EgroCulture.org

Dear Mr President.

2009-03-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

To the Office of President Barack H. Obama:
Submitted through the White House Office of Public Liason

I have been researching the development of transportation transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy for some time now.

As I am sure the administration is aware, governmental incentives do spurn consumer interest and capital investments.

Given the problems facing the American auto industry and the massive amount of on the road "dirty" vehicles, has the administration considered any policy to incentivize conversion of existing vehicles to electric or hybrid technology?

It would seem logical to assume the new energy economy development costs to the auto industry could be reduced by creating and offering to the public "engine" technology that mates with standard proven drive train, braking and chassis designs. This development would help ensure the jobs of many of the American auto workers and suppliers.

As dealerships are cut, so are jobs cut in the auto repair and maintenance shop in the back.

If the the government in conjunction with the major American auto companies would invest in this type of retro-greening technology, a significant revenue stream could be realized for the participating companies with the added benefit of reducing both our carbon emissions and dependence on foreign oil.

In all the debates on these issues I have heard nothing to address the current number of vehicles on the road.

As many enthusiasts around the country will attest not only can this be done, it is actively being done. Their only question is, "Why wouldn't the auto industry and government like to be involved?".

Environmental researchers, Electrical engineers, Consumers and Laid off mechanics would all surely agree this would be a positive initiative.

To reiterate the specific question:
Has the administration considered any policies to incentivize conversion of existing vehicles to electric or hybrid technology?

Thank You, you may view this annotated and with public comments at http://mrcopilot.blogspot.com/2009/03/dear-mr-president.html

IBM ready to PowerUp Free MMO

2008-02-17T12:54:00.001-08:00

IBM has launched a new Free 3D educational MMO to teach children about environmental science.

"Innovation is the key to competitiveness in today's globally integrated economy, but just when we need it to skyrocket, interest in math and science has been declining in the United States," said Stanley S. Litow, VP of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs and President of IBM International Foundation. "American competitiveness demands more interest in math and science by students. Virtual worlds and 3D are an unexplored resource in education. We asked our best researchers to incorporate the use of this technology into traditional educational curriculum."

CNN.com

PowerUp has kids trying to save the planet Helios from ecological disasters alone or in groups.

If any one out there is listening, Planet Helios is being destroyed and we need your help!

Hundreds of years ago the nations of our planet realized that the side effects from burning fossil fuels for energy were damaging the atmosphere and changing the climate. They joined together to develop and build technologies to create electricity from available renewable energy resources like wind, sun and water power. Meanwhile the planet's citizens–our ancestors– pulled together and pledged to use less energy. This ushered in a Golden Age of energy balance and ecological harmony.

Available for Windows 98,ME,XP,Vista
Sadly no Linux or Mac Client. I'll get back to you on Wine support.

For more information, screenshots downloads and video hop on over to www.powerupthegame.org

The obligatory Youtube Video.

Pretty Skies

MrCopilot

Energy Biofuel and Carbon Emmisions

2008-02-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

Two new studies are making their way across the web this week examining the environmental impact of the manufacturing biofuels.

Sites are interviewing one of the authors, Joseph Fargione of The Nature Conservancy, to get an authoritative viewpoint. At first glance his arguments appear valid.

"Carbon is the main building block of life, so plants are 50 percent carbon by dry weight," Fargione said. "So when you're looking at a rainforest, there's tons and tons of carbon stored in the plant biomass and in the soils."
When land is cleared either by cutting trees down or by burning, much of that stored carbon is released into the atmosphere.

"Fire releases the carbon directly, as carbon dioxide, and decomposition, when plants decay, that also releases the carbon as carbon dioxide," Fargione explained. "And this carbon dioxide goes into the air as an important greenhouse gas and contributes to global warming."

Large amounts of carbon in these ecosystems are released each year through deforestation and other land conversion.

"Over the last 150 years, 25 percent of our carbon emissions have come from land clearing," Fargione said.

