EPA seeks to use Clean Air Act to regulate carbon from stationary sources

The EPA is at the Supreme Court today fighting energy companies who don't want to have to apply for certification under the Clean Air Act.  According to the companies, the Clean Air Act was initially crafted to deal with air pollution caused by cars, but the EPA seeks to extend its regulatory oversight to power plants.  http://www.npr.org/2014/02/24/280944702/industry-challenges-epas-greenhouse-gas-rules-in-high-court

According to the Washington Post, the Clean Air Act, "has been described as one of the most complicated pieces of legislation on the planet."  http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-to-consider-epas-authority-to-regulate-greenhouse-gases/2014/02/23/ec5d4f88-9af4-11e3-ad71-e03637a299c0_story.html

Why Diesel Costs More than Gasoline

Why Diesel Costs More than Gasoline

The NACS THE ASSOCIATION FOR CONVENIENCE & FUEL RETAILING says…

http://www.nacsonline.com/YourBusiness/FuelsReports/GasPrices_2013/Pages/Why-Diesel-Costs-More-Than-Gasoline.aspx

On a late winter Saturday I undertook a series of errands that I hoped would allow me to enjoy the high quality and camaraderie of supporting local businesses.  Done by car, but in short little trips that would take me through some of Baltimore's most interesting historic areas.

I enlisted the company of The Boy, who was reluctant to leave a re-reading of Harry Potter to join, but who eventually brought the book and came along.

"Macaroni Products" is what they used to call pasta

First stop, Trinacria, the Italian deli near Lexington Market that has a wall of fresh breads, good deli items and a unique way of ringing up and packaging your purchases.  Only thing is, it closes at 4:30.
Even though we circled the block twice before finding a parking place, I managed to get to the store by  4:15-ish.  A sense of urgency had me loudly directing The Boy as we crossed the busy downtown streets, and before we went through the door, I told him our strategy was to go straight to the breads then get in line for ham and pepperoni.  I think the people inside heard me instructing him 'cos we got some bemused looks when we entered.  We performed perfectly and soon found ourselves at the counter, having our purchases enumerated and placed into a box for taking home.

The legendary military surplus store H and H Outdoors is right around the corner from Trinacria, and I'd identified a need for a long lighter since we'd woken up with out power that morning.

Jury duty

My summons to jury duty arrived in June, back when I still imagined myself taking a week of vacation!  The summer seemed plenty long enough to entertain a fantasy about getting out of town, to the beach or to... somewhere!  So I didn't fill out the online survey immediately, but waited til the last minute.  And then went and lost the summons.  But I'd put the date in my calendar,  so hop our of bed I did this morning, and head down to 100 N. Calvert street.

I Used to Be Darker Premiere

A planned opening shot for the Inconvenient Car documentary is a sort of "history of transportation" shot.  It is a tracking shot from a car or bike going down the Jones Falls Road, through the park, past the burned out railroad depot, past the trolley museum, with the train station on the other side of the creek, under a railroad bridge, past a bike shop, and up onto Charles Street in the heart of Baltimore.
I used to do this drive every day taking my son to school.

This was the route I took to go to the Charles Theater tonight where "I Used to Be Darker" was premiering.  The film has actually already had a long run here in Baltimore, having had fundraisers, screenings at the MD Film Festival and other special events in its hometown.  But this was the official theatrical open.  I didn't know that Ned Oldham was in the film. He used to be our neighbor here in Roland Park.

The film looked very much like my life.  The Roland Park environs, the music.  It was thoughtful and paced, quirky in its rendering.  There was one shot where a guy dives into a pool and the camera doesn't follow him as he swims, but stays static, showing the water, and just waits for him to come back.  The cinematography was really good, they used a Arri camera, a digital one. Lots of interiors, shots of stairways, people standing on thresholds.

But to return to the drive down the Jones Falls-- there was a shot in an old trolley that sat out by the trolleycar museum.  A pivotal scene, really.

After the screening Ned played a song on guitar, Matthew Porterfield spoke, the set designer and a couple of other guys were there to take questions.

Afterwards, my friend and I retired to the tapas restaurant adjacent to the theater for red wine.  I saw John Waters heading up the street, probably to the Club Charles for the after party.

New WVO Conversion Plant in DC!


