Random Thoughts of Chris Tilley

Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait are going to run around North America to raise awareness for Global Warming. Their goal is to raise 1 million dollars and to get 1 million environmental pledges. See their website to make a pledge. They are starting their run on May 1st 2008 and are planning on a marathon a day for a year. I look forward to hearing of their success on the road, the people that they bring on board. I also am curious to see how environmentalism is viewed in the different regions. I know that there are areas that don't have paper recycling yet.

I actually ran into Matt at my 20 year high school reunion and was amazed and what he had done in the last 20 years. He is a voice actor and has been on a number of shows that I have watched and never had a clue that he was the voice of one of the characters. Shows like X-Men: Evolution (Havok), Ranma 1/2 (Pantyhose Taro). To see a list of a the shows he's been on go Matt Hill on IMDB

So good luck and good going to Matt and Stephanie this should really make a change. Everyone else go to their website and make a pledge and donate some money.

CARMA is a website that is a front end for a database of 50,000 power plants from all around the world. They have data on the generating capacity and the CO2 levels. They also have data on % nuclear, fossil fuel, hydro and other for countries.

the carbon figures by country are scary. The interesting thing is I was curious about the numbers by population. So I calculated the Tons of CO2/person and MWh/person for the top 15 CO2 emitters.

What is interesting is the per population numbers. The US isn't number one in either of those. In Tons of CO2 per person number One belongs to Australia. As for MWh per population that 'honor' belongs to Canada. For those of you that know that Canada is a net exporter of electricity I took the 2004 numbers into account and it only decreased the MWh / person by .5.

I have two minor complaints about the site. The first is that the maps don't zoom in to reveal greater detail. I first tried to zoom the map in where I live and saw no power plants. At first I thought they only had limited data, but then I found the 'dig deeper' that allowed me focus in on a region. The second is it would be nice to have more data on what the power plants actually are. There are a number of small scale CO2 generating power plants in BC that are listed as cogen plants. What they appear to be is the burning of wood waste from the forestry industry to generate power. In the old days this waste would still be burned in very polluting beehive burners. Not sure if the cogen plants are any less polluting but at least they are generating electricity as a byproduct.

The best bit is being able to find out who is providing your power and how much CO2 is being generated as a result.

David Morgan-Mar creator of Irregular Web Comic (along with other co-conspirators) have a new project. Darth & Droids is based on the Star Wars movies. What they are doing is retelling the story as if the it was being played as a role playing game. They use screen shots to illustrate the comic. Its absolutely hilarious if you have any knowledge of role playing. Their explanation for the existence of Jar Jar Binks is perfect. At least from a humour point of view. They are up to 19 'full page' strips.

In reading Darth & Droids they referred to being 'inspired' by DM of the Rings.
DM of the Rings used the same method of viewing the movie as a role playing game and using screenshots of the movie. I have only read about 30 strips but so far excellent. Of course I am a fan of the movies and the books. He has completed all the movies and moved on to other projects.

In searching for Pumpkin Patterns I came across ExtremePumpkin.com. First they have pictures of some of the coolest pumpkins I have ever seen. They have instruction on the use of power tools in pumpkin carving. The coolest stuff in my opinion is the pyrotechnics. The use of road flares to light the pumpkins isn't the coolest but probably the least dangerous although still a real hazard.

The second cool site is Captain Dan. Pirate hip hop music. Definitely different. Very appropriate for Halloween.

GreenFuel has finished testing an Engineering Scale Unit at the 1,060-megawatt Arizona Public Service Redhawk facility. This was the first time that smokestack gases were used to grow algae for conversion into biofuels (Ethanol and BioDiesel).

Check out the pictures of the installation and the Performance Summary Report.

In the summary they state that they exceeded the productivity targets. They where aiming for 80 g/m2/d and they got and average of 98 g/m2/d. That is 98 grams of biomass (Dry Weight, Ash Free) per square meter of the footprint of the Algae Matrix per day. This will help with the land costs of such an operation. The 98 grams may not sound like a lot but if you look at in compared to corn. The algae yields .098KG x 365 days = 35.77 kg/m2/year. The corn yields 25.4KG per bushel (from wikipedia) and the 332.7733 bushels per acre (Winner NCGA Yield contest). So 25.4 KG/Bushel * 332.7733 Bushels/Acre = 8452.44182 KG/Acre Convert Acre to m2 and that equals 2.1 kg/m2/year. Plus I would much rather eat the corn. Overall a definite successful large scale test.

They are in discussion to build a commercial scale operation. They still have some questions to be answered but I don't think it will be long before we see a full scale commercial operation.

I got a very interesting email a couple of weeks ago regarding Hydraulic Hybrids. This reader sent me to Mother Earth News. There there is an archived article about a Hydraulic Hybrid that some 'advanced students at Minneapolis, Minnesota's Hennepin Vocational Technical Center' built back in 1978. No that is not a typo 1978. Check the article about for all the details. They were able to get 75 mpg nearly 30 years ago. The automotive x-prize goal of 100 mpg seems very doable now.

There are at least three companies entering Hydraulic Hybrids in the Automotive X-prize. Now that there is a track records for Hydraulic Hybrids I have a even more confidence in those entries. I can even see these beating the plug in electric hybrids.

It sounds like from the email and some of the other things that I read that these people got shafted in a number of different ways which would probably explain why we are not currently driving hydraulic hybrids. I am not going to go into those. It pisses me of but I am much more interested to see these current teams succeed and the technology brought into regular use.

Somebody is going to make this work and with the exposure of the x-prize we should start seeing them on the road. As I always say there is money to be made finding solutions to global warming.

A couple of months ago I got fooling around with the Amazon.com API and had this idea to inventory my books. That lead to the thought that it would be a great idea for a website. I started coding and purchased the domain name inventoryyourbooks.com. Schlock Mercenary mentioned LibraryThing in his blog. My favorite webcomic and I've been waiting for an excuse to use this banner.

Needless to say LibraryThing has already done everything I had planned plus tons more that I hadn't even thought of. They have 250,000+ registered users and 18 million books stored. Not to worry I really wasn't that far along. My only regret is that I didn't find this site 6 months ago. I would have spent the time entering books instead of coding.

Oh well more time to work on one of my other ideas. WhereIsTheRadar.com

'Where is the Radar' is a new site that I have just launched. It relies on users to enter police radar sites. Entering in new Radar sites is just a matter of clicking on a Google map to place a marker and then pressing a button to add it to the database.

The map shows any radar sites that were reported in the last two hours. Eventually I plan to add some statistics to the map, marking hot spots of Radar activity.

This site is an ongoing project and I will be improving it in the future. Also remember that speeding decreases the fuel efficiency of your vehicle.

The automotive X-prize has released a list of the first 30 entrants into the contest. In going through the list of contestants I picked out a couple that I felt were unique. I am not taking about who I think is going to win, but who has the most unique technology. These ones have the potential to revolutionize the industry or fail badly in the middle of the contest.

