Category Archives: gone pecan

Alternative Energy In Central Illinois – Progress in the heart of coal country

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oh its jam band friday ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54bFYwGr_Y )

Just for kicks and because it is Friday, I googled up Alternative Energy in Central Illinois and this is what I found:

http://www.ciree.net/

Welcome to Central Illinois Renewable Energy Expo

The Peoria County 4-H and Extension Foundation is proud to present the Central Illinois Renewable Energy Expo, May 2nd and 3rd at the Green Sports Complex in Mossville, Illinois near Peoria. This event is designed to be educational and informative with plenty of vendor displays, seminars, kids’ activities and information on renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable solutions, green lifestyles, and earth-friendly technology.

The event, the first one to be offered in Central Illinois, is designed to provide an opportunity for area residents and businesses to learn more about renewable energy and energy-efficiency products and services. “Every time your turn on your radio or TV you hear something about energy consumption. Many, if not all of us, would like to know more about how to save money on heating, fuel, electricity and so on, so we thought the Expo would be a great opportunity,” said Gary Sutton, Expo Coordinator and a member of the Peoria County 4-H and Extension Foundation. “We were amazed at how many people attended in 2008—it confirmed the need for an event like this. We are very grateful for our volunteer event partners and we think the Expo will continue to be a great experience for all in central Illinois.”

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT1mbxOQxHY&feature=related

I mean if it has gotten to the 4-H people well then it has become a tidal wave.

http://moleprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/07/illinois-focus-blogs-food-co-ops.html

ILLINOIS FOOD CO-OPS

It took nearly 7 years living within a few blocks of one of the biggest food co-ops in America before Joy and I joined it. We were definitely reluctant. But, in the end the lack of good produce and the decline of our local supermarkets led to us joining. And the result is a slighly more inconvenient shopping trip each week, but much healthier, higher quality and cheaper food. I recommend joining a co-op if there is one nearby. You will save money and eat healthier. So I will list some local food co-ops in Illinois:

West Central Illinois Food Cooperative
P.O. Box 677
Galesburg, Illinois 61402
wcifoodcoop@wcifoodcoop.com
http://www.wcifoodcoop.com

West Central Illinois Food Cooperative is a not for profit natural foods Co-op located in Galesburg, Illinois serving people in Knox and Warren County. We are affiliated with United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods has a warehouse in Iowa City.

We are a small food coop with about 20 to 30 families at any one time. Our monthly orders average about
$2,000 – $3, 000. We have been operating as a Co-op since 1982. We do not have any one that earns a salary. All of our work is performed by members who work the different jobs as part of their monthy obligation. Working Members pay a 1% mark up from the wholesale price in the Catalog. We have nonworking members. They pay a 10% mark up. Please explore the various links on our site for additional information about the Co-op and United Natural Foods. You can also get additional information at United Natural Foods Buying Clubs site at www.unitedbuyingclubs.com

Common Ground Food Co-op
610 E. Springfield
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Phone: (217) 352-3347
FAX: (217) 352-2214
comments@commonground.coop
http://www.commonground.coop/

Common Ground Food Co-op is a cooperatively owned grocery store that promotes local and organic production, fosters conscious consumerism, and builds community.

Though we are community-owned, membership is not required to shop in the store!

Common Ground Food Co-op carries a wide variety of groceries, produce, and health and beauty products.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SKFwtgUJHs&feature=related

http://www.windaction.org/news/16700

Finally from one of the best writers in Central Illinois, Tim Landis:

Wind farms sprouting up on central Illinois landscape

Three more wind farms – each a utility-scale project with the potential for 100 to 150 towers – are in the works for central Illinois. Trade Wind Energy, a Kansas-based alternative energy developer, confirmed the company has signed leases with landowners for two wind farms in DeWitt County and is in discussions for a third in Christian County. The first two sites are east and west of Clinton, about 45 miles northeast of Springfield, and the third is north of Pana, 45 miles southeast of Springfield. …Trade Wind Energy has held meetings with Farm Bureau and elected officials in both counties, and Enger said company executives understand it is important to be “open and transparent” about development plans.

July  7, 2008 by Tim Landis in Southtown Star

Three more wind farms – each a utility-scale project with the potential for 100 to 150 towers – are in the works for central Illinois.

Trade Wind Energy, a Kansas-based alternative energy developer, confirmed the company has signed leases with landowners for two wind farms in DeWitt County and is in discussions for a third in Christian County.

The first two sites are east and west of Clinton, about 45 miles northeast of Springfield, and the third is north of Pana, 45 miles southeast of Springfield.