Biodiesel magazine reports on a merger between two DC-area biodiesel companies that will enhance their Waste Vegetable Oil collection capabilities.  They'll also have a plant to process the WVO:
"DCB’s (DC BioDiesel's) facility will be a 7.5 MMgy state-of-the-art biodiesel production facility capable of producing ASTM D 6751-grade biodiesel from a wide range of feedstocks and being certified as a BQ-9000 facility, a rigorous standard set by the industry and recognized by its customer base. DCB will be able to blend biodiesel with ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel at all blend levels from B2 to B20 for fleet customers on its premises and also supply home heating oil to area residents in winter months. This plant will be operational in late 2013. - 

And, in case you didn't know...
"As the U.S. EPA and the U.S. DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory have determined, biodiesel made from WVO reduces net GHG emissions by at least 80 percent when compared to the ULSD it displaces, and that reduction is even higher when the fuel is produced from local feedstocks and consumed locally, as the DCB-TSB plan envisions. No other transportation fuel available in today’s market, “advanced” or otherwise, can make that claim." 

Transportation Map of the Roman World

I am casting about to for ideas to organize an interactive graphic that compares biodiesel, petrol, dino diesel, ethanol and Waste Veggie Oil, in terms of greenhouse gasses and what it takes to produce the fuels.
This interactive of the Roman Empire might be a good template.

A nice rundown on Biodiesel

http://www.solarnavigator.net/bio_diesel_biodiesel.htm

Black cat

Before Christmas we take in a new kitty cat who's in need of a home.  Comes with it's own cage & litter box. The friend bringing it over even goes all the way up to Pennsylvania (from Baltimore)  to get it fixed before dropping off.  All black except for two little white spots.

Despite warnings to wear gloves and handle with it care, we found the cat to be friendly and playful.  We quickly let it out of the cage and experimented with integrating into the population.  Even though the large calico we've owned for about 5 years didn't seem crazy about the idea.

Our friend says that the cat's a female, and that's what the papers from the vet reflect.  But the animal doesn't have the tell tale belly incision that indicates cat hysterectomy.  What it does have is a pair  of furry protuberances in a certain spot.   As we pick out names, we think about mythological characters who had both male and female characteristics.  Hermes came to mind.  Someone suggested Pat.  The boy insists on calling him Skipper.

After a couple days of co-habitation, the interloper is driven out.  Or maybe he just escapes.  He leaves our house New Years Day, the day of a big Jamboree party we have every year.  People show up to our shotgun duplex with their instruments to play and the children run in a big gang around and through the house screaming.  Skipper skipps out.

For days we comb the streets and alleys of our neighborhood, Evergreen.  Then we decide to put up posters in select locations.  A few days later, some other poster putter uppers see ours and realize they matched.

The handoff was arranged to be at the neighborhood video store, Video Americaine.  Skipper shows up in a halter and with a leash.  These people have gone all out. They said he showed up on New Years day.  They were having a small party. They think he's great but they don't have a cat lease.

He comes back and the calico is distraught. It's worse than before. Skipper is banished to the boy's bedroom. He escapes, raises hell with the innocent fur ball.  He comes up and bats her with his paw.  He eats from her dish.  He bolts for the front door every time it's opened.

Slowly the cats start to fight less.  Only once or twice a day will the foray of a paw into furball territory provoke the rolling tumbleweed of hiss and claw.  Skipper seems to be bolting for the door less.  He'll take suggestion in the land of food bowls.

Then one day a feral black cat known as Midnight turns up dead in the street in front of our house.  A cat who usually keeps his territory way up the street.  He's just lying there, like hit by a car.  Boys who poke him with a stick diagnose a broken rib. I move him from the street to under a tree.  Then when i come back a litle while later, he's gone.

Biodiesel doc on NOW

5 years old- time for another one

Algae to bio-diesel: who to believe

An algae biodiesel researcher butts heads with the Algae Board spokesman.
One says making biodiesel from algae is not feasible, the other says that government funding is providing a disincentive to developing commercially viable solutions.

http://domesticfuel.com/2011/04/25/df-cast-researchers-advocates-clash-on-algae-biodiesel-feasibility/

What do you think?

oh! this hurts!

This ad for the new BMW diesel not only truncates one of my favorite songs of all time, but disses the 300 TD wagon I aspire to. Is nothing sacred?

BMWs hot new diesel

Neil Young's Linc-volt

Rocker extraordinaire Neil Young is known not only for some great cruising songs, but also for driving interesting vehicles.  A viewing of 1974 documentary Journey Through the Past illustrates this.

A recent project is the Linc-volt hybrid car which runs on biodiesel and electric batteries.



In developing the car, Young was aiming for the Progressive Insurance Company X prize, an award for creating a marketable 100 mpg car.  Unfortunately, in November 2010, a fire broke out in the Los Angeles area warehouse where the car was parked.  Several of Young's collectible guitars were lost in the fire, which was said to have started in the Linc-Volt.