The first one is DEHYDS, Digital Electro-Hydraulic Systems. They are using a linear engine to directly power a hydraulic system. So effectively this is a hydraulic hybrid. The engine is something different and they are injecting water into the cylinder, which will flash to steam and make use of that heat energy.

The next one is Fuel Vapor Technologies. They have a lightweight car but the cool technology they have is a computerized fuel vapour system. It increased fuel efficiency by 10-20% and reduce CO2 by 30% when attached to any gas engine.

The final one for today is the another hydraulic hybrid, Valentin Technologies. This company seems to have everything already figured out and ready to go. a 2 stroke diesel engine directly pressurizing the hydraulic system. Some of the key benefits:

• 130MPG
• 5 seat car
• 0-60mph in 5 sec

I don't know if any of these will be winners but the technology that they are putting forth could be a part of the answer. I think the ultimate solution will a combination of a number of these technologies.

I finally finished reading 'Cradle to Cradle'. A book I highly recommend for all, particularly anyone doing product development. There were a couple of key points that caught my eye.

The first was waste as food. That idea is that every step any waste should be food for either a biological cycle or for a technological cycle. So something that decomposes safely and provides nutrition feeds the biological cycle. The technology cycle is feed by the polymers and metals that went in to product. That leads to the next idea.

Monstrous hybrids are materials that could have been food for either cycle but had been irrevocably contaminated. There example is the recycling of cars where the steel get mixed with other metals from the car and can not be used as steel in cars again. It is no longer strong enough and is of lesser value.

Having finished the book I wanted more info and searched out their website. On their site I discovered that you can get your products certified. I was interested in what products had been certified. The one that caught my eye was gDiapers. A brilliant idea that looks to be as convenient as disposable and far more environmentally friendly. I would think that if you bleach your cloth diaper these would have them beat as well. I showed them to my wife and she thinks they are a great idea. She did the math and told me that they were comparable in cost to disposables. Basically most of it is reusable and washable and the there is a flushable/compostable pad.

Found a news article talking about Google giving grants 'to drive toward a plug-in revolution'. They gave a total of $1,000,000. They are also converting their fleet over to plug in hybrids and have a website that compares two Toyota Prius Hybrids Vs two that have been converted to plug in hybrids. You can compare them here. You can drill down to the vehicle and the individual trip. Quite cool and it should nicely demonstrate the savings both in money and in CO2.

The conversion were done by a company called Hymotion. They make conversion kits for the Toyota Prius Hybrid and the Ford Escape Hybrid. They are going to be available to consumers in early 2008. Looks like another company to follow. Their latest project is a hydrogen powered ice resurfacer for ice rinks.

Going back to Google, that 1.6 Mw solar energy system I talked about in a prior post is up and running. They have a website that show how much they have generated today, last 7 days and since June 18th. Today they generated 9900kwh and hit a peak of 1223kW.

Interesting to see what Google is doing with the all the power and money they have.

The Environmental Defense Blog is looking for the 'Most Influential Environmental Book' I would like to nominate 'Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things' by: William McDonough, Michael Braungart

I have only read the first three chapters out of six but what I have read so far can revolutionize both industry and the environmental movement. The basic premise is to engineer everything with the end of life of the product and the eventual next product designed from the start. The book itself is an example of this philosophy. The paper is not paper it is a plastic that is designed to be upcycled. That is reused to create a new book the inks are designed to be easily recovered and reused. A lot of recycling today is what they call downcycling where a product is recycled into something of less value. An example is paper where recycling creates shorter fibers and therefore a less valuable product.

The biggest advantage to this is that they see the world as a world of abundance as apposed a world or reduction. Making it more profitable for companies to design products this way will eliminate the battle between environmentalists and business.

Update: They have released the voting list of 'Most Influential Green Books'. 'Cradle to Cradle' isn't on their list but you can write in a vote for it. To vote for 'Cradle to Cradle', click on the image below and add a comment indicating your vote for 'Cradle to Cradle'.

I am putting this announcement up for two reasons.

1. Ethan really does need your prayers. Faith can heal, I have absolutely no doubt about that.

2. Ben and Becky are letting their light shine in a way that few do. I am sure that their unwavering faith has already changed peoples lives in ways we can't even begin to imagine.

Ethan and the entire family are constantly in our prayers.

Update
Found this wonderful video about ALL. The middle bit about what cancer CAN NOT do is so important.

GreenFuel Technologies and NRG Energy have announced field testing of GreenFuel’s proprietary Emissions-to-Biofuels™ technology. This will be at New Roads, Louisiana's Big Cajun II, a 1,489 net megawatt coal fired power plant.

I wrote about the bioreactor back in my very first post. Basically algae grows well in a high CO2 environment. They pump the flue gases into the bioreactor and the algae uses the CO2 to grow and thus reduces the CO2 being released. The algae is then harvested and can be converted into a number of value added products like biodiesel.

They are doing approximately four months of field testing to fine tune it to the local area and the conditions at the plant. After that they are planning to construct a commercial scale facility.

NRG Energy has just joined the Chicago Climate Exchange. Here is the Press Release.

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) has joined the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX(R)), the world's first voluntary and legally binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction, registry and trading program. NRG joins global companies such as Bayer Corporation, Ford, IBM and Intel as a member.

"Joining the Chicago Climate Exchange is part of our ongoing program to increase our carbon awareness, track our emissions, and address climate change proactively," said David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy, Inc. "A cap-and-trade system, like CCX's, will minimize the cost of achieving carbon reductions because it allows the lowest cost emission reductions to be used to help meet reduction targets."

They are getting a head start on what is sure to be a new competitive advantage. Good going NRG Energy for taking this initiative and positioning your company for the future.

Google has a really neat new feature where you can go down to the street level of given city. You are literally on the street as if you are walking down it and the resolution is great. They have a YouTube video introduction.

So far they have San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas , New York and Miami. I am sure that they will be adding more.

Next I'm sure we will be able to 'walk' into virtual shops and purchase goods soon. Probably using the the Google SketchUp. Real world Second Life anyone.

This will evolve quickly and companies are going to need to get on the bandwagon fast.

One of the links to my post from the other day lead me to this YouTube video on a proposed IGCC Coal Plant in Taylorville, IL. Illinois coal has a problem with sulfur content which makes it less marketable due to environmental regulations. An IGCC Coal plant can remove most of that sulfur and make that coal marketable again. The 'Clean Coal Plant in Would Be Economic Boon, NIU Study Finds' article from BusinessWire list a number of benefits to the economy.

They are getting incentives from the state government who is trying to revitalize the coal mining industry but this is a large plant that must be economically feasible or they wouldn't build it. So there are some new plants in the pipeline to be built. I still think that a carbon cap and trade system would speed up the process.

