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April 20, 2008 In response to Apollo's update on April 18, asking for news from your place about the clean energy, good jobs future, we received a number of interesting dispatches. There's no resignation or bitterness expressed here. Just a steadfast sense of purpose at the local level, reflected in new policy (see the Alaska note below), new companies (Michigan, Washington state, and California entrepreneurs contributed here), new programs (New Jersey and Denver supporters write), and a number of intriguing ideas. Send in your dispatches for publication in Apollo Feedback. We're improving our site, hoping more of you will contribute news, comment, and keen analysis of what's happening where you live and work. Send those files to Keith Schneider, keith@apolloalliance.org One Word From Detroit: Hybrid Cars Not So New The article highlighting the 100 mpg electric car was quite interesting. I am a retired engineer from Chrysler LLC with 40 years of service. The hybrid electric car is really not a new idea. Chrysler, as well as all the auto companies have at one time or another developed some form of a hybrid. The models that I’m familiar with did not achieve the 100 mpg level. The problem with the hybrid is performance because of the weight to horse power ratio. The more load that is applied, the slower the vehicle performs. Yes they can achieve high mileage but they compromise performance. The turbine engine should be considered. The fuel for a turbine engine can be fuel oil or alcohol. The advantage with these engines is the high performance developed from small displacements and the average mileage is twice that of conventional gasoline engines. The disadvantage with turbine engines is emissions and heat generation which is difficult to control. In 1964-65 Chrysler introduced the Turbine 50 car program. We used a Gia body with an approximately 255-cubic inch turbine engine with a three speed automatic transmission. The vehicle was slow from launch, about 15 seconds from 0 to 60, but had a top speed of around 150 mph. We tested the vehicle at the Chelsea, Michigan, proving grounds. I was part of that program and enjoyed every minute. The vehicle tested at 30 mpg average on alcohol. Not bad in 1965. The third engine that should be considered is the hydrogen engine. The fuel is essentially water but the down side is the complexity of the engine and the cost associated with the finished product. This country has a choice. Either find virgin oil fields to produce more oil or develop alternative fuels. Congress and the next President must man date new mileage and emission standards over a period of ten years from the current 20 mpg average for fleet vehicles to 50 mpg. That goal is achievable and should be pursued. Frank Anazalone IBEW Newscast for Green-Collar Jobs This is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union # 68’s monthly “streaming video” update to our Web site. Notice -- “Wind Turbine” training, matching the turbine (1.8 kW) installed in the parking lot of our Union Hall – plus 20kW and 3.3kW of solar on our Union Hall and Training Center respectively. See: http://ftp.datausa.com/oswego/IBEWLocal68/NB6/ AVA Solar manufacturing plant – at end of video -- and our signatory contractor, Sturgeon Electric and IBEW 68 members are doing the “build-out.” Next month, Intermountain Electric (the signatory contractor) installs a 2mW solar system at Denver International Airport. Dennis Whalen New American Wind Manufacturing Company in Midwest Steve Smiley, a pioneer in wind energy in the Midwest, who's responsible for helping to build Michigan's first three wind generators has started his own manufacturing company in Traverse City. He writes: “Nice to see your great work is continuing on a national level. Here is our new web page for Heron Wind Manufacturing. We will be moving fast. Check it out. www.heronwindmfg.com. We just opened our new office at the Village Commons. For more information: Alaskan Wind Farm Financed Good news here in Anchorage. My local state representative got $25 million from the state of Alaska to leverage another $25 million from the feds and $200 Million from a local native corporation to build a wind farm on Fire Island adjacent to Anchorage and its International Airport. The wind farm will provide power to most of Anchorage and is a real green-collar project. The governor vetoed the appropriation last year but my friend resubmitted it, and it went through this session. You might think the local utility would welcome the project, but our current board of directors for Chugach Electric doesn’t support the concept. We are, right now, running a new slate of candidates for the board. The Alaska state Representative is Harry Crawford from House District 21 in Anchorage. My friend running for the Chugach Electric Board is Mark Wiggin. One of the Native corporations investing the $200 million is Cook Inlet Regional Corporation. By the way, I attended the the North American Labor Assembly on Climate Crisis, where I heard Jerome Ringo speak along with some others. It was about a year ago in May. William Theuer For more information: Mark Wiggin Tacoma's Solar Champion A