[Biofuel] Exciting Couple Drives From Alaska to Chile on Nothing But Cooking Oil
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2013/11/driving_from_alaska_to_chile_o.php Exciting Couple Drives From Alaska to Chile on Nothing But Cooking Oil By Brian Rinker Fri., Nov. 8 2013 at 3:09 PM Carola Teixidó and Victor Millán are living my dream. The Chilean couple, both graphic designers, is driving from Alaska to Chile in a 1996 Ford pickup truck with a pop-up camper that's been converted to run on used vegetable oil. They call her Piscola. The name is derived from pisco, the Chilean national drink, grape brandy, and cola. Their next stop: San Francisco. This isn't some wild hair they got -- Teixidó and Millán's trip is well thought-out; they planned ahead for the Darien Gap, a wild jungle where the Pan-American Highway ends. They bought a truck that could easily fit into one of the shipping containers necessary to get Piscola to South America. A shipping container costs about $2,000, said Teixidó. But they hope to split the cost by sharing the container with another vehicle. The gap doesn't have developed roads and is thought to be full of guerrilla warriors. You can hike it, but some hikers are never seen again. You could also fly over it, or boat around it. With a car, you have to take a ship. But the gap won't present a problem for while. They have to make it there first -- and they have a long way to go. Teixidó and Millán have set aside a year for the trip, perhaps longer, to cross 15 countries and travel 26,000 miles. Right now, 116 days in, the traveling Chileans have been stuck in Portland, Oregon for three days. And it's a classic Portland dilemma, one that could be seen on Portlandia. The problem: Too many eco-friendly people are in their way. The bio-diesel community is so big there that all the restaurants are either out of used cooking oil or contract it out to someone else. Once they can get some waste oil, Teixidó hopes to be cruising down the highway soon, french fry fumes wafting in the air, toward San Francisco. They've already traveled about 6,000 miles and burned more than 400 gallons of old, stinky vegetable oil. The oil isn't stinky to Teixidó. She said it smells likes french fries or fried fish. They get the waste oil from restaurants, pour it through a shirt to filter out the fried food pieces, and dump it in a centrifuge, which separates the oil from the muck. They're not strangers to adventure. Both were born in Santiago, Chile, and both are avid backpackers and travelers. After obtaining Canadian year-long work visas, they flew over there from Chile and began shopping for a truck and making arrangements for the great Alaska-to-Chile trip. They calculated it would be around $6,000 in gas money for traveling 46,000 kilometers. By converting the truck to run on cooking vegetable oil, they hope to save money, and, of course, have a cleaner, environmentally-friendlier vehicle. According to their estimates, the whole trip should cost around $30,000, not including unforeseen mechanical problems. The couple makes money on the road using laptops to do design work for clients in Chile. To help supplement the costs, Teixidó and Millán offer postcards of their travels to stores for a donation, which sometimes amounts to $1 and when they're lucky, they pocket $20. They're also sponsored. A couple companies have donated gear and solar panels to help with their travels. With escalating cost, however, they could use some more help. If you're interested in sponsoring them or just want to keep up-to-date on Teixidó and Millán's exciting adventures, check out their blog, or hit them up on facebook or twitter. In case your wondering, my dream, on the other hand, was to buy a motorcycle after high school and drive from Santa Cruz, born and raised -- eastside loc, all the way down to Argentina. I pictured myself barreling down the highway with a shotgun strapped to my back, swinging a machete over my head, as I tore through hordes of banditos. My fantasy was loosely based on my favorite childhood movie, Romancing the Stone. Having said that, if Teixidó or Millán are reading this: Please pick me up as you travel through San Francisco, and I'll settle to be the side kick, just like Danny DeVito was in the Romancing the Stone. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
[Biofuel] Examining Glycerol as a Potential Marine
http://www.marinelink.com/news/examining-potential360754.aspx Posted by Eric Haun Friday, November 08, 2013 The Technology Strategy Board GLEAMS project is currently investigating technology by which marine vessels will be able to surpass the very highest regulatory standards required for sulphur and nitrous oxide emissions, as well as slashing their carbon emissions and potentially reducing fuel costs. One solution may be the use of glycerol, (commonly glycerine), as a fuel for marine diesel engines. There is a global oversupply of glycerol, a by-product of the expanding biofuel industry. The characteristics of glycerol make it attractive for marine applications: burns with higher efficiency than diesel; very low NOx emissions; no sulphur emissions; virtually no particulate matter; nontoxic, water soluble and nearly impossible to ignite accidentally; requires modification only to the external engine aspiration system; readily retrofitted and engine technology proven through use in combined heat and power plant. Glycerol has a relatively low energy density compared to fossil fuels, however this is partially offset by increased efficiency. Although a greater volume of glycerol would have to be carried for a given range its low-hazard nature would allow additional storage in the hull space of many vessels. Although glycerol can be used in diesel engines of any size, until a comprehensive distribution network is established GLEAMS will concentrate upon markets where limited volumes of fuel are required and bunkering typically takes place at a single location. Potential early adopters could include offshore support craft, ferries, survey vessels, port/pilot boats, fishing vessels, dredgers, marine police and other small commercial and leisure marine craft. Pollution hazards associated with vessels operating in environmentally sensitive areas could be substantially reduced by the benign characteristics of glycerol. Potential end users and other interested parties can engage with the GLEAMS project by joining the GLEAMS Interest Group. Through an online forum members will be invited to discuss relevant topics and inform project outcomes. The project will explore collaborating with appropriate members in the future commercialization of this technology. During the project members will be invited to workshops, the first of which is scheduled for Thursday, February 27, 2014, hosted by Lloyd’s Register in London. More information will be sent to GLEAMS Interest Group members nearer the time. Membership of the GLEAMS Interest Group is free of charge and is available at groupspaces.com/GLEAMSInterestGroup/join. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