Biofuels from crops such as corn, sugarcane, soybeans and palms require land to grow on. Most of this land must either directly or indirectly come from the destruction of natural ecosystems, because "right now we're asking the world's farmers to feed 6 billion people, and they're doing it on some fixed amount of land," Fargione said. "And if we're also going to produce energy, that requires new land, and that new land has to come from somewhere."

Clearing natural ecosystems, either for farming food crops or growing biofuel crops, creates what Fargione calls a "carbon debt." The initial clearing of the land releases an amount of carbon dioxide that could take decades or centuries to make up for by using biofuels.
LiveScience.com BioFuels Can Be Bad

Can be bad, OK, he has a point, if you clear cut a rainforest, and BURN it, of course you will get a Carbon Debt in the process. Is anyone actually considering this insane tactic? If you are stop it, please. Domestic production here in the US will be faced with no such problem.

Other arguments by Fargione are also overblown. Consider this quote from The New Scientist.

The idea makes intuitive environmental sense – plants take up carbon dioxide as they grow, so biofuels should help reduce greenhouse gas emissions – but the full environmental cost of biofuels is only now becoming clear.

Extra emissions are created from the production of fertiliser needed to grow corn, for example, leading some researchers to predict that the energy released by burning ethanol is only 25% greater than that used to grow and process the fuel.
...When the carbon released by those clearances is taken into account, corn ethanol produces nearly twice as much carbon as petrol.
The New Scientist: Biofuels emissions may be 'worse than petrol'

I can agree with this one. Anyone that argues we should be using Food crops for fuel production is hurting the cause. One only need look at the effects that ethanol has had on corn pricing as of late, for a practical reason why it is a bad idea. Corn and other food products require vast amounts of fertilizer and farm equipment causing an increasing amount of carbon emissions, there is a an environmental reason. However, there are crops that do neither.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) believes that biofuels—made from crops of native grasses, such as fast- growing switchgrass—could reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, curb emissions of the "greenhouse gas" carbon dioxide, and strengthen America's farm economy.

bioenergy.ornl.gov:Biofuels from Switchgrass: Greener Energy Pastures

Switchgrass is a renewable crop, requires planting every 10 years, and uses heavy equipment only during harvest. It also does quite well with little to no fertilizer. These facts are ignored by the study. Instead focusing on worst case scenarios and painting the entire BioFuel industry in a negative light.

Let me be clear about this. Biofuels are not a longterm solution. They are a stopgap measure intended to reduce Co2 emmisions and reduce the dependence on foreign oil.

Getting rid of the combustion engine will take time and courage. Two things that scientist and political watchdogs will tell you we sorely are lacking.

We cannot wait for it, We must act now to reduce emissions and consumption of finite resources we have no control over. Lest we continue down this slippery slope that leaves our children and grandchildren in a very dirty and very violent world.

MrCopilot

Update: I have sent off an email to Mr Fargoine, hoping to get clarification.
He did reply with copies of the two reports. And this response.

The problem with diverting cropland to fuel production is that people have to eat, and so land is converted to food production elsewhere. This is occurring as US farmers switch from soy to corn, increasing soy prices which spurs deforestation of Amazonian rainforest for soy production.

We simply cannot ask the world's farmers to produce food for 6 billion people, and also ask them to produce energy, without using additional land. That land has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, much of it is coming from natural ecosystems.

What most people don't realize is how much carbon is stored in natural ecosystems. There is three times as much carbon locked up in plants and soils as there is the atmosphere. Land use change cause 20% of our carbon emissions. Any policy to fight climate change must take land use into account, or it won't work.

Unfortunately, the press ignores the biomass ethanol numbers and focuses on the worst case numbers. LArgely because the study emphasizes those points as well.

Here are the two pieces of information that are most important to me.

