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A jet takes to Auckland's skies this morning for the world's first commercial test flight powered by a second-generation biofuel.
A 50:50 blend of the oily nut from the jatropha tree and Jet A1 fuel will power the two-hour exercise that will be monitored by representatives from Boeing, Rolls-Royce and biofuel specialist Honeywell's UOP.
The flight crew will conduct fuel tests measuring the performance of the engine and fuel systems at various altitudes and under a variety of operating conditions.
Air New Zealand said it expected biofuel to make up about 10 per cent of its total fuel burn of 9 million barrels a year by 2013, thereby reducing its carbon footprint by 400,000 tonnes a year. It was the first airline in the world to set such a target.
Pretty frikkin' cool! Read the rest of the article here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4805570a13.html
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sprayed Aerosols Could Ease Climate Woes?
Dec. 29, 2008 -- It won't solve global warming, but a group of scientists are calling for a focused research program to investigate ways to seed the atmosphere with chemicals that would let the heat out -- literally.
Geoengineering is not a new concept. Governments have changed how and where water flows, filled in lakes and other wetlands for construction, even attempted to control the weather. A project to counter climate change, however, would take geoengineering to an entirely new level.
Leaving aside what may be insurmountable political, cultural and ethical issues, scientists meeting at the American Geophysical Conference in San Francisco earlier this month focused on the practical aspects of releasing gases into the stratosphere that could open Earth's greenhouse.
Scientists are concerned that Earth is growing increasingly warm due to "greenhouse gases," such as carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere that inhibit the planet's ability to radiation heat into space.
Human-related activities, such as burning fossil fuels, are believed to be accelerating the planet's accumulation of greenhouse gases, even though naturally occurring phenomena such as volcanic eruptions and fires account for 97 percent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Hmm... chemtrails are a growing underground subject gaining popularity to explain the long trails seen after aircraft fly over at medium altitudes. Scientists try to explain these off as "contrails" created by forming ice crystals from the aircraft disturbing the air at high altitude, but critics point out that these trails are short in length and duration, whereas chemtrails are longer and last hours. Would this be an explanation?
Geoengineering is not a new concept. Governments have changed how and where water flows, filled in lakes and other wetlands for construction, even attempted to control the weather. A project to counter climate change, however, would take geoengineering to an entirely new level.
Leaving aside what may be insurmountable political, cultural and ethical issues, scientists meeting at the American Geophysical Conference in San Francisco earlier this month focused on the practical aspects of releasing gases into the stratosphere that could open Earth's greenhouse.
Scientists are concerned that Earth is growing increasingly warm due to "greenhouse gases," such as carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere that inhibit the planet's ability to radiation heat into space.
Human-related activities, such as burning fossil fuels, are believed to be accelerating the planet's accumulation of greenhouse gases, even though naturally occurring phenomena such as volcanic eruptions and fires account for 97 percent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Hmm... chemtrails are a growing underground subject gaining popularity to explain the long trails seen after aircraft fly over at medium altitudes. Scientists try to explain these off as "contrails" created by forming ice crystals from the aircraft disturbing the air at high altitude, but critics point out that these trails are short in length and duration, whereas chemtrails are longer and last hours. Would this be an explanation?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Top 5 Electric Cars
Here's a list of the top 5 electric car picks for 2008: http://www.zoomilife.com/2008/12/25/our-top-5-electric-cars-of-2008/
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Cooling Is Warming
Read it on my other blog: http://militantlibertarian.blogspot.com/2008/12/cooling-is-warming.html
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Geami Sustainable Packing Materials
This is a cool concept and a great idea. The front page of their site has a nice little video that explains how the system works. It's basically recycled/recyclable paper, shipped in rolls, that is then expanded into 3-D honeycomb as you wrap your product for shipping in it.
It replaces foam sheets, plastic bubble wrap, and foam pellets and eliminates the need for filler (my favorite filler has always been popcorn).
So check out Geami and see if it's right for your small business. Their website doesn't list pricing and I doubt this system will be realistic in most mom-and-pop, home-based businesses. You never know, though.
It replaces foam sheets, plastic bubble wrap, and foam pellets and eliminates the need for filler (my favorite filler has always been popcorn).
