Have you analyzed the transformation of the social network from TCP/IP switched HTTP containment and element language constructs to a true relational model based on a fractally inorganic morphology of knowledge/criticality intelligence dependent on human activity?
The person in the machine exist along every path to destination. Bandwidth limits pathway determination. Speed forms new synergies passing the ability to take in all relations. Distributed processing. Distributed accessible identity. Distributed subconscious terms. Collected individual, shared and collectivist (discipline-centric) destinations. Keystones locking the arch of intelligence.
The search engine in the sleep of the 'intelligent' machine knows where the hits are.
-- I swear my head gets bent every time I sit at a terminal keyboard --
Sunday, April 18, 2004
the consumer law of the conservation of energy
I asked this question today of a renewable energy expert:
What are some of the regulatory changes necessary to uphold energy conservation so intrinsic to renewable adoption and how can these economically advantage consumers?
Please send your ideas.
Here is one that may follow the natural capitalism thema:
Privately build apartment buildings must contribute 40 per cent of all energy required by residents and after X number of years of private ownership the 'land' that each apartment represents falls back into public ownership.
Some of the drivers of this idea are that multi-level buildings extrapolate on surface rights ownership principles entrenched in the economy but that there is less economic benefit to the current methods of deriving income from each new surface level than is represented by the impact on the environment.
Another pretext is that economic and political systems are impacted by centralization of freedoms: that is to say that with either system and related sub-systems ultimate freedom would be complete factional control. This is the balance of type that impinges on personal freedoms as well.
The penultimate reason is economic deconstruction. Making new ownership from old. Making public of the private.
We currently run systems that bias toward the privatization of, for lack of a better term, the public. Using the word public in some way favors the idea that unowned or ungiven everything is public. You would have to believe that government serves the public in order to support the belief that anything handed to the private by government is public in the first place.
Anyway, semantics and self aggrandized argument aside, land lease/ownership is a great example of how economic deconstruction is outpaced by the ability of land to provide capital that is centrally amassed and that creates unending dependencies on the developments placed on those lands.
Still, it wouldn't serve anyone to usurp control of lands and change rules overnight. But it also doesn't serve the public to allow unscalable capital towers to dominate the economic landscape. Such a system does not entrench altruism where an enterprise is no longer individual or concerned with more than its own survival. Further to this is the theocratic indoctrination of the enterprise in its ownership and development of land. As the eternal, just so long as the lease is paid, the revenue stream lasts forever.
An analysis of various political systems and regulatory environments reveals historical wariness around any talk of adopting any limitations to apparent individual freedom, however, when an incorporation no longer mitigates the behavior or obligations of mere individuals you have a collective whose cause is to serve a singular purpose. Fortunately, for the most part, this specialization works because other collective forces also act simultaneously to balance the cultural bandwagon.
The individual, however, is forced to then politicize the party line to the effect of marketing its virtues whatever the impact of achievement may be. Another characteristic of the this corporate organism is its nuclear oligarchy in competition seeking the destruction or occlusion of other organisms discarding ideology as waste products of victory.
Its monotheism is apparent in its evangelism to subsume that can only be telegraphed as far as its reach.
Anyway, now the argument is taking a turn toward a partisan politic.
In the creation of the private the death of it must also be present to serve the public that expects the nutrient of change on which to subsist. And within change the understanding that some needs exist must tailor the regulatory environment of conduct and ownership.
Even the patenting of life may depend on it.
-- the need for energy can be created but never destroyed --
What are some of the regulatory changes necessary to uphold energy conservation so intrinsic to renewable adoption and how can these economically advantage consumers?
Please send your ideas.
Here is one that may follow the natural capitalism thema:
Privately build apartment buildings must contribute 40 per cent of all energy required by residents and after X number of years of private ownership the 'land' that each apartment represents falls back into public ownership.
Some of the drivers of this idea are that multi-level buildings extrapolate on surface rights ownership principles entrenched in the economy but that there is less economic benefit to the current methods of deriving income from each new surface level than is represented by the impact on the environment.
Another pretext is that economic and political systems are impacted by centralization of freedoms: that is to say that with either system and related sub-systems ultimate freedom would be complete factional control. This is the balance of type that impinges on personal freedoms as well.
The penultimate reason is economic deconstruction. Making new ownership from old. Making public of the private.
We currently run systems that bias toward the privatization of, for lack of a better term, the public. Using the word public in some way favors the idea that unowned or ungiven everything is public. You would have to believe that government serves the public in order to support the belief that anything handed to the private by government is public in the first place.
Anyway, semantics and self aggrandized argument aside, land lease/ownership is a great example of how economic deconstruction is outpaced by the ability of land to provide capital that is centrally amassed and that creates unending dependencies on the developments placed on those lands.
Still, it wouldn't serve anyone to usurp control of lands and change rules overnight. But it also doesn't serve the public to allow unscalable capital towers to dominate the economic landscape. Such a system does not entrench altruism where an enterprise is no longer individual or concerned with more than its own survival. Further to this is the theocratic indoctrination of the enterprise in its ownership and development of land. As the eternal, just so long as the lease is paid, the revenue stream lasts forever.
An analysis of various political systems and regulatory environments reveals historical wariness around any talk of adopting any limitations to apparent individual freedom, however, when an incorporation no longer mitigates the behavior or obligations of mere individuals you have a collective whose cause is to serve a singular purpose. Fortunately, for the most part, this specialization works because other collective forces also act simultaneously to balance the cultural bandwagon.
The individual, however, is forced to then politicize the party line to the effect of marketing its virtues whatever the impact of achievement may be. Another characteristic of the this corporate organism is its nuclear oligarchy in competition seeking the destruction or occlusion of other organisms discarding ideology as waste products of victory.
Its monotheism is apparent in its evangelism to subsume that can only be telegraphed as far as its reach.
Anyway, now the argument is taking a turn toward a partisan politic.
In the creation of the private the death of it must also be present to serve the public that expects the nutrient of change on which to subsist. And within change the understanding that some needs exist must tailor the regulatory environment of conduct and ownership.
Even the patenting of life may depend on it.
-- the need for energy can be created but never destroyed --
Friday, April 16, 2004
the recentred in a pitched memory
When the magnetic fields of one capitulates to the other the memory formed is of the imbalance in the order of things.
Something had to give. The question of which -- the capitulant or the holdout -- represents harmony and which represents discord is the true play of human activity upon the backdrop of species, origin, evolution... all those fun things that spin miraculously toward heat death or the creation of infinite universes.
Where the human seed sprouts truest is in the spiritual escape from the rigor of survival to a balance of harmony. In this path the admission of true form is an acknowledgement of the imperfect inheritance of the sacrifice each human must make of another to go forward.
Our colonies, our cultures, our pitched battles for resources or ideologies we concern ourselves to make or assert as the form of our limited ability to telegraph the message to everyone that we only wish to be friends.
The centre is perpetually moved by diaspora never to be found and pinned, as wave after wave of emotive contemplation separates us from childhood, family, friends, time and location.
To suffer the heat death alone or to spawn a new universe is a task no cyberdraped evolution can influence or overcome.
It is the only certainty is the life placed in your own hands.
The only transience is the clarity held against the sanctity of all life.
-- this ice is my environment --
Something had to give. The question of which -- the capitulant or the holdout -- represents harmony and which represents discord is the true play of human activity upon the backdrop of species, origin, evolution... all those fun things that spin miraculously toward heat death or the creation of infinite universes.
Where the human seed sprouts truest is in the spiritual escape from the rigor of survival to a balance of harmony. In this path the admission of true form is an acknowledgement of the imperfect inheritance of the sacrifice each human must make of another to go forward.
Our colonies, our cultures, our pitched battles for resources or ideologies we concern ourselves to make or assert as the form of our limited ability to telegraph the message to everyone that we only wish to be friends.
The centre is perpetually moved by diaspora never to be found and pinned, as wave after wave of emotive contemplation separates us from childhood, family, friends, time and location.
To suffer the heat death alone or to spawn a new universe is a task no cyberdraped evolution can influence or overcome.
It is the only certainty is the life placed in your own hands.
The only transience is the clarity held against the sanctity of all life.
-- this ice is my environment --
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
the avatar of complexity in an age of specialization
The random cameo of intellectual property patents as financial assets marks the full polarization of open source and corporate protected product developments.
The staking of identity claims are compelling evidence of the branded avatar that is the space between the screen and keyboard and the content massaged by this medium by user or users. Existing in this space we have dubbed 'cyber' is the institutionalization of the electron, the healthcare of the digital pulse, and the medieval metronome of the cycle built for and by a church of believers but used by an unabashed techno-secularized rabble of the incongruous.
Welcome to the avatar. If you try to read any of it at all you are its master and always in immersion or not a slave to understanding.
-- when I ask for your identity I do so for the purpose of security --
The staking of identity claims are compelling evidence of the branded avatar that is the space between the screen and keyboard and the content massaged by this medium by user or users. Existing in this space we have dubbed 'cyber' is the institutionalization of the electron, the healthcare of the digital pulse, and the medieval metronome of the cycle built for and by a church of believers but used by an unabashed techno-secularized rabble of the incongruous.
Welcome to the avatar. If you try to read any of it at all you are its master and always in immersion or not a slave to understanding.
-- when I ask for your identity I do so for the purpose of security --
patterning for the reactionary dilemma
Activism is not an essential role of the mainstream media unless it is to report an incident of activism or a populist activist movement that can no longer escape notice.
An election platform by a recognized political party is an activist movement that is palatable to the mainstream media.
Environmentalists must realize that a body of evidence is simply a diverse collection of information that has no head and no tail. In other words, to the mainstream, there is no animal with which to wrestle. There is no recognition of a centrist dogma to an environmental movement as there is with a recognized discipline that has an apparent contribution to the economic well being of news readers.
It is incumbent on activists to rephrase their 'industry'. In fact, this word 'industry' is a useful tool environmentalists are missing. By extension 'industry' in context says that money is to be made and that the future is being preserved. It is the watchword of the mainstream definition of progress that persists today despite the body of evidence suggesting that industry is complicit in damaging the environment by profiting from the maintenance of dependencies and systems that have a detrimental impact.
Environment Industry.
Today the environment industry reported...
Wind and solar became industries.
Now the environment must rephrase itself without redefining its core goals. Part of this effort may require activism to become bound under recognized consortia consisting of members who propel issues by arguing over them. There is never any news in agreement.
For social justice advocates of the environment industry to be outspoken against the actions of Greenpeace on the same issue gives both members of this consortia voice.
So, along with the environment industry, remember to make your arguments with this industry's idealogical members public without taking umbrage that this has been done to you or allowing the public play of conjecture to devolve into mashing the issue out of sight.
Without money the only tool available to activism is its ability to relate to the public in a meaningful and expected way whatever the message may be.
-- today the mainstream reported the end of the world at the height of economic prosperity. party politicians were unavailable for comment, the leader of government having spent the last hour of life with family. opposition members berated the ruling party saying the environment industry had predicted an end to the world five years ago if changes were not made. the opposition stated that while it was last in power its initiatives would have saved the world but these had been cut when the first budget of the current government was released. so long... thanks for all the ... fish --
An election platform by a recognized political party is an activist movement that is palatable to the mainstream media.
Environmentalists must realize that a body of evidence is simply a diverse collection of information that has no head and no tail. In other words, to the mainstream, there is no animal with which to wrestle. There is no recognition of a centrist dogma to an environmental movement as there is with a recognized discipline that has an apparent contribution to the economic well being of news readers.
It is incumbent on activists to rephrase their 'industry'. In fact, this word 'industry' is a useful tool environmentalists are missing. By extension 'industry' in context says that money is to be made and that the future is being preserved. It is the watchword of the mainstream definition of progress that persists today despite the body of evidence suggesting that industry is complicit in damaging the environment by profiting from the maintenance of dependencies and systems that have a detrimental impact.
Environment Industry.
Today the environment industry reported...
Wind and solar became industries.
Now the environment must rephrase itself without redefining its core goals. Part of this effort may require activism to become bound under recognized consortia consisting of members who propel issues by arguing over them. There is never any news in agreement.
For social justice advocates of the environment industry to be outspoken against the actions of Greenpeace on the same issue gives both members of this consortia voice.
So, along with the environment industry, remember to make your arguments with this industry's idealogical members public without taking umbrage that this has been done to you or allowing the public play of conjecture to devolve into mashing the issue out of sight.
Without money the only tool available to activism is its ability to relate to the public in a meaningful and expected way whatever the message may be.
-- today the mainstream reported the end of the world at the height of economic prosperity. party politicians were unavailable for comment, the leader of government having spent the last hour of life with family. opposition members berated the ruling party saying the environment industry had predicted an end to the world five years ago if changes were not made. the opposition stated that while it was last in power its initiatives would have saved the world but these had been cut when the first budget of the current government was released. so long... thanks for all the ... fish --
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
escalated ambiguity a reactionary dilemma
It has been my experience that anything done by government usually exists in the planning stages for at least five years before it is implemented.
That's five years of public money spent to plan around various scenarios to derive a final policy based on whatever outcry initial release elicits from the paying public.
It is a fine line that exists between service and leadership.
Many of the decisions of government are not made by the elected officials, rather it is the product of study that results in public policy usually at the department level.
Civil servants investigate or cause to be investigated various issues relating to the smooth operation of public institutions into an uncharted future based on expected and historical conditions.
Even as the libertarian ideals that have grown in the past two and a half centuries have made a good portion of this operation transparent, and that the system itself continues to work toward openness, there still exists the problem of public advocacy on issues not directly related to trade and industry. It is the failure of mainstream media to capture the lagging attention of the public on issues that are mere tributaries to the confluence of ideology asserted in action.
These early nodal points of public policy formation are more often identified within the discipline to which they may apply when implemented and are usually tagged with some sort of economic advancement for the monitoring agency. Trade publications are one manifestation of this need to monitor developments at a low level.
The mainstream press can not bring all the issues and early developments to all the people all the time. The office of the ombudsman is less likely to serve the public on public policy development than a not-for-profit consumer advocacy agency. The public is not as well funded as industry to monitor government as monies collected from the public by government aid in the motions of government and not in the mechanisms tailoring and ensuring the voracity of its platforms.
The mainstream amplifies ambiguity by treating only the symptoms of public policy implementation and not the incremental input the process of deriving public policy needs to power its maturity.
Who but a politician has the time to ask the flood of questions required by the system of government it must then answer with public policy?
Moral ambiguity is present in the mainstream treatment of public policy. As a general rule judgements with respect to slant rarely branch into the root causes of events, instead concentrating on impact and effect as if to affect closure by stimulating public response for regulatory order.
This is the reactionary dilemma of the mainstream.
That's five years of public money spent to plan around various scenarios to derive a final policy based on whatever outcry initial release elicits from the paying public.
It is a fine line that exists between service and leadership.
Many of the decisions of government are not made by the elected officials, rather it is the product of study that results in public policy usually at the department level.
Civil servants investigate or cause to be investigated various issues relating to the smooth operation of public institutions into an uncharted future based on expected and historical conditions.
