My current batch of biodiesel is my greenest yet because I used homemade, bio-electricity to cook it (instead of Duke Power’s dirty coal-based electricity).

A couple of weeks ago I bought a little 5KW diesel generator at Costco, plus a 10-circuit power switch. Last weekend I wired the generator to the circuits. Now I have 5 single-pole circuits around the house wired for power outages, plus one single-pole and one 2-pole circuit wired in the basement for biodiesel production.

Yesterday I fired up the generator and switched the 2 basement circuits to generator power. Then I filled the reactor with 200 L of oil and heated the oil, and ran the pump and a couple of lights, on biodiesel-produced electricity. That’s a total of well over 4KW continuous load. The generator handled this with no trouble at all.

This is great – it eliminates a pretty significant non-renewable, polluting input from my biodiesel: the electricity Duke Power produces at coal burning plants.

There are a variety of conspiracy theories circulating about how the Bushistas will try to create a situation to declare martial law and suspend the Nov. 4 election, if it looks like Obama is going to win it. I am skeptical about these theories, but this story did give me pause: The US Army has assigned the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team to the US Northern Command – for active duty in the United States. This is the first time an active unit has been assigned to NORTHCOM, and the keywords “civil unrest,” “crowd control” and “non-lethal capabilities” in this story from the Army Times are definitely going to raise some eyebrows:

(via Democracy Now)

[The 3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT] may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the “jaws of life” to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1, Army Times, Sep 8, 2008

With a different administration, I would be much less worried, especially considering that this is just one military unit. But with the Bushistas I have come to expect the worst, and then look below that expectation.

[Update 9/25: fixed the reference to the US Northern Command and added Wikipedia link.]

Update: The controversy in this story lies in the application of the Posse Comitatus Act, a law that was enacted by the US Congress after the end of the Reconstruction Era – the ten-year occupation of the former Confederate States by US Military to protect the newly freed slaves. The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of the US military for law enforcement in the United States. Without an act of Congress, the US President cannot use the troops assigned to NORTHCOM.

Today I finally bit the bullet and moved my blog to a new hosting service. Looks like everything works fine now. Since I did not change the domain name, moving the blog was just a question of installing the new blog, dropping all the tables, restoring the database to the new server, uploading some extra files – bang! Done!

something is wrong with the scripts for posting new entries. Hopefully I can figure this out soon …

For quite a while the biodieselers in our area have been wondering what will happen to our cosy little niche when diesel and biodiesel hit price parity at $3.50. Well, here we are – for well over a week now the price of diesel has been well over $3.50 per gallon and since last weekend over $4 per gallon at many gas stations – that’s $1 per litre for you metric people. Sure, that’s nowhere near the $2 per liter many Europeans are paying these days, but the percent increase last year in the US has been much higher than in Europe.

With biodiesel being the cheap fuel in town, the coop can not keep those tanks on the b100 trail full. At the same time feedstock prices have shot through the roof. So, despite the fact that they were determined to keep the biodiesel prices stable, they now face having to up the price to adjust to the higher feedstock prices.

Personally, I feel divided over this issue. On the one hand this should teach people not to freaking waste fuel any more by leaving their SUVs idling while gossiping in the Kroger parking lot. Yet I also know that this hit the people hardest who least can afford it. Our lives are so car-centric here – you just can hardly get anything done without a car, especially when you have children. I mean, I bike to work whenever I can, but when I have to run errands, I need a car. When I pick up the kids after school I need a car. When I have meetings on campus I need a car.

The impact of the 4-dollar diesel prices (and close to 4-dollar gasoline prices) on my life are actually minimal at this point. I have access to good quality used fryer oil and methanol prices are still below $4/gallon, so I can still brew a batch of nice biodiesel for well under a dollar a gallon. And by replacing 4-dollar diesel, I actually save well over $10 per work hour by brewing the juice myself.