So check out Geami and see if it's right for your small business. Their website doesn't list pricing and I doubt this system will be realistic in most mom-and-pop, home-based businesses. You never know, though.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
VIDEO: How NOT to Design an Electric Car
Here’s a demonstration on how you should NOT design your electric car and its safety components. This is some kind of university competition in Iran. The competition and the ensuing mayhem is hilarious.
Go to http://www.zoomilife.com/2008/12/18/videohow-not-to-design-an-electric-car/ to watch!
Go to http://www.zoomilife.com/2008/12/18/videohow-not-to-design-an-electric-car/ to watch!
Friday, December 19, 2008
The Pedal Pub: Drunk Driving With a Twist
Well, not exactly, but this is such a cool idea. You sit at the bar, pedal the bicycle-like pedals under your seat, and socialize. All while getting transported around town. Nice!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Own a Crappy Smart Car? Soup It Up!
People who own the glorified golf carts usually called “neighborhood vehicles” that may or may not have the appearance of a car, are used to the idea that their vehicles are, well, not cars. They’re tiny little boxes that move them from one spot to another simply and (theoretically) cheaply. At slow speeds and on surface roads only. Usually while wearing a scarf or a low-brimmed hat to hide your identity. Maybe some sunglasses too.
Well, one of the more popular of these cars is the Smart Car by Smart Madness, which has been selling fairly well in Europe. Well, those cars are coming to the USA. They’re slightly modified, of course, to meet our safety standards and whatever. Nope, sorry, these aren’t electrics, but are instead extremely efficient gasoline-powered vehicles.
Read the rest: http://www.zoomilife.com/2008/12/17/own-a-crappy-smart-car-soup-it-up/
Well, one of the more popular of these cars is the Smart Car by Smart Madness, which has been selling fairly well in Europe. Well, those cars are coming to the USA. They’re slightly modified, of course, to meet our safety standards and whatever. Nope, sorry, these aren’t electrics, but are instead extremely efficient gasoline-powered vehicles.
Read the rest: http://www.zoomilife.com/2008/12/17/own-a-crappy-smart-car-soup-it-up/
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Energy Efficienty At the Grid Level
I read an article in the Austin Chronicle, sent to me by a friend, about the proposed plan an investment group has for updating and improving the efficiency of the power grid in that part of Texas.
It's a good idea and one that I think many utilities could consider as a great way to change peak and off-peak power usage, grid maintenance, and more. The dreamy lady at the end of the article who's attempting to detract from the plan has only a couple of worthless reasons for it: it doesn't lower power usage overall and it doesn't treat efficiency on the site-level.
Well duhh, lady. It's a frikkin UTILITY-LEVEL PLAN. Pay attention! She claims that it will "hurt poor people" because it will "make their utilities cost more during peak hours." Yet she then goes on to claim that the focus should be on improving insulation and building improvements so that efficiency is raised. Who pays for that on those poor people's buildings, lady??
OK, enough on her stupidity. Let's get back to these improvements.
I think it's a great idea that enterprise can do on its own without government intervention or help. It will encourage off-peak usage and will also encourage power utilities to explore energy storage for unused power, which is currently either sold off or dumped.
Most people don't know that most power plants have minimum production requirements in order to just be operating (it's how they're built). Sort of like your car is either on and idling or on and moving, but it uses a minimum amount of gasoline either way.
This minimum power production isn't always at grid-requirement, so sometimes there's a leftover. That usually gets dumped unless the utility has a way to sell it to, say, California (which is always demanding power. Even at 02:00).
So I think the plan has merit and if someone makes money by implementing it, more power to them.
It's a good idea and one that I think many utilities could consider as a great way to change peak and off-peak power usage, grid maintenance, and more. The dreamy lady at the end of the article who's attempting to detract from the plan has only a couple of worthless reasons for it: it doesn't lower power usage overall and it doesn't treat efficiency on the site-level.
Well duhh, lady. It's a frikkin UTILITY-LEVEL PLAN. Pay attention! She claims that it will "hurt poor people" because it will "make their utilities cost more during peak hours." Yet she then goes on to claim that the focus should be on improving insulation and building improvements so that efficiency is raised. Who pays for that on those poor people's buildings, lady??
OK, enough on her stupidity. Let's get back to these improvements.
I think it's a great idea that enterprise can do on its own without government intervention or help. It will encourage off-peak usage and will also encourage power utilities to explore energy storage for unused power, which is currently either sold off or dumped.