Cars I have loved 3- the Cabriolet

The pre-diesel years

Cabriolet and me, somewhere in Arizona, 1996

Helioculture- genetically engineered cyanobacteria microorganism can "sweat" fuel from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/science/earth/14fuel.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=joule%20unlimited&st=cse


President Obama's call for biofuels that are "made from things like switch grass, wood chips and biomass"  is clearly a shout-out to biodiesel.  But the biodiesel energy has to be careful not to get lumped in with ethanol as a biofuel.  Ethanol production depends heavily on biomass, while biodiesel can be made from less earth intensive technologies like algae.  When you have to grow biomass, you run the risk of displacing land that could be used for food production.


Meanwhile, National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) president Charles T. Drevna, slams alternative energy with: “American taxpayers can’t afford to be burdened with billions upon billions of dollars in taxes to subsidize ethanol, electric cars, and other energy ideas that can’t survive in the free market."  
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/03/31/obama-calls-for-increased-natural-gas-biofuel-to-reduce-foreign-oil-dependence/.

Cars I have loved, part 2 -- more Valiant love

This is a 67, the one they called "the mini-Mercedes."

Autolog, continued

According to Wikipedia, the 1971 Valiant broke sales records of the time, with more than 250,000 deliveries that year.  That may account for why I ended up with two of them.

The first green Valiant was my car of the '79 gas crisis, that waited in line to buy 90 cent a gallon gas, while blasting Chuck Berry out of its four 7.5 inch speaker cones.  (wipe the windows, check the oil, dollar gas).   There was a great trick to starting this car if it was reluctant-- you could pop the hood, pull out the air filter and manually (digitally, actually-- with your finger) push the "butterfly" in the center of the air filter.  Sometimes you had to do this a few times.

Valiants came in an amazing array of colors, but especially greens.  Starting with the first Valiants in 1960, there was Chrome Green, Mint Green, Pale Jade, Emerald Green and Luminous Green.  By 1963, there was Metallic Green, Valiant Light Green, Frost Green, Ivy Green, and Limelight.  And the 70's Valiants came in Ralleye Green, Mist Green, Meadow Green, Forest Green, Sherwood Green, Dark Green and Amber Sherwood.

I don't remember exactly what fate that first Valiant met, but I am rather certain that it had no other owners after me.

The second 1971 Valiant, an olive sort of green known as Sherwood Green, had originally been owned by my maternal grandfather, the last car he'd had before he died.  My step-grandmother drove the car for several years, and I eventually inherited it.  Although considered a compact,  I could extend the length of my five foot, three inch frame out in the back.  This made the car extremely useful in a number of situations.

I always felt the protective spirit of my grandfather in that car, even as I drove it from West Virginia to Pennsylvania to get non-2% beer, or reeled down the streets of DC in it after a night in clubland.   And it was the car I learned to change out speakers on, when the paper cones started crackling in the high frequencies.

Ironic corporate logos and tweaked bumper stickers were all the rage among my punky friends, so this car sported a large Visa/Mastercard emblem, and a 7-11 sticker that promised Freedom of Choice.  This seemingly entrepreneurial display was hard to explain to a cop who stopped me once to inquire why I was driving with one headlight.  Due to the vagaries of Washington DC DUI laws, this police stop also resulted in my losing the right to drive in DC for a period of time.  I worked in DC but lived in Virginia.   In those pre-digital days, the state of Virginia would not necessarily know when someone's right to drive was suspended in adjacent Washington.  So every day I would drive to Rosslyn, pull my bicycle out of the Valiant's trunk (where it fit comfortably) and ride across Key Bridge and through Georgetown to the Dupont Circle restaurant where I mixed the veggie burgers and tended bar.  

Cars I have loved, Part 1

A little background on me:  I have loved every car I ever owned.  Sometimes it was love at first sight, like with the Cabriolet who I travelled cross country with.  Sometimes the vehicle had to grow on me, like the noble green Subaru I call Sooby-Doo.  The utility car.

My first automotive experience was with an AMC product, a blue Rambler with a bumpersticker that said "Onward Through the Fog", and pictured a cartoon character from the Furry Freak Brothers stable.
Listened to great radio in that car, the WHFS of Weasle, Bob, John and Damien.  When it got a head of steam, that car could go pretty fast.