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Like most sports, mountain biking has its risks. I’ve had a few accidents, falling off the bike, hitting low branches, etc, but so far (knock on wood) no serious injuries. I am pretty careful and I wear a very good helmet and eye protection. Last Sunday I was biking the single-track at Little River Park just North of Durham, when I came upon a branch of shrubs that had fallen into the path right at eye level. I was going at a pretty good clip, and I had my sunglasses on, so I just ducked a bit and crashed through it. As I moved through the tangle of twigs, I felt a twig poke me in my right ear and then a sharp pain. And I mean a SHARP F#%!N pain! So I stopped and checked to see if my brain was leaking out my ear. It was not. I just noticed a couple of drops of clear liquid. After a few Minutes the pain had mostly subsided, and I got back on  the bike and I continued my ride. There was really no obvious reason to stop, and I would have had to ride back anyway.

So after that incident, the hearing in my right ear was all screwed up, muffled, like a bad case of airplane ear. I began wondering if that damn twig had poked a hole in my ear drum. I figured a good test for that would be to see what happens if I pressurize my middle ear. Sure enough – I am able to blow air through my ear. It’s a pretty weird sensation, and it freaks people out to hear a whistling sound come from your ear! So I went to see my doctor on Tuesday. He took one look and said “Yep – you punctured your ear drum.” Then he sent me to a specialist across town. That’s where I went today. He also said “Oh yes – you punctured your ear drum.”

The doctor says that it’ll take about 6-8 weeks for the 2mm hole in my ear drum to heal up. From the location of the hole, near the malleus bone, I was lucky that I did not damage those little hearing bones in my ear. The doctor said that if you experience trauma  in your ear and then you get dizzy, that’s a sign that you damaged those bones. But he checked it out thoroughly, and there is no crap inside the middle ear, and so it should heal just fine. I hope so.  My hearing is all screwed up. And I can blow air through my f#%!n ear! What a stupid, weird thing to have happen.

German Vice-chancellor and foreign minister Steinmeier is in Togo for talks with Faure Gnassingbe. He appears to be following the new EU strategy of engagement with Gnassingbe, whereby they hope to win concessions on the development of a more functional democracy in Togo. Good luck with that.

Also, I cannot stand these idiotic descriptions of Togo that use the words “sliver” or “wedged” or “tiny.” Yeah – Togo is relatively small, but so are Bhutan, Dubai, Liechtenstein and many more perfectly respectable nations. The only “tiny” thing that is “wedged” is some reporter’s … uh … vocabulary.

Congratulations to the team from Egypt for defending the title in the Cup of African Nations against the team from Cameroon (1-0). The host Ghana came in third place on Saturday, defeating Ivory Coast 0-1.

The Beluga Skysails, a container ship powered in part by a 500sqm towing kite, has “set sail” from the German North Sea port Bremerhaven across the Atlantic. This is reportedly the first commercial trip of a Skysail powered ship. Spiegel Online has a video (in German).

As I have said previously, this is a brilliant reinvention of sailing technology that has potential to reduce CO2 emissions  by hundreds of thousands of tons yearly. And reduce operational cost of the ships that use it.

The Africa Cup of Nations began today with close 2-1 win for host Ghana over Guinea. Congratulations to the Black Stars!

This Africa Cup is considered a dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where several African teams are hoping to showcase world class African Football. In any case, the Africa Cup is probably the largest, most intensely watched sports event in Africa. Hopes are high for all participating nations. But especially for for some nations, like Ivory Coast and Kenya, many hope that rooting for the same team may help heal painful divisions at home.

Germany’s contribution to the Africa Cup are three coaches (de): Reinhard Fabisch for Benin, Otto Pfister for Cameroon and, most notably, the 1974 world championship team member and former German national team coach Berti Vogts, coaching for Nigeria. The expectations for Vogts to take the Super Eagles to the title are very high, especially in Nigeria. The first match, on Monday against Ivory Coast, will likely be a serious test and an indication how well Nigeria’s expectations will be matched by results.