There's an article form yesterday 'US and Berlin clash on G8 climate text'. The clash revolves around caps and the US insistence that they are not necessary.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, would like the summit to agree limits on carbon emissions but the US says climate change should be tackled with technology-based solutions rather than mandatory emissions targets and accuses Berlin of ignoring its stance.

I agree fully that technology is the answer. However there needs to be some motivation to go forward and that is where a Cap and Trade program comes in. Necessity is the mother of invention. Right now very few see reducing carbon as a necessity. When carbon effects their bottom line then it becomes a necessity.

A good example is GE's Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) system. The benefits of such a system are great.

Over a 25-year lifespan a GE IGCC plant being designed today for 600 megawatts is expected to provide significant emission reductions when compared to recently permitted pulverized coal technology, including:
» more than two million tons of carbon dioxide.
» more than 67,000 tons of sulfur dioxide.
» nearly 26,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxide.

The first one of these went online in 1984 and now there are two in the US. Why? Well to some extent reliability is an issue but there are variations out there that have a 90-95 uptime. There is a 25% price premium on current plants, GE's new plants are expect to come in at 10%. Why should I build a more expensive plant when carbon doesn't cost me anything. Now that sounds like raising the price of electricity and it probably will have a minor effect. However coal is still some of the cheapest power around. Eliminating coal is not going to be an option.

A Cap and Trade program would provide incentives to build more efficient plants. That would pump money back into R&D. That would reduce the capital and or operating costs. Develop the technology and then export it. Our strongest competitive advantage is innovation. Too bad a lot of executives only see the bottom line for this year and how much their bonus is going to be rather than the long term growth of the company.

I have been following the movement to bring high speed trains to California for a number of years. They are getting closer to actual construction with construction bonds going to public vote Nov 4 2008. They are looking to get $9.95 billion for the construction of the link from San Francisco to Anaheim.

That seems like a lot of money but 'HSR will cost only half as much to build than the same capacity in roads and air alone, and will require less land, affect fewer natural resources, and will encourage more compact urban development.' It will eliminate the need for 2970 Lane miles of highways, 91 airport gates and 5 new runways.

They have a nice pdf on the effects on global warming. Some of the key points:

• Eliminate the equivalent of 11 Billion miles of vehicle travel.
• Uses 1/3 the energy of an airplane.
• Uses 1/2 the energy of a car driving intercity.
• Uses 1/5 the energy of a commuter car.
• 34% less energy to construct than the equivalent airport and highway improvements.

They have a 10-minute overview of the California High-Speed Rail project. (YouTube) It is well presented and answers a lot of question. Definitely worth watching and forwarding on to all your friends.

It going to go 200mph, faster than most other option and probably even faster than plane when you count in clearing security. It is cheaper than the equivalent capacity of roads and airport expansions. It will be far better for the environment and global warming. It should be an easy choice for Californians but it probably won't be.

The US is considering a bill that would mandate an average 35 MPG fuel economy across an automakers line up. On the surface this looks good but the problems are in the details and it doesn't go far enough, fast enough.

First how do they calculate the average. If it is the average of all vehicles sold then great. If it is an average across each model with no consideration for numbers sold then bad.

Second what are the loopholes? Can they earn credits for anything? They are removing the bonuses for flex fuel. I'm not sure thats a good idea but on the other hand its misleading to claim an average MPG of X when its really lower.

The reaction from the automakers is priceless. "It's unattainable up to 2020, and unattainable thereafter," said Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers spokeswoman Gloria Bergquist. Quote from FreeP.com. Bull, The Chinese already have tougher standards in place. They went in to effect in 2005, 38 MPG for light vehicles and 19 for trucks. Those increase to 43 and 21 in 2008. Here is a blog entry from 2005 on Chinese Fuel Efficiency Standards. And we are saying that it can't be done by 2020 or ever. What are these car companies going to do when gas is $5 a gallon and we can't afford to run their gas guzzlers?

These guy need to learn to compete on fuel economy and this is something they can do. Honda and Toyota already compete heavily on this and the Chinese cars are coming.

We do have some hope, this is possible and there are groups working to that goal. See my related post to see some groups that can help us reach this goal and beyond.

My Related Posts

Automotive X Prize Draft Rules
StarRotor
Automotive X PRIZE
Plug In Electric Hybrids

Want to go solar but don't like the look of panels or have a restrictive home owners association? These solar shingles blend in nicely. Here are some pictures.

The company that makes these is United Solar Ovonic. This is the kind of innovation that will save us money, Make the company money and reduce CO2 emissions.

When I first saw them they looked expensive for the power so I decided to crunch the numbers. I used the price on the above website and the rated peak watts. The shingles worked out to $9.70/watt, my randomly selected panel worked out to $8.22/watt. To me the aesthetics and that I wouldn't be buying regular shingle makes the price difference meaningless.

The other stat that I worked out was the watts per square foot. For the shingles it is 5 2/3 watts/sq foot and for the panel it was 12.28 watts/sq foot. I would expect this to improve as they develop the technology further.

Its going to be a number of years before I need a new roof but I will definitely be looking at these when the time comes.

I have been away for a couple of weeks and had to use a computer that only had IE7 installed and was locked down so I couldn't install Firefox. I have used Firefox for years and found it very annoying to be using IE again. I was going to write a comparison of the two but in researching I came across this site Frankenfight: IE7 Vs. Firefox 2. They cover all the points I wanted to plus some I hadn't thought about. I did have one point that really annoyed me about IE.

That one point is the lack of spell checking in fields. In writing this blog, saying I rely on spell checking is a major understatement. I ended up moving the blog over to Word (I use Open Office at home) and spell checking it there and then having to move in back. IE will add spelling eventually just like they did for tabs.

The final thing comes from my wife who develops web pages. Her statement that she develops for Firefox and then fixes for IE. Switch to Firefox now, you will never go back.

Today I discovered Gelato. I spent the last two weeks in Vancouver and decided to experiment in where I ate. I found a number of wonderful places and I like the idea of local and unique. The more I think about the more I like the idea. All the food was fresh and therefore was probably local at least more local that some of the alternatives. That would make this style of eating more environmentally friendly. There was also much less packaging even on the stuff I got to go.

Anyways the Gelato, I had never had any before and was never sure exactly what it was. I found a good website the explains the difference between Ice Cream vs Gelato. I had the chocolate and my son had the sour cherry. It was a small bowl with a tiny 'tasting' spoon but it was so loaded with flavorful that I felt I had eaten far more than I really had. Quality versus quantity. The Gelato was made in store with all natural high quality ingredients and that definitely made the difference. It was clean, crisp, flavorful and I will be returning for more next time I'm in Vancouver. The place is called BC Gelato and is at the corner of W Broadway and Spruce.