“We are substantially into the leasing process. We already have enough land there for a wind farm,” Trade Wind Energy development manager Duane Enger said of the negotiations in DeWitt County.

Enger said lease negotiations have only just begun for the site north of Pana, and that it is too soon to discuss a construction schedule for any of the projects. But he said all eventually would produce 100 to 150 megawatts of electricity.

A megawatt typically would supply 250 to 300 homes, according to industry standards.

Enger said, in addition to open expanses of farmland, three major transmission lines that run through the counties, including to the Clinton nuclear reactor, would make it easier to get power to the grid.

The Trade Wind Energy projects come a little more than two months after Virginia-based Dominion Corp. announced plans for a 25,000-acre wind farm and 150 to 200 wind turbines in southern Christian and northern Macoupin counties.

Dominion also is negotiating for land leases estimated by the company at $3,000 to $4,000 per year, per turbine.

Christian County Farm Bureau manager Eric Johnson said the wind developers have been generally well received.

“As long as the wind company offers good compensation and a good contract — most farmers are pretty open minded about it,” Johnson said.

Brian Fesser is among Christian County farmers approached by Dominion, but he said he has not decided whether to allow wind turbines on a 1,200-acre grain farm south of Taylorville that has been in his family for more than 50 years.

Money, he added, is not the only factor.

“It’s having to farm around the wind towers themselves. It’s just like mowing your lawn, the more trees you have, the more time it takes,” he said.

Trade Wind Energy has held meetings with Farm Bureau and elected officials in both counties, and Enger said company executives understand it is important to be “open and transparent” about development plans.

He said the company plans to open offices in the area as soon as possible.

Enger said improvements in wind-turbine technology have made it possible to operate at lower wind speeds – Trade Wind looks for areas with consistent 10 to 18 mph winds – but that rising energy prices also are a factor.

“There has just been more demand for energy the last few years,” he said.

Trade Wind Energy

  • Founded: 2001
  • Corporate headquarters: Lenexa, Kan., suburb of Kansas City
  • Largest investor: Enel North America Inc., a subsidiary of Enel SpA, one of the world’s largest publicly held utility companies
  • Current projects: Kansas, Missouri and Illinois
  • On the Web:www.tradewindenergy.com

Web link: http://www.southtownstar.com/business/1040540,0707…

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Things are starting to change aren’t they?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1-Sv-HMHqE&feature=related

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Illinois Moves Ahead With Plans To Poison The Earth – Let’s inject toxins into our watershed

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That sounds like a plan doesn’t it?

http://www.sj-r.com/news/x1264048039/House-revives-Taylorville-Energy-Center

 

House revives Taylorville Energy Center

OKs beginning of design work on clean-coal power plant

By DOUG FINKE (doug.finke@sj-r.com)

STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Posted Jul 16, 2008 @ 11:19 PM

Last update Jul 16, 2008 @ 11:44 PM

A $2.5 billion clean-coal power plant proposed for Taylorville got a new lease on life Wednesday when the Illinois House overwhelmingly approved a bill developers said is crucial to the project.By an 86-5 vote, the House passed Senate Bill 1987, which will allow design work to begin on the Taylorville Energy Center. It is similar to a bill that failed by 10 votes in the House in the closing hours of the spring session.Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield, said the latest version contains “some safeguards” to mollify utility giant Commonwealth Edison, which opposed the earlier bill. That includes more oversight of the project by the Illinois Commerce Commission.“They were concerned that some of the cost might be excessive,” Hannig said. “Now the Illinois Commerce Commission will have an opportunity to say yes or no to that. We have to prove to the power companies that we can produce this in Taylorville in a clean and economically feasible way.”The Taylorville Energy Center would use coal-gasification technology and Illinois coal to produce 525 megawatts of electricity while controlling carbon dioxide emissions

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Or in their own words:

http://www.tenaska.com/newsItem.aspx?id=62

News

Tenaska’s Taylorville Energy Center Selected By U.S. DOE For Loan Guarantee Program; Illinois Electric Ratepayers Could Save Up To $60 Million Per Year With $2.5 Billion Guarantee – 07/13/09

TAYLORVILLE, Illinois – July 13, 2009 – Tenaska, managing partner for the $3.5 billion Taylorville Energy Center (TEC), announced today that, following a competitive six-month application process, it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed into the term sheet negotiation phase under the DOE Loan Guarantee Program. The amount of the guarantee will be up to $2.579 billion, depending on the final project costs and capital structure.

Upon completion of due diligence and negotiations, the Taylorville project expects to receive a federal government guarantee of its debt, which will greatly reduce financing costs. Because TEC financing costs are included in electric rates under the recently enacted Illinois Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Law, the DOE loan guarantee results in savings of between $40 and $60 million per year to Illinois consumers.

