Re: [Biofuel] Eight Strikes and You’re Out
lol, friedman was pretty wdll at 8 strikes himself, if not beyond. well, he got this one right. credit where due. . . . On 8/14/08, MH [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Eight Strikes and You're Out By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN August 12, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/opinion/13friedman.html?ref=opinion John McCain recently tried to underscore his seriousness about pushing through a new energy policy, with a strong focus on more drilling for oil, by telling a motorcycle convention that Congress needed to come back from vacation immediately and do something about America's energy crisis. Tell them to come back and get to work! McCain bellowed. Sorry, but I can't let that one go by. McCain knows why. It was only five days earlier, on July 30, that the Senate was voting for the eighth time in the past year on a broad, vitally important bill — S. 3335 — that would have extended the investment tax credits for installing solar energy and the production tax credits for building wind turbines and other energy-efficiency systems. Both the wind and solar industries depend on these credits — which expire in December — to scale their businesses and become competitive with coal, oil and natural gas. Unlike offshore drilling, these credits could have an immediate impact on America's energy profile. Senator McCain did not show up for the crucial vote on July 30, and the renewable energy bill was defeated for the eighth time. In fact, John McCain has a perfect record on this renewable energy legislation. He has missed all eight votes over the last year — which effectively counts as a no vote each time. Once, he was even in the Senate and wouldn't leave his office to vote. McCain did not show up on any votes, said Scott Sklar, president of The Stella Group, which tracks clean-technology legislation. Despite that, McCain's campaign commercial running during the Olympics shows a bunch of spinning wind turbines — the very wind turbines that he would not cast a vote to subsidize, even though he supports big subsidies for nuclear power. Barack Obama did not vote on July 30 either — which is equally inexcusable in my book — but he did vote on three previous occasions in favor of the solar and wind credits. The fact that Congress has failed eight times to renew them is largely because of a hard core of Republican senators who either don't want to give Democrats such a victory in an election year or simply don't believe in renewable energy. What impact does this have? In the solar industry today there is a rush to finish any project that would be up and running by Dec. 31 — when the credits expire — and most everything beyond that is now on hold. Consider the Solana concentrated solar power plant, 70 miles southwest of Phoenix in McCain's home state. It is the biggest proposed concentrating solar energy project ever. The farsighted local utility is ready to buy its power. But because of the Senate's refusal to extend the solar tax credits, we cannot get our bank financing, said Fred Morse, a senior adviser for the American operations of Abengoa Solar, which is building the project. Without the credits, the numbers don't work. Some 2,000 construction jobs are on hold. Roger Efird is president of Suntech America — a major Chinese-owned solar panel maker that actually wants to build a new factory in America. They've been scouting the country for sites, and several governors have been courting them. But Efird told me that when the solar credits failed to pass the Senate, his boss told him: Don't set up any more meetings with governors. It makes absolutely no sense to do this if we don't have stability in the incentive programs. One of the biggest canards peddled by Big Oil is that, Sure, we'll need wind and solar energy, but it's just not cost effective yet. They've been saying that for 30 years. What these tax credits are designed to do is to stimulate investments by many players in solar and wind so these technologies can quickly move down the learning curve and become competitive with coal and oil — which is why some people are trying to block them. As Richard K. Lester, an energy-innovation expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, notes, The best chance we have — perhaps the only chance of addressing the combined challenges of energy supply and demand, climate change and energy security is to accelerate the introduction of new technologies for energy supply and use and deploy them on a very large scale. This, he argues, will take more than a Manhattan Project. It will require a fundamental reshaping by government of the prices and regulations and research-and-development budgets that shape the energy market. Without taxing fossil fuels so they become more expensive and giving subsidies to renewable fuels so they become more competitive — and changing regulations so more people and companies have an interest in energy efficiency — we will
Re: [Biofuel] Eight Strikes and You’re Out
Yup, John McCain's sunk pretty low but what can you expect? He says he's for a carbon trading program but supports more fossil energy growth. He's not very clear on the issue. Chris Burck wrote: lol, friedman was pretty wdll at 8 strikes himself, if not beyond. well, he got this one right. credit where due. . . . MH [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Eight Strikes and You're Out By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN August 12, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/opinion/13friedman.html?ref=opinion ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Eight Strikes and You're Out
MH wrote: Yup, John McCain's sunk pretty low but what can you expect? He says he's for a carbon trading program but supports more fossil energy growth. He's not very clear on the issue. Sorry, But I think his positions are perfectly clear. Just look back at the last few decades of Arizona. Uncontrolled growth for the profit of the few without any other considerations at all. No matter what the cost. This is John McCain's position. -- Chip Mefford Before Enlightenment; chop wood carry water After Enlightenment; chop wood carry water - Public Key http://www.well.com/user/cpm ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] In Germany, ruddy-cheeked farmers achieve (green) energy independence]