Even as the libertarian ideals that have grown in the past two and a half centuries have made a good portion of this operation transparent, and that the system itself continues to work toward openness, there still exists the problem of public advocacy on issues not directly related to trade and industry. It is the failure of mainstream media to capture the lagging attention of the public on issues that are mere tributaries to the confluence of ideology asserted in action.
These early nodal points of public policy formation are more often identified within the discipline to which they may apply when implemented and are usually tagged with some sort of economic advancement for the monitoring agency. Trade publications are one manifestation of this need to monitor developments at a low level.
The mainstream press can not bring all the issues and early developments to all the people all the time. The office of the ombudsman is less likely to serve the public on public policy development than a not-for-profit consumer advocacy agency. The public is not as well funded as industry to monitor government as monies collected from the public by government aid in the motions of government and not in the mechanisms tailoring and ensuring the voracity of its platforms.
The mainstream amplifies ambiguity by treating only the symptoms of public policy implementation and not the incremental input the process of deriving public policy needs to power its maturity.
Who but a politician has the time to ask the flood of questions required by the system of government it must then answer with public policy?
Moral ambiguity is present in the mainstream treatment of public policy. As a general rule judgements with respect to slant rarely branch into the root causes of events, instead concentrating on impact and effect as if to affect closure by stimulating public response for regulatory order.
This is the reactionary dilemma of the mainstream.
Saturday, April 10, 2004
tax revolt is terrorism
In many cases private ownership is funded by public funds with the idea of protecting the public -- doing the things necessary to ensure energy security, food security, even national security by funding military readiness.
The legacy of the 20th century is that national security and corporate longevity has been placed ahead of the combined intelligence of the public to engage its collective funds in meaningful ways that assist in the welfare of all, including the marginalized and/or disenfranchised 'members' of mainstream society.
To underwrite change without violence, without dictating market activity or interrupting markets that employ caveat emptor as their market viability, or even without directing public money to research and development of technologies for the purpose of transferring new developments to interested parties, even income tax revolt would be ineffective because the tax revenue generated by the public's dependency on non-renewable forms of energy protects government from having to rely on how much each participating member of the public is able to generate in personal revenue.
What we have is not freedom. Freedom is a misnomer that provides no limitation on the individual or the enterprise. Freedom does not include the ideas of interdependence and governance. Contextually, the modern definition of freedom is the right to participate in making change. Once the ability of the individual to participate is compromised by means of financial dislocation this freedom is made inert. The cost/benefit ratio of participation impinges on the ability of the societal dependent to survive within the system.
The connection between capitalism and democracy is the distribution of domination, quite possibly superior to any other system of approach to governance, but one in which the service of upholding and regulating it pander to an elite nonetheless.
Where policy infringes on freedom is its unwilingness to acknowledge the incorporation of social dictums that run contrary to the operation of the government of the day -- communism for instance. The 'system' of government is a social network whose bounds are loosely defined by the longevity of its supporters. As the ability of corporations to promote policy on a timeline that spans generational boundaries and by this token exceeds the system that limits governance it is apparent that it is the corporation that has the greatest influence on government and the spending of public money to its own advantage.
Income tax revolt is therefore an act of sedition or terrorism in the eyes of government that believes the collection of tax is a measure to protect the public from the threats it has studied on behalf of the public.
The legacy of the 20th century is that national security and corporate longevity has been placed ahead of the combined intelligence of the public to engage its collective funds in meaningful ways that assist in the welfare of all, including the marginalized and/or disenfranchised 'members' of mainstream society.
To underwrite change without violence, without dictating market activity or interrupting markets that employ caveat emptor as their market viability, or even without directing public money to research and development of technologies for the purpose of transferring new developments to interested parties, even income tax revolt would be ineffective because the tax revenue generated by the public's dependency on non-renewable forms of energy protects government from having to rely on how much each participating member of the public is able to generate in personal revenue.
What we have is not freedom. Freedom is a misnomer that provides no limitation on the individual or the enterprise. Freedom does not include the ideas of interdependence and governance. Contextually, the modern definition of freedom is the right to participate in making change. Once the ability of the individual to participate is compromised by means of financial dislocation this freedom is made inert. The cost/benefit ratio of participation impinges on the ability of the societal dependent to survive within the system.
The connection between capitalism and democracy is the distribution of domination, quite possibly superior to any other system of approach to governance, but one in which the service of upholding and regulating it pander to an elite nonetheless.
Where policy infringes on freedom is its unwilingness to acknowledge the incorporation of social dictums that run contrary to the operation of the government of the day -- communism for instance. The 'system' of government is a social network whose bounds are loosely defined by the longevity of its supporters. As the ability of corporations to promote policy on a timeline that spans generational boundaries and by this token exceeds the system that limits governance it is apparent that it is the corporation that has the greatest influence on government and the spending of public money to its own advantage.
Income tax revolt is therefore an act of sedition or terrorism in the eyes of government that believes the collection of tax is a measure to protect the public from the threats it has studied on behalf of the public.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
the passionate pressure seeks reflection
Scouring the Net for pithy commentary I've come across both the elevated and the base.
One slip on the keyboard can trigger something deep and dark to eclipse your horizon or lead you to the passionate embrace of the sublime.
And then it is time to move on.
Whatever your prediliction, there isn't much time to really understand where you've gone without taking the time to reflect on the sights seen on the journey.
May you someday have the time to reflect and build true memories.
-- your conversion has begun --
One slip on the keyboard can trigger something deep and dark to eclipse your horizon or lead you to the passionate embrace of the sublime.
And then it is time to move on.
Whatever your prediliction, there isn't much time to really understand where you've gone without taking the time to reflect on the sights seen on the journey.
May you someday have the time to reflect and build true memories.
-- your conversion has begun --
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
the state of self-loathing in the realm of discontent
Being an environmentalist does not equate with self-loathing. Nope.
For accuracy's sake let's say you are not an environmentalist.
That'll do.
-- the cryptic is necessary for brevity --
For accuracy's sake let's say you are not an environmentalist.
That'll do.
-- the cryptic is necessary for brevity --
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
questions I asked today
Electric vehicles in India
Does USAID monitor the involvment of American corporations in developing countries where it concerns the readiness of nations to accept non-traditional technology in a market for which a regulatory environment may not be readily available?
Does USAID monitor the involvment of American corporations in developing countries where it concerns the readiness of nations to accept non-traditional technology in a market for which a regulatory environment may not be readily available?
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Mission-critical blows away wind power
This discussion occurred on Sunday, April 4th, 2004 commencing at approximately 8:17 p.m. and ending at 8:35 p.m.
Kelly: Hello! My name is Kelly, and I am a (Live) Fanatical Service Specialist with Rackspace. I am here as a site guide to answer any questions you may have about our products and services.
Kelly: Are you researching a new hosting project or looking to replace or upgrade an existing solution?
Guest53215: i was kind of interested to learn a bit about your hosting. I wanted to find some host that is focused on using only renewable energy
Guest53215: hello?
Guest53215: Kelly, are you there?
Kelly: Hello,
Guest53215: hey
Kelly: sorry just got that through, one moment
Guest53215: np
Kelly: Okay I am sorry abou the delay
Kelly: well as to your requirements I think they are wondeful, or your interest
Guest53215: s, ok
Guest53215: thanks
Kelly: I am not aware of any hosting company doing that.
Guest53215: really?
Guest53215: well, that's not good
Kelly: at this time renewable engergy is just not cost effective in a production environment, servers take a lot of power.
Kelly: and they require absolute redundancy
Guest53215: i guess they must
Guest53215: how many do you have on site?
Kelly: even a second of downtime and doctors lose patient records, sytems and applications fail, etc.
Kelly: we have around 9,300 across 4 locations.
Guest53215: so, i guess wind power is out of the question then
Guest53215: you don't suppose I could have you send me an email with this information do you?
Kelly: Yes, well I think there may be a market for mixing in renewable resources with traditional power at some point, but with data centers, they focus more on 100% availabilty, redundant power grids, etc..
Guest53215: i am tim.****@sympatico.**
Kelly: I can send you an overfview pdf.
Guest53215: i can't capture this conversation
Kelly: yes I can send this to you.
Kelly: and an overview.
Guest53215: can you describe the problem with renewables?
Guest53215: ok, that would be great
Kelly: well I think I just did, but I am not an engineer.
Guest53215: i am still interested in your company
Guest53215: is there a way to become a reseller?
Kelly: As I see it, essentially it costs serveal times more to use that type of energy
Guest53215: can you be absolutely sure you are giving me valid information
Kelly: and in a competitive market place that is a difficult number to add to themix.
Guest53215: someone's career may depend on this
Guest53215: not yours
Kelly: I cannot be sure, however I know that we do not have solar powered servers or wind powered servers, and immediate plans for that in the future.
Kelly: Do I know it is more expensive and less reliable at this time, of course that is a given.
Guest53215: what about purchasing electrical power from companies that provide energy from renewable sources?
Kelly: do I know servers take a lot of power and that if they are mission critical, yes.
Kelly: Well I think most providers do that, I know the our local power service uses some wind generatros.
Kelly: generators.
Guest53215: ah, well that's different then
Kelly: not sure of the mix, just that they do R&D and work with renewable resources.
Kelly: as to reseller programs
Kelly: we do not offer them in the commons sense, meaning
Guest53215: do you know the name of your power company?
Guest53215: is it the same for each of the four locations?
Kelly: you cannot buy our servers and reseller them with your own branded name.
Guest53215: oh, ok
Kelly: No it is not, we are based in San Antonio, and that would be City Public Service of San Antonio,
Guest53215: you can just move registered IP addresses then, i guess, right?
Kelly: I have no idea who it would be in Virgina, or London.
Guest53215: London, England?
Kelly: I am not sure what you mean, we assign IP addresses, you move domain names.
Kelly: yes London, England.
Guest53215: whoops, sorry
Kelly: You can resell from our servers.
Guest53215: where is your other location?
Kelly: to smaller webhosting clients
Kelly: we have 2 data centers in San Antonio.
Guest53215: oh, ok. and you are based in San Antonio?
Kelly: our servers start from the low $400's a month.
Kelly: yes we are based in San Antonio.
Guest53215: do you also do development?
Kelly: Is that the kind of price range you were considering?
Guest53215: as in database development and such
Kelly: we do not, we have clients who do that, we do not compete with them.
Guest53215: well, i was hoping for something a little less expensive
Kelly: Typcially hosts who do development either do not do it well.
Kelly: Or they do not host as well as they should
Guest53215: so what's on your typical backend then?
Kelly: yes again we are geared toward mission critical environments, we host for a great number of high profile clients.
Kelly: we have 4-5 Tier providers per data center.
Kelly: Tier1
Kelly: I meant
Guest53215: lol
Guest53215: right
Guest53215: ok
Kelly: AT&T, Spring Qwest
Guest53215: wow
Guest53215: big names
Kelly: no transit stuff like Level 3, Internap, or Abovenet etc
Kelly: and of course Sprint, no spring and TimeWarner, UUnet etc.
Guest53215: so you are a major part of the backbone i would guess
Kelly: anyway, we do have a company loosely affiliated with us
Kelly: www.serverbeach.com
Guest53215: what do they do?
Guest53215: hosting?
Kelly: they start around $100 a month
Kelly: yes, dedicated self-managed servers
Guest53215: that's getting down around my price range...
Guest53215: is it better if I talk to them or can you do that for me?
Guest53215: and are we talking in USD?
Kelly: I would check them out, they do nice work, you would have to contact them.
Kelly: Yes in uSD
Kelly: they were started by our founder
Kelly: but a totally indpendent company
Guest53215: i guess i'll take the recommendation...
Guest53215: can you still send me this conversation?
Kelly: Yes I can do that.
Guest53215: that would be fantastic...
World renowned wind expert Paul Gipe is also making a presentation on wind energy to the Ontario Rural Council at the Holiday Inn in Peterborough on April 6th, 2004 at 1:00 pm.
Mr. Gipe has shown Ontarians how they can win big with wind under advanced renewable tariffs.
-- and my sister-in-law calls ME a shit disturber... where did she come up with THAT!! --
Kelly: Hello! My name is Kelly, and I am a (Live) Fanatical Service Specialist with Rackspace. I am here as a site guide to answer any questions you may have about our products and services.
Kelly: Are you researching a new hosting project or looking to replace or upgrade an existing solution?
Guest53215: i was kind of interested to learn a bit about your hosting. I wanted to find some host that is focused on using only renewable energy
Guest53215: hello?
Guest53215: Kelly, are you there?
Kelly: Hello,
Guest53215: hey
Kelly: sorry just got that through, one moment
Guest53215: np
Kelly: Okay I am sorry abou the delay
Kelly: well as to your requirements I think they are wondeful, or your interest
Guest53215: s, ok
Guest53215: thanks
Kelly: I am not aware of any hosting company doing that.
Guest53215: really?
Guest53215: well, that's not good
Kelly: at this time renewable engergy is just not cost effective in a production environment, servers take a lot of power.
Kelly: and they require absolute redundancy
Guest53215: i guess they must
Guest53215: how many do you have on site?
Kelly: even a second of downtime and doctors lose patient records, sytems and applications fail, etc.
Kelly: we have around 9,300 across 4 locations.
Guest53215: so, i guess wind power is out of the question then
Guest53215: you don't suppose I could have you send me an email with this information do you?
Kelly: Yes, well I think there may be a market for mixing in renewable resources with traditional power at some point, but with data centers, they focus more on 100% availabilty, redundant power grids, etc..
Guest53215: i am tim.****@sympatico.**
Kelly: I can send you an overfview pdf.
Guest53215: i can't capture this conversation
Kelly: yes I can send this to you.
Kelly: and an overview.
Guest53215: can you describe the problem with renewables?
Guest53215: ok, that would be great
Kelly: well I think I just did, but I am not an engineer.
Guest53215: i am still interested in your company
Guest53215: is there a way to become a reseller?
Kelly: As I see it, essentially it costs serveal times more to use that type of energy
Guest53215: can you be absolutely sure you are giving me valid information
Kelly: and in a competitive market place that is a difficult number to add to themix.
Guest53215: someone's career may depend on this
Guest53215: not yours
Kelly: I cannot be sure, however I know that we do not have solar powered servers or wind powered servers, and immediate plans for that in the future.
Kelly: Do I know it is more expensive and less reliable at this time, of course that is a given.
Guest53215: what about purchasing electrical power from companies that provide energy from renewable sources?
Kelly: do I know servers take a lot of power and that if they are mission critical, yes.
Kelly: Well I think most providers do that, I know the our local power service uses some wind generatros.
Kelly: generators.
Guest53215: ah, well that's different then
Kelly: not sure of the mix, just that they do R&D and work with renewable resources.
Kelly: as to reseller programs
Kelly: we do not offer them in the commons sense, meaning
Guest53215: do you know the name of your power company?
Guest53215: is it the same for each of the four locations?
Kelly: you cannot buy our servers and reseller them with your own branded name.
Guest53215: oh, ok
Kelly: No it is not, we are based in San Antonio, and that would be City Public Service of San Antonio,
Guest53215: you can just move registered IP addresses then, i guess, right?
Kelly: I have no idea who it would be in Virgina, or London.
Guest53215: London, England?
Kelly: I am not sure what you mean, we assign IP addresses, you move domain names.
Kelly: yes London, England.
Guest53215: whoops, sorry
Kelly: You can resell from our servers.
