Random Thoughts of Chris Tilley

Congratulations Matt and Steph on making it to PEI! Great going.

Run For One Planet is

An 11,000-mile run across Canada & around the USA to inspire environmental action.

Above is another video that does a very nice job of spelling out exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Also I am now writing environmental article for their blog. There is list of articles over on the right sidebar of this blog that will take you to the articles on the Run for One Planet Blog

I finished reading 'Earth: the Sequel' and believe that everyone should read this book. The author, Fred Krupp is the president of the Environmental Defense Fund and to quote the bio in the back of the book, 'is a pioneer in the use of market forces to achieve ambitious environmental goals. The book itself is a positive portrayal of people and companies out there on the leading edge, creating the next generation of energy production, storage and transmission. The one thing that he repeatedly says is that they need a cap and trade system to level the playing field. He compares the atmosphere to a common pasture where a number of people graze their animals. Everyone wants to put as many animal on as they can as they make more money but who pays for overgrazing. Just like its no longer ok to dump in the ocean, its no longer ok to dump into the atmosphere.

I feel that this is a book that everyone should read especially politicians as such I have decided to accept donation to send politicians copies. Here is how it is going to work. I have set up links to make donations via paypal. When the amount for a given politician hits $25 (after Paypal charges) I will buy the book and ship it to them. I will donate any extra to Run For One Planet. I am starting with the two Presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama and John McCain, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Donate to Buy Barack Obama "Earth: The Sequel" By Fred Krupp

Donate to Buy John McCain "Earth: The Sequel" By Fred Krupp

Donate to Buy Stephen Harper "Earth: The Sequel" By Fred Krupp

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.

That is the challenge that Al Gore put forth. We can do it! This is going to be a challenge on the scale of the President Kennedy's landing a person on the moon in 10 years.

There are a number of challenges in meeting this goal the first is the electrical grid which is in shambles as seen by some of the blackouts in past years.

Today, our grids are antiquated, fragile, and vulnerable to cascading failure. Power outages and defects in the current grid system cost US businesses more than $120 billion dollars a year. It has to be upgraded anyway.

There is enough energy available the challenge is capturing it, sending it to where it is needed and a method of storing it. There are ways of storing it at least on paper.

We have such fuels. Scientists have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year. Tapping just a small portion of this solar energy could provide all of the electricity America uses.

And enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of US electricity demand. Geothermal energy, similarly, is capable of providing enormous supplies of electricity for America.

Building these technologies locally will create jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I have said this before innovation and the entrepreneur spirit is going to be part of the solution.

When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home.

Our economy cannot stand 10 more years of sending $2 billion every 24 hours to foreign countries for oil.

Time to offend some special interest groups. The evolution of business, change or die. Try finding a pay phones these days. The oil companies need to switch directions. Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens has announced a 2 billion dollar initial investment in his company to build the worlds largest wind farm in Texas.(source)

Of course the greatest obstacle to meeting the challenge of 100 percent renewable electricity in 10 years may be the deep dysfunction of our politics and our self-governing system as it exists today. In recent years, our politics has tended toward incremental proposals made up of small policies designed to avoid offending special interests, alternating with occasional baby steps in the right direction. Our democracy has become sclerotic at a time when these crises require boldness.

Sandra Taylor, wife of my favorite webcomic, has come out with a beautiful kids book. Sandra wrote the story and Angela Call did the wonderful art work. The brief description of the book reads:

Ideas are like horses, but Amy's tend to run wild. With a little help, Amy learns how to guide her ideas in constructive ways.

You can download a full copy of the book in a pdf. I did that and read it to my kids. They loved it and got the idea of guiding their ideas. I fully expect them to ask me to read it again and again.

My kids have wonderful imaginations and quite often try to implement them on their own or in inappropriate ways, times and/or places. My Six year old one day came up to me and said he had an experiment he wanted to try. I as usual said 'ok what do we need'. His response was a big metal tank and a long pipe. He then innocently asks me if I know how to weld. The answer to that on was 'No'. After some more back and forth I determined that what he was attempting build the Mythbuster's Steam Cannon. Apparently the line 'Do not attempt this at home' does not apply to the front yard.

You can also buy the book from the website. Pre-orders currently available at $12.95 plus S/H.

This sounds like one of those 'way out there' ideas but if someone manages to make it affordable it would solve a lot of problems. This article appeared on CNN. The idea for space based power satellites has been around for decades but the up front costs have been prohibitive. The 'National Security Space Office' did another review based on the increased cost of oil and the energy security that it would bring and while they concluded that it is no yet cost effective for commercial use the DOD could be an anchor tenant. The DOD would be willing to pay extra for electricity to forward operating areas. The major hold back is sufficient and cheap enough space lift capacity. There are companies that are working towards power satellites including Mitsubishi.