Listening to the radio yesterday they were talking about Ontario banning incandescent light bulbs and were asking the BC Government if they had any similar plans. The response was along the line of ‘our current conservation plans are sufficient for our needs’. I read into that, sufficient that we will have enough generating capacity and since this is BC were most of our power comes from Hydro there aren’t the global warming fears attached to it. However we are now a net importer of power and that power maybe tainted and the problem is everyone’s to start with so lets reduce, reduce, reduce and become an exporter again. Better for our economy and better for the environment.

A number of countries, provinces and states are either banning incandescent light bulbs or are moving towards a ban. They include Ontario, Australia, California, Connecticut, Nova Scotia, EU, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

I wanted to know the effect of a ban on incandescent light bulbs in BC, Canada and the USA. I used the given number that Ontario has 87 million incandescent light bulbs and divided by the 2006 census. That worked out to 7 bulbs per person. Some of those would be in businesses. Using 7 bulbs per person and multiplying by the population.

British Colombia

28 Million Bulbs
115 Million Dollars per year saved
1.1 Million Tonnes of Carbon
1.9 Million MWh
216 MW Generating Capacity not required

Canada

221 Million Bulbs
908 Million Dollars per year saved
8.7 Million Tonnes of Carbon
15.1 Million MWh
1723 MW Generating Capacity not required

USA

2.1 Billion Bulbs
8.6 Billion Dollars per year saved
82.8 Million Tonnes of Carbon
144 Million MWh
16441 MW Generating Capacity not required

To put that in perspective here are some of the largest power plants (source Power Plants Around the World)

Write a letter to your local, State/Provincial, and federal representatives. The David Suzuki foundation has good recommendation for reaching Canadian Officials as well as good tips in general for getting your letter noticed. For the US Congress, Congress.org has a search box that will give you the contact information for all your representatives. Ask them to ban the bulb and point out to them the savings in dollars, Carbon and generating capacity.

Ontario is banning incandescent light bulbs by 2012. The scary number is that there are 87 million incandescent light bulbs in Ontario. I crunched the numbers as I did in my previous post even though they gave me the savings in the article, just to compare the results. We both came up with 6 million MWH, Good, I like having my numbers confirmed. On the carbon numbers they say 4 million tonnes I say only 3.5 million. That is mostly likely a difference in our assumptions. The numbers I used are from Environmental Defense and are probably the national average for the US. Ontario would have their own numbers for the province.

They didn't give the savings. I go with that the added life cancels out the extra initial cost of the bulbs. They probably are actually cheaper. The savings per bulb based on 6.5 cents per kWh is $4.11 per year. So for 87 million bulbs you are pumping $358 million dollars in to the economy.

As far as generating that power the 6 million MWh works out to a generating capacity of 684 MW. Thats two of Ontario's smallest power plants:

Atikokan (211 MW coal)
Thunder Bay (303 MW coal) (source wikipedia)

That is assuming that they are running at 100% capacity, 24/7. They never are able to do that. So that reduces demand by two whole plants.

My Related Posts:
Banning Incandescent Light Bulbs

'Congress leads, the private sector finds and funds the solutions'. To me this is the American way. Innovation, private money an small government involvement.

Basically the Government would set the caps on Carbon Emissions. Companies would then buy and sell Carbon on the open market. In some cases companies would buy Carbon to bring themselves below the Cap and in others they would reduce their emissions. New ideas like the bioreactor that hooks in to coal plant smoke stacks, reduces the Carbon emissions and can produce useful byproducts like Bio-diesel.

This idea has worked before. 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments was a similar program. It was so successful The Economist magazine crowned it "probably the greatest green success story of the past decade." (July 6, 2002). The cost were far less than originally projected and the target emissions were met.

As far as competition, mostly China. China is going to pass the US this year in exports and take the lead from Germany in 2008. The only way to regain the lead is innovation. We are not going to beat them on labor cost, environment or any of the offer things that allow them to operate cheaper. The US should take the lead, put in a plan that works and then pressure China to do then same or face 'Carbon duties' on their goods. Plus sell them the solutions that we have already developed.

My Related Posts

The Virgin Earth Challenge

Vancouver now has a bylaw on the books that fines people for idling their cars for more than 3 minutes. The fine is $50 to $100 depending on the vehicle and if there is anyone in it.

They have a number of myths they bust on their site. First shutting of your engine and restarting takes more gas than idling. Their research says you use more gas with 10 seconds of idling. So basically there is no situation where it is cheaper to idle. Interestingly the time I see idling cars the most are illegally parked with the driver still in the car. Sort of like 'if my engine is still running they won't ticket me for parking illegally'. Well now they will get two tickets. Yay!!!

The second one is that idling is good for the engine. Again it is false. In fact idling can actually damage the car because it is not running at its ideal temperature. Some of the results of idling are increased deposits and exhaust system corrosion. Increase deposits will also decrease your fuel efficiency.

The economic costs can be substantial as well. From this news report I learned that a idling car uses 3.5 liters per hour. I am going to use a dollar a liter. Current prices are higher than that. So if you are regular idler. Let say 3 minutes 5 days a week dropping of the kids at school, or the DVDs at the rental place. So that’s 15 minutes a week. That works out to 13 hours. Times that by 3.5 liters and we get 45 liters or $45. That doesn't seem like a lot but their are worse offenders out there and you start adding in the fines.

So its a quick and easy way to save some money and make a difference for the environment.

I made Rice Krispie Squares the other night. Its a really simple recipe and absolutely addicting. I have tried them with all the fancy additions like Smarties, chocolate chips and cocoa powder. They don't stack up to the classic. However the footballs on the Rice Krispie recipe page look cute.

The best part is I made it with my two kids (aged 5 and 2 1/2) helping. The biggest problem was keeping them from eating all the marshmallows. This a case where I highly recommend 'Mise en place' even with the kids eating my marshmallows. The kids get to measure and stir. I do the last steps because you have to work quick.

The entire batch disappeared in about 24 hours. My daughter (2 1/2) definitely helped. She has long since learned to move chairs to reach treats and always know were the good stuff is to eat. Tonight she ate 5 sausages, rice, apple sauce and veggies compared to dads 4. She is definitely in a growth spurt.

Food Blogga has such mouth watering pictures I had to have a try photographing my cooking experiments. So far this is my best photo.

The Automotive X Prize group has released the draft rules for competing. This is definitely going to interesting and I will be following it closely.

First the main competition is going to consist of a long distance race possibly across America. It will be a staged event where they must maintain a gas milage or equivalent of 100 MPGe and emissions of 200 g/mile GHG. It will be a timed event with them limited to the speed limit. That will help create a marketable car none of us want to be limited to 20mph. There maybe time bonus for refuel time, use of multiple fuels, high fuel economy and high public opinion.

The final race will be held in late 2009. I would expect to see the winners available to buy in the late 2010 line up.

There are some other conditions they are looking at. First a business plan that clearly lays out a path to bring the vehicle to market in 10,000 units per year quantities. Features that we would expect in vehicle like air conditioning, stereo, comfort, styling, cargo. The pricing is a little harder to define but basically it should be comparable to a current car in that class.