Guest53215: where is your other location?
Kelly: to smaller webhosting clients
Kelly: we have 2 data centers in San Antonio.
Guest53215: oh, ok. and you are based in San Antonio?
Kelly: our servers start from the low $400's a month.
Kelly: yes we are based in San Antonio.
Guest53215: do you also do development?
Kelly: Is that the kind of price range you were considering?
Guest53215: as in database development and such
Kelly: we do not, we have clients who do that, we do not compete with them.
Guest53215: well, i was hoping for something a little less expensive
Kelly: Typcially hosts who do development either do not do it well.
Kelly: Or they do not host as well as they should
Guest53215: so what's on your typical backend then?
Kelly: yes again we are geared toward mission critical environments, we host for a great number of high profile clients.
Kelly: we have 4-5 Tier providers per data center.
Kelly: Tier1
Kelly: I meant
Guest53215: lol
Guest53215: right
Guest53215: ok
Kelly: AT&T, Spring Qwest
Guest53215: wow
Guest53215: big names
Kelly: no transit stuff like Level 3, Internap, or Abovenet etc
Kelly: and of course Sprint, no spring and TimeWarner, UUnet etc.
Guest53215: so you are a major part of the backbone i would guess
Kelly: anyway, we do have a company loosely affiliated with us
Kelly: www.serverbeach.com
Guest53215: what do they do?
Guest53215: hosting?
Kelly: they start around $100 a month
Kelly: yes, dedicated self-managed servers
Guest53215: that's getting down around my price range...
Guest53215: is it better if I talk to them or can you do that for me?
Guest53215: and are we talking in USD?
Kelly: I would check them out, they do nice work, you would have to contact them.
Kelly: Yes in uSD
Kelly: they were started by our founder
Kelly: but a totally indpendent company
Guest53215: i guess i'll take the recommendation...
Guest53215: can you still send me this conversation?
Kelly: Yes I can do that.
Guest53215: that would be fantastic...
World renowned wind expert Paul Gipe is also making a presentation on wind energy to the Ontario Rural Council at the Holiday Inn in Peterborough on April 6th, 2004 at 1:00 pm.
Mr. Gipe has shown Ontarians how they can win big with wind under advanced renewable tariffs.
-- and my sister-in-law calls ME a shit disturber... where did she come up with THAT!! --
Saturday, April 03, 2004
-~`craZy talk -- free energy -- craZy talk`~-
> I would also like to experiment with on-board electrolyzers
> for vehicles but I don't think there is much public interest
> there. For example, since I had gotten an invite to the
> DARPA/Army power sources conference this year I emailed
> the head of the U.S. Army lab about on board electrolyzers
> and asked if they had ever looked at them or might be
> interested in the concept.
>
> Seeing as a 30% boost in mileage would equate a 30%
> increase in range for vehicles in the field. That was 3 weeks
> ago and so far no response. That same guy answered me
> in 2 days when I wrote to him previously regarding the cost
> of attending the conference.
>
>
> MJ
MJ,
People don't believe that 'free energy' crazy talk. I know, I've tried it.
But don't think that the idea of onboard eletrolosys is publicly unacceptable. You're just going to find it very difficult to engineer a system for which the size of the fuel cell and a tank in a production vehicle conveniently fills all the available space. They won't give you an inch. Better you design both the fuel cell and the electrolyser from scratch to retrofit a new system onto the mounting brackets (too bad the news designs are going to be integrated skateboards).
As always responding to the gaps in the market is the best way to approach market viability. If you can squeeze 30 per cent more out of it and extend range by onboard eletrolosys there will be people to buy it. Just don't expect the government not to feel cheated out of revenue on the fuel they are 'missing' out on.
Sincerely,
tim
-- the pearls of discussion are beaded on the string of wisdom --
> for vehicles but I don't think there is much public interest
> there. For example, since I had gotten an invite to the
> DARPA/Army power sources conference this year I emailed
> the head of the U.S. Army lab about on board electrolyzers
> and asked if they had ever looked at them or might be
> interested in the concept.
>
> Seeing as a 30% boost in mileage would equate a 30%
> increase in range for vehicles in the field. That was 3 weeks
> ago and so far no response. That same guy answered me
> in 2 days when I wrote to him previously regarding the cost
> of attending the conference.
>
>
> MJ
MJ,
People don't believe that 'free energy' crazy talk. I know, I've tried it.
But don't think that the idea of onboard eletrolosys is publicly unacceptable. You're just going to find it very difficult to engineer a system for which the size of the fuel cell and a tank in a production vehicle conveniently fills all the available space. They won't give you an inch. Better you design both the fuel cell and the electrolyser from scratch to retrofit a new system onto the mounting brackets (too bad the news designs are going to be integrated skateboards).
As always responding to the gaps in the market is the best way to approach market viability. If you can squeeze 30 per cent more out of it and extend range by onboard eletrolosys there will be people to buy it. Just don't expect the government not to feel cheated out of revenue on the fuel they are 'missing' out on.
Sincerely,
tim
-- the pearls of discussion are beaded on the string of wisdom --
Friday, April 02, 2004
_\~ ecoAlien ~!~ neilAoce ~/_
Imagine a world in which people are rewarded with fuel today that is less expensive than it was yesterday because it is more cost effective to make it containing more poison justified by the fact there is less supply and more need.
Imagine a world in which natural gas is legally declared a renewable resource by government so that it can appear investment in renewable energy is greater on the basis that doing so will stimulate renewable energy development.
Imagine a world in which I am considered free to make energy choices of my own but am not allowed to get my friends together to compete with corporations who produce energy -- even when that corporation is a public utility owned by me and my tax paying friends.
You aren't dreaming. You aren't imagining. You're sleeping in the real world. Wake me up too, will you?
-- 'efficacy' is a word in the dictionary --
Imagine a world in which natural gas is legally declared a renewable resource by government so that it can appear investment in renewable energy is greater on the basis that doing so will stimulate renewable energy development.
Imagine a world in which I am considered free to make energy choices of my own but am not allowed to get my friends together to compete with corporations who produce energy -- even when that corporation is a public utility owned by me and my tax paying friends.
You aren't dreaming. You aren't imagining. You're sleeping in the real world. Wake me up too, will you?
-- 'efficacy' is a word in the dictionary --
aPrIl FoOlS ~*energy fear mongering~* ApRiL fOoLs
April Fools on a procrastinator's schedule means it ain't for foolin'. Get it?
...click for more...
...to hoax or not to hoax. that is the question...
Please send any blackout picture submissions you may have just kicking around. Specifically, I'd like to see something from the outages in Britain and Europe that have portable power advocates bursting forth over there.
-- over there is an over here perspective when acting globally and thinking locally --
...click for more...
...to hoax or not to hoax. that is the question...
Please send any blackout picture submissions you may have just kicking around. Specifically, I'd like to see something from the outages in Britain and Europe that have portable power advocates bursting forth over there.
-- over there is an over here perspective when acting globally and thinking locally --
Monday, March 29, 2004
the critic in us all
Critics search for ages for the wrong word, which, to give them credit, they eventually find.
Sir Peter Ustinov 1921-2004
Sir Peter Ustinov 1921-2004
famous environmentalist shot in corridor
Shoot Your Favorite Environmentalist
Ed Begley Junior
Wave to Ed...
Have a picture to share of your favorite environmentalist that you snapped yourself?
Please send your shots from the wilds along with the person's A/S/L and the interesting environmental facts that tuned you into this special person's activism in the first place.
A link or two to the major work of your captured environmentalist should accompany any submission.
celebrity@stippletrout.com
Thanks.
Ed Begley Junior
Wave to Ed...
Have a picture to share of your favorite environmentalist that you snapped yourself?
Please send your shots from the wilds along with the person's A/S/L and the interesting environmental facts that tuned you into this special person's activism in the first place.
A link or two to the major work of your captured environmentalist should accompany any submission.
celebrity@stippletrout.com
Thanks.
Friday, March 26, 2004
culture vulture tutorials
His book is free. Author Lawrence Lessig is not likely to be looking for Disney-style copyright kickbacks on this one.
Lessig, an influential scholar and Stanford University law professor, has joined with the ranks of authors who are dabbling in the fine art of licensing. Among them are Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Dan Brown and Cory Doctorow.
AND the home of the RSS standard is ... here.
-- this space intentionally left blank --
Lessig, an influential scholar and Stanford University law professor, has joined with the ranks of authors who are dabbling in the fine art of licensing. Among them are Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Dan Brown and Cory Doctorow.
AND the home of the RSS standard is ... here.
-- this space intentionally left blank --
Flight of the Exxon Valdez
#******************************************************************
# Funny thing is Exxon is now blamed for 5% of the world's
# total carbon emmissions... AND this just came in as well:
#******************************************************************
When the US team started recording atmospheric carbon dioxide in the late 1950s, levels were around 315 ppm and have risen ever since.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that, if unchecked, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere will have risen to between 650 and 970 ppm by 2100. As a result, global temperatures would warm by nearly 6ýC compared with 1990 levels, the IPCC predicts.
NOW... With all of that information ...
Can you spare a minute or two today
for the following -------------------------------,
|
|
|
|
^
Dear Cyberactivists, To learn why to take action now go to:
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/view.fpl/10048/action_id/201.html
Today, March 24, is the 15th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and we're calling on ExxonMobil to spend their time and energy cleaning up Prince William Sound, instead of spending it squelching freedom of speech. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled over 11 million gallons of oil, and we've seen the remaining impacts of the spill that the people of Prince William Sound are still facing everyday.
ExxonMobil has refused to pay the damage claims ordered by a federal court, and has managed to keep the case in court almost continuously since the disaster.
At the same time, ExxonMobil is suing Greenpeace in an attempt to silence us from exposing Exxon's corrupt environmental policies. The case stems from a peaceful protest that occurred at ExxonMobil's headquarters last May when activists, some dressed in colorful tiger costumes, declared the headquarters a "global warming crime scene." The activists were protesting ExxonMobil's continued denial of the science behind global warming and ExxonMobil's blatant efforts to undermine the Kyoto Protocol and other solutions to the problem.
To tell ExxonMobil to spend their time and money cleaning up the Valdez spill, not fighting Greenpeace, visit: http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/view.fpl/10048/action_id/201.html
Thanks for your help.
Jessica Coven
Climate & Energy Campaign
Greenpeace
#******************************************************************
# Have a pleasant day...
# Yours,
# The Management
#******************************************************************
# -- gReP tHe EnViRoNmEnT --
# Funny thing is Exxon is now blamed for 5% of the world's
# total carbon emmissions... AND this just came in as well:
#******************************************************************
When the US team started recording atmospheric carbon dioxide in the late 1950s, levels were around 315 ppm and have risen ever since.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that, if unchecked, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere will have risen to between 650 and 970 ppm by 2100. As a result, global temperatures would warm by nearly 6ýC compared with 1990 levels, the IPCC predicts.
NOW... With all of that information ...
Can you spare a minute or two today
for the following -------------------------------,
|
|
|
|
^
Dear Cyberactivists, To learn why to take action now go to:
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/view.fpl/10048/action_id/201.html
Today, March 24, is the 15th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and we're calling on ExxonMobil to spend their time and energy cleaning up Prince William Sound, instead of spending it squelching freedom of speech. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled over 11 million gallons of oil, and we've seen the remaining impacts of the spill that the people of Prince William Sound are still facing everyday.
ExxonMobil has refused to pay the damage claims ordered by a federal court, and has managed to keep the case in court almost continuously since the disaster.
At the same time, ExxonMobil is suing Greenpeace in an attempt to silence us from exposing Exxon's corrupt environmental policies. The case stems from a peaceful protest that occurred at ExxonMobil's headquarters last May when activists, some dressed in colorful tiger costumes, declared the headquarters a "global warming crime scene." The activists were protesting ExxonMobil's continued denial of the science behind global warming and ExxonMobil's blatant efforts to undermine the Kyoto Protocol and other solutions to the problem.
To tell ExxonMobil to spend their time and money cleaning up the Valdez spill, not fighting Greenpeace, visit: http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/view.fpl/10048/action_id/201.html
Thanks for your help.
Jessica Coven
Climate & Energy Campaign
Greenpeace
#******************************************************************
# Have a pleasant day...
# Yours,
# The Management
#******************************************************************
# -- gReP tHe EnViRoNmEnT --
Thursday, March 25, 2004
listen -- strap on the haedeFones
National Public Radio : How Hydrogen as Fuel Fares Overseas
Please click on the headline or the audio icon to listen to the story using a RealAudio or WindowsMedia player. To download a player or to find solutions to common problems, please visit NPR's audio help page at Audio Help.
Want a transcript of this story?
Transcript
-- in the north crickets signal it is time to lose weight --
Please click on the headline or the audio icon to listen to the story using a RealAudio or WindowsMedia player. To download a player or to find solutions to common problems, please visit NPR's audio help page at Audio Help.
Want a transcript of this story?
Transcript
-- in the north crickets signal it is time to lose weight --
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Dr. Seuss a posthumous adbuster
Accept no cheap (l)imitations...
...click me...
For more Dr. Seuss advertising artwork see:
http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dsads/index.shtml
...click me...
For more Dr. Seuss advertising artwork see:
http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dsads/index.shtml
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
oil greases government -- Henry Ford parody
"The Land! That is where our roots are. There is the basis of our physical life. The farther we get away from the land, the greater our insecurity. From the land comes everything that supports life, everything we use for the service of physical life. The land has not collasped or shrunk in either extent or productivity. It is there waiting to honor all the labor we are willing to invest in it, and able to tide us across any local dislocation of economic conditions. No unemployment insurance can be compared to an alliance between man and a plot of land."
-Henry Ford
Borrowed from a Livejournal Entry at:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/ecovillage/
"The Money! That is where our roots are. There is the basis of our physical life. The farther we get away from the money, the greater our insecurity. From the money comes everything that supports life, everything we use for the service of physical life. The money has not collasped or shrunk in either extent or productivity. It is there waiting to honor all the oil we are willing to invest in it, and able to tide us across any local dislocation of economic conditions. No environmental assurance can be compared to an alliance between oil and a plot for money."
-Henny Fjord
Public Figures to Prove It
US Motor Fuel Tax Outperforms
Corporate Net Income Tax Revenue
http://www.census.gov/govs/www/qtax.html
Canadian Statistics Offering Similar View
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/govt01a.htm
-Henry Ford
Borrowed from a Livejournal Entry at:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/ecovillage/
"The Money! That is where our roots are. There is the basis of our physical life. The farther we get away from the money, the greater our insecurity. From the money comes everything that supports life, everything we use for the service of physical life. The money has not collasped or shrunk in either extent or productivity. It is there waiting to honor all the oil we are willing to invest in it, and able to tide us across any local dislocation of economic conditions. No environmental assurance can be compared to an alliance between oil and a plot for money."
-Henny Fjord
Public Figures to Prove It
US Motor Fuel Tax Outperforms
Corporate Net Income Tax Revenue
http://www.census.gov/govs/www/qtax.html
Canadian Statistics Offering Similar View
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/govt01a.htm
Monday, March 22, 2004
environmental debunker turns sights on Adam Smith
From the wink, wink, nudge, nudge files comes the continuing saga of Bjorn Lomberg whose controversial book 'The Skeptical Environmentalist' had the author up on charges of scientific dishonesty by the Danish scientific establishment. Now Lomberg, who beat the rap, is heading an effort to 'save the world'.