When the Blue Rambler wouldn't go up hills anymore, I got what may be my defining car-- the first of two Plymouth Valients, both green, both with a family connection.  The first one had been owned by my grandparents neighbor, Mr. Heisel.  He lived right across the street from them in Pineville, WV in the 1960's and '70's.  Mr. Heisel was an amputee, never knew why, whether he was a veteran or an injured miner or a farm boy who fell under the plow.  Well, Heisel died and I guess my grandparents got the car, and somehow it devolved to me.  Automotive care-taking is a strong area for my dad.  He loves to find cars and hook people up with them.

The Valient was the legendary Slant-6 engine and Heisel hadn't gone much of anywhere in it.  Those cars have room to put a bicycle in the trunk.  On that car I learned to check oil, change a solenoid, the air filter, and add Automatic Steering Fluid, Automatic Steering Fluid, Automatic Steering Fluid.

Viscosity

Society of Automotive Engineers "W" system chart for oil viscosity

Fill up at Mill Valley B-100
$4.15 / gallon
mileage 182070

Its a cold end of March for the Eastern Seaboard, but despite the chill in the air my duties called me to drive to the DC area and spend the day outside with a video camera.

Madeline has been leaving puddles of oil behind her front passenger side tire, and last time she was in to see Dr. Doug he said that she'd at one point run nearly dry of oil.  She takes a special diesel oil, 15W40.  So today started with a quest for 15W 40 oil here in Baltimore.  Checked first at the Royal Farms in Hampden, where the face of everyone standing in line at the cash register snapped in my direction when I came through the door.  You get the feeling that place is the nexus of Hampden's street life.  The Farm Store only had 5W30 and 10W40.

Next, I "excuse me sir"-d the elderly gentleman fixing a screen in the back of Sirkis Hardware.  Same deal,  only 10W40 and 5-something.  Up the street at the Mieneke up the street, the girl at the cash register clued me that i'd have have to go to Advanced Auto Parts at 20th and Howard.

At Advanced Auto Parts, a young black clerk with a fanciful neck tattoo was very helpful.  Turned out that 15W40 is only available in gallon jugs-- $15, please.  I fear that I may actually need that much!  Out in the parking lot, I popped the hood and took stock.  I'd put a quart in a few days ago but thought she might need more.  When I removed the cap to the crank case, there was a steam/smoke emanating from it, and I muttered aloud "That can't be good", which attracted the attention of a large, friendly black man.  I fired up the engine, and we looked at it, determining that it was a head gasket issue.  I didn't add any oil after all, since the dipstick showed "full".  And the big friendly guy assured me i'd have no problem driving to DC and back before getting it fixed.  Then he asked if I was interested in selling the car.  I explained that she was a special case who ran on biodiesel, and that I was documenting my experiences with her.  He looked at me quizzically and walked away.

A little research on why diesel engines need 15W40 revealed that that designation refers to starting temperatures in Centigrade, the number followed by "W" referring to the starting temperature in Winter and the other one referring to starting temperature when its... warmer.  And all that time I thought the W meant "weight".

Turns out the viscosity of various types of oils varies by temperature, and the Society of Automotive Engineers created the "W" system to refer to oils by temperature range.

The wonders of Glycerine

 Cleanser, fuel, food sweetener-- glycerine is a by-product of the biodiesel creation process.  I am buying everyone in my family glycerine soap for Christmas.

of Caps and Keys

PetroDiesel Fillup # X *
Gas station on 340 in Virginia outside of Harper's Ferry
11/25/10 about 7 pm
B ZERO $15.00@ $3.19/gallon- about half a tank
Odometer: approx. 180,300


Still haven't replaced my gas cap since last fill-up. Luckily, there is a cover to the gas tank. But I worry about condensation especially in the cold weather.

I HAVE been attending to the needs of the car, but have been pursuing a different problem. You see, a car of Madeline's vintage can only start with a special key. In fact, this princess has TWO keys. The one for the driver and the one for the valet. The valet key can't open the trunk or the glove box. The driver's key can open it all.

I own only one copy of that special driver's key, and it is worn nearly to a nub. Every time it is used, a little more gold dust is created around the ignition switch. To get a copy of this key from the dealer requires me to produce the car registration and -- did they even want the title?

I took the key into a local locksmith and he tried to make me a copy but no go. One of the two keys he cut was able to open a door, but the ignition and the rest, not. He said the key was worn out. I still have a copy of the original valet key. That's now going on the key ring for everyday use and I'll just have to keep the driver's key on the same ring. So no backup at home except for that door only key.

So, the to-get list are now two items: Gas Cap, key.

(X= all the non-bio fill-ups since I bought the car, up to Bio-diesel Fill-up #4 when I start tracking both kinds of fill-ups)