"We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?"

-Ray Bradbury

The Pickens Plan on 60 Minutes

"We are at war with no guns with energy."
- T. Boones Pickens

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I saw the 60 Minute piece online. It is interesting and bold. The big new idea I'm hearing is a Federal push to build an energy infrastructure much like the major Freeway projects of the 50's. A modern new backbone for wind and solar power to plug these resources into.

By pushing for wind power and new grid infrastructure to plug into this would free up the necessary natural gas for on-road vehicles and freight mobility. I'm hopeful and like the conversation this is spurring.

Dark Humor in the Ethanol Industry

Give this analyst an award for most colorful description of VeraSun Energy's financial condition:

"Last week, ethanol producer VeraSun Energy (VSE) announced it put itself up for sale after blowing its brains out in the corn market."

The article came from SeekingAlpha.com

OEM Made Glycerine Based Coolant Announced

Back in about 2002 I was told by someone the real industrial hope for glycerine was as a coolant.


That with a little creative chemistry glycerine can be formed into Ethelyn Glycol the main ingredient in antifreeze-coolant used in many cars. Upon hearing this I asked a friend of mine who is a turbologist (a lubrication engineer who deals in automotive motor oils and chemicals) what he thought. He told me back in the 30's and earlier glycerine was used as a coolant additive so it was plausible.


And so I wait to see this big savior for nonfood grade industrial off-take to arise. Finally I see a report of a product.


Cummins Filtration (the filter division of Cummins Engine) has rolled out a glycerine based coolant. Cool stuff to say the least (yes pun intended). I saw the original story at the Biobased News.

A Man, His Business Model, and a Paradigm Shifting Approach to the Electric Car.

From Wired Magazine. An interesting and thought provoking idea coming our way from Israel (a nation no doubt distinctly aware of where their economy's petro purchase dollars flow).

Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road

Here is the story in a nutshell. The issue with electric cars in the short term is a full large-scale deployment of support. Not just complete with recharging stations but also battery swap out facilities if you need a fully charged battery on short notice for a longer range trip. Also critical is support of fully delveloped and existing auto manufacturers to support electric vehicles. (See diagram below)

So in essence its the story of the Hydrogen Car but with technology immediately available today, full OEM support to roll out electric cars, and a product horizon of the near future.

Its doable and no less audacious than any other major idea drawing investment, support, and political advertising photo-ops right now. Its a little more complex than T. Boone Pickens' concept of converting vehicles to natural gas (an easy process) and much simpler than a Hydrogen Economy concept talked by the do-nothing till next decade crowd in opposition to most other proposals.

As viable as the smart-grid ideas pitched as the future, hydrogen refueling concepts pushing for funding, and of course the next-Gen biofuels emerging right now. I like what I'm hearing and I think that its something that would likely draw funding and support. In particular if Government and Utility groups stepped up to support this concept like they've done other experimental technologies in the past.

Also worth note, an Agassi quote from the article:

"I thought that the greatest problem of our time was oil. Oil on one hand is polluting the land, and on the other hand it's financing terror."

I trust those who are motivated by a perspective that moves them outside the normal box of concept. I don't trust those who are thinking big concepts to make a billion dollars. Though its a nice goal it breaks the focus away from true success of the technology and the recipricol partnerships necessary for a billion dollar business to thrive.

I am a capitalist personally so I don't trust those motivated that government is the sole solution either. But I do find an amazing pool of ideas and concpets trickling up from the End of Suburbia entrapanuer set. I don't believe in peak oil but I do find common ground with the perspective that imagines a world without oil and attempts to develop solutions that in their own right could compete with petroleum.

Shai Agassi is a leader of a logical framework I hope to see more from. An architect for the future that right or wrong will probably wring real additional wealth and value from technologies already with us and never applied in new directions. This is the definition of progress. Ideas pushing envelopes.

NOTE: I use this blog primarily to organize my reading, thoughts, and reactions over time. Complete with the tags and other background links. This is a little less than timely but I wanted to ensure I had it up for sake of finding it again.

Oh How they Forget

Sawdust a.k.a. "Biomass" was a common heating and boiler fuel in the Pacific NW. Very common. You can see the remnants of these hoppers and belt systems attached like skeletal remains on older buildings. They exist all over the older parts of Oregon. Which makes the following story reasonably funny.