Perhaps Mr. Lomberg should be given a standing ovation for attaching a price tag to the environment. The only way, it seems, for current economic models to validate environmental problems and issues is by determining the 'worth' of each article now contained by faith alone. By attacking the economic postulate that labor is the exclusive source of wealth it may now be possible to set a standard for conduct under legislative decree not possible since Adam Smith taught us the road to riches by valuing the contribution of people -- an ideology of revolution consumable by the thinkers of his time who used calculation to build wealth.
Perhaps the work done under the Copenhagen Consensus will redefine economics to include what has only been known and acted upon by intuition since the days of Smith, and not by the calculation upon which so many decisions to exploit are made.
Like a phoenix new methodologies arise from the ashes of what was. With the environment at stake it isn't a good idea to rely on a miracle as the phoenix does. In reality if we get to ashes we are too late.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/7/23496/47566
The Economist magazine has started a project, headed by Bjorn Lomberg, author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist", to gather together economists and domain experts to answer the question of how the world should rank its problems and how they can be dealt with.
In this weeks Economist there is an article outlining the project. The project also has its own website.
Perhaps Mr. Lomberg should be given a standing ovation for attaching a price tag to the environment. The only way, it seems, for current economic models to validate environmental problems and issues is by determining the 'worth' of each article now contained by faith alone. By attacking the economic postulate that labor is the exclusive source of wealth it may now be possible to set a standard for conduct under legislative decree not possible since Adam Smith taught us the road to riches by valuing the contribution of people -- an ideology of revolution consumable by the thinkers of his time who used calculation to build wealth.
Perhaps the work done under the Copenhagen Consensus will redefine economics to include what has only been known and acted upon by intuition since the days of Smith, and not by the calculation upon which so many decisions to exploit are made.
Like a phoenix new methodologies arise from the ashes of what was. With the environment at stake it isn't a good idea to rely on a miracle as the phoenix does. In reality if we get to ashes we are too late.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/7/23496/47566
The Economist magazine has started a project, headed by Bjorn Lomberg, author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist", to gather together economists and domain experts to answer the question of how the world should rank its problems and how they can be dealt with.
In this weeks Economist there is an article outlining the project. The project also has its own website.
Friday, March 19, 2004
atonement in the rough
A Golf course has a lot in common with a road when you get right down to it. That's not a popular view though, is it? It's a little like saying, "hey, your mother's ugly" or worse, meeting your friend's new baby and saying it's head isn't the right shape.
When you go out golfing you do it for the sport, for the exercise, maybe even for the cameraderie, but rarely, if at all, to criticize the developer of the golf course for having made the thing in the first place.
Face it, the guy who developed your local greens is probably outside more often than you and he knows a lot more about things like walkways for ducks and geese or how to keep offending critters and the dung they leave behind in someone elses backyard. He alone cares what is under the tender footfalls of the avid bunch teeing off in the morning mist.
He knows the lie of the land and how to arrange it so there isn't a bunch of junk in the middle of everything like beer bottles, cans of pop, fast-food wrappers, barrels of PCBs and used needles. He is a saint for the sake of his property. He does what Tolkien does in "Leaf by Niggle". He tends his garden and earns his wings as his satisfaction grows in accomplishment.
Meanwhile, as he grows older and he diverts a stream or two to make way for expanded fairways or a creek runs dry from suburban encroachment, he sprays pecticides for grubs and anti-fungal agents to combat leaf mold.
Then he gets cancer and dies at home with his loving family in attendance all around him. He goes to the big golf course in the sky and leaves his earthbound riches to his children. And suddenly it doesn't matter that his son has the worst slice of anyone he's ever seen swing a driver or that it is his daughter whose handicap is pro-ready also has a head for business.
He lived. He golfed. He died.
When you go out golfing you do it for the sport, for the exercise, maybe even for the cameraderie, but rarely, if at all, to criticize the developer of the golf course for having made the thing in the first place.
Face it, the guy who developed your local greens is probably outside more often than you and he knows a lot more about things like walkways for ducks and geese or how to keep offending critters and the dung they leave behind in someone elses backyard. He alone cares what is under the tender footfalls of the avid bunch teeing off in the morning mist.
He knows the lie of the land and how to arrange it so there isn't a bunch of junk in the middle of everything like beer bottles, cans of pop, fast-food wrappers, barrels of PCBs and used needles. He is a saint for the sake of his property. He does what Tolkien does in "Leaf by Niggle". He tends his garden and earns his wings as his satisfaction grows in accomplishment.
Meanwhile, as he grows older and he diverts a stream or two to make way for expanded fairways or a creek runs dry from suburban encroachment, he sprays pecticides for grubs and anti-fungal agents to combat leaf mold.
Then he gets cancer and dies at home with his loving family in attendance all around him. He goes to the big golf course in the sky and leaves his earthbound riches to his children. And suddenly it doesn't matter that his son has the worst slice of anyone he's ever seen swing a driver or that it is his daughter whose handicap is pro-ready also has a head for business.
He lived. He golfed. He died.
hemp bindings -- it's a family thing
The time I went to the southern shore of Lake Scugog to see members of my extended family, I was late. Of course nobody said it out loud, but I reminded an awful lot of people of my great uncle who kept his own time no matter what the occasion.
I can only imagine that from the dawn of humanity’s advanced knowledge of hours, minutes and seconds, my family has produced at least one person in every generation who has always missed the cukoo.
Read the Rest
A little taste of short fiction from my files.
I can only imagine that from the dawn of humanity’s advanced knowledge of hours, minutes and seconds, my family has produced at least one person in every generation who has always missed the cukoo.
Read the Rest
A little taste of short fiction from my files.
Thursday, March 18, 2004
fuel strategy hasn't evolved
An evalutation of fuel policy clearly shows trending toward increased performance of gasoline powered vehicles, not in a decrease upon the dependancy of the automobile industry and resulting economies (hence social structures) on the use of oil.
It is generally accepted that automobile manufacturers, on average, increase gasoline fuel efficiency roughly one per cent per year using gasoline as the fuel of choice. This statistic reflects a continuation of feature-sets now expected by customers such as air-conditioning, anti-lock brakes, and an increase in automation and in-cab power usage which drain engine power resources and by that token have an impact on efficiency.
Nat'l Academies Press, Review of the Research Program of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles: (1998), page 72, in chapter 5 Fuel Strategy
Several key technologies are said to prevent the commercialization of fuel cell technology in transportation. The first, and perhaps the most important development required, is a 'safe' hydrogen storage system. Current designs using up to 5000 psi tanks are considered too dangerous by industry insiders, even a security threat by government regulators, as any explosion could be fatal. Fortunately several properties of hydrogen make the gas less dangerous than gasoline. It takes more concentration of hydrogen than gasoline to ignite, and as a gas hydrogen dissipates into the atmosphere quickly and without toxic effect.
The second hurdle for fuel cells is cold starting. In this, the development of either a system to prevent water from freezing, or a chemical additive to water that does not decrease the electrical efficiency of the chemical reaction need to take place. True, there is heat during this chemical cycle and water is a byproduct of combining oxygen and hydrogen in this process, but the water required to run a fuel cell does not originate from the fuel cell during start-up. It has to come from an external source because it is on a different side of the electrolyte.
The startup water is used to make the 8 micron Nafion (TM) membrane between cells wet as an aid to protons from the hydrogen to pass through to the cathode side of the cell.
It is this polymer membrane, licensed by Dupont to companies such as Ballard Power Systems, that is the 'electrolyte' of the fuel cell 'battery'. In lead acid batteries sulfuric acid is the electrolyte used in the chemical storage/release of electricity.
Ice would not allow the fuel cell vehicle to start to begin the process of reaching it's optimum operating temperature of 80 degrees Celcius, as in the case of the Regenerative Proton Exchange Membrane-based fuel cell.
To some extent gasoline powered vehicles have a similar limitation in climates where the needle routinely dips below minus 30 degrees. The author of this piece knows this intimately as on the evening of his first child's birth he forgot to plug the car in at the hospital and could not start the car to get home in the morning, although the birth turned out just fine, thank you.
The solution, as mentioned, is to plug a gasoline-powered car in to avoid the cold cranking problems associated with frozen batteries having too little amperage in that state to turn the car over. Putting further pressure on this behavior is overly thick (viscous) oil in the pan requiring more battery power to get the crank shaft and related assemblies started. The usual end result is a dead battery and/or the need for a cold boost.
At their current stage of development fuel cells would likely require plugging-in during down time to allow cold starting at any time, a scenario many of us are quite used to. Admittedly, this ice idea is a slight oversimplification of the problem, but it does serve to illustrate how the market overcomes gaps in technology which may not always be designed for universal acceptance -- as the passenger vehicle of today is not designed for universal use rolling off today's assembly lines.
Several aftermarket initiatives and/or dealer options, however, are available to deal with the severity of climate. One is an electric blanket used to shroud batteries during non-use that plug into standard electrical outlets. Another is a 'glow' plug inserted into the lower portion of a vehicle's engine block to warm the oil there and yet another performs the same task in the form of a heated dipstick.
A combination of these methods are used to avoid the cold-cranking difficulty, all of which require power from an external source on the order of one 40 watt incandescent light bulb.
The impact of these technological shortfalls in fuel cell vehicles is to delay their entry into market. The British government, Ballard Power Systems, The US government and others all have documents stating fuel cells will not begin entering into the marketplace until 2010-2012.
One source in Great Britain's Department of Trade and Industry is an Energy Innovation expert in Fuel Cells; Systems Electricity Technologies. This source agreed that the reason Iceland predicts it will not enter a hydrogen economy until roughly 2040 is that its market is too small to fuel hydrogen product development. Keeping in mind that this nation of approximately 200,000 people has nearly limitless geothermal electrical generation capability to produce a 'clean' supply of portable energy and it becomes apparent that what happens in the United States with respect to fuel policy has important and long lasting consequences for everyone.
While Iceland waits for the rest of us to catch up the most recent fuel policy amendments in the US call for ethanol to become more important in the marketplace.
Like gasoline from crude oil, ethanol is hydrogen rich. A new process to convert ethanol to hydrogen for use in a high-temperature fuel cell (approx. 120 degrees Centigrade) recently made public by researchers at MIT hasn't been commercialized yet. The promise of this technology is to extract three times the electrical energy from ethanol as hydrogen for use in a fuel cell than is available from the fuel by burning it in an internal combustion engine (ICE).
Comparatively, in terms of emissions and net energy density this makes ethanol an important choice in the transition to hydrogen as the fuel of choice.
No other policy comes as close to realizing the dream of hydrogen as a fuel source from renewable and relatively 'clean' energy.
And tomorrow I will tell you the reason why pumping this wonder fuel into the next generation of empty tanks is not in the best interests of business, government or consumers despite the apparent equilibrium its adoption would maintain within this economic backbone.
It is generally accepted that automobile manufacturers, on average, increase gasoline fuel efficiency roughly one per cent per year using gasoline as the fuel of choice. This statistic reflects a continuation of feature-sets now expected by customers such as air-conditioning, anti-lock brakes, and an increase in automation and in-cab power usage which drain engine power resources and by that token have an impact on efficiency.
Nat'l Academies Press, Review of the Research Program of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles: (1998), page 72, in chapter 5 Fuel Strategy
Several key technologies are said to prevent the commercialization of fuel cell technology in transportation. The first, and perhaps the most important development required, is a 'safe' hydrogen storage system. Current designs using up to 5000 psi tanks are considered too dangerous by industry insiders, even a security threat by government regulators, as any explosion could be fatal. Fortunately several properties of hydrogen make the gas less dangerous than gasoline. It takes more concentration of hydrogen than gasoline to ignite, and as a gas hydrogen dissipates into the atmosphere quickly and without toxic effect.
The second hurdle for fuel cells is cold starting. In this, the development of either a system to prevent water from freezing, or a chemical additive to water that does not decrease the electrical efficiency of the chemical reaction need to take place. True, there is heat during this chemical cycle and water is a byproduct of combining oxygen and hydrogen in this process, but the water required to run a fuel cell does not originate from the fuel cell during start-up. It has to come from an external source because it is on a different side of the electrolyte.
The startup water is used to make the 8 micron Nafion (TM) membrane between cells wet as an aid to protons from the hydrogen to pass through to the cathode side of the cell.
It is this polymer membrane, licensed by Dupont to companies such as Ballard Power Systems, that is the 'electrolyte' of the fuel cell 'battery'. In lead acid batteries sulfuric acid is the electrolyte used in the chemical storage/release of electricity.
Ice would not allow the fuel cell vehicle to start to begin the process of reaching it's optimum operating temperature of 80 degrees Celcius, as in the case of the Regenerative Proton Exchange Membrane-based fuel cell.
To some extent gasoline powered vehicles have a similar limitation in climates where the needle routinely dips below minus 30 degrees. The author of this piece knows this intimately as on the evening of his first child's birth he forgot to plug the car in at the hospital and could not start the car to get home in the morning, although the birth turned out just fine, thank you.
The solution, as mentioned, is to plug a gasoline-powered car in to avoid the cold cranking problems associated with frozen batteries having too little amperage in that state to turn the car over. Putting further pressure on this behavior is overly thick (viscous) oil in the pan requiring more battery power to get the crank shaft and related assemblies started. The usual end result is a dead battery and/or the need for a cold boost.
At their current stage of development fuel cells would likely require plugging-in during down time to allow cold starting at any time, a scenario many of us are quite used to. Admittedly, this ice idea is a slight oversimplification of the problem, but it does serve to illustrate how the market overcomes gaps in technology which may not always be designed for universal acceptance -- as the passenger vehicle of today is not designed for universal use rolling off today's assembly lines.
Several aftermarket initiatives and/or dealer options, however, are available to deal with the severity of climate. One is an electric blanket used to shroud batteries during non-use that plug into standard electrical outlets. Another is a 'glow' plug inserted into the lower portion of a vehicle's engine block to warm the oil there and yet another performs the same task in the form of a heated dipstick.
A combination of these methods are used to avoid the cold-cranking difficulty, all of which require power from an external source on the order of one 40 watt incandescent light bulb.
The impact of these technological shortfalls in fuel cell vehicles is to delay their entry into market. The British government, Ballard Power Systems, The US government and others all have documents stating fuel cells will not begin entering into the marketplace until 2010-2012.
One source in Great Britain's Department of Trade and Industry is an Energy Innovation expert in Fuel Cells; Systems Electricity Technologies. This source agreed that the reason Iceland predicts it will not enter a hydrogen economy until roughly 2040 is that its market is too small to fuel hydrogen product development. Keeping in mind that this nation of approximately 200,000 people has nearly limitless geothermal electrical generation capability to produce a 'clean' supply of portable energy and it becomes apparent that what happens in the United States with respect to fuel policy has important and long lasting consequences for everyone.
While Iceland waits for the rest of us to catch up the most recent fuel policy amendments in the US call for ethanol to become more important in the marketplace.