“This is a very important step toward securing a clean coal facility in Taylorville. The federal loan guarantee would significantly reduce the cost of financing the construction of the facility,” said Attorney General Lisa Madigan. “That’s important because cost will be a critical factor when the General Assembly reviews this project next year.”

The DOE Loan Guarantee Program, instituted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, is designed to spur technological innovation in fossil fuel energy development. It essentially gave the U.S. government the ability to back loans for advanced clean energy projects, thereby lowering financing costs.

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If you want to read a load of crap:

http://www.cleancoalillinois.com/tec.html

Taylorville Energy Center
Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) is a proposed 500- to 525-megawatt clean coal power plant using an advanced technology called Hybrid Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle (Hybrid IGCC) to make it the cleanest coal-fired power plant in the world.

Located a mile northeast of Taylorville in central Illinois, the plant will convert Illinois coal into clean substitute natural gas (also known as methane) to generate enough electricity to power more than 500,000 area homes.

The benefits of TEC include:

  • • Millions saved annually on power costs
    • Economic development for a job-starved region
    • Creation of a new market for Illinois coal
    • Protection of the environment and public
    health through clean-coal technology


Plant rendering (high-res image)

Taylorville Energy Center is being developed by Christian County Generation, LLC, a joint venture between affiliates of Tenaska, an Omaha, Nebraska-based power development company, and MDL Holding Co. of Louisville, Kentucky.  Tenaska is managing developer of the Taylorville project.  Since its inception 21 years ago, Tenaska has built more than 9,000 megawatts of power generation.  Forbes magazine ranks Tenaska as the 24th largest private U.S. corporation, based on 2007 gross revenues.

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And if you want to listen to a load of crap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGxZXBASYdc

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For 3 years they have planned, and talked, and schemed….

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PORTA’s Wind Turbine – I think I will take the week and do some local issues

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The mid range wind turbine is going up at PORTA High School outside of Petersburg. Way to go. First here is the rationale:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S00214.htm

Green Economics and how it might work

Monday, 20 July 2009, 3:53 pm
Article: Salient Green Economics and how it might work

by Tushara Kodikara

In times of the global economic recession and ecological crisis, it is obvious a radical response is needed. World-renowned economist Herman Daly maintains the future of human civilisation is dependent on a new economic model, based on a dynamic model—known as the steady state economy—preserving the environment we are all dependent upon.

There needs to be a shift away from the current paradigm of the growth economy towards a system that emphasises conserving natural capital and views the economy as a subset of the environment. Neoclassical economics has ignored the environment. The current system views environment and economy as intertwined. Any environmental problem can be solved by the market or by governmental interference.

Traditional economic theory is based on general equilibrium models: a giant system of thousands of simultaneous equations balancing supply and demand. These determine the price and quantity of goods and services. It assumes that there is an infinite resource base and also an infinite waste sink with no feedbacks. Simply put, resources will never run out and pollution will never occur. This leads to the notion that infinite growth is possible.

However, a litany of environmental problems, including destruction of the ozone layer, climate change, acid rain, deforestation, overpopulation, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, desertification, floods, famine, overfishing, hazardous wastes, expanding landfills, fresh water depletion and the depletion of nonrenewable resources, to name a few, are symptoms of the shortcomings of the current economic system.

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Did I mention it saves money?

http://www.sj-r.com/homepage/x1885902913/Spectators-marvel-as-turbine-installed-at-PORTA-High-School

 

Wind turbine draws crowd at PORTA High

Generator is final phase of $7.6 million energy-saving project

By ANN GORMAN

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Posted Jul 19, 2009 @ 11:00 PM

Last update Jul 20, 2009 @ 06:21 AM

PETERSBURG — Harold Biggs of Athens was one of several spectators behind PORTA High School Friday morning, as cranes lifted a hub with three huge rotor blades and then workers positioned it atop a large tower.Biggs, a 76-year-old retired engineer and Army veteran, began noticing wind turbines around the country about 10 or 12 years ago, and he’d recently read about them in Popular Science magazine. But he’d “never seen one put up before.”So, with camera and binoculars in hand, he decided to check out the activity in Petersburg.“I think it’s a step forward in ecology,” Biggs said of the turbine. “I’ve thought about getting a small one for my place, but it costs too much.”Anticipating public interest, PORTA officials had set up bleachers for people to watch the turbine progress.“I think it’s really cool to see how it’s put together,” said 15-year-old Abbey Stier of Williamsville, who watched the process with her dad, PORTA teacher David Stier.