From this week's Wallowa Chieftan Article:

"On Friday, Sept. 19, the first-ever biomass boiler system to be installed in an Oregon School District will be the subject of a much-anticipated gathering at Enterprise High School. The ribbon-cutting, dedication and tour of the facility will take place from 1 to 3 p.m., and the public is invited to attend."

Its funny when high-tech is really the fuel of yester-year with the additional controls of a computer aided combustion and recirculated exhaust gas improving the efficiency and emissions of the fuel. But of course the argument would be - it's new to them.

The sign read: "This is Not a Concept Car"

The return of the VW Turbo Diesel.

Hybrid mpg efficiency with Century Old technology. Thank you Rudolf Diesel and thank you VW for the long awaited return.

I was driving past a VW dealership in Salem, Oregon and what did I see? A vinyl covered new VW Jetta TDI which said along its panels "45 mpg This is Not a Concept Car."

I've been waiting and now it looks like its finally about to arrive. Now lets just hope that Honda, Toyota, Subaru, GM and Ford all follow through with their own suggestions of small sedan clean diesels. I could only imagine what a Subaru AWD wagon would do for Biodiesel if it rolled out with a high efficiency clean diesel engine.

Now the only question is..... Will it be for under $25,000?

Google and Distributive Wave Power

This is interesting. Google has not taken its success for granted and has invested its historically unique opportunity to move many great ideas forward. This one leads the pack in my opinion. The paring of one technology with a whole business model. I could really see this providing some strong reliable technology to many lesser developed nations. An interesting concept to say the least.

I saw it first at a favorite E-Newsletter of mine the Environmental Leader

"The floating data centers would be located 3 to 7 miles from shore, in 50 to 70 meters of water. If perfected, this approach could be used to build 40 megawatt data centers that don’t require real estate or property taxes."

The E-Leader cites Data Center Knowledge as their source with a more in depth discussion of Google's plans to make containerized data centers.

Almost A Month

It's been almost a full 30 days since my last post.

This summer has been good to me and bad to this blog. I've been busy with a friend of mine running for the legislature all I've focused on the last bit here is getting a good man in office.

That and I was lucky enough to go as a volunteer for this year's Cycle Oregon which was an amazingly enjoyable vacation. I heard it described by one of the cyclists as "Five Star Camping" which I must agree. A greater vacation I doubt can ever bee had.

Mark Fitz

Gizmodo Solar Posts Worth Reading

I bounced over to Gizmodo and saw some interesting mentions.

The above is an apparatus that stores solar power into a fuel cell system. It would allow a more efficient storage sink for power than your standard inefficient battery. This idea is not a new one but being it looks like a marketable product moving to production. That being actually being worth mention as a new twist (an elegant idea making it to market).

Tranluscent solar panel windows. The above isn't the most cost effective technology today but the concept has been talked about for as long as I've been aware of solar panels. So prior to my ability to type this ideas been floated around as the future of solar. Cool to see in reality. I'm sure their are installs off the grid where this makes perfect sense though.

Fuel Milleage Throw Down

VW Jetta TDI vs. Smart Car vs. Toyota Prius vs. Ford Focus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46nMnCt75qI

This was a cool piece to watch. Being a big VW TDI snob I was excited to watch the Jetta beat the Prius in all real driving conditions (grandma getting milk once a week is not real driving in my opinion). I also was dissatisfied with the maintenance concern of the vehicle cost. The Ford Focus would likely beat all vehicles concerned in the first 100,000 miles. The Jetta if you extend the period beyond 200,000 miles.

Regardless. It was worth watching.

Biodiesel and Warranty

After quite a bit of work Nikola Davidson and the Northwest Biofuels Association pulled off policy for biodiesel with the new car dealers here in Oregon. Good job on Nikola's part. Any progress is good.


Please find attached a joint letter from the Oregon Auto Dealers and the Northwest Biofuels Association regarding biodiesel warranty protocol for auto dealers. This letter was created in close collaboration with Oregon biodiesel distributors and the hope is to replicate this in other states (tailoring it to reflect the needs of those members).