Like gasoline from crude oil, ethanol is hydrogen rich. A new process to convert ethanol to hydrogen for use in a high-temperature fuel cell (approx. 120 degrees Centigrade) recently made public by researchers at MIT hasn't been commercialized yet. The promise of this technology is to extract three times the electrical energy from ethanol as hydrogen for use in a fuel cell than is available from the fuel by burning it in an internal combustion engine (ICE).
Comparatively, in terms of emissions and net energy density this makes ethanol an important choice in the transition to hydrogen as the fuel of choice.
No other policy comes as close to realizing the dream of hydrogen as a fuel source from renewable and relatively 'clean' energy.
And tomorrow I will tell you the reason why pumping this wonder fuel into the next generation of empty tanks is not in the best interests of business, government or consumers despite the apparent equilibrium its adoption would maintain within this economic backbone.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
murk my wurds
OK. This Chinese thing is really bugging me.
I hate to be self-referential, but I recently posted some hazy welcome to China into the fold of industrialized polluters with little regard for how truculent my words must have sounded.
I'm sorry. I should have mentioned that China should be applauded for its announcement after winning the open bid to host the Olympics in Beijing that Tiananmen Square has been officially declared a counter-revolutionary plot and that the nation was entirely within its mandate to protect its citizenry against such an outrage of student rebellion.
But, you know... for some people that isn't just water under the bridge like it is for me.
http://www.iht.com/articles/509824.html
Mainland China. Wow. What a concept. I just want to take a moment to lay out the foundation upon which the next round of market wars should be played out.
From a humanist's perspective then it is my belief that legislators in 'democratic' nations seeking to slow the perceptible impact of Chinese labor and production costs for quite worthy high quality products should now consider drafting tariffs designed to slow Chinese economic growth on three key areas: environment (the company's from democratic nations who flood markets with disposable products made in China should help pay for the cleanup of garbage); human rights auditing (wages and working conditions are important facts contributing to stability -- do we want blood on our hands if the bottom suddenly falls out and the machine is turned to war); ...
Awww fiddlesticks.. who am I kidding? It should be the Chinese themselves that levy new tariffs on these and similar issues. Slowing growth and making money to run the government are good things. And what better way is there to make money than to focus on the well being of worthwhile people who just want to live and have fun watching their child grow up?
-- nobody said it was going to be easy for me to be right --
I hate to be self-referential, but I recently posted some hazy welcome to China into the fold of industrialized polluters with little regard for how truculent my words must have sounded.
I'm sorry. I should have mentioned that China should be applauded for its announcement after winning the open bid to host the Olympics in Beijing that Tiananmen Square has been officially declared a counter-revolutionary plot and that the nation was entirely within its mandate to protect its citizenry against such an outrage of student rebellion.
But, you know... for some people that isn't just water under the bridge like it is for me.
http://www.iht.com/articles/509824.html
Mainland China. Wow. What a concept. I just want to take a moment to lay out the foundation upon which the next round of market wars should be played out.
From a humanist's perspective then it is my belief that legislators in 'democratic' nations seeking to slow the perceptible impact of Chinese labor and production costs for quite worthy high quality products should now consider drafting tariffs designed to slow Chinese economic growth on three key areas: environment (the company's from democratic nations who flood markets with disposable products made in China should help pay for the cleanup of garbage); human rights auditing (wages and working conditions are important facts contributing to stability -- do we want blood on our hands if the bottom suddenly falls out and the machine is turned to war); ...
Awww fiddlesticks.. who am I kidding? It should be the Chinese themselves that levy new tariffs on these and similar issues. Slowing growth and making money to run the government are good things. And what better way is there to make money than to focus on the well being of worthwhile people who just want to live and have fun watching their child grow up?
-- nobody said it was going to be easy for me to be right --
babblestalking defined
Sometimes I surprise even myself. The awful part of it is that I get away with it. Really, surprising yourself sneaks up on you like the smell of a distant and very veiny looking cheese. Vericose veiny if you know what I mean?
Lately, I have been writing letters to people because I caught a bug, and I can feel its presence as if it were alive... I have become exactly what the bug infected me for in the first place. I have become a Babblestalker.
And it doesn't confine me to stalking people with my babble in just one rudimentary language or in some glottal atonality. No, I use Internet translation services to hack my vernacular slants into other languages and send off what I consider to be VIM (Very Intelligent Missives) to 'deserving' parties.
The only true cure will come with a flood of VIMs from other Babblestalkers with bugs bigger than mine. Then my bug would learn its worth, and like some vampire staked to the elemental earth it could die its mortal death like the rest of us.
-- babblestalk me if you care --
-- babblestalk me if you dare --
-- babblestalk me high --
-- babblestalk me low --
-- babblestalk through your dreams --
-- until babblestalking grows --
Lately, I have been writing letters to people because I caught a bug, and I can feel its presence as if it were alive... I have become exactly what the bug infected me for in the first place. I have become a Babblestalker.
And it doesn't confine me to stalking people with my babble in just one rudimentary language or in some glottal atonality. No, I use Internet translation services to hack my vernacular slants into other languages and send off what I consider to be VIM (Very Intelligent Missives) to 'deserving' parties.
The only true cure will come with a flood of VIMs from other Babblestalkers with bugs bigger than mine. Then my bug would learn its worth, and like some vampire staked to the elemental earth it could die its mortal death like the rest of us.
-- babblestalk me if you care --
-- babblestalk me if you dare --
-- babblestalk me high --
-- babblestalk me low --
-- babblestalk through your dreams --
-- until babblestalking grows --
immuno-intelligence
When she came to the door yesterday the young woman with the badge that read 'In Training' wanted me to sponsor a child for World Vision. Since the moment she walked away with a happy expression on her face and a spring in her step I haven't been able to live with myself.
It was like she knew I wasn't the person I tell people I am the entire time she spoke with me. In the dull tones that I gave her, in my refusal to even touch the brochure with the picture of a happy young lad she had proffered to me, I gave away the essential, tight-fisted, and ultimately, lamentable me.
Silently, I even questioned the value of going into a developing nation and teaching people for which there may be no economic opportunity. Maybe waves of immigration to my country will follow from putting expectations in someone's head who can not possibly capitalize on any of them. The gulf would exist between the educated and their ability to use what they know within a system that doesn't operate the way it is 'expected'. A new intelligentsia following blindly the dominance of market capitalism with an iron rule.
Would I be funding sustained development or would I be putting some future oligarchy into power? An entire nation into the hands of capable and experienced corporate raiders who would carve out resources as 'cost effectively' as possible and flood markets with 'inexpensive' goods.
How could I be sure that my investment would guarantee human rights, honest wages, pollution control or any of those things I can barely expect from my own countrymen? Shouldn't my money go into educating the powers-that-be in my sphere in how to manage something they barely understand themselves?
Predictably, these are the paltry pseudo-intellectual arguments I have against spending my money to save a child from a life of squatting along the edges of a landfill. A landfill that represents the only economic opportunity for the families of children who must perform a job usually reserved in my country for multiple repeat offenders on parole. The difference here is that here the parolee gets a full range of protective gear, two fifteen-minute breaks, a half-hour lunch and occasional access to the bulldozer.
-- garbage may make money as long as you are willing to risk status --
It was like she knew I wasn't the person I tell people I am the entire time she spoke with me. In the dull tones that I gave her, in my refusal to even touch the brochure with the picture of a happy young lad she had proffered to me, I gave away the essential, tight-fisted, and ultimately, lamentable me.
Silently, I even questioned the value of going into a developing nation and teaching people for which there may be no economic opportunity. Maybe waves of immigration to my country will follow from putting expectations in someone's head who can not possibly capitalize on any of them. The gulf would exist between the educated and their ability to use what they know within a system that doesn't operate the way it is 'expected'. A new intelligentsia following blindly the dominance of market capitalism with an iron rule.
Would I be funding sustained development or would I be putting some future oligarchy into power? An entire nation into the hands of capable and experienced corporate raiders who would carve out resources as 'cost effectively' as possible and flood markets with 'inexpensive' goods.
How could I be sure that my investment would guarantee human rights, honest wages, pollution control or any of those things I can barely expect from my own countrymen? Shouldn't my money go into educating the powers-that-be in my sphere in how to manage something they barely understand themselves?
Predictably, these are the paltry pseudo-intellectual arguments I have against spending my money to save a child from a life of squatting along the edges of a landfill. A landfill that represents the only economic opportunity for the families of children who must perform a job usually reserved in my country for multiple repeat offenders on parole. The difference here is that here the parolee gets a full range of protective gear, two fifteen-minute breaks, a half-hour lunch and occasional access to the bulldozer.
-- garbage may make money as long as you are willing to risk status --
Monday, March 15, 2004
a note on my panes
In my house the sun moves through windows that do not use thermal panes, are not filled in the gap between panes with argon gas and that are efficient only as a reminder of extremely high gas and electricity bills.
To provide the efficiencies required to assist in lowering my drag on greenhouse gas emissions from electrical power generation using fossil fuels I estimate it will cost me roughly $30,000. The figure is so high because not only will windows and doors have to be replaced, but all exterior walls will have to be torn out and replaced for insulation to be installed.
Add to this that the house is a storey-and-a-half without a 'proper' or more energy efficient roof design and you begin to see how little just one change will begin to pay for itself.
I seem stuck with this infrastructure like we all seem stuck on fossil fuels and the supporting role such choices play in our economic well being. Fossil fuels grease the gears and form the foundation of the 'modern' western world.
Automobile companies are stuck with their infrastructure too. Transportation, it could be argued, is the single most important technology behind our economies with the most impact on our social structure than anything man has yet to devise. Its supply chains are just that. Chains to imperfect technology made to depend on itself for creating a market. The side effect is jobs. And so, with perfection and with change automobile manufacterers act with a conservative kind of sluggishness, placing aftermarket parts in front of emission controls, weakening legislation by failing at targets for the simple fact that it is not in the interest of cash flow or product turn over. Why else would car manufacturers float the suggestion that cars of the future that would last longer would also cost more...
Fuel companies too are hardly able to take any of the studies they fund on the growth of the renewable energy market and market penetration of renewables seriously because it would devalue the immensity of their resource and power base. An infrastructure that turns to dust isn't worth selling to anyone. And if that's where your equity is and where your business turns a profit then it is very difficult to accept change other than in word, certainly not in deed. Funny enough government is now in collusion with these powerful interests -- on your behalf.
When was the last time you questioned how much tax money was spent in finding oil or natural gas deposits domestically or within easy trade-reach of your government?
In Canada the Sierra Club makes annual 'Green Budget' recommendations. Perhaps the most disturbing point to be made about Canada's readiness for decentralized, distributed power generation in the latest issue relating to using renewables is the absolute lack of centralized planning using resources that are otherwise engaged in sourcing fossil fuels. Canada has not performed a national wind mapping analysis, yet there are field personnel still working on finding and exploiting fossil fuel deposits in cooperation with the oil industry. Should the oil companies be on the tax payer's welfare role or is the way our money is spent merely a way for a nation to finance future energy security?
And if security is a matter of priority wouldn't a nation be best served by producing energy from renewables domestically?
This is where the hydrogen economy makes no sense. In reality the hydrogen economy will not fully materialize unless vehicles use hydrogen as a fuel. Similarly, decentralized power generation from renewables will not materialize unless the cost per Mw in capital costs is brought down. It is perhaps relevant then to join fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen to 'store' electricity and the distributed generation electricity grid. Making 'electric' cars that could carry a certain amount of hydrogen and that would recoup this same supply by recharging (electrolysing water to form hydrogen and oxygen) would serve emissions standards by zeroing emissions and place a demand on power from the grid.
With foresight and the appropriate legislation beefing up the power grid could be accomplished using renewable energy from decentralized sources.
As it stands, my personal infrastructure has to be paid for so that the roof over my head doesn't leak. It doesn't make me any money maintaining this. It just keeps me comfortable. That is the difference between the infrastructure my money buys me and the infrastructure car companies and fuel producers build to shelter themselves. Their infrastructure exists to earn money. Mine exists to burn it.
-- the candidate is chosen for nascent intelligence, a fertile mind in which to plant the seeds of obeisance under mentorship, and the wisdom to keep silent any secret learned --
To provide the efficiencies required to assist in lowering my drag on greenhouse gas emissions from electrical power generation using fossil fuels I estimate it will cost me roughly $30,000. The figure is so high because not only will windows and doors have to be replaced, but all exterior walls will have to be torn out and replaced for insulation to be installed.
Add to this that the house is a storey-and-a-half without a 'proper' or more energy efficient roof design and you begin to see how little just one change will begin to pay for itself.
I seem stuck with this infrastructure like we all seem stuck on fossil fuels and the supporting role such choices play in our economic well being. Fossil fuels grease the gears and form the foundation of the 'modern' western world.
Automobile companies are stuck with their infrastructure too. Transportation, it could be argued, is the single most important technology behind our economies with the most impact on our social structure than anything man has yet to devise. Its supply chains are just that. Chains to imperfect technology made to depend on itself for creating a market. The side effect is jobs. And so, with perfection and with change automobile manufacterers act with a conservative kind of sluggishness, placing aftermarket parts in front of emission controls, weakening legislation by failing at targets for the simple fact that it is not in the interest of cash flow or product turn over. Why else would car manufacturers float the suggestion that cars of the future that would last longer would also cost more...
Fuel companies too are hardly able to take any of the studies they fund on the growth of the renewable energy market and market penetration of renewables seriously because it would devalue the immensity of their resource and power base. An infrastructure that turns to dust isn't worth selling to anyone. And if that's where your equity is and where your business turns a profit then it is very difficult to accept change other than in word, certainly not in deed. Funny enough government is now in collusion with these powerful interests -- on your behalf.
When was the last time you questioned how much tax money was spent in finding oil or natural gas deposits domestically or within easy trade-reach of your government?
In Canada the Sierra Club makes annual 'Green Budget' recommendations. Perhaps the most disturbing point to be made about Canada's readiness for decentralized, distributed power generation in the latest issue relating to using renewables is the absolute lack of centralized planning using resources that are otherwise engaged in sourcing fossil fuels. Canada has not performed a national wind mapping analysis, yet there are field personnel still working on finding and exploiting fossil fuel deposits in cooperation with the oil industry. Should the oil companies be on the tax payer's welfare role or is the way our money is spent merely a way for a nation to finance future energy security?
And if security is a matter of priority wouldn't a nation be best served by producing energy from renewables domestically?
This is where the hydrogen economy makes no sense. In reality the hydrogen economy will not fully materialize unless vehicles use hydrogen as a fuel. Similarly, decentralized power generation from renewables will not materialize unless the cost per Mw in capital costs is brought down. It is perhaps relevant then to join fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen to 'store' electricity and the distributed generation electricity grid. Making 'electric' cars that could carry a certain amount of hydrogen and that would recoup this same supply by recharging (electrolysing water to form hydrogen and oxygen) would serve emissions standards by zeroing emissions and place a demand on power from the grid.
With foresight and the appropriate legislation beefing up the power grid could be accomplished using renewable energy from decentralized sources.
As it stands, my personal infrastructure has to be paid for so that the roof over my head doesn't leak. It doesn't make me any money maintaining this. It just keeps me comfortable. That is the difference between the infrastructure my money buys me and the infrastructure car companies and fuel producers build to shelter themselves. Their infrastructure exists to earn money. Mine exists to burn it.