The stages of the race are going to replicate normal driving conditions: City, Errands, Commuting, Hills, Heavy Traffic, Very long with refueling, stages with days of rest in between with no refueling or maintenance.

There will be lots of publicity allowing companies to raise funds, attract investors. There may be other prizes. My favorite is a people choice award where votes cost real money and the winner gets the money.

Personally I think the Star Rotor people should partner up with someone to enter. They have a really good chance if they get a good partner.

My Related Posts
Star Rotor
Automotive X Prize

Project Porchlight is a non profit group based in Ontario. Anyone out there want to bring it to BC? They have the lofty goal 'to bring together business, community groups and volunteers to deliver one free compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) to every household in Canada'.

The Ontario government just gave them $1.5 million that will allow them to distribute 500,000 CFL bulbs. If I use my assumption from my prior post and all the bulbs get used we get roughly the following savings per year.

34 GWh of electricity
19,700 Tonnes of Carbon
2,000,000 Dollars

So over the 5 years which is what the bulbs are guaranteed for they will save.

170 GWh of electricity
98,500 Tonnes of Carbon
10,000,000 Dollars

So for an investment $1.5 million they are saving people $10 million. That money will get spent and pumped back into the economy. They are also saving 34 GWh of electricity each year. That will not eliminate any plants but it is a step towards reducing the need for more plants.

My Related Posts
Banning Incandescent Light Bulbs
BC Power requirements in 2027

The cover art for the new Harry Potter is out. Both the UK and US versions lead to questions about the plot. First let me say I much prefer the US version. The UK version has a cartoony feel to it which just doesn't feel appropriate. For complete pictures of the cover go to 'The Leaky Cauldron'.

First the US version. The first thing I noticed that Harry and Voldemort are not actually looking at each other but at someone or something off screen. Then I notice that neither are wielding wands. Who's off screen? What are they trying to catch? Wands maybe?

I then looked at the background. Sunrise or sunset? Roman Aqueduct. What I first thought where gravestones look more like people circled around. Death Eaters?

When I started examining it in detail I noticed that Harry has something around his neck. What could that be? The last of Voldemort's Horcruxes?

The strangest thing is the foreground with the tied back drapes. It almost looks like they are on a stage but that really doesn't make sense to me. They are torn and frayed at the bottom. A destroyed house with the drapes still hanging from the ruins? James and Lily's house?

The UK version shows Harry, Ron and Hermione obviously worse for battle in front of or falling in to a portal. What is the portal? Are they falling in to it, being blow, forced? Again there are no wands to be seen. Where are they? They have cuts and bruises. Looks to be a more physical fight. Who are they fighting? The obvious answer is Voldemort but who is with him? Why is Ron wielding a sword? Is it special? The Godric Gryffindor Sword?

I might have to book my vacation around the July 21st release date for this one.

This is a cool idea patented by the EPA, a hydraulic hybrid. They have a UPS truck that is out making the rounds and being evaluated. They are predicting 60-70% improvement in fuel efficiency.

So what is a hydraulic hybrid, basically take out the batteries and replace with a pressure tank. So when the engine is running it pumps fluid from the low pressure tank to the high pressure tank. The high pressure tank uses that stored energy to power hydraulic motors at the wheels. You can also capture energy when braking by using the energy to pump more fluid into the high pressure side.

Another advantage is that you can put the hydraulic motors right at the wheels and eliminate the drive train. That weight savings will add to the fuel efficiency.

While this was designed for larger vehicle I am curious how it work in a mid-sized car like the Toyota Prius Hybrid and how it would compare to an electric hybrid and a plug in hybrid.

This is the kind of innovation that leads me to believe that we can beat global warming and make money doing it.

I got to play the new Wii the other day, huge amount of fun. Don't know about the graphics or processors but to me it biggest advantage is the game play.

I played the bowling and the golf in the sports and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. Took me a while to figure out the control but it definitely took me deeper into the game and made me tune out the rest of the world.

The other big reason I like the Wii is its ability to offer some exercise. I was reading an article about in being used in retirement homes and the positive effect it was having on their lives.

What really made me add this to my Birthday/Christmas list was a wiki article on the new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Wii game. Due out July 2007. It is reported to ship with a Wii-Mic that will allow you to shout out your spells. Don't know if this is rumor or fact but its got my attention.

Environmental Defense has a wonderful article Global Warming Myths and facts. One of the myths that they bust is:

MYTH

Even if global warming is a problem, addressing it will hurt American industry and workers.

FACT

A well designed trading program will harness American ingenuity to decrease heat-trapping pollution cost-effectively, jump starting a new carbon economy.

That to me is the most damaging myth. The reason I believe that is that while we are ignoring global warming other countries are recognizing the problems, coming up with solutions and making the money.

Lets look at solar panels. According to this article Japanese companies make 50% of all solar panels and that other key makers are Europe and China. Another telling stat can be found at this site . The data is a little out of date (2001) but Japan has 7 times more Watts installed per capita than the USA. Germany and Switzerland 4 times as much. There are a number of US companies with some great ideas out there that are growing. Its that kind of innovation that we need.

Lets look a cars. First lets compare stock prices 5 years ago compared to today.

Company	5 Years ago	Today
Toyota	$60	$133
Ford	$15	$8
GM	$60	$30
Honda	$20	$36

If you search for most popular cars you will get a number of site most are pretty much the same dependent on how they are measuring popularity. This site doesn't have a American car on the list. Comparing gas milage I found the www.fueleconomy.gov. Interesting to see whats most efficient in each class Asia dominates in the small to midsize particularly Toyota and Honda. In the large cars and trucks the US is back in the game. All the companies have plans for more fuel efficient cars.

In closing I do not believe that solving global warming will hurt the US economy and more importantly I believe that not taking action now and developing the solutions will hurt the US Economy.

Fannie Farmer is the cookbook that along with my mother taught me how to cook. I remember as a kid flipping through it looking for new recipes to try. I made all sorts of cakes,cookies and pies (mostly apple) out of this book. My mother would never stop us from making our own dessert. Later my mother made cooking dinner my brother and mine's responsibility and we learned all sorts of meat dishes although I think meatloaf was the most common.

Today I use it mostly as a reference, anytime I need to know cooking time per pound for something. There are a couple of recipes that I use regularly. The first is Yorkshire Pudding which is an absolute requirement for those Sunday night roast beef dinners. The second is the chocolate fudge a necessary component of Hyper Cake. I'll describe it next time I make it with pictures.

I actually own four copies of this cook book. When I moved out my mother bought me my own copy but it was quite the same as my mother's so I bought a used copy that match her edition. Later I found a very early edition. Nice to own and funny to read but not very useful 'butter the size of an egg' and 'medium hot oven'. When my grandmother passed away my mother got her copy and I got my mothers including the duct tape and all important notes. Some families have a family bible we have a family cookbook.