The next step will be distributing this letter to all the Oregon auto dealers. The letter is also available to download from NWBA's website: http://www.nwbiofuels.org/biofuel-resources-biodiesel-engine-warranties

This has taken longer than expected but I think having the auto dealer association's buy-off is worth the wait. Thanks for your input and support - Nikola

Nikola H. L. Davidson
DirectorNorthwest Biofuels Association
206.389.8660
www.nwbiofuels.org

Ethanol Industry Responds to OPEC

OPEC's members and official spokespersons have been claiming publicly for a few month now that ethanol was partially to blame for high crude oil prices. The ethanol industry has responded to these claims from the oil producing nations by taking out an advertisement explaining their perspective (ad shown above).

That perspective being simple. Ethanol increases and extends petroleum supplies and that existence in the market place puts a downward pressure on petroleum prices. Additionally (my words not theirs) its my impression that the Ethanol Producers are also implying that ethanol will soon be a real competitor for petroleum worldwide offering choice.

I saw the initial story at the Biobased News and followed it over to the RFA's Press Release.

The groups –- the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA), the European Bioethanol Fuel Associations, the Brazilian Sugarcane and Ethanol Industry Association (UNICA) and the US Renewable Fuels Association – were answering the charges by OPEC that ethanol was in part responsible for the soaring price of crude oil, a price that will fetch OPEC nations more than $1.2 trillion dollars this year alone.

Also worth noting is the advertisement's citing of the Merrill Lynch study which claims that ethanol's effect on prices is downward. As without ethanol the world's petroleum producers would need to produce one million additional barrels of crude a day. The price effect of ethanol in the marketplace is believed to reduce overall crude prices as much as 15% according to the Merrill Lynch report.

PMAA's Thoughts on Ethanol by Pipeline: Think About it First

PMAA reports an advisory on ethanol by pipeline.

When thinking about biofuels and market subsidies its always fair for the biofuels industry to point out that there are large barriers to entry which raise the cost of operating a biofuel distribution business. One of the largest of these being access to the most efficient transportation mechanisms used by the biofuels industry. Namely pipelines and barges.

As fuel prices rise and the fungible considerations of ethanol and biodiesel as blendstocks for refined petroleum products the need for barges and pipelines to allow the movement of ethanol and biodiesel blends becomes much more significant. Though South American nations have been moving ethanol by pipeline for decades the US market is hesitant (probably because of issues South American markets saw decades ago). This conversation though is positive for ethanol in particular.

See the PMAA's news piece below:

DOT ISSUES ADVISORY ON TRANSPORTING ETHANOL AND BIO-FUELS BY PIPELINE
The U.S. DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has issued an advisory to pipeline operators on the potential dangers of transporting ethanol and biofuels by pipeline.

PHMSA advised pipeline operators that the transportation of batches of ethanol or other biofuels, including petroleum blended product in existing pipelines, may lead to internal corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, and a reduction in the performance of seals, gaskets and internal coatings. PHMSA advised pipeline operators to conduct risk analysis, monitoring, and controls as needed to move ethanol and biofuels safely through pipelines.

PHMSA is also requesting that pipeline operators conduct spill response planning for ethanol and bio-fuels products. The advisory said that PHMSA is willing to work with pipeline operators that plan to transport ethanol and bio-fuels in existing or new regulated hazardous liquid pipelines in order to better assess the risks these fuels pose to critical infrastructure.

PHMSA is asking pipeline operators for 60 days notice of intent to begin regular commercial transport of biofuels in pipelines. PHMSA asked pipeline operators to provide information on how pipelines will be prepared for ethanol and biofuel service, the anticipated blend concentration and batch frequency, additional emergency response planning and spill response plan revisions required, and plans for ongoing monitoring of pipes.

PHMSA said it will use the notice period to conduct a technical review of the operators' plans and provide feedback if necessary.

GM Supports the Expansion of E85 Pumps

GM has recently become a champion for ethanol in the US. Not just a positive PR when its useful type supporter of biofuels but a full on advocate. Most recently I just saw a news report from Bloomberg where GM and the National Governor's Association will work together to get an expansion of available E85 pumps throughout 15 US states.

This is more than just talk from GM its actual market development. They aren't just developing E85 flex fuel vehicles they are also making lower cost and domestically made ethanol a real option for consumers attracted to their vehicles.