-- the candidate is chosen for nascent intelligence, a fertile mind in which to plant the seeds of obeisance under mentorship, and the wisdom to keep silent any secret learned --
Friday, March 12, 2004
mamby pamby thermal massacre
After a delicious layer of snow in the night the sun shines bright this mid-morning to welcome surprise. Yesterday the radio called for flurries and the TV showed graphics of violent puffy clouds to accompany the raging winds that drive wet snow. Now it is a simple wind that clouds the sun's smile even as its dappled grace flits around the room through the open curtain with something like amusement.
The sun must know how inefficient my panes are.
-- by doing nothing it is easy to be genius --
The sun must know how inefficient my panes are.
-- by doing nothing it is easy to be genius --
Thursday, March 11, 2004
the cutting edge bleeds money
My terminal lament is to go through these phases where acquisition becomes of paramount importance and I, with the virtue of a moldy bun, deride the powers-that-be and rage with meaningless words -- in run-on sentences -- that my rebellion cannot afford that which should not be sought.
Hence this blog entry and another hole in my back pocket.
Sample Articles Relating to Fuel Cells
-- a penance a day keeps the blog addiction at bay --
Hence this blog entry and another hole in my back pocket.
Sample Articles Relating to Fuel Cells
-- a penance a day keeps the blog addiction at bay --
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
the worst sentence in the world
The new speciation of the human broken free of locality is to fit the niche of the market ecology where the marginalized are the historians of defunct concentrations of technology and mere survival is an abstract term consisting of butterfly wings, sintering and shared pestilence.
-- poetry for the disenfranchised --
-- poetry for the disenfranchised --
a globally warm welcome to china's brown cloud
This link is really a non-link because it represents the table of contents to a rather overlarge document on the statistics of automotive usage in China.
Perhaps after you buy it you could send in a precis.
(PDF) Automobiles in China
More Publication about China's Automotive Industry
As in all things there is a backlash on the world stage. I don't endorse backlashes because they tend to ignore the sanctity of life and all that jazz. The backlash can be seen now in the democratic national ballot. Actually, it's a backlash of a backlash. The grave economic conditions in the US after September 11th, 2001 have created a campaign platform dependent on economic finger pointing. The real menace (in my not so humble opinion) is outsourcing to the exclusion of domestic jobs on a scale never before seen. Michael Moore and I are probably in total agreement.
Now that the Chinese are full members of the World Trade Organization we can openly criticize their market activities. Roughly 7 per cent of Beijing's annual budget is given over to clean air programs. The Chinese economy has experienced 10 per cent growth on average for more than ten years running.
What if the Chinese decided to design their own cars? Asia's largest nation is the benefactor of unparalelled trade liberalization. It isn't likely design will be given over by such powerful entities as General Motors.
Some differences are present in the design of similar models. Buick Century, a GM product, has a higher quality back seat included in its Chinese design. This difference between North American models reflects cultural attitudes toward vehicle usage. Chinese drivers carry passengers with greater frequency than their North American peers.
Perhaps 20 years ago it would have been possible to request the Chinese government to slow its economic growth and seize foreign owned and operated manufacturing operations. They may have been convinced to protect culture and environment together along with food security.
Today the Chinese are more dependant on oil than any other nation in the world. Today the Chinese do not control the design of their automobiles. Today the Chinese must accept genetically modifed (GM) rice into the food supply to protect against malnutrition. Golden Rice is perhaps THE trojan horse of the biotechnology industry and proponents of this industry's complete acceptance.
Today the Chinese understand the value of culture as a marketable commodity as in such groundbreaking films such as "Big Shot's Funeral" starring Canadian actor Donald Sutherland.
Today is another day. Tomorrow is yesterday if you haven't done it before.
-- making sense of the world is not possible --
Perhaps after you buy it you could send in a precis.
(PDF) Automobiles in China
More Publication about China's Automotive Industry
As in all things there is a backlash on the world stage. I don't endorse backlashes because they tend to ignore the sanctity of life and all that jazz. The backlash can be seen now in the democratic national ballot. Actually, it's a backlash of a backlash. The grave economic conditions in the US after September 11th, 2001 have created a campaign platform dependent on economic finger pointing. The real menace (in my not so humble opinion) is outsourcing to the exclusion of domestic jobs on a scale never before seen. Michael Moore and I are probably in total agreement.
Now that the Chinese are full members of the World Trade Organization we can openly criticize their market activities. Roughly 7 per cent of Beijing's annual budget is given over to clean air programs. The Chinese economy has experienced 10 per cent growth on average for more than ten years running.
What if the Chinese decided to design their own cars? Asia's largest nation is the benefactor of unparalelled trade liberalization. It isn't likely design will be given over by such powerful entities as General Motors.
Some differences are present in the design of similar models. Buick Century, a GM product, has a higher quality back seat included in its Chinese design. This difference between North American models reflects cultural attitudes toward vehicle usage. Chinese drivers carry passengers with greater frequency than their North American peers.
Perhaps 20 years ago it would have been possible to request the Chinese government to slow its economic growth and seize foreign owned and operated manufacturing operations. They may have been convinced to protect culture and environment together along with food security.
Today the Chinese are more dependant on oil than any other nation in the world. Today the Chinese do not control the design of their automobiles. Today the Chinese must accept genetically modifed (GM) rice into the food supply to protect against malnutrition. Golden Rice is perhaps THE trojan horse of the biotechnology industry and proponents of this industry's complete acceptance.
Today the Chinese understand the value of culture as a marketable commodity as in such groundbreaking films such as "Big Shot's Funeral" starring Canadian actor Donald Sutherland.
Today is another day. Tomorrow is yesterday if you haven't done it before.
-- making sense of the world is not possible --
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
this century's most important decision
Well, I have had contact with Ms. Lightner. She returned my Friday afternoon call early Monday and gave me an alternate address for the information at the end of the link below. Unfortunately I had to email her again after an extensive search for this abstract at the DOE website.
Ms. Lightner told me to go to http://www.eere.energy.gov and select the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell link.
If you find something there please let me know about it. I am still waiting on Ms. Lightner's response. It is unfortunate she is probably busier than this wee issue warrants. She did tell me she had spoken to the people who look after the site where the link that was published leads to, but they were unsympathetic.
1. DOE Announces Date for Decision Regarding On-Board Fuel Processing
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced June 30, 2004, as the planned date for its go/no-go decision regarding on-board fuel processing for fuel cell vehicles. A panel has been assembled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to review the current state of fuel processing activities against technical criteria. Based on the findings of the panel, NREL will submit a written recommendation to DOE on or before June 18, 2004. Written position papers for consideration by DOE regarding this decision must be received by May 15, 2004. NREL must receive requests to speak before the review panel no later than May 15, 2004. For further information, contact Valri Lightner, DOE, Ph. 202-586-0937, or valri.lightner@ee.doe.gov.
Get Details
Ms. Lightner told me to go to http://www.eere.energy.gov and select the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell link.
If you find something there please let me know about it. I am still waiting on Ms. Lightner's response. It is unfortunate she is probably busier than this wee issue warrants. She did tell me she had spoken to the people who look after the site where the link that was published leads to, but they were unsympathetic.
1. DOE Announces Date for Decision Regarding On-Board Fuel Processing
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced June 30, 2004, as the planned date for its go/no-go decision regarding on-board fuel processing for fuel cell vehicles. A panel has been assembled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to review the current state of fuel processing activities against technical criteria. Based on the findings of the panel, NREL will submit a written recommendation to DOE on or before June 18, 2004. Written position papers for consideration by DOE regarding this decision must be received by May 15, 2004. NREL must receive requests to speak before the review panel no later than May 15, 2004. For further information, contact Valri Lightner, DOE, Ph. 202-586-0937, or valri.lightner@ee.doe.gov.
Get Details
engineers control fuel of the future
Society of Automotive Engineers on Fuel Cells
This link should give you an idea of where things stand with Fuel Cell vehicles in terms of their design.
If things continue as they appear to have done you will see ethanol at the pumps over the next few years. There are several indicators of that. The first is the recent announcement by the US to increase ethanol use to 12 per cent by 2015.
Ethanol is also the least expensive route for fuel producers to take in terms of delivery.
The second indicator is conversion price. On average it is estimated that for each refueling station approximately $600,000 USD would be required to make the conversion to hydrogen delivery versus just $30,000 USD for a liquid fuel.
Ethanol is also the easiest fuel for producers to dominate throughout the entire lifecycle of from corn crops, harvest and refining to metered delivery.
Much importance has been placed on 'reforming' fuels such as ethanol and methanol into hydrogen on-board Fuel Cell vehicles.
To that end, the US Department of Energy invites comments with respect to on-board fuel processing and the June decision it will take on this issue.
This link should give you an idea of where things stand with Fuel Cell vehicles in terms of their design.
If things continue as they appear to have done you will see ethanol at the pumps over the next few years. There are several indicators of that. The first is the recent announcement by the US to increase ethanol use to 12 per cent by 2015.
Ethanol is also the least expensive route for fuel producers to take in terms of delivery.
The second indicator is conversion price. On average it is estimated that for each refueling station approximately $600,000 USD would be required to make the conversion to hydrogen delivery versus just $30,000 USD for a liquid fuel.
Ethanol is also the easiest fuel for producers to dominate throughout the entire lifecycle of from corn crops, harvest and refining to metered delivery.
Much importance has been placed on 'reforming' fuels such as ethanol and methanol into hydrogen on-board Fuel Cell vehicles.
To that end, the US Department of Energy invites comments with respect to on-board fuel processing and the June decision it will take on this issue.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
[eCo-SPAM] federal government must act to save spotted owl
-- there are no borders in the natural world --
Dear Friend,
I write to you today with urgent news. The most-endangered bird species in Canada — the northern Spotted Owl - needs your immediate action to save it from extinction in Canada.
Act now by asking federal Environment Minister David Anderson to bring an emergency order to his cabinet colleagues to stop further destruction of spotted owl habitat and help lead to its recovery.
Spotted owl numbers in Canada have dropped to 25 breeding pairs, yet the government of British Columbia continues to allow logging in the final remnants of their habitat. The forests of southeastern B.C. are the only places in Canada where this endangered bird is found.
If the federal government does not take emergency measures as permitted under the Species at Risk Act, biologists estimate the spotted owl will become extinct in Canada within a decade.
THANK YOU for your action
-- sample letter added to comments --
Dear Minister,
I believe most Canadians know how difficult your job must be since so much emphasis in public policy and a majority of taxpayers' money goes to the task of ensuring our economies are kept burning.
I, for one, applaud your courage in the face of such a daunting and delicate task. While we have dominion of the planet and our needs come first it is with sadness that the erosion of species must be so marked in our time.
Best of luck with this 'issue'. I hope you are able to tackle the difficult challenge ahead in the tomorrow we have remaining.
-- snip
Well, I guess if I am writing a blog I should at least get some mileage out of it. Please spend the 2 minutes it takes to send this faxed message. Submissions are accepted from anywhere in the world.
ViAgArA/ FREE 100% / Advertise NOW/ 100% FREE / ViAgArA / FREE
Dear Friend,
I write to you today with urgent news. The most-endangered bird species in Canada — the northern Spotted Owl - needs your immediate action to save it from extinction in Canada.
Act now by asking federal Environment Minister David Anderson to bring an emergency order to his cabinet colleagues to stop further destruction of spotted owl habitat and help lead to its recovery.
Spotted owl numbers in Canada have dropped to 25 breeding pairs, yet the government of British Columbia continues to allow logging in the final remnants of their habitat. The forests of southeastern B.C. are the only places in Canada where this endangered bird is found.
If the federal government does not take emergency measures as permitted under the Species at Risk Act, biologists estimate the spotted owl will become extinct in Canada within a decade.
THANK YOU for your action
-- sample letter added to comments --
Dear Minister,
I believe most Canadians know how difficult your job must be since so much emphasis in public policy and a majority of taxpayers' money goes to the task of ensuring our economies are kept burning.
I, for one, applaud your courage in the face of such a daunting and delicate task. While we have dominion of the planet and our needs come first it is with sadness that the erosion of species must be so marked in our time.
Best of luck with this 'issue'. I hope you are able to tackle the difficult challenge ahead in the tomorrow we have remaining.
-- snip
Well, I guess if I am writing a blog I should at least get some mileage out of it. Please spend the 2 minutes it takes to send this faxed message. Submissions are accepted from anywhere in the world.
ViAgArA/ FREE 100% / Advertise NOW/ 100% FREE / ViAgArA / FREE
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
PURPA is the way a politician says Tequila
I have to have a sense of humor about trying to play any kind of politics because like many before me I am not the cleanest person around. I've left a trail of secrets behind me so that if anyone who wants to can deny any argument I put forward just by issuing a judgment about the one night I got drunk at a party and ralphed in my buddy's bathroom. Word of warning. Avoid Tequila at all costs. Do not drink an entire bottle.
You begin to realize very quickly that even if you believe in redemption you are still the person you were before any sort of transformation took place. The reek of it remains long after the cleanup as it were.
Those partying days are behind me now you'll be happy to know. Going forward, the bright energy future is on the horizon. Together we will someday raise a clear glass of 'imported' spring water or tailpipe emissions to our mutual triumph... (I'll have wine with my cheese, thanks). Or will we?
Technically, the climate seems right to squeeze more efficiency out of photovoltaic panels than ever before. Designs hitting the market can now be built with 25 per cent efficiency with roughly 35 per cent uptime. And in wind turbines bearingless designs can peak out at 40 per cent efficiency with similar uptime. But the political climate, particularly in the US, took a turn in 2001 when the Bush administration killed one of former President Jimmy Carter's last remaining Energy policy amendments dating back to 1978.
PURPA Refrom Group Applauds 2001 Decision
According to one source Carter's energy policies were estimated to have cost an extra $8 Billion per year in the United States. What would be interesting to find out is if anyone knows whether energy costs were $8 Billion less following the 2001 repeal of the PURPA amendment?
Scientists Express Concern Over PURPA Void
"Technically, PURPA only calls for renewable energy if it is cost competitive with conventional polluting resources. Many of the benefits of renewables are not included in the price, such as clean air, but PURPA makes no provision for including these. By strictly interpreting the law, FERC has expressly forbidden non-price factors in PURPA decisions."
Politically, these scientists, who guys eat, breath and sleep study are like the unredeemed who everybody remembers had too much to drink at the party and fell down in a pool of their own vomit.
Nobody really knows what scientists are saying, nor do the people who do listen have much time to figure out the message. All a scientist is really good for is to make chemicals and derive killer products to pollute the environment for his or her 15 per cent per annum wage increase. My vision of the scientist is of the person who is always amiable but somewhat bumbling. She can never find her purse and doesn't know anything about money. But she knows where to find a great party and she can screw the little plastic top off the Tequila bottle no matter how tight it is.
I hope you don't share this stereotype.
-- in no way do I endorse my own opinion --
You begin to realize very quickly that even if you believe in redemption you are still the person you were before any sort of transformation took place. The reek of it remains long after the cleanup as it were.