The wind turbine — which extends 241 feet from base to blade tip — is the final phase of a $7.6-million energy-savings project instigated last year by the PORTA School Board because of soaring electric costs.

The 600-kilowatt wind generator — built in India and shipped by boat to Houston — was trucked in sections last week to Petersburg….

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Way to go Petersburg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wErksDKeWB8

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There Is Enough Wind Power Alone In The US – Knock knock knocking on Heaven’s door

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(it’s jam band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

m2feoIM9baI&feature=fvst )

There appears to be 2 schools of thought here. Or maybe three. The first is the literal image itself, that of asking to get into heaven. Instead of an automatic sorting mechanism  for heaven and hell maybe everyone has to ask to get in. A second though closely related meaning is that someone is lucky enough to escape hell but then are left knocking at a closed gate because they do not deserve to get in. But most are struck by its symbolic “nearness” to the act of Luther nailing his list of “short comings” on the Catholic Church’s door and the Protestant Reformation that followed:

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=KgNBqNswpVL9y

RwgzcHr0l9JqLd74yGQN4hyhPbX4QF3JtNy1bQT!-69977801!-16421419?docId=5007265930

Indeed the comparison to the ever opening of the 5 dominate religions (Chinese tao/numerology/spirits, Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Muslim, in no particular order) to include and love more “unlike” individual is the knocking I hear.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCM88LhoW0

So,.. it is change you hear blowing. The general public has been treated to the coal/oil/natural gas chorus for years, “Alternatives will never do it all! We will need all forms of energy to supply all the needs!” This is nothing more than a complicated hiding behind your mother’s skirt form of argument. Or a slightly loopy form of the ugly stepchild argument – “he maybe ugly but he is related by marriage”. But now we all know that wind ALONE can supply all the power we need…DUH

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/study-suggests-wind-power-potential-is-much-higher-than-current-estimates/

July 16, 2009, 12:50 pm

Study Suggests Wind Power Potential Is Much Higher Than Current Estimate

By John Lorinc

Study  In the lower 48 states, the potential from wind power is 16 times more than total electricity demand in the United States, the researchers suggest.

Global wind energy potential is considerably higher than previous estimates by both wind industry groups and government agencies, according to a Harvard University study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

The new research surfaced just weeks after T. Boone Pickens, citing rising financing costs, scaled back his plans for the world’s largest wind farm in west Texas.

Using data from thousands of meteorological stations, the Harvard team estimated the world wind power potential to be 40 times greater than total current power consumption. A previous study cited in the paper put that multiple at about 7 times.

In the lower 48 states, the potential from wind power is 16 times more than total electricity demand in the United States, the researchers suggested – significantly greater than a 2008 Department of Energy study that projected wind could supply a fifth of all electricity in the country by 2030.

While remote regions of Russia and Canada have the greatest theoretical potential, the Harvard study pointed out that there are real gains to be made in high-emission nations, especially China, which has been rapidly constructing coal plants. “Large-scale development of wind power in China could allow for an 18-fold increase in electricity supply relative to consumption reported for 2005,” the Harvard study said.

The findings are “further validation of what we’ve been saying – that the United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind,” said Michael Goggin, an electricity industry analyst for the American Wind Energy Association.

The authors based their calculations on the deployment of 2.5- to 3-megawatt wind turbines situated either in accessible rural areas that are neither frozen nor forested, or relatively shallow offshore locations. They also used a conservative 20 percent estimate for capacity factor, a measure of how much energy a given turbine actually produces.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbwWiffSRRA

So maybe everyone should buy one of these:

 http://www.windenergy.com/index_wind.htm

Southwest Windpower is the world’s leading producer of small wind turbines. Since 1987, we’ve pioneered new technologies to make renewable energy simple. Whether you’re looking to reduce your home electric bills or power a home, boat or business off the grid, we offer a range of wind power systems to help you.

LATEST NEWS

or one of these:

http://www.windsolarusa.com/

WindSolarUSA

Michelle Marley

PO Box 168

Owaneco, IL 6255

michelle@windsolarusa.com

217.825.4206

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV6ETVQgob0

Next week….I shot the sheriff (just kidding)

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Global Warming, What Would Jesus Do – Between Heaven and Earth is where the problem lives

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What does Between Heaven and Earth mean anyway? I mean if Earth is HERE:

www.all-creatures.org/hope/

or here:

www.spacetoday.org/…/TerraAqua/TerraStory.html

or even here:

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/LivingEarth/

and heaven is here:

www.kidsastronomy.com/deep_space.htm

Then the point seems a little banal. But if the usage is to attempt the creation tension through the juxtaposition of opposites like “between love and hate” or “between enemies and friends” then I totally understand. It’s like that with global warming.