Most people don't know that most power plants have minimum production requirements in order to just be operating (it's how they're built). Sort of like your car is either on and idling or on and moving, but it uses a minimum amount of gasoline either way.
This minimum power production isn't always at grid-requirement, so sometimes there's a leftover. That usually gets dumped unless the utility has a way to sell it to, say, California (which is always demanding power. Even at 02:00).
So I think the plan has merit and if someone makes money by implementing it, more power to them.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Al Gore Being Sued For Fraud on Global Warming
One of the scientists in this lawsuit is the founder of the Weather Channel. They are suing based on his false evidence and false information given to the United Nations. They are hoping to have his Nobel Prize redacted.
I'm just hoping that Al Gore is shown to be the charlatan and fraud that he is. Publicly. With lots of news coverage. Maybe a tar and feathering. That might be asking too much, though. The media loves this guy and he has lots of mindless zealots following him.
This ought to pour some sugar into the gas tank of that private jet he flies around in, at least.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
White House Ready to Aid Auto Industry
Not to get too political or anything, but in a move typical of King George's "politics," he's decided to ignore the wishes of the American people and the Congress and go ahead and give money to the Big 3 anyway.
Great, George. Nice legacy.
In this story in the New York Times, it appears that somehow the White House has control of the $700 billion that was (sadly) appropriated (that's a big Washington word for "thieved from the people") to save the financial industry from itself.
If this is the case, then I guess the President gets to decide where the money goes and what it's for. Ya, I feel better about that.
Great, George. Nice legacy.
In this story in the New York Times, it appears that somehow the White House has control of the $700 billion that was (sadly) appropriated (that's a big Washington word for "thieved from the people") to save the financial industry from itself.
If this is the case, then I guess the President gets to decide where the money goes and what it's for. Ya, I feel better about that.
Blade It Up, Bro!
So I saw an article on The Blade at TreeHugger.com and figured I'd look at what this thing is, since I still own gas combustion vehicles. TreeHugger wasn't impressed, but they aren't generally impressed with anything that's not solar-electric or a bicycle, so I don't pay attention to their opinions much. They do come up with good links, though, so I still have them on my RSS feed.
It's an exhaust pipe ad-on that is basically a filter. Sort of like a gas mask for your tailpipe. Somehow, this raises gas mileage by up to 34% (around 6mpg on a small car). Soemthing to do with cold start emissions while your car heats up the catalytic converter so it can do its job. I guess it won't help me, then, since my catalytic sort of fell off the truck...
Anyway, it also reduces the volumetric air:exhaust ratio within the valve chambers. I'm not a scientist or a mechanic, but I know what that is. Mostly because you need to know that sort of thing if you're going to do the math to know how much you can bore out a cylindar in order to soup up your ride. That's basic tractor racing info right there.
So, this thing somehow reduces that exhaust backpressure that causes exhaust to return to the cylindar instead of continuing up the tialpipe. Again, I'm not sure how that is, but I'm sure they've patented it.
The Blade has been tested by the premier labs at Automotive Testing and Development Services (ATDS), which most major manufacturers use, under the [insert government numbers here] EPA guideline.
Best of all, if you do buy one of the $200 units, they're an easy DIY install you can do in ten minutes.
It's an exhaust pipe ad-on that is basically a filter. Sort of like a gas mask for your tailpipe. Somehow, this raises gas mileage by up to 34% (around 6mpg on a small car). Soemthing to do with cold start emissions while your car heats up the catalytic converter so it can do its job. I guess it won't help me, then, since my catalytic sort of fell off the truck...
Anyway, it also reduces the volumetric air:exhaust ratio within the valve chambers. I'm not a scientist or a mechanic, but I know what that is. Mostly because you need to know that sort of thing if you're going to do the math to know how much you can bore out a cylindar in order to soup up your ride. That's basic tractor racing info right there.
So, this thing somehow reduces that exhaust backpressure that causes exhaust to return to the cylindar instead of continuing up the tialpipe. Again, I'm not sure how that is, but I'm sure they've patented it.
The Blade has been tested by the premier labs at Automotive Testing and Development Services (ATDS), which most major manufacturers use, under the [insert government numbers here] EPA guideline.
