My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 5, 2005

Cincinnati Metro will operate its 390 buses on a blend of 30% biofuel and 70% regular diesel with this initial delivery. Biodiesel can be mixed with regular diesel fuel or can be used 100% in place of regular diesel. The percentage of biodiesel that Metro uses will change based on availability of regular diesel fuel.

Metro has arranged to purchase soybean-based diesel fuel, also called biodiesel, biofuel or soydiesel. The first delivery was made yesterday to fuel buses with biodiesel beginning today. The bus fleet uses about 10,000 gallons of diesel per day and Metro has the capacity to store enough fuel to operate the fleet for one week. Running out of fuel would jeopardize service.

Metro has recently been designated as a “blender” by the IRS, which means that Metro is permitted to mix biodiesel and regular diesel fuel in its own tanks and is eligible for a credit on the cost of the fuel.

The price of regular diesel fuel on the open market is around $2.30 per gallon; biodiesel cost is about $3, but Metro gets a almost $1 credit per gallon from the IRS due to Metro’s blender status.

Metro was one of the first transit systems in the country to experiment with biodiesel, operating its buses several million miles on the alternative fuel. In 1993 and 1994, Metro participated in two successful national tests for soybean-based biodiesel. In 2000, Metro experimented with biodiesel made from recycled cooking oils from local restaurants. In 2001, Metro operated almost half its fleet on a soydiesel blend. All of the tests were funded throughspecial alternative fuels grants. Based on this experience, Metro has been pleased with the performance of the fuel in its buses.

More information is available at the Sorta website.

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Posted By RichC on September 4, 2005

A friend of mine in the oil and gas industry has forwarded me information that might impact the supply of fuel to those of us living in the northeast. The improving conditions should help with both supply and prices.

Colonial Pipeline’s mainline systems are currently operating at approximately 70% of capacity. Additional restoration of electric power service has allowed Colonial to continue its planned capacity increase. Colonial crews are now connecting the distributed generation equipment that is allowing Colonial to add additional capacity to both the gasoline and distillate lines. This ongoing work is resulting in gaining higher capacity faster than originally predicted. Current plans will allow Colonial to be at approximately 86% of capacity by the end of Sunday.

UPDATE: 9/6/2005: “Colonial went to 100% today.”

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Posted By RichC on September 1, 2005

“It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV “storm teams” warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however—the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level—more than eight feet below in places—so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

When did this calamity happen? It hasn’t happened yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. “

If you made it to the end, this was written by Joel Bourne, Jr. and published in National Geographic in October 2004.

_

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Posted By RichC on August 30, 2005

I hopes that those reading this will consider helping fellow Americans as we have always done for all in need. Katrina has truly left a wide swath of death and destruction. Most likely everyone with a TV or newpaper has seen the need, but may not know what they can do. I’ll link a video WMV video clip (3.4 MB) in hopes it tugs on your heart and include a list of places to donate from Homeland Security/FEMA below.
Here is a list of phone numbers set up solely for cash donations and/or volunteers.

Donate cash to:

American Red Cross
1-800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English,
1-800-257-7575 Spanish;

Operation Blessing
1-800-436-6348

America’s Second Harvest
1-800-344-8070

Donate Cash to and Volunteer with:

Adventist Community Services
1-800-381-7171

Catholic Charities, USA
703 549-1390

Christian Disaster Response
941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
1-800-848-5818

Church World Service
1-800-297-1516

Convoy of Hope
417-823-8998

Lutheran Disaster Response
800-638-3522

Mennonite Disaster Service
717-859-2210

Nazarene Disaster Response
888-256-5886

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
800-872-3283

Salvation Army
1-800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)

Southern Baptist Convention — Disaster Relief
1-800-462-8657, ext. 6440

United Methodist Committee on Relief
1-800-554-8583

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Posted By RichC on August 30, 2005

This is a phone based blog post. Should appear under Technology.
8/30/05 7:03 pm

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Posted By RichC on August 30, 2005

Apple Computer Inc. and Motorola Inc. will be announcing the long awaited iTunes cell phone called the “Rokr” next week. Analyst expect that the news will officially be released on September 7th in a joint news conference that will include representatives from Apple, Cingular and Motorola. The past year has seen many rumors and delays in the release, but should prove to be one of the most popular electronic devices announced this year.