Those partying days are behind me now you'll be happy to know. Going forward, the bright energy future is on the horizon. Together we will someday raise a clear glass of 'imported' spring water or tailpipe emissions to our mutual triumph... (I'll have wine with my cheese, thanks). Or will we?
Technically, the climate seems right to squeeze more efficiency out of photovoltaic panels than ever before. Designs hitting the market can now be built with 25 per cent efficiency with roughly 35 per cent uptime. And in wind turbines bearingless designs can peak out at 40 per cent efficiency with similar uptime. But the political climate, particularly in the US, took a turn in 2001 when the Bush administration killed one of former President Jimmy Carter's last remaining Energy policy amendments dating back to 1978.
PURPA Refrom Group Applauds 2001 Decision
According to one source Carter's energy policies were estimated to have cost an extra $8 Billion per year in the United States. What would be interesting to find out is if anyone knows whether energy costs were $8 Billion less following the 2001 repeal of the PURPA amendment?
Scientists Express Concern Over PURPA Void
"Technically, PURPA only calls for renewable energy if it is cost competitive with conventional polluting resources. Many of the benefits of renewables are not included in the price, such as clean air, but PURPA makes no provision for including these. By strictly interpreting the law, FERC has expressly forbidden non-price factors in PURPA decisions."
Politically, these scientists, who guys eat, breath and sleep study are like the unredeemed who everybody remembers had too much to drink at the party and fell down in a pool of their own vomit.
Nobody really knows what scientists are saying, nor do the people who do listen have much time to figure out the message. All a scientist is really good for is to make chemicals and derive killer products to pollute the environment for his or her 15 per cent per annum wage increase. My vision of the scientist is of the person who is always amiable but somewhat bumbling. She can never find her purse and doesn't know anything about money. But she knows where to find a great party and she can screw the little plastic top off the Tequila bottle no matter how tight it is.
I hope you don't share this stereotype.
-- in no way do I endorse my own opinion --
Monday, March 01, 2004
drape a half-naked model and voila... traditional advertising scheme
Just so you know, car companies are making a genuine effort. The 'egg' still has to be broken though. Why not talk to your bank manager today and find out what incentives are being offered as your financial institution's investment in 'clean' technology. The more requests this manager receives the better your chances of having the question passed on up the line so that the president's ear is bent. If your bank can invest money on whatever they want why not invest directly in the people who make it all possible -- you? You bought and paid for the car. Seeding the softpath could be as easy as putting protected funds on the key players in the hydrogen economy and then giving people like you less expensive money dependent on their choices. Imagine a 2 per cent loan for a hydrogen only vehicle or a 5 per cent loan for something that uses a reformer to convert methanol, or a 10 per cent loan to a car that uses a reformer to convert gasoline? What does a bank have to lose if the hydrogen economy is supposed to happen anyway? The mechanisms must be in place to facilitate this change more rapidly. I just wonder if there is some sort of ethical dilemma in that?
Oh yes, and now any and all are encouraged to drape their favorite model over some of these luscious designs.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
(PDF) Fuel Cell Car Chart
sobriety is about how much you can afford to drink
Five Hundred Million Cars, One Planet
Just think about the future value of the gasoline powered car. How old are the heaps littering the road anyway? As of 2002 there were an estimated 531 million cars on roads the world over, 25 per cent of which were in the US alone. Depreciation already takes a huge chunk of a car's value as soon as it is driven off the lot. Would people rather wait until later to have their gasoline cars made worthless? When is really a good time? The longer individuals wait the longer it will take. No amount of transitional planning can save the value of your vehicle. Conversion to hybrid fuels in an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) are costly unless they are built into the purchase price of a vehicle. Depreciated assets are difficult to spend money on when there is no cost recovery involved in the expense.
How many of those cars are going to be kept to the standard of a classic so they can go on display 25 years from now?
I know which model I want.
Oh yes, and now any and all are encouraged to drape their favorite model over some of these luscious designs.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
(PDF) Fuel Cell Car Chart
sobriety is about how much you can afford to drink
Five Hundred Million Cars, One Planet
Just think about the future value of the gasoline powered car. How old are the heaps littering the road anyway? As of 2002 there were an estimated 531 million cars on roads the world over, 25 per cent of which were in the US alone. Depreciation already takes a huge chunk of a car's value as soon as it is driven off the lot. Would people rather wait until later to have their gasoline cars made worthless? When is really a good time? The longer individuals wait the longer it will take. No amount of transitional planning can save the value of your vehicle. Conversion to hybrid fuels in an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) are costly unless they are built into the purchase price of a vehicle. Depreciated assets are difficult to spend money on when there is no cost recovery involved in the expense.
How many of those cars are going to be kept to the standard of a classic so they can go on display 25 years from now?
I know which model I want.
radical public utility
Over this weekend I have read a lot and given over much of my time to thinking about some of the unspoken barriers to adopting the hydrogen economy.
One question really dominated my thoughts, but I couldn't define whether it was a barrier or a socialist plot creeping under my skin.
What if car companies everywhere were deemed public utilities?
Phrased as a question the words seem almost ludicrous. Why would a car company become a public utility? The roads and the garbage are already taken care of by most governments. Besides, car companies operate without the kinds of political or cultural borders that governments do. Being a public utility would mean radical change -- everywhere a car is assembled or a part is sourced to complete a design.
In fact, if car companies became public utilites it would probably mean that design would be done by consensus in a manner that those companies couldn't resist. It might even mean that car design would be accomplished by consensus.
As it is, bringing car companies together over standards and managing to convince that any kind of change is necessary is a costly endeavor put forward by government on behalf of the people who bought the cars in the first place.
Just who is governing who around here anyway? So much for competition in the marketplace...
One question really dominated my thoughts, but I couldn't define whether it was a barrier or a socialist plot creeping under my skin.
What if car companies everywhere were deemed public utilities?
Phrased as a question the words seem almost ludicrous. Why would a car company become a public utility? The roads and the garbage are already taken care of by most governments. Besides, car companies operate without the kinds of political or cultural borders that governments do. Being a public utility would mean radical change -- everywhere a car is assembled or a part is sourced to complete a design.
In fact, if car companies became public utilites it would probably mean that design would be done by consensus in a manner that those companies couldn't resist. It might even mean that car design would be accomplished by consensus.
As it is, bringing car companies together over standards and managing to convince that any kind of change is necessary is a costly endeavor put forward by government on behalf of the people who bought the cars in the first place.
Just who is governing who around here anyway? So much for competition in the marketplace...
Sunday, February 29, 2004
century's most important decision
Public responses to decisions taken on these matters are too late after the decision is taken. The following may be THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION of the next century in North America. Remember that GM controls 67 per cent of the automotive market. Coupled with REGENERATIVE fuel cells and distributed electrical production, our electrical infrastructure could ultimately replace plans for piped hydrogen and propel us into a Hydrogen economy very rapidly. The link attached to this post is broken. I have put in a request to Valri Lightner for more information about this problem and the upcoming meeting. I will post as soon her reply is made.
1. DOE Announces Date for Decision Regarding On-Board Fuel Processing
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced June 30, 2004, as the planned date for its go/no-go decision regarding on-board fuel processing for fuel cell vehicles. A panel has been assembled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to review the current state of fuel processing activities against technical criteria. Based on the findings of the panel, NREL will submit a written recommendation to DOE on or before June 18, 2004. Written position papers for consideration by DOE regarding this decision must be received by May 15, 2004. NREL must receive requests to speak before the review panel no later than May 15, 2004. For further information, contact Valri Lightner, DOE, Ph. 202-586-0937, or valri.lightner@ee.doe.gov.
Get Details
1. DOE Announces Date for Decision Regarding On-Board Fuel Processing
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced June 30, 2004, as the planned date for its go/no-go decision regarding on-board fuel processing for fuel cell vehicles. A panel has been assembled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to review the current state of fuel processing activities against technical criteria. Based on the findings of the panel, NREL will submit a written recommendation to DOE on or before June 18, 2004. Written position papers for consideration by DOE regarding this decision must be received by May 15, 2004. NREL must receive requests to speak before the review panel no later than May 15, 2004. For further information, contact Valri Lightner, DOE, Ph. 202-586-0937, or valri.lightner@ee.doe.gov.
Get Details
never a hydrogen infrastructure
The following email was sent to the [H2OPower] list on Topica, a list to which I recently subscribed.
I have also posted the message to the [softpath] list also hosted on Topica. This article is highly recommended reading as it puts forward the means to an immediate transition to the Hydrogen economy.
Please precis the article and send your viewpoint along to local representatives, newspapers, friends, colleagues, etc. to get the word out. Forward your official contacts (esp. media and political) to the [softpath] list or to me and I will collate them for use. -- Tim
------------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
Here is a link to a paper on the H2 economy which may
stimulate some debate;
stimulate some debate;
It makes some good points but is somewhat myopic in that it
only considers the issue from one "standard" viewpoint. If any part of the
paradigm could be changed the whole thing would collapse. The main parameters
that I think CAN be changed are the source of hydrogen and the
method/location of production.
only considers the issue from one "standard" viewpoint. If any part of the
paradigm could be changed the whole thing would collapse. The main parameters
that I think CAN be changed are the source of hydrogen and the
method/location of production.
If hydrogen is produced from water then the location of the
production can be almost anywhere, such as at the point of use (or very close to
it). This eliminates the need for a whole new storage and distribution
infrastructure. So the real challenge then is going to be solely in finding more
efficient means to produce hydrogen at the point/time of use.
production can be almost anywhere, such as at the point of use (or very close to
it). This eliminates the need for a whole new storage and distribution
infrastructure. So the real challenge then is going to be solely in finding more
efficient means to produce hydrogen at the point/time of use.
MJ
--^^---------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent to: tim.pozza@sympatico.ca
EASY SUBSCRIBE:
Send an email to: H2OPower-subscribe@topica.com
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Saturday, February 28, 2004
an elemental universe
Hydrogen
The periodic table definition of the most abundant element in the universe.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells
The invention of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell.
H-Power Where Are We Going With Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Read about the invention of the hydrogen powered fuel cell beginning in 1839 to its near perfection by a direct ancestor of Sir Francis Bacon in 1959 and gain perspective about more recent development and some of the engineering hurdles yet to come.
Hydrogen Energy
Commercial Hydrogen Energy Resources
The periodic table definition of the most abundant element in the universe.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells
The invention of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell.
H-Power Where Are We Going With Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Read about the invention of the hydrogen powered fuel cell beginning in 1839 to its near perfection by a direct ancestor of Sir Francis Bacon in 1959 and gain perspective about more recent development and some of the engineering hurdles yet to come.
Hydrogen Energy
Commercial Hydrogen Energy Resources
Friday, February 27, 2004
hydrogen must attend
Join fellow Canadian Energy, Utility, Mining, and Public Service leaders at SAP Business Forum 2004, March 9, at The Metropolitan Centre. Learn technology and business best practices that will help increase your returns, improve reliability, and enhance customer responses.
9:15 FEATURE KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Hon. Murray D. Smith, Minister of Energy,
Government of Alberta
SAP Business Forum 2004 in Calgary, March 9, at The Metropolitan Centre.
To register for this event, visit
http://www.sap-presents.com/fm/cal6
7-8:30 a.m. Registration, Continental Breakfast
General Session:
9:15 FEATURE KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Hon. Murray D. Smith, Minister of Energy,
Government of Alberta
SAP Business Forum 2004 in Calgary, March 9, at The Metropolitan Centre.
To register for this event, visit
http://www.sap-presents.com/fm/cal6
rave on cradle to grave
Forward thinking solutions are an everyday part of the California Hydrogen Business Council. The following link leads to a wealth of information about a cradle to grave model of hydrogen production and use.
Solar Hydrogen Vehicle Fact Sheet
Please send comments or links to other exciting project you may be involved in or have read about so they can become part of the growing repository of information soon to be made available.
Investors please look to
Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Investor. Poke around the site a little for some of the free information gathered there before you decide to buy. Your financial choices matter. Don't forget though, less than 2 per cent of the world's population controls over 90 per cent of its wealth. Convince others to vote with their feet if you have to.
A more comprehensive list of hydrogen and fuel cell related resources is in the works. Again, if you've got something to contribute, please don't hesitate to forward what you've got and we'll see if a place can be found for it.
Write to Tim
Solar Hydrogen Vehicle Fact Sheet
Please send comments or links to other exciting project you may be involved in or have read about so they can become part of the growing repository of information soon to be made available.
Investors please look to
Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Investor. Poke around the site a little for some of the free information gathered there before you decide to buy. Your financial choices matter. Don't forget though, less than 2 per cent of the world's population controls over 90 per cent of its wealth. Convince others to vote with their feet if you have to.
A more comprehensive list of hydrogen and fuel cell related resources is in the works. Again, if you've got something to contribute, please don't hesitate to forward what you've got and we'll see if a place can be found for it.
Write to Tim
Thursday, February 26, 2004
fossil vs. hydrogen mirrors browser wars
Just as things begin to heat up with the adoption of hydrogen as tomorrow's fuel the worry creeps in that fuel cell technology is going to be like the browser wars between Microsoft Inc. and Netscape Communications.
A feud that ended with a whimper when finally, somebody big blew into town (Time Warner), bought out Netscape and eventually shut the company and it's web browser down at version 7.
We have the boys and girls at Netscape to thank for such fine things as RSS feeds along with an open source browser called Mozilla given a final push by Time Warner with a couple of million dollars. After achieving an 85 per cent share of the browser market before Microsoft even had a strategy the death of such an enterprise is disturbing.
Fossil vs. hydrogen fuels still look very much like Microsoft vs. Netscape in that one implementation has deeper pockets in which to survive and thrive despite an apparent will in the market that would have contested such a loose foothold at the outset. Part of that is ownership. Ownership of the infrastructure. Ownership of the money. Does that sound at all like the basis of an anti-trust lawsuit? Maybe not, but it sure looks like somebody can bundle the browser with the computer and get away with it and call it consumer choice.
Shell Hydrogen
Shell Hydrogen -- Consumer Choice Drives Future
In fossil vs. hydrogen the problem exists in fossil enabling technology which 'reforms' the fuel to extract the hydrogen from it before it hits the anode. This enabling technology also comes with another caveat. The fuel cell must be different from one that runs on pure hydrogen, effectively eliminating customer choice for the life of the vehicle or home energy system. This situation exists because Proton Exchange Membranes (PEM Fuel Cells) that run on 99.99 per cent pure hydrogen can not run with a less pure fuel that would result with Hitest (hydrogen and natural gas for combustion), methanol, ethanol, or gasoline.
Yahoo! News - Officials say Calfornia governor's 'hydrogen highway' is realistic by 2010
Reformers aren't the problem. It is the people who use them.
BETA vs. VHS anyone?
A feud that ended with a whimper when finally, somebody big blew into town (Time Warner), bought out Netscape and eventually shut the company and it's web browser down at version 7.
We have the boys and girls at Netscape to thank for such fine things as RSS feeds along with an open source browser called Mozilla given a final push by Time Warner with a couple of million dollars. After achieving an 85 per cent share of the browser market before Microsoft even had a strategy the death of such an enterprise is disturbing.