Best of all, if you do buy one of the $200 units, they're an easy DIY install you can do in ten minutes.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Senate Just Says "No" To Big 3
Well, the Senate, surprisingly, decided to do its job and tell the Big 3 Automakers to shove it. So I guess GM, Ford, and Chrysler will be begging the auto union (who're to blame for screwing this deal) to loan them the cash to keep in business so they can keep paying the auto union workers compensation plans that are over triple what the average American makes in a blue collar job.
Hate to say it, lefties, but the unions are almost entirely to blame for the financial crisis of the auto companies. Like most unions (teachers unions do the same, for example), they got too big for their britches and started demanding more than they deserved. I'm sorry, just because you can turn a wrench and run a forklift doesn't mean you're worth over $75 an hour in pay and compensation.
At any rate, I guess this means that Tesla Motors won't be getting their $400,000 bailout either, so we probably won't be seeing their sedan model. Oh well. I can't afford a $60,000+ electric car anyway, no matter how good it looks. Guess they'll just have to try to sell four or five more of their $109,000 Roadsters to make up the difference.
Hate to say it, lefties, but the unions are almost entirely to blame for the financial crisis of the auto companies. Like most unions (teachers unions do the same, for example), they got too big for their britches and started demanding more than they deserved. I'm sorry, just because you can turn a wrench and run a forklift doesn't mean you're worth over $75 an hour in pay and compensation.
At any rate, I guess this means that Tesla Motors won't be getting their $400,000 bailout either, so we probably won't be seeing their sedan model. Oh well. I can't afford a $60,000+ electric car anyway, no matter how good it looks. Guess they'll just have to try to sell four or five more of their $109,000 Roadsters to make up the difference.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Introducing the Wheego Whip: The S&M Electric Car
Read it here: http://www.zoomilife.com/2008/12/11/introducing-the-wheego-whip-the-sm-electric-car/
Sometimes, I find myself to be so hilarious that I actually laugh out loud at what I wrote. Really. I laughed when I wrote this one, laughed when I posted it to Zoomilife, and I'm laughing right now when I look at it on the Web. It's that funny. To me, anyway.
My Brand Spankin New Blog (of DOOOOM)
Well, I decided that I should create another blog. This time, I'm going to focus it on something I really enjoy and actually know stuff about: the environment and "green" technology.
I write many posts for sites and blogs, but those posts are always about specific things and are (often) professionally written, so I can only say so much of what's on my mind. I can't include much in the way of politics or swear words without making the person who's paying me to write the stuff get a little miffed. I don't blame them, since their sites reflect on them, not on me.
Well, this blog is for that and more. I can write whatever I want and say it how I think it and nobody takes the blame but me. If the subject has something to do with the environment, I'll probably write about it. Like if Al Gore gets caught eating endangered burrow owels, Stewart, I'm gonna be all over it. Why? Because AL GORE SUCKS! He's a lying, manipulative, bullshit con artist...
Alright, you've gotten the point. If you want to see my views on electric cars, I'll be talking about them here, but mostly as links to my posts on Zoomilife, since Sebastian is nice enough to let me say just about all I want anyway. No point in repeating it here. But I'll link to it so you can see what I writ, er... wrote.
You might also be reading my short info posts on Renewable-Future. A lot of that stuff will be in longer format here too.
So subscribe to my Mental RSS feed or just bookmark this site and come back. I'll be posting as often as the mood takes me, which will probably be more often than not.
I write many posts for sites and blogs, but those posts are always about specific things and are (often) professionally written, so I can only say so much of what's on my mind. I can't include much in the way of politics or swear words without making the person who's paying me to write the stuff get a little miffed. I don't blame them, since their sites reflect on them, not on me.
Well, this blog is for that and more. I can write whatever I want and say it how I think it and nobody takes the blame but me. If the subject has something to do with the environment, I'll probably write about it. Like if Al Gore gets caught eating endangered burrow owels, Stewart, I'm gonna be all over it. Why? Because AL GORE SUCKS! He's a lying, manipulative, bullshit con artist...
Alright, you've gotten the point. If you want to see my views on electric cars, I'll be talking about them here, but mostly as links to my posts on Zoomilife, since Sebastian is nice enough to let me say just about all I want anyway. No point in repeating it here. But I'll link to it so you can see what I writ, er... wrote.
You might also be reading my short info posts on Renewable-Future. A lot of that stuff will be in longer format here too.
So subscribe to my Mental RSS feed or just bookmark this site and come back. I'll be posting as often as the mood takes me, which will probably be more often than not.
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