[Biofuel] Going Nuclear: An Environmentalist Makes the Case
TRUTHDIG RADIO Going Nuclear: An Environmentalist Makes the Case -- This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: The director of Pandora's Promise pitches nuclear power. Also: Bringing quality food to the poor, and bullying in sports. http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/going_nuclear_an_environmentalist_makes_the_case_20131107 Pandora's Promise (2013) Documentary - 15 November 2013 (UK) Ratings: 6.1/10 from 161 users Director: Robert Stone Writer: Robert Stone Stars: Stewart Brand, Gwyneth Cravens, Mark Lynas A feature-length documentary about the history and future of nuclear power. The film explores how and why mankind's most feared and controversial technological discovery is now passionately embraced by many of those who once led the charge against it. Operating as history, cultural meditation and contemporary exploration, PANDORA'S PROMISE aims to inspire a serious and realistic debate over what is without question the most important question of our time: how do we continue to power modern civilization without destroying it? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1992193/?ref_=fn_al_tt_8 A Conversation With Director Robert Stone of Pandora's Promise Posted: 11/07/2013 10:05 am Govindini Murty Filmmaker and Co-Editor of Libertas Film Magazine http://www.huffingtonpost.com/govindini-murty/a-conversation-with-direc_b_4232707.html Robert Stone goes nuclear November 06, 2013 7:00 am * DOUG MOE http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/columnists/doug-moe/doug-moe-robert-stone-goes-nuclear/article_5e614e3b-59d3-5323-b737-0752432069c5.html 'Pandora's Promise' director defends his controversial nuclear energy film By Robert Stone, Special to CNN November 8, 2013 http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/07/opinion/pandora-nuclear-stone-ifr-response/ --0-- http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/07/opinion/lyman-nuclear-pandora/index.html Scientist: Film hypes the promise of advanced nuclear technology By Edwin Lyman, Special to CNN November 7, 2013 Editor's note: Edwin Lyman, a physicist, is a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. For more of his critique of Pandora's Promise, see his blog post, Movie Review: Put Pandora's Promise Back in the Box. For more on the future of nuclear power as a possible solution for global climate change, watch CNN Films' presentation of Pandora's Promise, airing on CNN on Thursday, November 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT (CNN) -- In his zeal to promote nuclear power, filmmaker Robert Stone inserted numerous half-truths and less-than-half-truths in his new documentary Pandora's Promise, which CNN is airing on November 7. One of Stone's more misleading allegations was that scientists at a U.S. research facility, the Argonne National Laboratory, were on the verge of developing a breakthrough technology that could solve nuclear power's numerous problems when the Clinton administration and its allies in Congress shut the program in 1994 for purely political reasons. Like the story of Pandora itself, the tale of the integral fast reactor (IFR) -- or at least the version presented in the movie -- is more myth than reality. In the final assessment, the concept's drawbacks greatly outweighed its advantages. The government had sound reasons to stanch the flow of taxpayer dollars to a costly, flawed project that also was undermining U.S. efforts to reduce the risks of nuclear terrorism and proliferation around the world. Read what Robert Stone has to say http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/opinion/pandora-nuclear-stone-ifr-response/index.html In the film, scientists who worked on the IFR program unsurprisingly sing its praises. For example, Charles Till, a former program manager, claimed that the reactor can't melt down and would therefore be immune to the type of catastrophes that occurred at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Fukushima in 2011. Others told Stone that the reactor, by recycling its own used, or spent, fuel, would conserve uranium resources and produce much less nuclear waste than conventional reactors. But the reactor's advocates didn't tell the whole story, and Stone did not include anyone in the film who could have provided a more balanced and realistic assessment. What did Pandora's Promise leave out? First, it does not clearly explain what a fast reactor is and how it differs from the water-cooled reactors in use today. Most operating reactors use a type of fuel called low-enriched uranium, which cannot be used directly to make a nuclear weapon and poses a low security risk. The spent fuel from these water-cooled reactors contains weapon-usable plutonium as a byproduct, but it is very hard to make into a bomb because it is mixed with uranium and highly radioactive fission products. Fast reactors, on the other hand, are far more dangerous because they typically require fuels made from plutonium or highly enriched uranium that can be used to make nuclear weapons. In fact, fast reactors can be operated as
[Biofuel] Biodiesel Processor for Sale in Denver
Hi All, I happened to see someone in the Denver area is selling a biodiesel processor on Craigslist and wanted to post the link in case anyone is interested. I don't know the guy, and don't know anything about the processor, other than that it seems to still be available. The link is herehttp://denver.craigslist.org/pts/4164311472.html. Best, Jake ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