A car engine that has 2-3 times the efficiency of a normal engine? These guys are well on their way to doing it. The engine uses the Brayton cycle. It is actually a very simple system although you'll have to go to their website to figure it out. It took me a while to understand what they are doing. Click on the engine to animate it.

Lets look at this using their 2-3 times efficiency and todays cars. The Toyota Prius currently gets 67 MPG multiply that by 2-3 and we get 134-201 MPG. If we use the Toyota Sienna for a minivan it gets 35 MPG multiply that by 2-3 and we get 70-105 MPG in a minivan. Combine this with more advanced batteries and a plug in hybrid and we could do our daily commutes for months without filling up.

It is also going to be easier on emissions even without taking in to account the reduced amount of gas because it uses a much more efficient method of burning. That is to say it more completely burns the gas.

It is going to have about 10% the number of part a conventional engine has. Which means easier to make and maintain. Everything is rotational so no vibrations which means less wear. There is less friction so again less wear.

It is also going to be much smaller than a conventional engine. That means less weight and less weight mean better mileage. Combine this with some of the other idea out there to reduce weight and you get even better mileage.

I think these guys in combination with some other groups could put together a serious entry for the automotive X prize.

My Related Posts
Automotive X Prize
Plug-in Hybrids

Since I started blogging I have wandered on to a number of excellent sites. Food Blogga has caused my mouth to water every time I have visited.

My mother started me cooking way back. My earliest memories of cooking was standing on our two level white step stool making scrambled eggs under the watchful eye of my mother. A lot of my favorite memories growing up involve the kitchen. So I am a decent cook although I tend towards what my wife calls 'bachelor fare', heavy, solid stick to your ribs food.

I had tried store bought 'tube' polenta quite a while ago and both my wife and I hated it. It was mushy, watery, flavorless and looked nothing like what I have seen on cooking shows. When I saw the pictures on Food Blogga I thought that looks a lot better maybe its time for another try. Needless to say it came out great, nice creamy texture in the middle, crispy on the outside and had a nice light flavor. For me frying it definitely added to the flavor and overall experience.

My plan was to fry up some boneless skinless chicken thighs with some onion and green pepper. Add some tomato sauce and spice and serve. I put the chicken on to fry, went into the cupboard for an onion, none left. Ok move on, get the green pepper out of the fridge. I'm sure I bought one, were is it. Panic is setting in. Lets just go with tomato sauce and spice it up a bit more. No tomato sauce!!!! We buy that stuff by the case. Ok bachelor mode kicks in. Searching the cupboard for anything 'red'. Find a can of Campbell's Chunky™ Chicken Italian Wedding formerly 'Chicken Catchatori' and tomato paste. Can someone tell me what the difference is between 'Italian Wedding and Catchatori is? Threw the soup in, looked at it and it needed thickening so added the paste. Simmered it until the polenta was fried up.

It worked out very well, it was easy fast and delicious. My wife said it was 'repeatable' meaning I could make it again without consequences. I discovered that polenta is just as good the second day if I fried it again. Tonight I am trying the frittata with the only change of adding some sausage and yes this time I have all the ingredients.

The people that offered up prize money for reusable private spacecraft are planning a new contest. The rules for the Automotive X PRIZE are still being developed but they do offer up a general view on their website.

They state the primary goal as "To inspire a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles that help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change". Amongst the other guidelines is that these have to be production not concept cars. That is to say that we will actually be able to buy these cars. The contest will be technology neutral. So super efficient gas, hybrids, electric, hydrogen and anything else are all welcome and can compete on a level playing field. The main points they are going to be measuring are: fuel-efficiency, emissions, safety, manufacturability, performance, capacity. Those six criteria are going to involve a lot of trade offs.

I look forward to seeing the complete rules when they are released. Again this is the sort of financial encouragement that drives competition. I fully expect that this contest will change the world.

I am watching Global Currents 'Thin Ice' on TV as I write this. Its a documentary on Canada's North. It is scary to see the melt and the effect on the people who live there. People trying get around on snowmobiles; trying to get to their traditional hunting grounds are now getting stuck in water and slush.

The caribou are having problems migrating because of the melt. That directly impacts the people who rely on them for food. The polar bears are having to swim father to find seals and some are drowning.

The very cynical good side that was mentioned is that the diamond industry can bring in their ships over a longer period because the sea routes are clear of ice longer. They are predicting that the Northwest Passage could be ice free in the future.

They state at one point that you can ask anyone of the north and they will say that climate change is here now! It is affecting peoples lives now.

I was searching for how much electricity common household items consume and I came across this website. There I found a great table that list the items and the watts they consume. He even has a calculator that works out the kWh and the cost of running an item based on the item, how long it is on an the state you are in.

He also talks about the Kill A Watt as a way to measure exactly the energy usage of a device.

There is also a section on ideas on how to save electricity and therefore money. Switching to compact fluorescents from incandescents is in my opinion the easiest and the quickest. The change pays for itself in 4 months. Compare this to my desire to switch out my 17 inch CRT for a LCD where it would take 10 years for the savings to pay the costs. Oh well I was hoping I could justify the purchase by the energy savings.

There is a lot of information to be found on this website. I found what I was looking for on the first page I hit but kept getting dragged off to other pages that grabbed my attention. I'll definitely be going back to read in more detail.

My related posts

Banning Incandescent Light Bulbs
Kill A Watt

I was reading an article about a company (Katabatic Power) that is planning a 3000 MW wind farm on an island on the north coast of BC.

The first phase would provide power to BC. The remainder could go to BC or California. A recent Californian commission stated "there are potentially viable British Columbia renewable resources that may be available for PG&E to develop or acquire". I like being an exporter it means we are importing money. The problems are that they don't have the transmission capacity to get the power to California. They are working on that including the possibility of an underwater cable down the coast.

We are definitely going to see a lot of wind turbines in the coming years. The wind is always there mine as well harness it, in appropriate locations, and make a profit.

Another of my morning routine web comics. I have been following this one for years.

If you ever wondered what happens in an internet provider here you are. If you do client support you will feel for Greg and wish you could do what he does. Pitr is a coder that is always planning to take over the world. Sid is the seasoned veteran coder, punch cards, no problem. He is also the arch nemesis to Pitr and foils most of his plans. Lots more well developed characters that you will relate with or know someone just like that.

The archive go back to 1997. I remember reading them over a couple of weeks. Very addictive and highly recommended especially those in the computer industry.

British Colombia is projecting that we will need 30,000 GWh per year more electricity by 2027. The government is hoping that conservation will cover half of that need. Lets use 30,000 GWh per year for our calculations anyways.