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So there are the people from HEAVEN:

 http://alternativepowerpanel.com/blog/?p=193

birte edwards on 26 Feb 2009 06:44 pm

Between Heaven and Earth

This is one in my Dobehave Series: Save Energy, Be Green, Have More

Heaven and Earth- on Global Warming and Climate Change

You know this issue is so important, and sorry for the title – just me having some fun.

Between Heaven and Earth – that’s where the trouble is … in the atmosphere, you see.

We can’t …. actually we could … be involved in alternative energy without knowing or understanding what’s behind it, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.

I hope you have a little time on your hand, as after this I will show you a little video I found on “between heaven and earth”.

Here’s the video I was talking about.

Do you think there are others who could benefit from knowing this? If so, get them over here. There will be a lot more on alternatives, what we can do here and now.

Oh, if you want all the 20 videos of my Questions & Answers, just sign up at top right for dobehave.

http://alternativepowerpanel.com/blog/?p=12

birte edwards on 25 Dec 2008 02:13 pm

So What’s Between Heaven and Earth – on Global Warming

Final Sci Vis (scientific visualization) Project for junior year
class. Each person in the class had to pick a topic in science and
make a video on it. This is the result of the choice of one student
The student used 3d max for all the animations and edited in Adobe

I was impressed with this video. It may seem a little long, but the
student goes into all aspects that cause global warming, and also
the effects.
The reason I posted this is that it can teach us so much, and also
my gratitude that young people are involved in this issue of global
warming and climate change.I wanted it here on AlternativePowerPanel blog, as this whole issue
lies at the back of alternative power. We are not just talking
about the economic aspects. Other articles and videos will touch
on that as well as on how each and everyone of us can contribute to
create sustainable living and keep the planet blue (or green, if
you want.

Scroll up to view the video.

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The there are the people from EARTH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-4zeHS6g_8&feature=PlayList&p=C03415C86A65D33E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc-BzY09vTU&feature=PlayList&p=11D4E50213231A81&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-OgF7YNS4A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ozI8TW4he8

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Who would you believe?

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Run Like Hell The Pollution In The Atmosphere Will Kill Us – But there is no place to run

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and the people who are doing the pollution are lying to keep on doing it. As you know this week I have (it’s) been examining phrases with (jam) hell in them to avoid thinking about how (band) bad things are about to get here on Planet Earth. Now it appears that even if we stop today the oceans will continue to acidify for years (friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySO-gryuO-c) and that means a huge loss of food.

http://www.what-the-hell-is-hell.com/Hellphrases.htm

Run like Hell seems to imply really really fast. Like you can run from hell? Or as the song says “get out of hell before they know you are there”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBcY9HGqehE&feature=related

But there is also something in the phrase that implies that you not look back,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntm1YfehK7U&feature=related

And you you do not stop running until you can run no more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcQZ2tnWeg&feature=related

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Like_Hell

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Yet the Energy Industry continues to lie through its teeth about our real choices:

 http://www.alternet.org/water/141202/energy_industry_threatens_water_quality,_sways_congress_with_misleading_data/

Energy Industry Threatens Water Quality, Sways Congress With Misleading Data

By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica. Posted July 9, 2009.

The industry is misleading the public into a false choice between the economy and the environment.

The two key arguments that the oil and gas industry is using to fight federal regulation of the natural gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing — that the costs would cripple their business and that state regulations are already strong — are challenged by the same data and reports the industry is using to bolster its position.

One widely-referenced study (PDF) estimated that complying with regulations would cost the oil and gas industry more than $100,000 per gas well. But the figures are based on 10-year-old estimates and list expensive procedures that aren’t mentioned in the proposed regulations.

Another report (PDF) concluded that state regulations for drilling, including fracturing, “are adequately designed to directly protect water.” But the report reveals that only four states require regulatory approval before hydraulic fracturing begins. It also outlines how requirements for encasing wells in cement — a practice the author has said is critical to containing hydraulic fracturing fluids and protecting water — varies from state to state.

One recommendation in that report flies in face of industry’s assertion that its processes are safe: hydraulic fracturing needs more study and should be banned in certain cases near sensitive water supplies.

Hydraulic fracturing — where water and sand laced with chemicals is injected underground to break up rock — is considered essential to harvesting deeply buried gas reserves that some predict could meet U.S. demand for 116 years.

In 2005 hydraulic fracturing was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act, based on assurances that the process was safe. But a series of ProPublica reports has identified a number of cases in which water has been contaminated in drilling areas across the country, and EPA scientists say they can’t fully investigate them because of the exemption.