renewable hello from the Pacific Northwest. I have an invite for you or other like minded folks for my little Earth Day in Tacoma 2008 event. I couldn't find an Earth Day, April 22nd, 2008 activity in Tacoma so I decided to put one on at Tacoma's first solar grid-tied photovoltaic system -- my house @ 2037 South 7th Street, Tacoma, WA 98405. Nothing fancy, just the opportunity to see what the most energy efficient photovoltaic in the world looks like. You can see my electric meter run backwards and learn how I get a check for the solar power I produce each year. I don't have an electric bill and I get a check -- isn't that how it is supposed to be? I'll have my solar stuff set up by 9am and will be here till the sun goes down ~ 8:14pm to answer any questions. I'll have all the regular solar stuff - solar water heater, solar electric scooter, solar street light, solar boat, solar stove, solar attic fan, solar massage chair, and anything else I come up with between now and then. Oh yeah, the solar powered LED lights for Narrows Bridge will be on display! See: www.NarrowsBridgeLights.org I started this project three years ago. It needs to be finished this summer for the Tall Ships/Freedom Festival on the Fourth of July. Washington needs to have a solar powered lighting system that is light years ahead of anything on Earth. I do have solar power available for anything, anytime, and anywhere you might need it. SolaRichard Hydrogen Energy Downeast This is the website -- http://www.hydrogenenergycenter.org/ -- of a citizen-organized and driven group in Maine working on bringing clean renewable energy to Maine. A few thoughts: Einstein said, “Look deep, deep into nature and you will understand everything better.” Nature is diversity, and diversity, facilitates, makes possible adaptation and survival.” At a recent Hydrogen Energy Center meeting one member pointed out how a multi-pronged diverse approach to power generation can provide the clean affordable electric power we need. Maine is ideally suited to tidal generation -- already in use in Europe -- wind, solar (both for photovoltaics and heat), hydro, biomass, and others. Any one of these by itself would not provide Maine's energy needs. All of these combined would drastically reduce the need for fossil fuels here in this state. What we need is government incentives for 'we the people' to make this happen. We want to own the means of production, in our small towns, and cities for the benefit of the people, at a cheap cost to the people, so WE THE PEOPLE benefit. We the people own this land. We the people are the government. A good place to start would be to bring back the electric car. This is a solution that could happen now. In the next year or two. It would only take an act of Congress. As to recent appointments at Apollo Alliance, hmm. Credentials like the New York Times and Public Broadcasting don't impress me. Both organizations have done way too little to be a critical objective fact-finding investigative voice in these propaganda riddled times (and markets). Mark Nyborg Mechanisms to a Clean Energy Future I've been getting the Apollo Alliance emails, and while I tacitly support everything you're talking about, I don't think you're giving serious thought to the economic mechanisms that could be employed to get us to a "clean energy future." Obama's approach, which you've highlighted in your recent email, is deficit spending to the tune of $150 billion. I'm sure he'd argue that budget priorities had been rearranged. This energy New Deal, which has been talked about for a long time in the democratic debates, might not be necessary. Why not give some attention to the more honest and fiscally conservative approaches of candidates like Ralph Nader and Ron Paul – an elimination of federal subsidies and price supports for conventional energy that would allow solar to compete on an even playing field? There are many solutions at our disposal, and I'm not sure mobilizing the entire country in a war-like effort is the most sustainable approach. Perhaps some small incentives to homeowners, a rethink of zoning issues, and a broad education effort will be all it takes to create local jobs building and installing solar water heaters, PVs, composting toilets, etc. I understand that's not your approach, but it's another path to your goal that deserves your consideration. I'd strongly encourage you to talk to these candidates that aren't looking at big-business approaches. Matt Gonzales, Nader's running mate, is in San Francisco, and I'm sure would be happy to discuss their energy policy proposals with you. Kyle Romberg New Jersey's Earth Institute We appreciate the good work Apollo is doing. Your members may be interested in our environmental programs. The Garden State Earth Institute(GSEI, ) offers to introduce environmental films, workshops and discussion courses to groups of 8 or more people in New Jersey. The discussion courses were generated by the Northwest Earth Institute, our parent organization. GSEI is one of about 18 Earth Institutes in the US and Canada. There is no charge for any program. Please pass on or display this information and ask to contact GSEI. So far over 900 people have attended one or