This is an amazing new sailing record:

At 23:35 GMT 51 year old sailor Francis Joyon sailed across the start finish line near Brest in France aboard his his 30 metre trimaran IDEC to set a new solo round the world of 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes and 6 seconds.

That takes 14 days, 44 minutes and 27 seconds from the preceding record, held since 2005 by the Britain’s Dame Ellen MacArthur.

Joyon sailed nearly 26,400 nautical miles (nearly 49,000 kilometres) at an amazing average on the water of 19,09 knots, 4 knots faster than MacArthur.

He sailed the 30 metre trimaran without conventional diesel/ electric charging, instead used a windmill and solar panels.

Its was tough last week for Joyon, with a mast stay threatening to fail, which would have caused the dismasting of IDEC, but the gritty Frenchman held his nerve, climbing the mast four times to make repairs.

Sail World, Jan19, 2008

The big splash about Tata Motor’s ultra-cheap Nano ($2,500) all but buried another announcement from the Indian automaker at the Delhi auto show: they signed a $20M deal with MDI, a European start-up car maker working on commercializing cars that run on compressed air.

Of course, the cars don’t “run on air,” rather they use compressed air as an energy store, like batteries. Even the MDI website states that incorrectly, when they say that the the motor uses air as fuel. That, of course is complete nonsense. The source of the energy is either the power grid (via a stationary compressor), or a motor in the car (electric or combustion). They will also be able to recover energy from the moving vehicle during deceleration, much like some electric cars do.

So the potential for a positive environmental impact of this technology will be determined by

• its overall energy efficiency
• the ultimate source of the energy used
• the usefulness of the vehicle

They have been working on this for 14 years, and it’s not clear from the website how close they are to shipping the first models. But the investment from India should give them a big boost. Although I am skeptical that making cars and engines more complicated will make them more efficient, I certainly hope this works. This is very cool technology, and at the very least, it might help solve some specific problems, like cleaning up the air in big cities.

What a year 2007 was. For us, it had some tough decisions, some crises, some major changes and some really positive accomplishments. In January we backed out of contract to buy a house because of serious structural problems with that house, and because of our lack of faith in the engineer and the contractor dealing with the repairs. In the spring we started our search again, scouring the area for a place that would meet our needs with the help of our agent Charles Woody. Laura checked the listings every night, and we looked at quite a few houses. We found several we liked, and we made offers on three (3!), but for one reason or another it never worked out. The formidable illusions some folks are under as to the value of their house can be completely mind-boggling!

So in May, we finally found our new, awesome house, made an offer less than a week after it came on the market, did the inspection, and bought it! In June, we moved to the new house and on July 6 we listed our old house, after we had it painted and a new roof put on, to get it ready to sell. After the third showing we got an offer and we signed the contract on July 22nd. We got a great price for it – in line with the tax value and the appraisal. We never had a moment of second-guessing the decision to buy our house – it’s absolutely great!

The trip to Ghana and Togo we had planned last year fell through because the in-country coordinator in Ghana became sick and was unable to do her part. And since the trip involved taking a group to Ghana, there was no other option but to cancel the trip altogether. This year we’re planning just a family trip to Togo. There are still a few issues, but hopefully it’ll work out this time.

Health concerns dominated a good part of this year. Laura had some stuff going on, and had to have a procedure done at the hospital this fall. She is fine now. Both my folks, as well as Laura’s mom had, and have, health concerns. A colleague of mine was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, went through a grueling summer of chemo therapy, then an operation and now radiation therapy. A friend of Laura’s died of cancer. A couple of people we know had to undergo treatment and operations for cancer-ish problems. All that made me appreciate being healthy, and prompted me to start working out more again. I also had a physical done. My doctor just said “your healthy – see you next year.” Finally, Laura’s grandma started having some problems in the fall, but seemed to be doing OK. On December 17 we got a call from Laura’s mom telling us that her mom had died that morning. So on Christmas day we drove up to Michigan for the funeral. All this made us not take our health for granted, and make an extra effort to stay physically fit, eat good, healthy food and drive carefully!