So 30,000 GWh per year works out to 822 GWh per day. Switching one incandescent bulb for a compact fluorescent, run for four hours a day saves 46W times 4 hours or 184Wh. That means we would have to switch out 4.5 million incandescents. As of the 2001 census there were 1.6 million households in BC. So that works out to roughly 3 bulbs per household. Completely doable and that doesn't take in to account businesses or government. Banning incandescent would cover that total easily.

Talk about coincidences I was googleing my own name to see where this blog placed and found EI Solutions. The president used to be another Chris Tilley.

They are putting in a 1.6 MW Solar Power system at the Google campus in Mountain View,CA. They have a cool Google Earth video of what the installation will look like. The coolest feature is their use of the solar panels for creating a shading structure for the parking lots.

This started me thinking of the huge parking lots at the attractions. I used Disneyland as my example not to single them out or otherwise embarrasses them but simply because when thinking of southern California attractions Disneyland came to mind first. These numbers are very rough and there could well be other factors that I am not including. What I did was use Google Earth to measure the two large parking lots at the south end of the park. It came out to 1.46 million sq ft. That is 7.43 times the area in the Google system. That works out to over 11 MW.

The other side of the equation is the cost. Google is going to save $393,000 per year in energy cost and expect to pay it off in 7.5 years. That would work out to roughly $3 million. These number are even more rough. So the theoretical Disneyland system would cost $22 million and save them 2.9 million a year. There are a ton of assumptions in these numbers but it would certainly grab my attention and cause me to look in to it properly.

I was reading an article today on the new Chevrolet Volt concept car. GM is looking to have it in production by 2010. It will go 40 miles on a charge, city driving. One point that was missing is what its top speed is on electric. For me that can be an issue as I need to do highway speeds to get to work and some of the ones I looked have the engine come on over 40 mph.

In my research I came across EV World. I was trying to work out the cost and the carbon footprint and they had done all the work already. Basically a 60 mile commute works out to $0.72 electric versus $4.40 for gas. The carbon works out to 40 lbs for the gas. I corrected the carbon number based on this website. I was trying to figure out how one gallon of gas could result in 20 lbs of CO2. They explain it very well. The electric works out to 10lbs. They used 20 lbs of carbon per gallon of gas and 1.4 lbs per kWh. That differs from my 1.6 but it would depend on how they are generating the electricity. Where I am it is almost all hydro and would be zero lbs.

There are a number of competitors to the Volt particularly Toyota although the Volt seem to be ahead of the curve on this one. Good going glad to see a US automaker taking the lead.

Environmental Defense helped broker a potential buyout of energy giant TXU. The deal was conditional on a number of changes including reducing carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and doubling their investment in wind power.

Fred Krupp, President Environmental Defense said "Smart companies are realizing that green business is good business". I have already stated this before that their is money to be made in finding the solutions.

Saw this the other day on Mythbusters as they busted the myth that the power surge when turning on your lights takes more electricity than leaving them one. They busted that one you would have to be out of the room for less than a second to save any money by leaving the lights on. That goes for compact fluorescents, regular fluorescent, incandescent, LED and a couple that I don't remember what they were.

Anyways if you are trying to reduce electricity usage this would be a very useful tool. Basically you plug it into an outlet and plug the device that you want to measure in to the 'Kill A Watt'. It will measure the usage by kilowatt hours (kWh).

Personally I would hook it up to something for a week minimum, preferably a month to see what the actual usage is. I know in general what the power consumption is for most of my devices but I don't know how long they are on, or what they are consuming in sleep mode or turned off. The two big ones I would check first would be the entertainment center and my computer.

Finally got around to watching Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' last night. Definitely recommend this movie to anyone. Of course those who need to see it won't bother. A couple of thing that really caught my attention.

First was the gas mileage standard for US vehicles compared to the rest of the world. I was surprised that Canada was any better. The statement that the the US can't sell cars into China because they don't meet the millage standard was scary. This goes back to my belief that the solution is competition. Toyota is thriving Chrysler is dying. We need to take global warming seriously because our economy depends on it.

Second was the sea level rise if Greenland melted or the ice shelf in Antarctica went. Either one would cause a twenty foot rise in sea level. The latest IPCC report maxes out at two feet but doesn't take in to account ice melt. I found this article 'The Warming of Greenland' where they found a new island off of Greenland that was though to be part of the mainland until the ice retreated ten kilometers. You can see the sea level change in your area by going to 'Flood Maps'.

In conclusion I was impressed that he said there was money to be made in finding the solutions. Most of the material I had seen on the internet before but he but it together well and told a compelling story.

This web comic isn't part of my morning routine only because he posts around midnight EST which mean I can get the next strip at 9pm out here on the west coast.

Schlock Mercenaries is a space opera with excellent story lines. So excellent that I have to check every night as soon as they come out. The main characters die on a disturbingly regular bases kept alive with 'nanny bags', head jars and regeneration.

The title characters is Sergeant Schlock a 'carbosilicate amorphs'. Everyone says he looks like a mobile pile of poo but I think he looks like an army green jello mold that got left in the fridge way to long and decided to crawl out. He caries a plasgun with a barrel you could fit your hand in (really bad idea) that makes the sound "ommminous hummmm".

Lots of physical humor and you'll love his version of lawyers.

Al gore has responded to the criticism of his energy use. Here's the article. Basically they have been making changes with compact fluorescent bulbs, and adding solar panels amongst other things.

In reading the website for 'An Inconvenient Truth' and what he is asking is we reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible and buy carbon offsets to get to zero. To calculate your carbon footprint go here.

As far as buying credits I can see companies doing it for tax breaks or government regulations. For the individual I would rather invest in such a company and earn dividends. Hows that for a business model people put their money in buy shares in the company, build wind farms for example and share in the rewards. Having said that a lot of people will buy credit for their own peace of mind. You can buy credits here. It worked out to between $4 and $12 a month to offset my family completely. Thats less money than I save from switching to compact fluorescent.

An article came out today 'Kyoto would cost $100B over 4 years: study'. This is for Canada to meet it Kyoto obligations. They propose to tax gas and coal, a carbon tax, to then be spent on green technologies. I agree that we should be meeting our Kyoto obligations however I do not believe that this plan will work without incentives for the companies.

If big oil has a tax added to it all they are going to do is pass the cost on down the line and probably add a little something for themselves. The end consumers, who are already getting gouged at the pump, are moving to more fuel efficient vehicles. Increasing gas price will increase that but only for the people that can afford to move to a more efficient vehicle. The rest just suffer. On top of that everything else will increase in price as truckers have to pay the extra for their fuel.

If we are going to tax them lets allow them to offset their carbon with investment in renewable energy either in actual plants or research. Have carbon tax credits as well as taxes. Exxon has been developing solar panels for nearly 40 years and is a large producer of them. See this blog on the history of solar power. Search for Exxon. Alberta Oil companies are putting in wind farms across Alberta and are looking at BC because of restrictions in Alberta. Plus I don't trust any government to invest that money properly.