Now, Congress is considering legislation to restore the Environmental Protection Agency’s oversight of the process. And industry — leveraging its money and political connections — is using the recent reports to fight back.

Since January at least five studies have been published making the case that state laws (PDF) are adequate and that new regulations could hamper exploration (PDF), raise fuel prices and eliminate jobs. Three of the studies were paid for by the Department of Energy and produced by consulting firms that also work with the industry. One of the DOE reports (PDF) was written by the same person who authored a study for the Independent Petroleum Association of America (PDF)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx3DtXyEqrE

If you are in England you might want to give these folks a try:

http://www.souththamesgas.co.uk

http://www.allaspectsltd.co.uk/services/plumbing-services/

Dave Stern likes them.

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Our Atmospere Is A Hell Bound Train – Illinois moves south and eventually ends up with Louisiana’s weather

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I have suddenly become interested in the descent into hell as a metaphor for the descent of humankind from peak activity to tribalism. I am not a big fan of the descent theory either. It seems like commercial activity and traveling are universal and have gone on since the beginning of time. It is true that certain forms of economic organization have come and gone. But it seems to me that it universally accepted education that comes and goes. Mainly that is because the things we know are true are  constantly evolving. Like he said in Men in Black:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJvl5fnB-bU&feature=PlayList&p=41D6FF8997B79F88&index=3

Anyway, the difference between “hell in a hand basket” and “hell bound train” is that the basket metaphor seems almost leisurely and the train seems to move a lot faster. As far as origins:

http://everything2.com/title/The%2520Hell-Bound%2520Train

One long poem or:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlqqeobOJvg

One long song:

http://tomtrumpinski.com/Tom_Trumpinski/Books_&_Stories.html

One long book.

Nonetheless you have to admit that it can’t predate the invention of the actual train itself. Why worry about such things? Because the idea that Illinois shall soon have sub Trobical weather is just simply revolting. But according to this it is happening faster than even the “extremists” thought:

http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2166

30 Jun 2009: Analysis

Report Gives Sobering View
Of Warming’s Impact on U.S.

A new U.S. government report paints a disturbing picture of the current and future effects of climate change and offers a glimpse of what the nation’s climate will be like by century’s end

by michael d. lemonick

For anyone wondering whether climate change has already hit the United States, a recent U.S. government report says it has — and in a big way.

Witness these trends: In the northeastern U.S., winter temperatures have increased by 4 degrees F since 1970; in the Pacific Northwest, the depth of the Cascade Mountain snowpack on April 1 has declined by 25 percent over the last half century, while spring runoff from the Cascades now occurs nearly a month earlier than 50 years ago; and in Alaska, winter temperatures have increased a stunning 6.3 degrees F in the last 50 years.

Those are just some of the sobering signs of rapid warming spelled out this month in a new report by a U.S. government body that almost no one has heard of: the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCR), which by law is required to report to Congress every ten years on the causes, effects, and possible responses to climate change in the U.S.

If the changes that the U.S. already has experienced make you uneasy, then perhaps you shouldn’t read the the downloadable document itself: It makes quite clear that if the U.S. and the world do little or nothing to slow greenhouse gas emissions, then the climate in the U.S. will be far hotter — and decidedly unpleasant — by the end of this century.

For those inclined to dismiss the USGCR’s report, it should be noted that the group’s scientific pedigree is impeccable. The study is a joint effort of the departments of Energy, Commerce, Defense, State, Interior, Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture — plus the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Science Foundation, and the Agency for International Development.

The report, which includes new material not contained in the 2007 report

Click to Enlarge
climate

U.S. Global Change Research Program

The Warming of Illinois

of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, brings climate change down to the level where people live. For each region of the U.S., the report describes some of the changes that have already been observed, then looks at what’s likely to happen under both a low-emissions scenario (in which emissions of greenhouse gases are cut substantially) and a high-emissions scenario (where the world pretty much stays on the course it’s now following).

Either way, the authors say, significant changes are coming. Substantial emissions cuts are under active debate, but they remain hypothetical so far; the highlights cited here will therefore focus on the business-as-usual scenario — not in order to be alarmist, but to stay in the realm of the concrete.

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I included all that I did just so I could include the cool map of Illinois. Read the rest it is really frightening.

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The Atmosphere’s Going To Hell In A Handbasket – OK so we know it won’t fit

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in a handbasket. I don’t even know what that means or its origins:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-goi1.htm

I have a hunch it was an allusion to being beheaded where the head would have landed in a basket myself but:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hell-in-a-handbasket.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_hell_in_a_handbasket

But I digress…Of course I digress because the prospects of us humans having screwed up our atmosphere so much that it may cease to support most mammalian life is just to gross and disgusting to contemplate.