Fossil vs. hydrogen fuels still look very much like Microsoft vs. Netscape in that one implementation has deeper pockets in which to survive and thrive despite an apparent will in the market that would have contested such a loose foothold at the outset. Part of that is ownership. Ownership of the infrastructure. Ownership of the money. Does that sound at all like the basis of an anti-trust lawsuit? Maybe not, but it sure looks like somebody can bundle the browser with the computer and get away with it and call it consumer choice.
Shell Hydrogen
Shell Hydrogen -- Consumer Choice Drives Future
In fossil vs. hydrogen the problem exists in fossil enabling technology which 'reforms' the fuel to extract the hydrogen from it before it hits the anode. This enabling technology also comes with another caveat. The fuel cell must be different from one that runs on pure hydrogen, effectively eliminating customer choice for the life of the vehicle or home energy system. This situation exists because Proton Exchange Membranes (PEM Fuel Cells) that run on 99.99 per cent pure hydrogen can not run with a less pure fuel that would result with Hitest (hydrogen and natural gas for combustion), methanol, ethanol, or gasoline.
Yahoo! News - Officials say Calfornia governor's 'hydrogen highway' is realistic by 2010
Reformers aren't the problem. It is the people who use them.
BETA vs. VHS anyone?
will hydrogen create garbage?
The good news today is that a lot of great information has been made available in Spanish and Portuguese in the field of fuel cell technology. This thanks to the US Fuel Cell Council
release of two important publications from its archives.
USFCC back issues
Read the story
You know? This organization is great. They do what a coordinating body should do and work towards open standards and cooperation between members of industry and at all levels. Sharing this level of information in these languages is also a great bonus to Middle and South Americans. There is sure to be a fair amount of technology transfer from the public to private sectors, along with very targeted and realistic funding in a timely manner.
Everybody wants implementation too, don't they? And this is where that niggling 'but' always inserts itself. A review of each of the organization's key group missions revealed deep involvement and forward thinking. BUT why aren't they studying the legislative areas related to corporate responsibility for the entire life cycle of the products to be manufactured and sold to consumers and industry? Isn't this the sort of issue that got us into the mess we seem to be crawling out of at this very moment on a worldwide basis.
I suggest that this organization is one that is eminently capable of assisting in a worldwide move to hydrogen for the masses, but that it needs a new working group to watch out for the garbage. If these new technologies have a built-in lifespan nobody is going to be impressed when curbside pickup costs three times as much as it does to buy in.
Platinum today: Fuel Cell Science & Technology, Munich
Of course, platinum, an expensive material used in most fuel cells operating under 120 degrees Celsius, is going to be worth something to someone. However, if this group is banking on the value of platinum as a commodity in the recycling industry they should look to the glut of circuit boards and electronic components that are about to pile up in the next five years. There is gold in it for those who care to look.
On the scrap heap is equipment we can't even, in good conscience, donate to the underprivileged.
An idea of the problem to come
Killing two birds with one stone may be less costly than not understanding why the bird died.
release of two important publications from its archives.
USFCC back issues
Read the story
You know? This organization is great. They do what a coordinating body should do and work towards open standards and cooperation between members of industry and at all levels. Sharing this level of information in these languages is also a great bonus to Middle and South Americans. There is sure to be a fair amount of technology transfer from the public to private sectors, along with very targeted and realistic funding in a timely manner.
Everybody wants implementation too, don't they? And this is where that niggling 'but' always inserts itself. A review of each of the organization's key group missions revealed deep involvement and forward thinking. BUT why aren't they studying the legislative areas related to corporate responsibility for the entire life cycle of the products to be manufactured and sold to consumers and industry? Isn't this the sort of issue that got us into the mess we seem to be crawling out of at this very moment on a worldwide basis.
I suggest that this organization is one that is eminently capable of assisting in a worldwide move to hydrogen for the masses, but that it needs a new working group to watch out for the garbage. If these new technologies have a built-in lifespan nobody is going to be impressed when curbside pickup costs three times as much as it does to buy in.
Platinum today: Fuel Cell Science & Technology, Munich
Of course, platinum, an expensive material used in most fuel cells operating under 120 degrees Celsius, is going to be worth something to someone. However, if this group is banking on the value of platinum as a commodity in the recycling industry they should look to the glut of circuit boards and electronic components that are about to pile up in the next five years. There is gold in it for those who care to look.
On the scrap heap is equipment we can't even, in good conscience, donate to the underprivileged.
An idea of the problem to come
Killing two birds with one stone may be less costly than not understanding why the bird died.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Flight of the Exxon Valdez
Personally, my thoughts have turned to the environment. I don't want to build websites as much as I want to build consensus around things like the air we breath or what happens to the products we buy that we just throw away. It's a common enough problem that we kind of just live with it these days and hope that the weak light of good news on the cleanup front gets steadier regardless of the choices we make personally. If you think that's a dim view, I can understand that. You've probably made some sacrifices yourself.
My aim is to jump ahead on the timeline on the adoption of the hydrogen economy and to avoid pitfalls where it is now threatened.
Hydrogen evaporates faster than the memory of the Exxon Valdez.
Recent bad news about this possible transition to a Hydrogen Economy has struck a foul blow to those who thought the promise of this maturing technology 20 years ago would bear fruit in just a few short years from now.
I spoke with the PR Director of Ballard Power Systems a few years ago while working on a story. She told me commercial rollout of PEM Fuel Cells would be accomplished in 2005. Unfortunately, this is NOT a given. Governments are protecting jobs, infrastructure investments, petrochemical R&D and geological resources, among other things.
One of the major factors "appears" to be that pure Hydrogen can neither be supplied in the quantities needed nor transported nearly as efficiently as petrol, methanol, ethanol or natural gas. Even electrolysis (a way of using electricity to separate hydrogen from oxygen in water) as an on-site method of fuel distribution is considered difficult. Car companies expect that in order to meet the demand properly 30 per cent of the 170,000 plus gas stations in the US alone would have to make Hydrogen or a reformable fuel mixture available.
The fall back position is OIL. OIL! OIL! OIL! Oil before methanol. Oil before ethanol. And all of these before Hydrogen. Fossil fuel and nuclear and natural gas electricity production before hydrogen or hydrogen storage. No soft path. No earth, wind or sun fire.
And certainly no Regenerative PEM Fuel Cells or futuristic electrical generation built into the car's motion (yes, some hybrid models do recharge 'traditional' batteries under braking, but how many use each wheel as a generator).
Please notice your local gas station under construction or renovation... Is it supplying natural gas? Propane? Hydrogen? Where is all the profit going?
Government will is one thing. An interest in change is fine. But who wants to phase themselves out? What individual has the time to invest in building their own car or heating/air conditioning system in an effort to fight off corporate interests in maintaining dependencies?
And just where do we draw the line politically about what is in the public's interest anyway? Public policy may acknowledge dependence but it fights just as hard for corporate independence even during an era when the corporation has been seen to become government. By way of extending this it must be asked whether corporate self interest is the public policy of the future. Perhaps the French were not wrong when they declared "A market economy, but not a market society."
So, what is this favor I am going to ask you, right?
Well, it's simple really...
1.) Help make utility companies buy power from individuals to the effect of seeding the soft path to distributed energy stored as hydrogen for electricity production, transmission and distribution.
2.) Help break the 'egg' by campaigning against new car purchases until all car companies (or the most powerful among them) use their equity to bring regenerative fuel cell vehicles to market.
3.) Help build an open source knowledge base of industry needing to be phased out, training requirements, transitional requirement and other identifiable assistive information for employees, managers, executives and owners under each region in which these stakeholders live and operate.
4.) Build an open source organization to gather information for and to research and promote:
a.) Smart roads vs. smart cars (commuter clog and smog cleanup)
b.) Public patents for donated technologies
c.) Grassroots hydrogen focused planning, technology and implementation
d.) Debatable public scenarios for future adoption
c.) Features and benefits, reassurance of individual choice, safety and advancement in personal and business transportation future
d.) Knowledge base for house, apartment, business and industry as well as collecting ideas for legislative change in locality, activist resources
Anyway, I could go on, but I don't want to completely turn you off. These plans are big, of course, and it would be impossible to do anything without help and consensus, or being pointed in the right direction.
My aim is to jump ahead on the timeline on the adoption of the hydrogen economy and to avoid pitfalls where it is now threatened.
Hydrogen evaporates faster than the memory of the Exxon Valdez.
Recent bad news about this possible transition to a Hydrogen Economy has struck a foul blow to those who thought the promise of this maturing technology 20 years ago would bear fruit in just a few short years from now.
I spoke with the PR Director of Ballard Power Systems a few years ago while working on a story. She told me commercial rollout of PEM Fuel Cells would be accomplished in 2005. Unfortunately, this is NOT a given. Governments are protecting jobs, infrastructure investments, petrochemical R&D and geological resources, among other things.
One of the major factors "appears" to be that pure Hydrogen can neither be supplied in the quantities needed nor transported nearly as efficiently as petrol, methanol, ethanol or natural gas. Even electrolysis (a way of using electricity to separate hydrogen from oxygen in water) as an on-site method of fuel distribution is considered difficult. Car companies expect that in order to meet the demand properly 30 per cent of the 170,000 plus gas stations in the US alone would have to make Hydrogen or a reformable fuel mixture available.
The fall back position is OIL. OIL! OIL! OIL! Oil before methanol. Oil before ethanol. And all of these before Hydrogen. Fossil fuel and nuclear and natural gas electricity production before hydrogen or hydrogen storage. No soft path. No earth, wind or sun fire.
And certainly no Regenerative PEM Fuel Cells or futuristic electrical generation built into the car's motion (yes, some hybrid models do recharge 'traditional' batteries under braking, but how many use each wheel as a generator).
Please notice your local gas station under construction or renovation... Is it supplying natural gas? Propane? Hydrogen? Where is all the profit going?
Government will is one thing. An interest in change is fine. But who wants to phase themselves out? What individual has the time to invest in building their own car or heating/air conditioning system in an effort to fight off corporate interests in maintaining dependencies?
And just where do we draw the line politically about what is in the public's interest anyway? Public policy may acknowledge dependence but it fights just as hard for corporate independence even during an era when the corporation has been seen to become government. By way of extending this it must be asked whether corporate self interest is the public policy of the future. Perhaps the French were not wrong when they declared "A market economy, but not a market society."
So, what is this favor I am going to ask you, right?
Well, it's simple really...
1.) Help make utility companies buy power from individuals to the effect of seeding the soft path to distributed energy stored as hydrogen for electricity production, transmission and distribution.
2.) Help break the 'egg' by campaigning against new car purchases until all car companies (or the most powerful among them) use their equity to bring regenerative fuel cell vehicles to market.
3.) Help build an open source knowledge base of industry needing to be phased out, training requirements, transitional requirement and other identifiable assistive information for employees, managers, executives and owners under each region in which these stakeholders live and operate.
4.) Build an open source organization to gather information for and to research and promote:
a.) Smart roads vs. smart cars (commuter clog and smog cleanup)
b.) Public patents for donated technologies
c.) Grassroots hydrogen focused planning, technology and implementation
d.) Debatable public scenarios for future adoption
c.) Features and benefits, reassurance of individual choice, safety and advancement in personal and business transportation future
d.) Knowledge base for house, apartment, business and industry as well as collecting ideas for legislative change in locality, activist resources
Anyway, I could go on, but I don't want to completely turn you off. These plans are big, of course, and it would be impossible to do anything without help and consensus, or being pointed in the right direction.
Alchemical Tea Leaves
For as long as this tiny three inch space exists for me to cram little words into I am happy.
Big words fit here too, although they may be looked down upon as snobbish or as lurid examples of wanna-be intellect. Covering up with words is for lawyers and geologists -- pretty much anybody who works in a profession for which words are a necessity of life knows the protection of a secret language. A language encrypted by education and experience takes time to decode and perhaps generations to write.
A lot of this exists today. The arcane and the codifed. Some of it is bound to protect us too. It's for this reason that parents babyproof their living spaces when that child is due to arrive. Some things you just don't need to experience.
However lead is turned to gold in our own lives we almost all of us share the belief in our dominion over nature. The choices we make with the precious little time we have beyond the virtual chemistry of making a living might allow some of us to learn several secret languages. And with that some may yet make some sense out of the crucible into which these languages mix and make the world in which we live. And yes, even the environment is different from the one we inherited from our hunter-gatherer forebears. Consider roaming now. You won't get too far with a fence in the way, nor will the branded herds be yours for the taking.
Let the words grapple with themselves. Dominion over stewardship. Humana Vitae and the creation into which God placed Adam and Eve without promising them life everlasting. Consider a chain of generations moving in isolation from and toward speciation now capable of massing into one humanity. Uni-culture. Uni-gene. All because none of us can truly read the spectrum of color reflected by the chlorophil in the leaf of a plant. The bush was burning, not talking.
Where would we stop if we finally discovered how to speak with the tea leaves instead of tramping them. Or what if a person knew exactly what to eat and in what quantity to completely satisfy every cell in his or her body. Even our evolution has taken us away from the fine-grained understanding each cell has of its own needs in its own environment. We might be better off to detect chemicals and their harm at the level an ant would. But since this is impossible without genetically altering ourselves we resort to technology to solve what our own senses can not. We build canaries for our coal mines, and we hope to detect the cumulative impact of our concentrated presence in things like sewage treatment plants, garbage dumps and nuclear decommissioning.
The roads must roll -- and all the people on it.
Big words fit here too, although they may be looked down upon as snobbish or as lurid examples of wanna-be intellect. Covering up with words is for lawyers and geologists -- pretty much anybody who works in a profession for which words are a necessity of life knows the protection of a secret language. A language encrypted by education and experience takes time to decode and perhaps generations to write.
A lot of this exists today. The arcane and the codifed. Some of it is bound to protect us too. It's for this reason that parents babyproof their living spaces when that child is due to arrive. Some things you just don't need to experience.
However lead is turned to gold in our own lives we almost all of us share the belief in our dominion over nature. The choices we make with the precious little time we have beyond the virtual chemistry of making a living might allow some of us to learn several secret languages. And with that some may yet make some sense out of the crucible into which these languages mix and make the world in which we live. And yes, even the environment is different from the one we inherited from our hunter-gatherer forebears. Consider roaming now. You won't get too far with a fence in the way, nor will the branded herds be yours for the taking.
Let the words grapple with themselves. Dominion over stewardship. Humana Vitae and the creation into which God placed Adam and Eve without promising them life everlasting. Consider a chain of generations moving in isolation from and toward speciation now capable of massing into one humanity. Uni-culture. Uni-gene. All because none of us can truly read the spectrum of color reflected by the chlorophil in the leaf of a plant. The bush was burning, not talking.
Where would we stop if we finally discovered how to speak with the tea leaves instead of tramping them. Or what if a person knew exactly what to eat and in what quantity to completely satisfy every cell in his or her body. Even our evolution has taken us away from the fine-grained understanding each cell has of its own needs in its own environment. We might be better off to detect chemicals and their harm at the level an ant would. But since this is impossible without genetically altering ourselves we resort to technology to solve what our own senses can not. We build canaries for our coal mines, and we hope to detect the cumulative impact of our concentrated presence in things like sewage treatment plants, garbage dumps and nuclear decommissioning.
The roads must roll -- and all the people on it.
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