This also doesn't look at the demand side of the equation. While cars are getting more efficient they are never going to be efficient enough as long as they are gas powered. As long as there is demand there will be supply. Well at least until we run out.

In looking around the web for global warming stories I came across a number regarding Al Gore's house, its size and its energy consumption.

First of all I am Canadian. So while I have an interest in US politics I have no vote. Second I am conservative by Canadian standards. Which is not quite as conservative as some of the websites I visited. Third I do see global warming as a real threat and that changes must be made. Finally I'm a capitalist. I believe that there is a lot of money to made in coming up with solutions. Everything from solar and wind power to more extreme ideas like bio-reactors and the solar tower. Some will prosper and some will fail, survival of the fittest.

I find it humorous that his house uses so much energy. Obviously the easiest solution for him to reduce his carbon output would be to downsize his house. Since that isn't likely to happen I would like to see what improvements he makes to the house. A news article on FOXnews reports some of the changes. Specifically I would like to know the cost of these improvements, his savings in dollars or ROI, and his savings in carbon.

Personally I like his involvement in the Virgin Earth Challenge. I see the offering of private money for solutions to problems as capitalism at its finest. I bet that Branson has ideas on how to take these ideas and capitalize on them.

I was going to write on all my favorite web comics but decide to pay each of them a little more attention.

Irregular Web comic runs irregularly everyday. OK, there's no guarantee of regular updates but he hasn't missed a day as long as I can remember. He runs a number of different themes most done with photos of Lego mini figures, some with miniatures, and a few pictures of himself.

The comics are absolutely hilarious. I started with the Mythbuster theme. Since this is one of my favorite shows it was a natural. Thanks to the wonderfully thought out interface that allows you go to the next strip in a theme or in the case of a crossover choose which theme to advance to I was able to read the whole theme.

I moved on the to Harry Potter theme. , one of my favorite book series and probably the most read. If you follow the link to the first strip above you'll probably never come back to my blog.

After that I started at the beginning and read all the way through. The fantasy and space ones rekindled my interest in roleplaying games. Don't have anyone to play with or the time I would need.

Overall this is one of the few web comics that caused me to want to go back and read the whole work. It is also one of the four web comics in my morning routine.

Today I came across this blog with an article on this bike lift.

The idea is simple and elegant. You simple insert a card at the bottom of the hill. The system calls up a step and you put one foot on it and allow it to push you up the hill. In 12 years of operations not a single accident.

There defiantly places in the Vancouver,BC area where I would see them getting used. Specifically the hills coming up from White Rock beach. Beautiful area and very popular but every summer it is one continuous traffic jam plus there is nowhere near enough parking. One of these lift would make a huge difference. A lot more of the local would ride their bikes down to the beach.

There is only one in the world right now but it has been operating since 1993. From what I read on the companies website, Trampe, they are ready to start installing them in other cities.

Heavens Above is a cool site that I found last summer. You put in your address and it tells you all the satellites that are going to go overhead that night right down to the exact time and a map of the path it is going to follow. I took the extra step and registered and looked up my exact lat and long on Google Earth. The first night I was out I spotted a Russian Electronic Intelligence satellite going over my house. That was really cool and a little freaky at the same time. I have stared up at the sky before and seen satellites go overhead and known they were satellites but not exactly what they where. I also tried to take a pictures. I set up my camera to take pictures every 30 second for a 15 second exposure (maximum exposure unfortunately). I propped up the camera aimed were there was going to be a satellite and let it run. This is what I got.

I believe it is Kosmos 2237 Rocket Body. That links to the a picture of the type of rocket that put it up. Its payload that day was a Tselina-2 electronic intelligence satellite. Plan to try again this summer when its a little warmer. Need a tripod to aim better and a long USB cable so I can control the camera from inside

I read yesterday that Australia is going to phase out incandescent bulbs, replacing them with compact fluorescents, over the next three years with goal of having them eliminated by 2012. They are expecting that will reduce their CO2 emissions by 4 million tons a year. California is looking at doing something similar. With governments now stepping up to the plate and requiring energy standards on light bulbs we will see improvements. I hope other governments will follow suit.

I have been replacing incandescent light bulb with compact fluorescents for about 5 years so I was wondering how much I am saving and what the carbon savings are.

First I counted all my compact fluorescents, 24 total. Most are 13 watt replacing 60 watt. So that is what I use for the numbers. I'm not going for accuracy here just a general picture. Next I estimated that each bulb was on an average of 4 hours. So 24 bulbs * 60 watts * 4 hours * 365 equals 2102 kWh / year. I pay 6 cents/kWh so 2102 kWh * 6 cents/kWh equals $126.12 per year. The bulbs are guaranteed for 5 years this is less time than the number of hours that I used compared to 10,000 lifespan but I'm using the the lower number. So 5years * 126.12 equals $630.60. For the replacement bulbs running the same calculations we get 456kWh, $27.33/year and $136.65 for 5 years.

The carbon calculations are derived from the website Environmentaldefense.org. They have a table that told me that for 15 watt replacing a 60 watt save between 806 and 884 lbs over the life of the bulb that they state is 15,000 hours. So I use 4 hours * 365 day for 1460 hours a year. That is 9.8% of the 15,000 hours. 9.8% of the 884lbs equals 87lbs/year/bulb. Times that by 24 bulbs and you get 2088 lbs per year or roughly 1 ton. Using the lower 806 lbs still works out roughly to 1 ton. So 5 tons over the 5 years.

So 24 60 watt incandescent bulbs replace with 13 watt compact fluorescent bulbs final results.

60 watt bulb -- 2102 kWh/year -- $126.12/year -- $630.60 over 5 years
13 watt bulb -- 456 kWh/year -- $27.33/year -- $136.65 over 5 years

Total savings over 5 years is almost $500 plus reducing CO2 emissions by 5 tons. I have not included the cost of bulbs. Compact Fluorescent cost more but last longer, plus compared to the overall saving the costs are negligible.

I have always thought that the solution to global warming needs to be commercially viable. When I saw Sir Richard Branson Virgin Earth Challenge I though this will have a positive effect, we will get a number of new technologies. Of course this lead me to thoughts of how it could be done. My first thoughts were blue-green algae. At the same time I was watching some show on TV that was showing off something called a Solar Tower. This is an innovative solution to generating solar power. They basic idea is a tall chimney of a tower surrounded by a huge greenhouse. As the greenhouse heats the air flows up the chimney turning turbines. So my thoughts were would it work to put blue green algae in the tower or the greenhouse and how much CO2 would it remove. That led me to the question of how much CO2 does blue green algae remove for a given amount. I never did find that out. As I searching for that I came across a bio-reactor developed at Ohio University and licensed by GreenFuel. They don't just have the idea they have it all worked out and licensed out. The bio-reactor hooks into the smokestack of coal fired power plants and the algae uses the CO2 in the its photosynthesis process. The excess algae can be used in a number of products including bio diesel.