I don’t even want to get into politics – I am so disgusted with the situation here in the US. The Democratic “leader”ship of the congress has been a bitter disappointment. And those so-called “presidential” candidates are hardly much of an improvement over the current “commander and thief.”

On the positive side: the Women’s Football Worldcup was fun. And, of course, I was totally thrilled with the extraordinary performance of the German team, defending the championship successfully without conceding a single goal! What a feat!

Another positive: 2007 was my first year running the Jetta almost exclusively on homebrew biodiesel (except for some cold-weather blending in Jan/Feb and a couple of fill-ups at the coop after the move). Also, the official NC tax-exemption for homebrew biodiesel came through this fall. So no worries about having to file road tax for my homebrew. And since we got rid of the Ford, and got an old Mercedes 300D, at least our daily transportation is now no longer OPEC dependent, and relatively carbon-neutral.

So Happy 2008 to all! Peace and Love to the world! Prosperity and health to you, dear reader, and thanks for checking in.

Jürgen

Laura’s grandmother Peg was born on December 6, 1908 in Trevor, Wisconsin – the same year Bette Davis was born (April 5) and Henry Ford produced his first Model T automobile. She was the daughter of Wayne and Lillian (Frank) Bush. Peg died on December 17, 2007 peacefully in her sleep at a retirement home in Charlotte, Michigan. She is survived by her daughter, Dolores Wendell of Charlotte; daughter-in-law, Genie Michel; grandchildren, David Wendell, John Wendell, Carol Kostyshyn, Paul Wendell, Peter Wendell and Laura Wendell; 3 great grandchildren, Mira Kostyshyn, Julia and Jacob Henn. She was preceded in death by her husband, Julius in 1991 and son Philip in 1998.

Peg is remembered for her kindness and generosity, and her love of the good things in life. She was very active in her community as a member of her church and as an officer of clubs and community organizations in Charlotte, and she received community service awards for her work. To her family, Peg’s and Julius’ house was a place of stability and comfort, where the door was always open. Although she will be missed, we’re grateful for her long, rich life and for the moments we shared with her.

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As of yesterday, days will be getting longer again on this side of the globe. Of course here, in the Old North State that’s not that big a deal, anyway. But I did start paying more attention to sunrise/sunset this fall. When I bike to work and back home, I prefer to avoid the bad light conditions at dawn and at dusk.

Considering that the shortest day of the year is still 9 hours and 42 Minutes long here, I am amazed at the seemingly overpowering desire of our neighbors to string hundreds of lights, and thousands of lights in some cases, all over their houses, trees and shrubs, all over the yards and even on a vehicle (in one case). But it ‘s probably not so much deprivation of sunlight around here, as it is the spirit of the holiday season taking possession of their brains and compelling them decorate their yards with, for example, a 10-foot/3-meter illuminated, inflatable nativity. Or maybe it’s just mall-Christmas-muzak and eggnog induced temporary insanity?!

I wonder how popular this Christmas-lights-craze is in places that are much darker this time of year, like Reykjavik, Iceland (4 hours), or Point Lay, Alaska (0 hours)? In Freiburg, Germany (8h 22m) days are shorter than here, but folks are much more restrained when it comes to decorations, at least the electrical flavor (maybe because of their power bills?). And what about, say, Honolulu (10h 50m)? Do the Hawai’ians who celebrate Christmas decorate their houses with lights? I’ll have to ask John next week … when we see him in Charlotte, Michigan (9h 02m).