more programs in NJ. Fred Mayer For more information: Recycling Old Catalogs and Saving Energy I'm a 70-year-old woman -- who says everyone who supports Barack is young? -- and have recently taken a part-time job to help make ends meet. While the guys in the office are a bit resistant, I have talked them into recycling the mountains of paper that flow into a financial planner's office. At home, I do everything I can to save energy and give a hand to the environment, including talking to friends and neighbors. I'm great at writing letters, and when I saw on the Today show a segment on a New England science class and their wonderful project, I wrote to people at the state level and the county school system who might get similar programs going here in Florida. This class collected their Moms' unwanted catalogs, went online to www.catalogchoice.org and in that one place were able to cancel all future mailings from those sources. They went a step further and recycled old catalogs. As a woman, I can tell you that once you get your name on a list to receive one, all of a sudden, you get catalogs from everywhere. A project such as this undertaken at schools all over America would not only turn young kids into stewards for the environment but give them a reason to work on something with their parents -- and possibly get their attention as well. Great idea to undertake this. Must be wonderful to be doing something for a living that truly makes a difference - now and for all time. Thanks. Judy Hunter A New Way to Produce Diesel Yes, I know that I am preaching to the choir and this may be just another piece of sheet music that has to be read to understand the relevancy, but, our goal is to be a part of the solution – not an additional problem. Energy Visions has the US distribution and licensing rights for a unique German technology, the KDV (catalytic depolymerization), manufactured by AlphaKat Technologies GmbH, which processes, through distillation, all manner of biodegradable organic waste, converting said waste matter into Ultra Low Sulfur diesel (ULSD). The resultant distillate is light oil that is not petroleum-based, but rather, a fully sustainable and carbon-neutral, bio-energy fuel oil with a cetane rating of 60 or higher; quite unlike any other biodiesel or ethanol technology currently in existence. It is the third alternative energy. The result of this internationally patented process, converting organic waste matter, creates a diesel steam, which is collected in a condensation column. The continuous three-minute process produces a vapor of high grade, Ultra Low Sulfur diesel fuel in the form of light oil; a higher grade and higher ignition (energy content) than fossil-derived imported petroleum fuel. The KDV process does not utilize human or animal food stock for its source of material, as required by other alternative fuel producers, but it optionally is able to use them. Soy, canola, corn, sugar beets, palm oil, and other crops are grown and harvested as the above fuel producers’ exclusive feedstock. One of Energy Visions' strategic values is that it is designed to process conversion of pre-cycled (glass, rock and metals removed) municipal solid waste, PCBs, PVCs, plastics, oils (yellow and brown grease), bilge waste, animal and cellulosic agro-refuse), rubber, paper, glycerol, and solvents and tars. These components all produce, with a high degree of efficiency, a diesel fuel for compression engines used in machinery of all types: over-the-road (auto, bus, truck), off-road, electrical generation, marine, and rail, etc. I would encourage you to peruse our website, www.energy-visions.com, to discover some very pertinent information that will create further environmental sustainability, to dramatically offset the need for fossil fuels, and to reduce pollution, effectively making a positive shift from the impact of global warming. Please don’t hesitate to call me or e-mail me with any questions that you may have. Phil Boland In the Mojave With Questions I live in San Bernardino County in the Mohave Desert. I find it disconcerting that with all the new housing being built here, that so few are solar, geo-thermal, etc. I'm a long time supporter of Apollo project and would love to receive any updates. Good luck in your new position! It is such a worthwhile and amazing field to be in. Oh, on another note, are you familiar with the Aquarium in Riverhead, New York that is run entirely on geothermal? It was done by LILCO and it is an amazing project that is years ahead of its time. If you are looking for amazing projects to focus on, this would be terrific! We (my husband and I) believe that geo-thermal (with the tubing buried about a foot or two under ground) is the most efficient of all systems. Again, best wishes in your new position! Kathy Chapman Backward Florida? Recently, a reporter for a Florida business journal conducted a telephone interview with me. She never heard of "Energy Star". To her it was a firm and wanted to know how to contact the company. She never heard of "photovoltaic" technology. In an 8 ft. x 24 ft. structural insulated panel, she wanted to know how "high" the panel was. .
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