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jun/30-state-of-the-climate-and-science

Environment / Global Warming

The State of the Climate—and of Climate Science

Four scientists discuss where the climate is and where it’s going.

by photography by Timothy Archibald

From the June 2009 issue, published online June 30, 2009

Robin Bell, Ken Caldera, Bill Easterling, Stephen Schneider

In the list of world challenges, global warming might be at once the most alarming and the most controversial. According to some predictions, climate change caused by human activity could cause mass extinction in the oceans, redraw the planet’s coastlines, and ravage world food supplies. At the same time, a significant portion of the American public questions whether global warming will really cause any major harm; many still doubt that human-driven warming is happening at all. How can we settle the debate? And can we intervene in the process or find ways to adapt to the new conditions? In conjunction with the National Science Foundation and the San Francisco Exploratorium, DISCOVER brought together four experts to discuss the reality and meaning of climate change. In a highly nuanced exchange of ideas, these researchers weighed the various scenarios and laid out a road map for navigating the warmer world to come. The conversation was moderated by DISCOVER’s editor in chief, Corey S. Powell.

POWELL: One question I hear all the time is whether the current change in climate is truly extraordinary. Even if humans are contributing to global warming, isn’t this just like the natural variations that have happened many times in the past?

Robin Bell: A little background first. I spend a lot of time studying the ice sheets at the bottom of the planet—how they form and how they collapse. The poles are like the planet’s air conditioner. When things are working well, the poles keep the planet nice and cool and we don’t think about it. When things stop working, the poles can start to melt and there’s a puddle on the floor. Today both poles are getting warmer; in Greenland and Antarctica you can see the surface of the ice dropping, and you can see there’s less mass when you measure the ice from space. The process has been ongoing, but it looks like it’s happening faster than it was. We know the ice sheets have come and gone in the past. Why is this any different? One of the most compelling reasons is that in the past the ice sheets from the two poles didn’t move together—one would lead and the other would follow. This time, both the north and south are spewing ice into the global ocean, accelerating at the same time.

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Please read more if you dare.

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Sealing A Continuous Ridge Vent – The method I used was not great

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But it was the best I could come up with off the top of my head. Now that I think about it I probably should have used hardening spray foam from a can. Commonly referred to by the trade name Stuff.

http://building.dow.com/global/greatstuffpro.htm

As you can see from this question:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Roofing-1598/Icynene-Insulation-Sealing-Ridge.htm

Roofing – Icynene Insulation and Sealing Ridge Vents

Expert: Dan Merrill – 7/26/2007Question
I am having a home built and plan to have icynene foam insulation sprayed into the attic (exterior walls and the attic ceiling)as well as exterior walls.   My understanding is that with foam insulation, ridge vents are not needed and in fact defeat the purpose.   The house is now framed and the architectural shingles are being installed this week.   I noticed that the opening for the ridge vent has not been physically closed.    The builder uses a truss design rather than a stick built roof.    The tar paper and shingles are just being laid over the open ridge.Is this a problem?   It seems to me that there should be a more solid barrier at the ridge…like wood, rather than just foam, tar paper, then shingles.Any thoughts?   ThanksAnswer
It should not pose a problem.
The usage of conditioned attic space as you are building is fairly new to the building codes and not in general use.
It is likely that most roofing installers have never seen the specifications before, so they just did as they always do.
The foam will be sprayed under the whole roof deck, so it will act as a vapor barrier. The opening cut for a ridge vent should have no affect.

Dan

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However what I did  was cut a rectangular piece of black 4 mill. plastic:

http://hardware.hardwarestore.com/27-112-polyethylene-film/4-mil-plastic-black-poly-film-637465.aspx

Big enough to cover the exposed vent space between the rafters and allow some “drape” over all of the exposed surfaces, approximately 2 ft. by anywhere from 20 inches to 30 inches. I made a continuous bead of 30 year silicon caulk in a square configuration much smaller than the piece of plastic:

http://www.easy2diy.com/cm/easy/diy_ht_3d_index.asp?page_id=35783013

http://www.onlinetips.org/caulk-types

I pushed this up to the peak of the roof, making sure to make complete contact between all of the wood surfaces and the caulk. I then smoothed the plastic out and popped in  5 or 6 staples with my PowerShot staple gun.

http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Black-Decker-Black-Decker-5700-Powershot-Forward-Action-Stapler

Then I put the insulation back up. I bought a cool new product for cheap; plastic wrapped r-17 insulation for 16 bucks. Kinda like insulation in a tube.

http://www.askthebuilder.com/B54_Fiberglass_-_Newest_Improvements.shtml

And I dragged it across the artificial ceiling studs.