In Togo I never saw any electrical Christmas lights. Probably because the village has no electricity. And when folks said they were going to “light the tree” they meant it quite literally, and set fire to it. December it the driest time of year in Togo, and so most farmers burn their fields to get them ready for the next growing season. That means there are huge bush fires all over, and on Christmas eve we’d sit on the porch, drink some palmwine and watch the festive glow of the fires all over the mountains around us.

So, Happy Winter Solstice to all, especially those of you who need UV-light treatment this time of year!

As of last night, nine new members of Europes Schengen zone expanded the freedom to travel without hassle at the borders hundreds of miles toward the East and to a total population of over 400 million Europeans. This makes it possible to travel freely up to the border of the countries that were formerly the Soviet Union, thus erasing many vestiges of the Cold War. The Schengen Agreement of 1985 abolishes all border restrictions and controls between member states and provides for a common visa for travellers from outside its borders.

After two years of preparation, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will join the oldest EU states — Britain and the Republic of Ireland excluded — plus Iceland and Norway in the extended zone pushing the area’s outmost borders hundreds of kilometers eastwards.

The expansion is expected to continue with Cyprus and Switzerland planning to sign on soon. London and Dublin prefer to remain outside and keep their own visa regimes, rather than the “one visa for all” policy that applies to the Schengen countries.

Deutsche Welle – 12/20/2007

Skysails is a German company that is working on commercializing a simple, brilliant way for large ships to use wind power for propulsion. Large kites tethered high above the ship can generate up to 50 percent of the propulsion energy needed for freighters and large yachts. The company estimates that their product can save 10-35 percent of a ship’s annual fuel. If widely adopted, this technology could save millions of tons of fossil CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.

I used to sail a lot as a teenager and I really love the sensation of harnessing this awesome force to make your boat fly across the water. I was also into stunt kites, especially while I lived on Norderney in the North Sea. My dream is to go to Kitty Hawk and learn to kite-surf. So when I read about Skysails I thought that this was just brilliant! Check out the video on their website (see below). This is really amazing – the kite deploys at the push of a button, and operates completely automatically. And depending on wind conditions the cost of the system can amortize in a couple of years.

The way modern technology brings together two ancient technologies – sailing and kites – is quite fascinating. It’s not a new idea, I don’t think. Seems to me I had read before that kites had been used for propelling boats as far back as sails. Now I wonder if they can make kites big enough that even a container ship could turn off the engine altogether?!

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German President Köhler honored the team that defended the Women’s Football Worldcup Championship earlier this year in China. All the players received the highest sports-honor from the German government. In addition, the coach Silvia Neid received the Federal Cross of Merit in recognition of outstanding leadership in raising the profile of Women’s Football in Germany and making the German team a powerhouse internationally.

A few weeks ago the FIFA announced that the Women’s Football Worldcup in 2011 will take place in Germany.

I did it! Yesterday, I finally bought a new bike, after I decided to retire my old bike. I got a really good deal on a Gary Fisher Cobia at our local bike store. So I got up at 7 Am today, and took it out on a spin, 10 miles up Guess Road to Little River trail, 7 miles on the trail, romping through the woods, and 10 miles back on the road. Very nice! Those 29-ers are all they are cracked up to be. Comfy on the road, albeit more resistance from the fat tires. On the trail this bike really does just roll easily over “stuff” and it has nice traction. On the downhill the front sustension makes a huge difference, and the disk brakes grip very nicely. Not surprisingly, riding this bike for the first time, I had to fiddle around a bit with the seat etc .. But the biggest adjustment is the maneuvering on the twisty-turns on the trail. You really have to yank this sucker around quite a bit! My old 26-er is definitely more agile in tight turns. But that’s just something to get used to. Overall, I really like the Cobia, and I’m looking forward to many hours of fun with this bike.

Meet Joey – he’s a 18-hands Clydesdale and a member of the Express Clydesdales Team.

When the team visited Durham last weekend, we were lucky enough to know where they were staying. so we got a special, personal encounter with these amazing hoses. (see below)

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