One of the ideas mentioned in the report is that of a space elevator. There is a competition going on to develop the technologies needed to make a space elevator. For more information on the competition go to the Spaceward Foundation website. The prize money is supplied by NASA's Centennial Challenges program - a total of $4,000,000 over the next 5 years.

In reading Spaceward Foundations 'About us' this bit stood out as where the US needs to go to remain competitive.

The United States has benefited greatly from its technological leadership during the 20th century. From the mass production of automobiles to airplanes to computers to the green revolution to the Internet, Americans have led the way. Now, at the dawn of a new century, our leadership is being challenged. We want to see the United States benefit from its continued leadership in space during the 21st century. Spaceward intends to bring together leaders from the academic, commercial and educational worlds and create a series of challenges, exhibits, and educational activities that will re-invigorate the nation's interest in space.

It will be interesting to follow these as they develop.

Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait are on their way around North America to raise awareness for the environment and get people to 'Take Environmental Action Now'. They ran through Kelowna,BC the other day and unfortunately I was unable to meet them. I did get to see the van briefly. The are currently in Edmonton,AB and have a number of events planned there over the weekend. To check out there upcoming events there is a 'Calendar of Events' They also have a cool GPS tracking site that will tell you exactly where they are that is being run by a company called 'Watch My Race'. So go out and show your support, Pledge an Environmental Action and if you want to, run with them for a bit.

In other news I have been trying to improve my gas millage. I made the decision as I was filling up so I noted my millage and worked out my MPG. So without any changes my millage was 34.1 MPG. I went to a number of websites and the easiest and cheapest to implement right away was to change my driving style. Things like easy starts, going the speed limit and maintaining a constant speed. Being aware of what your foot is doing on that gas pedal. Picture that precious gas flowing away the more you press down. So the end result after one fill up was an increase in millage to 37.1 MPG. The average car drives 12000 miles per year So that works out to a savings of $146 per year and I was already a fairly non aggressive driver. I also worked out how much CO2 and I went from .66 LBS or CO2 per mile down to .60. So over the year thats 636 lbs of CO2 saved.

My kids wanted to make cookies today which is always fun. They love to help and it they get to learn some new skills like measuring and following instructions. They measure the ingredients and add them to the bowl then put the blobs of dough on the cookie sheet.

The kids love these ones and they are the favorite of my wife. I like the spice and tend to do 'heaping' on the spice measures. The Corn Flakes add a wonderful crunch. These go fast in my house so I always make a triple batch.

Cornflake Cookies
Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup margerine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp backing powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1 1/2 cups Corn Flakes

Instructions

• Cream the margarine and both sugars
• Beat in egg and vanilla
• Mix together all dry ingredients except the Corn Flakes
• Add margarine mixture and beat
• Add the Corn Flakes and beat just enough to incorporate
• Drop by spoonfulls onto a cookie sheet
• Bake in a 350 oven for 10-12 minutes

This book talks about the authors one year of living the hundred mile diet. Basically the rules they set for themselves was to only eat things that were grown within a 100 miles of their home. Their blog goes into more on the rules and the problems they faced.

The basic premise is that buying locally is better for the environment in that you avoid the Co2 emissions. Wondering what these would be I did some research. First I found from a number of DOT sites that a truck averages hauling 59 tons 1 mile per gallon of diesel. At 2000 lbs/tom that equals 118,000 lb miles. Consuming one gallon of diesel produces 22.384 lbs of CO2. That works out to .00019 lbs of CO2 per lb of cargo per mile traveled. On my last trip to grocery store I bought three produce items and they all came from California. So that is 1400 miles and about 1/4 lb of CO2 per lb of produce that I bought.

So the challenge is to cook a main course using only ingredients bought with in 100 miles of where you live. Read the blog to understand the complexity of that rule. Submit to admin AT domain name (chris-tilley.com). You blog entry should include the recipe and the source of the ingredients. Please also submit the blog entry to 'Is My Blog Burning' The scoring will based on creativity, appearance, taste and comments made on my blog or on 'Is My Blog Burning'.

• Your name.
• A link to your blog entry.
• An image of the dish. (i'll resize them as needed)
• Closing Date is April 30 2008

Jayci is a 10 year old who is dying of brain cancer after a long battle. Her dying wish is to have her dad at her bedside. Unfortunately her dad is currently incarcerated on drug charges. He is due to be released to a halfway house in Aug but Jayci is not likely to make it that far. Her father has asked for a 30 day supervised pass to be with his daughter which is within the power of the warden in exceptional circumstances. That request has been denied saying that his does not qualify as exceptional circumstances. Not sure what would qualify.

The is a FaceBook Group started to influence officials.
FaceBook Group: Let Jayci Yaeger see her dad!

Wardens Email Address: YAN/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

Updated YouTube Video:

Update Mar 27

Jason was let out for a short visit yesterday. While I thank the warden for this mercy I still would like to see Jason released until the end.