of biogas digesters, which turn animal dung and other organic waste into fuel. Several residents have also ripped out ancient water wheels and installed modern hydro generators. The Mellert bakery and gristmill, with its four stories of whirring machines and baking ovens, is powered by a water turbine. So is the rustic saw mill owned by Gottlieb Reinbold, a white-haired former pig farmer in patched overalls. During peak season, the turbine produces enough electricity to power both the mill and his home. It also feeds enough power into the grid to earn him $880 a month, about half his total income. âItâs not a lot of money,â he says. âBut it helps to keep me afloat.â Others villagers harvest energy from a mix of sources. The Schneider family supplements the heat they generate from cow milk with a zero-emission wood-chip boiler they installed between the racks of dusty mason jars in their basement. Itâs fueled by leftover scraps from wood they harvest in a backyard patch of forest. The family has also sunk more than $15,000 into the community windmill project and installed a billboard-size array of photovoltaic solar panels on the roof over t he scalloped wood balconies of their farmhouse. The investment has paid off. The panels alone produce about 30,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year â 50 percent more energy than the Schneiders use. By feeding this into the grid, they earn roughly $24,000 annually. The money helps fill the gap left by low wholesale milk prices and allows them to save for retirement. âWe have to look toward the future,â says Mrs. Schneider. âMy mother spent her whole life working the land, and she canât live off her pension.â The surge of renewable energy has also been a boon to Freiamtâs growing tourism industry. Many of the 42,000-plus visitors to the town each year are ecotourists, some from as far away as India and South Korea. Even some residents who initially opposed the project, are now leading hiking tours to the turbines â just one sign of the changes that have swept the village. âPeople used to laugh at us,â says Reinbold-Mench âThey thought of us as simple country folk. Now theyâre coming from all over just to see what weâre doing, and thatâs a huge source of p ride for little Freiamt.â - Get the MapQuest Toolbar. Directions, Traffic, Gas Prices More! - Get the MapQuest Toolbar. Directions, Traffic, Gas Prices More! -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20080822/bb437d55/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] Ethanol 85
Hi All; It has been a while but I am not idle. I hope everyone is keeping well. I have been working on converting a 2 stroke to run on ethanol. Engine work is well underway. I wanted to get some ethanol to start testing what lubricants I can use as a substitute for the commercial 2 stroke lubes meant for gasoline. I am hoping esters are the answer obvioisly. I don't have any anhydrous ethanol so I found out that one of the only two stations that sell E85 is about 1/2 hr away so I drove out with a jerry can, only to find that they WILL NOT SELL any E85 unless you pull up with a flex fuel vehicle and they will only fill the tank and no extra cans. The kid at the pump jerks his thumb over his shoulder and tells me he can only pump it if the guy in the building says so. I walk up to the building with its big red banner above the door with proud letters that read ONTARIO ALTERNATIVE ENERGY COUNCIL I asked the manager how I was supposed to get fuel to do my research and he said he could not help me. I asked if it was a company policy or a law and he told me (wrongly) that it was the law. I have since discovered that it is just the company policy but there is nowhere else to buy. I can produce my own anhydrous ethanol but I thought I'd save the hastle and give some of my dollars to help promote the alt fuel business. I guess the bond between car manufacturers and fuel producers is nowhere stronger than in the alternative fuels area eh? I'm going to vomit nowplease excuse me. Joe ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Ethanol 85
i suspect this has more to do with wanting to avoid any chance of legal action from people who try to get intoxicated with it: you never told me this was poisonous, so give me 35 million dollars. ckearly this is lunacy. but there's so many urban legends out there about punitive damage awards, corporate policies as you describe are no surprise. of course, who's to say they're not just using potential liability as cover for limiting our choices. On 8/22/08, Joe Street [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi All; It has been a while but I am not idle. I hope everyone is keeping well. I have been working on converting a 2 stroke to run on ethanol. Engine work is well underway. I wanted to get some ethanol to start testing what lubricants I can use as a substitute for the commercial 2 stroke lubes meant for gasoline. I am hoping esters are the answer obvioisly. I don't have any anhydrous ethanol so I found out that one of the only two stations that sell E85 is about 1/2 hr away so I drove out with a jerry can, only to find that they WILL NOT SELL any E85 unless you pull up with a flex fuel vehicle and they will only fill the tank and no extra cans. The kid at the pump jerks his thumb over his shoulder and tells me he can only pump it if the guy in the building says so. I walk up to the building with its big red banner above the door with proud letters that read ONTARIO ALTERNATIVE ENERGY COUNCIL I asked the manager how I was supposed to get fuel to do my research and he said he could not help me. I asked if it was a company policy or a law and he told me (wrongly) that it was the law. I have since discovered that it is just the company policy but there is nowhere else to buy. I can produce my own anhydrous ethanol but I thought I'd save the hastle and give some of my dollars to help promote the alt fuel business. I guess the bond between car manufacturers and fuel producers is nowhere stronger than in the alternative fuels area eh? I'm going to vomit nowplease excuse me. Joe ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
