Earthrace readies to set sail again
Posted By RichC on December 20, 2007
Earthrace, the 78 foot biodiesel powered wave-piecing boat, will attempt another run at the world record in circumnavigating around the world. Skipper Pete Bethune of New Zealand and his crew have reworked the boat after several glitches left them stranded in Europe last spring. (see posts) The next start for the Earthrace Project will take place on March 1, 2008 from Valencia, Spain. The Earthrace crew will head across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, then Pacific, Indian Ocean and Suez Canal finishing up 24,000 miles back in Spain. The current record to beat is 74 days, 20 hours and 58 minutes.
To promote biodiesel as an alternative to petroleum diesel, the Earthrace boat will run on 100% biodiesel made from a variety of feedstocks, including about 2-1/2 gallons of human fat donated by the captain himself and two other volunteers through liposuction. (a bit over the top, if you ask me?)
Here is a photo set posted to Flickr earlier in the year by my friend Paul Kraus, who’s dad worked the leg across the Pacific last year.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 by a 314-100 margin which is the same legislation that the Senate passed last week. It now moves to the desk of President Bush who has indicated that he will sign it. The promising legislation looks good for the expansion of alternative renewable fuels such as biodiesel. According to Joe Jobe of the 
The bill expands the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) that will legislate a larger renewable requirement be included in the diesel fuel pool. It increases the minimum requirement from 500 million gallons in 2009 to 1 billion gallons in 2012. These aggressive numbers will create a solid market for the business of biodiesel and better secure the investment risk in infrastructure required to produce these millions of more gallons of biodiesel. The bill also includes a requirement for fuel labeling which increase both consumer awareness and bolster their confidence in the quality of U.S. renewable fuels.
Winter weather has arrived and many drivers ‘new and old’ are remembering how to drive on slippery road again. Having a teenage driver who is still learning to manage rain, ice and snow is a recipe for car repairs — few escape unscathed, from what I can tell? 
As a filler for a missed Saturday post, I’ll include a tech oriented “just for fun” 
Last week my office inkjet printer and fax died, or so I thought. It was a multi-function unit that tripled as an inkjet printer, fax and scanner — Canon MultiPASS MP730. I spent a few hours cleaning, Googling for tips on how to fix it and eventually ordered a $50+ printhead. I also called a local-ish Canon repair facility but they wanted $75 to look at it. After realizing the downtime, the drive or shipping that I was going to entail and the fact that it was no longer a new model, I decided to look at new simpler products. 