Update Mar 28

Jayci passed away last night. I have to believe that the short visit from her father was what she needed to make that final journey. There is no cancer in heaven and no pain. Rest in Peace Jayci. Lets pray for the family in this time that they may find comfort and strength to carry on. May they find ways to honor the memory of Jayci and to realize all the hearts she touched in her much to short life. She has had a profound effect on so many and I pray that she continues to have that positive effect on others.

I was checking up on one of my prior posts and one of my minor problems was that they weren't easily available in Canada. In going back they now have a number of distributors in Canada. Local to me would be Choices Market. I stopped in and they did indeed have gDiapers in stock. As I said in my previous post these are Cradle to Cradle Silver Certified.

On another note the Irish Group, Ceol na h'Eireann, my wife is part of now has a video up on YouTube. She is playing the flute over on the right.

This is a cool video I saw on Daily Planet this afternoon. It a very good illustration of how traffic slowdowns can occur when there appears to be no reason. All it takes is one car slowing a bit which triggers a chain reaction. Even on this very simple scenario with only 22 car on a circle without any other factors, traffic came to a compete stop.

Now consider your modern city with a huge number more cars traveling at a wider variety speeds, traffic lights, bottlenecks, merging traffic and a thousand other variables. Its no wonder that we have traffic jams.

I wonder how much gas we could save a CO2 emissions we could avoid if traffic flowed perfectly. Ok, perfectly is not very realistic but there is certainly room for improvement. In Portland Oregon The Climate Trust has a carbon offset project to optimize the traffic lights on 17 major arteries. They are expecting 171,786 metric tons carbon dioxide over the five year project lifetime.

Considering we will never get everyone on to mass transit even though that will have a major effect we will see more projects like this one.

First of all what is congestion pricing? Basically it is charging a toll for access into a highly congested area. In the case of New York it will mean a charge for going south of 60th St in Manhattan.

What are the expect benefits?

• Save 13 Billion a year in Fuel, extra time spent in traffic and Revenue
• Less Traffic
• Help Global Warming
• Improve Mass Transit (as long as the money is funneled that way)

This is another Environmental Defense orchestrated effort. I am a real fan of their work. They work things out so that the economics of the situation work to solve the problem. In this case adding to the congestion and pollution will cost you, you can still do it but at a cost. The money will go to mass transit improvement and that is the key point. If it just goes to government general funds nothing will change.

This has been implement successfully in a number of cities. The best example would be London . London started it 2003 and and have seen the following successes

• 30% average drop in congestion
• 37% average increase in traffic speed
• # 12% drop in particulate matter and nitrogen oxides
• 20% decrease in fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions

In Stockholm they initiated a trial program with only 31 percent of residents favoring it. After the trial they held a referendum to reinstate the charges and it passed.

There are a number of other cities that could implement this and will probably pay a lot more attention when New York starts showing some benefits. This still has to get passed the city and the state.

Bachelor Fare time again. My family is away for the week and I had a craving. For those of you that don't know what 'Toad in the hole' is, it is basically Yorkshire Pudding with sausages in it. The picture on the wikipedia page is the traditional way and the way my mother used to make it. I do things a little differently and use muffin tins.

Toad in the Hole (Makes 12)

Preheat oven to 450

• 6 sausages
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs (add one egg for every 1000 feet you are above sea level)

Cut the sausages in half and put half a sausage in each muffin tin. Put in the oven and brown. We want so grease out of the sausage to cook the Yorkshires in. If the sausage don't provide any oil add a little olive oil. I have a little pump spritzer for oil that works well. As the sausages cook we will mix up the Yorkshire Puddings.

In a bowl add the flour and stir in the salt. Add the milk and beat well, a minute or 2 with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and beat. Pour over the sausages, filling each tin to 1/2 to 3/4 full. Put in the oven and turn the temperature down to 400. Bake for 25 minutes.

Trying to figure out what this is a picture of?

Well it a systems that allows long haul truckers to turn off their engines when they are parked and keep warm and all their electronics powered.

Basically the big hose hooks up to a window adapter. The hose recycle the air in the cab cooling or heating as necessary and filtering it. The hose also has electrical plugs both inside and out. This allows the driver to turn off their engine during their required 10 hours rest for every 11 hours of driving or anywhere they have to wait. There are other benefits for the driver like TV, internet, phone and no wear and tear on the engine from idling.

So on the global warming side IdleAire sells carbon credits through Carbon Fund. A truck idling burns a gallon of diesel per hour. Three billion gallons are burned a year from idling. Thats equivalent to 30.5 Million Tonnes of CO2 and 10 billion dollars. Now they are not going to eliminate all the idling but they can make a pretty good dent into it. The other problem is that the electricity has to be generated from something and right now alot of that is coal but that isn't IdleAire's problem. They are solving the problem at their level someone else need to fix the electricity generation problem.

So another company that is making money helping save the environment and stop global warming.