The new phone will be equipped with software that would allow it to play songs purchased at Apple’s iTunes Web site, according to reports. Wall Street expects this device to surpass all other music playing phones within a month. It will be an excellent product for all three companies and should put all three at the top of the hill when it comes to marketing technology.

My inquiries to Apple, Cingular and Motorola are replied to with “no comment.”

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Posted By RichC on August 29, 2005

With all of the devistation and sad news coming from the Gulf Coast after Katrina made landfall this morning, I needed something to make me smile. I’m going to include a humorous post from the TDIClub that only fellow members will appreciate. Thanks Ron Tamondong for the cute 2003 thread “How many tdiclub members does it take change a lightbulb.” 🙂

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

8 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs

5 to flame the spell checkers

3 to correct spelling/grammar in the flames

6 to argue over whether it’s “lightbulb” or “light bulb” … and another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is “lamp”

15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that “light bulb” is perfectly correct

1 to post the question, “was the bulb actually burned out?”

3 to post TSBs of other light bulb issues

19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb forum

11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum

36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty

1 to link it to the DRL’s Discussion and start that thread all over again..

5 to subject light bulbs to political classification and link this to DRL’s and the sheer injustice and inhumanity this causes in our already stressful lives

36 to argue over politics, take the subject off topic and send to bottom of list…but someone has to have the final word.

1 to bring it back on topic

7 to post URL’s where one can see examples of different light bulbs

5 to post pics to different light bulbs

12 to post about the alignment

4 to post about the lumens

4 to post that the URL’s were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL’s

3 to post about links they found from the URL’s that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group

13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add “Me too”

5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy

4 to say “didn’t we go through this already a short time ago?”

13 to say “do a Site Search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs”

4 to post all prior threads on light bulbs that were previously discussed in the forums

1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again.

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Posted By RichC on August 28, 2005

I wanted to make a quick post to my blog this Sunday evening as the people of the Gulf Coast prepare for the wind and storm surge of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans in the focal point but this giant storm is a definitely a ‘wide’ killer. I’m not sure how many of you have run the correlation between pressure readings and windspeed, but with Katrina’s reading at of 904mb, similar storms have shown winds over 185mph. Deadly. If you had to pick the worst of the worst situation, this is it. The 3rd stongest storm we’ve measured in the US and is directly targetting the worst possible city, New Orleans. (a populated historic city below sea level) I’m not sure what can stand to that kind of wind or flooding anticipated when Katrina rips into the coast. Our prayers are with the people holded up in New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

On a nation impact level, this could be the trigger that pushes our country into a recession. I’ll include a quote from a petroleum connected friend below. (thanks Blair)

The following Refiners have shut down in preparation for Katrina. After the name I have the BBLS they produce in one day. Some of these refiners will start back up and will only go down as a precaution. The loss of one will be bad for our situation. My guess is that we lose the Chevron Plant for 6 months and one or two others for 4 weeks. This will be the biggest shut down/ loss of production in history. You might as well fill up the tank on the way home tonight. This shut down will be felt for a while and it should be wide spread.

Motiva 235mb ( thousands of bbls per day)
Norco 225mb
Marathon 245mb
Valero 260mb
Murphy 120mb
Exxon 183mb
Connoco 255mb
Chevron 325
Exxon (Baton R.) ( can’t remember the amount they do per day but it’s
big)

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Tags: hurricane, katrina

Posted By RichC on August 27, 2005

A discussion about petroleum and how to encourage the US toward alternative energy revisited a group I belong to today, so I’ll include part of my post below.

