airborne and takes away the wood.

This device works by heating the paint with infrared light allowing it to be easily separated with a pull scraper. And it works.

The unit operates below the vapor point of lead so it isn't burned off into your lungs like may occur with a heat gun. The lower temperature of the unit also lowers fire risk over a heat gun.

Energy-wise it uses alot of electricity (1100 watts) that maybe produced by coal or some other non-renewable resource. For argument sake, I will be optimistic and say my electrons came from nuclear or the York Haven Hydro Station, which has quietly and cleanly been producing power since 1904.

Sitting in the woods seven miles east of Morgantown, West Virginia.

Worker productivity is up while labor costs are down for the second quarter of this year; that combined with a use or lose week of vacation meant it was time for a motorcycle trip.

My riding buddy only has the weekend off starting Friday at 5 p.m. and this is the weekend Hurricane Hannah decided to take a whirlwind tour up the east coast.

Some of my most interesting adventures on a motorcycle have been weather related. You really don't care about weather in a car, but on a bike you are at the mercy of what the sky offers.

It can be the most miserable and the most inspiring of moments. The agony of bone chilling cold with rain driving into your crevices followed by the sweetest scents of spring blasting though your smile. The extremes are memorable, a privilege lost with life inside climate controlled buildings or behind tinted windshield glass.

The direction for this trip was easy. WEST ! and FAST !

I have to smile at people who interact with motorcyclists. The guy behind the counter at Hess said to me on Friday about 5 p.m., "the clouds are closing in fast" My neighbor told me, "it's going to pour tomorrow, did you hear the forecast?" There is usually at least one story about a nephew who was skewered by a chain link fence.

I really don't have a death wish. I just like living.

So as usual we hit the road two...ok, three hours late and the clouds are getting thick. I check the radar and can see the swirls of Hannah pulling up through Maryland. I figure if we can just get over the eastern divide, we will beat the rain by heading mostly west first via the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

It's a great night for riding. A couple hundred miles of interstate, temperatures in the 60's and not one drop of rain. As it turns out, we were even lucky enough to set up tents and get to sleep before a gentle rain that ended before dawn.

Memorable motorcycle weather

Frozen early morning fog on Interstate 91 between Vermont and New Hampshire. It was Summer.

Other motorcycle stories

( Paul Kuehnel - York Daily Record / Sunday News)

The York County Solid Waste Authority's Resource Recovery center was the first waste-to-energy plant in the state. Now there are about five, said Ellen O'Connor, the manager of the community services division.

By recycling trash to energy, York County saves 13 acres of landfill space each year. The plant generates enough electricity to power 20,000 homes.

Wired reports that Honda will unveil a new dedicated hybrid today that hits the 60 mpg mark and sell for $19,000.

While hybrids have tended to go upscale in price and equipment or relegated to high end SUV's, this market niche has more of a global vision aimed at neutralizing a price difference between a hybrid and traditional gas powered car.

Look for the car to go on sale next Spring.