Ouch

Warning, due to my extended absence, I thought I'd make a senselessly rude return.

Well, it might not be senseless, depending on your point of view. It probably depends on what side of the global warming debate you fall on. But it might also depend on how strong your stomach is and how much you think of polar bears as cuddly teddys, only bigger.

And stinkier from all those seals they eat.

But I digress.

The media battles just keep heating up. This one is an ouch! Like a two-by-four over the head ouch.

It's from the London-based group Plane Stupid that is all upset about how people are stupid about planes. Their catch phrase is "Bringing the aviation industry back down to earth."

In this case, "It's really not about polar bears anymore." We just fly too much.

Now the science cited in the video may be questionable, but don't let the kids watch.

Those zany Brits.

The power of sludge

Interesting. Sewage into ethanol.

It's that dream come true - turning waste into something valuable. There has been a lot of talk about, and work toward, harnessing methane produced at landfills, manure pits and wastewater at slaughter houses, but now an e-mail has arrived touting the use of the solids in municipal wastewater to create energy.

Applied Cleantech and Qteros are announcing their “breakthrough Q Microbe technology” to turn a substance produced from municipal wastewater solids into cellulosic ethanol. That might disappoint researchers who have been focused on cellulosic feedstocks like waste wood chips, switch grass and stuff like sorghum that can grows like it's on steroids.

If you’ve ever wondered what to do with your city’s sewage sludge, this is apparently it.
The companies claim a yield of 120-135 gallons of ethanol for every ton of Recyllose, the feedstock they create from sludge.

There is, however, a problem of scale. The companies say a wastewater plant that handles the sewage of about 2 million people can supply a “smaller-scale” ethanol plant. So don’t be looking for any of this alchemy in the Panhandle, or a lot of places that don’t have a concentration of at least 2 million people.

Meanwhile, if people insist on ethanol as the best next-generation fuel to act as a bridge to some dreamed about solution to oil addiction, don’t stop growing that corn and grain sorghum.

Friendly skies?

The headline was somewhat troubling – Airlines unite in deal for alternative fuel.

Is that safe? Flying planes on algae or beef fat turned to fuel?

My concern was testing. I haven’t seen a lot about how aviation has access to all this great bio-fuel that works fine. You would think we would want to be careful about this thousands of feet in the air. It might work, but I don’t know about it.

Reading into the press release and my pulse went down a little. Seems Rentech was announcing it had signed an “unprecedented” agreement to supply eight airlines with up to 1.5 million gallons per year of renewable synthetic diesel - but wait - for “ground service equipment” at Los Angeles International Airport.

I was feeling much better. I hadn’t missed some breakthrough. I wasn’t flying on a fuel that was just hitting the market. And I don’t have plans to be at LAX anytime soon, so the trucks on the ground aren’t even a problem.

Much better. Besides, the plant that will make the fuel won’t even be online until late 2012. The low-carbon, clean-burning fuel will be made from “woody green urban waste” like grass clippings.

There goes the pulse again, flying on grass clippings.

This whole green thing will take some getting used to, and I want lots of testing. And that’s not to say this fuel will not be great. I’m just saying…

Amarillo biz to knock NOx

The press to reduce emissions from diesel vehicles continues, and the Pilot Travel Center in East Amarillo on Interstate 40 will be one of the first in the chain to offer diesel exhaust fluid at the pump.

Pilot will initially equip 24 stations, including the Amarillo one, to dispense the fluid, according to a convenience store industry publication.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been phasing in compliance with regulations to reduce all kinds of bad stuff that diesel engines can spew. Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel is one way refiners and drivers are complying, reducing sulfur by about 90 percent.

The new deadline approaching next year is for smog-producing nitrogen oxide (NOx). There are a couple of ways to cut that, but the diesel exhaust fluid to be sold at Pilot works with selective catalytic reduction where the injection of the fluid into the exhaust of a diesel engine makes nitrogen oxide into nitrogen and water vapor.

I know, 10 years from now we might find out we’re creating a bigger problem, but that’s the plan for now.

The North American SCR Stakeholders Group is pushing for this technology over the other ones on its Web site.

The trade/government group touts SCR for its performance advantage, saying initial test results show that SCR will increase fuel efficiency by about 3-5 percent.
The group claims the reduction of pollutants includes:
• Nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 90%
• Hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by 50-90%
• Particulate matter (PM) emissions by 30-50%

Computer-headed farmers

They're misunderstood, but that's about to change - maybe.

I got a packet today from a group called The Hand That Feeds Us, and they just want to talk about it. The fact that the declining piece of the federal budget for agriculture is now down to one quater of one percent. The fact that more than 70 percent of the USDA budget goes to nutritional programs. And the fact that anti-farming groups have been manipulating the media.

See, we're all so out of touch with our farmness, we're easily swayed by those who want to take away all federal ag funding. That's actually probably true, but the Hand That Feeds Us wants to quit getting bitten.

They're going to accomplish their goals by building "long-lasting relationships with journalists and show them family owned and operated farms, not giant agribusinesses, are the true face of agriculture," said Steve Verett, a Lubbock-area cotton, wheat, grain sorghum and sunflower farmer who is also executive vice president of Plains Cotton Growers.

I've talked to him and he's a good guy.

PCG is an advocacy and education group for cotton farmers, so it's not really the face of agriculture The Hands That Feed Us has in mind, even if its maybe made up of a lot of the "real" faces of agriculture. It's more of an industry lobby group a lot of the time.

Anyway.

These people really want the government and the American people to give them some love. They even got two senior U.S. senators to write a letter for the packet that says "food and clothing are basic human needs. The establishment of governmental policies, just as essential, if not a little more complicated, ensures that these needs are met."

I can eat a squash, but not a policy, so I vote for food being more necessary.

But the best part is this. In the packet was an incentive for us media types to wake up to the truth we've all been blinded to. Wow, Farmer Brown is really a USB stick. He keeps the connection under his hat. Well, actually under his head. I'm convinced there's more to these farmers (and I really do like most of them a lot) than the old stereotype.

Sorry you're feeling so bad guys and gals. Good luck with those "long-lasting relationships" in New York City.

From The Ground Up

Just keep truckin' on

The Railroad Commission and the Roush Performance racing team of NASCAR fame unveiled today the eco-friendly pickups Texas needs.

They use propane, meaning drivers can benefit from low-cost, cleaner burning fuel and all sorts of tax incentives when using their F150, F250 or F350 pickup.

Now, I don't know all the science, and ethanol's reputation has certainly taken a beating since it was the new clean fuel, but do we really need to enable more people to feel good about driving a pickup?

I drove one for years when I was raising cattle, hay and grain. Today I've downgraded to a SUV because I still haul a lot of stuff and occasionally go off the beaten path.

And there are propane dispensing stations for vehicles in places like Friona, Dalhart, Hereford, Booker and Claude - all good places for pickups. There are even five stations in Amarillo (only three in Lubbock). But there are 12 in San Antonio, 11 in Houston, nine in Austin and even six in Dallas. That doesn't count the suburbs around them.

Do they need the "green" excuse to drive a truck when a Honda would probably accomplish the same thing? And besides, it's so NASCAR. An environmentally friendly way to express their inner ruggedness in the rush-hour gridlock.

Kind of reminds me of Sheryl Crow's "Na-Na" song.

"Gotta four-wheel drive and I park it in the driveway
When I get drunk I drive it on the parkway
Gotta get a TV set for my car
Tonight's the Battle of the Network Stars"