First … B2, B5, B10, B15 and the quazi-standard B20 are all within the realm of possibilities when incentives are in place, prices are high and the national mindset is one of not being controlled yet again by OPEC. Those believing we’ll retire the use of petroleum in our lifetime and use other energy sources are probably not living in the real world, IMHO. The problem is that for national acceptance we’ll need to defend the alternatives in their infancy if we want to avoid the controls that foreign oil suppliers. I believe that as Blair suggested that OPEC would eventually lower prices in shutting down not only biofuels, but other young alternatives … and including our own countries ‘more costly’ US based petroleum related industries. (been there, done that if you are old enough to remember the 70s and then the 80s)

I’ll defend the soybean farmers only in that they are currently the power behind US biodiesel. Their support develops another market and higher demand for beans … even though most in this business realize other crops are better suited for biodiesel. They would prefer high demand for soybeans and therefore higher prices for soybeans which can be use for many, many products besides fuels. Such is the farming business.

There are several other options to traditional soil based farm crops. These could start an entirely new industry. One of the most promising is the desert farming of algae for biodiesel. We’re talking shallow salt ponds and harvesting hybrid algae strains grown specifically for fuels … yields are good and crop after crop can be mechanically harvested. The piping of Pacific Ocean water to the Sonoma desert makes this possible … yes it sounds like pie in the sky, but it is not as ridiculous as it seems considering what we do with pipelines today. Investment in this brand new industry would be significant, but would also create US jobs around a new highly profitable renewable fuel industry. Some calculations have determines that using only 9% of desert area in California could supply our entire nation with biodiesel??? (I’m sure there are skeptics. : ) Nevertheless … it does hold promise for those wondering how we could possibly grow enough oilcrops as the biofuel markets grow.

I also think that the biggest hurdle is that if we do begin to supplement our energy needs with something other than petroleum, we risk OPEC dropping the prices (again) just to get a lock on energy. Pumping oil out of the ground is still cheaper than producing that oil, but eventually the well runs dry? See Peak Oil for the variety of opinion on this. Not only would purposely driving the price of petroleum down deter alternatives, but it would hinder the development of hydrogen, fuel cells, hybrids, biofuels, oil sands, coal gasification and even the American oil industry which would undergo stress to remain profitable under lower per barrel prices. We would once again become reliant on cheaper foreign oil. (Have we learned a lesson this time? Doubtful.)

This brings us to what can and should be done to prevent this? Free market capitalist would let the markets run … and for the most part I do agree it is the proper way. BUT … do we quietly support cheap foreign oil with our federal taxes??? I think the answer would be ‘yes’ … some of our taxes are used to maintain shipping of oil, ports, security of wells and the countries which own them. It has been in our national interest to keep oil secure and flowing … and probably will continue to be. I have no problem with our federal government as needed to secure this and protect the environment as well. I do have a problem with that ‘cost’ not being included in the product when we purchase it. Therefore I like the PAA (Petroleum Acquisition Adjustment) …. which will equally reduce our income tax by the added adjustment to imported oil. This adjustment would be challenging legislation for our congress in accurately assessing the PAA and equally reducing income taxes …. in the end if done right it would be a zero net change in taxes for most all Americans. The only difference is that imported oil would have the PAA attached and the income taxes nationwide would be lower is some fair way. (easy to suggest < :)> but that’s what we elect our representative to do, right???)

For the record, I don’t see this getting much of a foothold at the moment … in fact it is only being discussed in a couple of closed circles to my knowledge. I see it important to prevent our country from falling back toward dependency on foreign oil. I’ll keep you posted if the handful of us promoting the PAA and let you know if it gets any traction. Feel free to offer constructive criticism or thoughts if you have them … as I’m hoping all political parties can see why this would be a good proposal.

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Posted By RichC on August 26, 2005

Hurricane Katrina came ashore just south of the all important Delray Beach (my family). The catagory 1 hurricane had sustained winds of 80 miles per hour with gusts up to 92 m.p.h. In talking to friends, there was no report of heavy damage as Katrina made landfall at 7 p.m just south of Delray Beach. The eye hit between North Miami Beach and Hallandale Beach with rains coming in horizonal sheets and drenching the hardest hit areas as much as 12 inches.

I’m glad to report that all are well in Delray and even schools will be open for a half day. On a grime note, 4 deaths were associated with the storm AND she is expected to reform over the Gulf and possibly hit Florida again after turning north and gaining strength. Katrina may not be done.

As for local Delray damage, it looks like some branches and rain, other than that all is well and except for some spotty power outages. Whew … another close call as Katrina could have been far worse.

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Tags: hurricane