Barring biofuels produced directly on forest or grassland
would encourage biofuel processors to rely on existing
croplands, but farmers would replace crops by plowing up
new lands. An effective system would have to guarantee that
biofuels use a feedstock, such as a waste product or carbon-
poor lands that will not trigger significant emissions from
land use change.

www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/1151861/DC1

SOM Text
Tables S1 to S3
Appendix A to F
References
17 October 2007; accepted 28 January 2008
Published online 7 February 2008; 10.1126/science.1151861

Take a look at this chart and pay special attention to the far right.

www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/1152747/DC1
Materials and Methods
Tables S1 and S2
References
8 November 2007; accepted 24 January 2008
Published online 7 February 2008; 10.1126/science.1152747

This is exactly what I am talking about. This study should be used to promote prairie biomass ethanol instead of condemning it along with corn ethanol.

Special thanks to Joe for providing the data that helps clear this up. Although I think he should emphasize these points a little better to the media. Even with pointed questions, I had to dig into the reports instead of getting a straight answer.

MrCopilot

Driving Green Fisker Karma

2008-02-01T13:29:00.000-08:00

Covering the North American Auto Show in Detroit brings us this eco-friendly hybrid sports car.

There is new competition on the block. Fisker Automotive unveiled it's new environmentally friendly Fisker Karma at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Read the rest @ AC

You can watch the reveal in Detroit right here.

Prject Better Place signs up Israel

2008-01-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

Project Better Place answers the question "How can we make the world a better place?" with the simple answer. One electric car at a time.

Project Better Place. Sounds idealistic, doesn't it? For a company determined to reduce greenhouse gases by eliminating automotive emissions, it may just be the perfect name. Project Better Place, in a joint venture with Renault-Nissan announced they have signed an agreement to make Israel the first country in their pilot program to provide electric cars and a charging infrastructure.

Read the rest @ AC

Their marketing uses the simplicity and brilliance of a child's mind to prove what should be self-evident points.

I wish them all the luck in the world.

MrCopilot

Tesla Roadster: Interview

2008-01-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

Published today, I give you this article containing an interview with Joe Powers from Tesla Motors.

The Tesla Roadster is one of the sexiest automobiles coming to market in recent memory. Remarkable not just for its looks, the Roadster is an all electric Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV), that goes from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds, with a top speed of 125 mph. All that plus an estimated 220 mile range on a single charge should tell you this isn't your ordinary electric vehicle.

While certainly outside my limited budget, I had to know more. I contacted Tesla Motors for a Q&A and was put in touch with Joe Powers who graciously agreed to the following interview.

Read More @ AC

Recent events might have changed the tone of this interview significantly, and I am trying to get a follow up.

I heard back from Joe Powers, here is the answer I received.

"Regarding the recent changes at Tesla, any company comments will be posted on our website. Obviously, the incident is unfortunate but can be expected in a situation where tough calls need to be made. Ultimately, these changes will make us a stronger, more effective organization as I think anyone who has been through the start-up process will recognize."

Read the Full Interview here.

MrCopilot

earth911.org

2008-01-06T12:58:00.000-08:00

Environmentally friendly living can be tough. Figuring out what to recycle and where can be challenging. Luckily there's Earth911.org

On assignment from AC, I wrote up a short article on Earth911.org to help you live greener.

Earth911.org is on a mission. A mission to provide the public with as much environmentally responsible information as possible in one convenient place. Using the Earth911.org website or 1-800-CLEANUP phone number, information and news on a wide range of environmental Issues can be accessed for free.

Read More @ AC

Now that you have reduced your carbon footprint and recycled your Xmas Tree, It almost makes up for the fact that you drive a Hummer.

MrCopilot

Aptera Electric Vehicle

2007-12-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

The Aptera, WOW!
Popular Mechanics has a great write up complete with video and slideshow of their exclusive test drive of this environmentally friendly vehicle.

Here's a few details.

Electric version has a Range of about 120 miles
Fully recharges in 4 to 6 hrs from standard 110 volt plug
The plug-in hybrid version gets 300 miles per gallon of gas.
0-60 in under 10 seconds.
180 degree rear sight picture display on the dash.
The Aptera Typ-1 is registered as a motorcyle.
The Aptera has about the same drag coefficient as the windshield wiper on your car.
All electric version is $26,900
The plug-in hybrid $29,900

See Popular Mechanics & Aptera on the web for more.