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A reader could rightfully ask, why didn’t you make the roofing company come and fix it?

The answer is 2 fold. One, I ordered the roof and I should have been aware that it came with a continuous ridge vent. It is not up to the roofer to go into the attic to determine if you ordered the right roof before he or she installs it.

Second I always fight the battles I want to fight. I have expertise in this area and though I wish I would have thought of the foam solution earlier, it did not take much longer to fix the problem the way I fixed it. Another homeowner might have thought that this was a fight to take to the roofing company.

It turned out when we finally got around to stripping out the paneling to remodel the attic that they had done the same thing to the dormer…man was it hot up there!

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There Is Something In The Attic And It’s Alive II – Roof Leaks are so much fun

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I ended up where I started off. I started with a badly leaking roof in the big shed. I moved on to a leaky basement. Finally I paid 11,000 $$$ for a leaky roof.

It’s Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_0UXRY_rY

Now a traditional home owner would have been calling their lawyer and loading their shotguns, Cathy is an electrician and I am a carpenter so on the second leak we called Dean our roof guy and expressed our displeasure. In the mean time I had been trying to figure out what was going on. I had to take out a bunch of wet insulation. The more I tracked the water up the roof, the more it veered toward the gable vent that I had assumed was sealed and insulated.

http://www.customcopperdesigns.com/Product_Catgs/Gables/index.html

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yGCHPmfqT0&feature=related

Our 2 eve vents were the  triangular ones listed at the bottom of the page. I got this horrible feeling in my gut. Slowly the horror grew. I had an energy monster living in my attic! Me an energy expert had the equivalent of a 4 x 4 ft. hole in my wall in my attic. I knew I had to kill it but the previous owners of the house (who should be shot) had presented me with serious problems. I tried to take the ceiling panel down to get a quick look and discovered that the panels were all beveled. That is the ceiling panel was trapped by the sloping panel which was trapped by the knee wall panel which was trapped by the carpet tack strips from the old carpet…%$&#@*! Is what I said over and over again..

http://mtlcontracting.com/finished_attics.htm

www.hunnewellhomes.com/remodeling.asp

http://s93883215.onlinehome.us/adamjaneiro/2007_09_01_archive.html

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORAvMk-iXec

YOU know exactly what I mean. Everyone has a friend that grew up in the attic. So by the time I basically got 2 whole 4 ft wall and side panels off I was a mixture of pissed, curious and freaked. But it got worse. I made the mistake of pulling the roof panel down with the slope pointing towards me and when I got about half the panel down I was hit in the face with dirt and dust like I had never seen. I let go of the panel and dashed downstairs to wash my face. Then I went out on the front porch, shook my clothes off and brushed my hair out. Now I was nearly out of my mind. I dashed back upstairs to see what in the world had just happened to me. There on the floor were thousands of hornets nests! I looked up at the open unscreened gable vent in disbelief. I mean open to the outside world and only stoppered by an 1/8th inch piece of cheap 1950’s wood paneling. 1953 to be exact. What idiots.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBOGqaiVLUs&feature=related

I got up in the ceiling and looked back the other way. What I saw was a long tunnel formed by the ceiling panels and the roof and ANOTHER unscreened totally open vent at the other end. Then I looked up at a light in the sky – open, though screened continuous ridge vent. I started throwing things around the room, stomped downstairs and called Cathy at work. I screamed for awhile until she got me calmed down. She said, can you fix it? I said yah but I shouldn’t have to. She said, yah right and hung up the phone. The woman has no sense of humor. So then I pulled down the other panel. I scooped up three trash cans full of bees nests.

http://www.virginmedia.com/digital/science/pictures/insect-photography.php?ssid=8

www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/nf/ClipArt/Ima..

http://gardenplotter.com/rospo/blog/2007/03/old-attics.html

At the west end of the house I even found 2 dinner plate sized wasp nests even though my biologist father claims that wasps and hornets will not cohabitate.

http://pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/wasp_and_hornet_control.htm

http://www.aardvark-ie.com/wasps.htm

Then I sealed the vents with black plastic, caulk and staples. I stuffed the space with R-17 insulation and put the wood panels back in place. I have no idea how to seal up a ridge vent that should not be.

Here is how the pro’s do it:

http://www.onthehouse.com/wp/20030929

Since gable vents usually are architectural elements, it generally is best to seal them from the interior with a piece of plywood, thus preserving the architectural integrity of the home and eliminating the need to make a siding patch.

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More on getting rid of the ridge vent Monday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muyqMrsuLXw&feature=related

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