Fed Tax Credits For Geothermal Heatpumps – Finally done with the boring stuff

Now we get to fill out form 5695. Not only that but the credits are good until 2016 when Obama retires. But first the Tax Credits.

Not there silly here:

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits#c6

Geo-Thermal Heat Pump Geo-Thermal Heat Pump Same criteria as ENERGY STAR:Closed Loop:
EER >= 14.1
COP >= 3.3Open Loop:
EER >= 16.2
COP >= 3.6Direct Expansion:
EER >= 15
COP >= 3.5
30% of the cost All ENERGY STAR geo-thermal heat pumps qualify for the tax credit.Use IRS Form 5695 PDF Exit ENERGY STARMust be “placed into service” before December 31, 2016.

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In this day and age everybody should know what a geothermal heat pump is, but if not:

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

A geothermal heat pump (GHP) system is a central heating and/or air conditioning system that actively pumps heat to or from the shallow ground. It uses the earth as either a source of heat in the winter, or as a coolant in the summer. This design takes advantage of moderate temperatures in the shallow ground to boost efficiency and reduce operational costs. It may be combined with solar heating to form a geosolar system with even greater efficiency.

Geothermal heat pumps are also known by a variety of other names, including geoexchange, earth-coupled, earth energy, ground-source or water-source heat pump. The engineering and scientific community tend to prefer the terms “geoexchange” or “ground-source heat pumps” because very little of the heat originates from true geological sources.[1] Instead, these pumps draw energy from shallow ground heated by the sun in the summer. Genuine geothermal energy from the core of Earth is available only in places where volcanic activity comes close to the surface, and can usually be extracted without the help of a heat pump.

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Anyway the first one on the list is my favorite becaused the closed loop is the most flexible. You can run the piping horizontal to the ground if there are mining issues. Or you can go straight down like a well.

http://www.residential.carrier.com/products/geothermalheatpumps/gt-px.shtml

GT-PX Geothermal Heat Pump

Compare Products

 

Ultra-High-Efficient Geothermal Unit for Total Home Comfort

Carrier’s popular GT-PX series is our highest rated geothermal unit, featuring Puron® refrigerant; a two-stage compressor for efficiency; variable speed blower for comfort; E-coated coil; microprocessor control; and a robust, insulated cabinet for quiet operation. Available in vertical top flow, vertical bottom flow and horizontal flow, all with optional hot-water generator. In sizes from 2 through 6 tons.

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I used to be fascinated by Open  Loop systems because they seem so natural. Essentially if you are near a lake or a deep pond you vent your waste heat there. But now I see them as potential environmental disruptors but again this about tax credits. They don’t really care about the environment.

 http://www.bryant.com/products/geoheatpumps/index.shtml

Compare

 

GT-PX Geothermal

GT-PX Geothermal

  • Up to 4.6 COP (closed loop)
  • Up to 27.0 EER (closed loop)
  • Up to 5.1 COP (open loop)
  • Up to 31.5 EER (open loop)
  • Two-stage unloading scroll compressor
  • Variable speed blower motor
  • Puron® refrigerant
  • 10-year limited warranty on all compressor & major refrigeration components. 5-year limited warranty on other parts

 

GT-PG Geothermal

GT-PG Geothermal

  • Up to 4.2 COP (closed loop)
  • Up to 20.2 EER (closed loop)
  • Up to 5.1 COP (open loop)
  • Up to 28.1 EER (open loop)
  • Single stage scroll compressor
  • PSC blower (optional variable speed blower motor)
  • Puron refrigerant
  • 10-year limited warranty on all compressor & major refrigeration components. 5-year limited warranty on other parts

GT-G Geothermal

GT-G Geothermal

  • Up to 3.8 COP (closed loop)
  • Up to 18.5 EER (closed loop)
  • Up to 4.1 COP (open loop)
  • Up to 23.9 EER (open loop)
  • Single stage scroll compressor
  • PSC blower (optional variable speed blower motor)
  • 10-year limited warranty on all compressor & major refrigeration components. 5-year limited warranty on other parts

GT-G Geotherm
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As you can see they all have open loop options because a heat exchanger doesn’t care where it puts it’s heat.

The final version is pretty exotic. I guess they are appropriate if you are in an extreme environment:

http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/heating-geothermal.htm

Direct Expansion (DX): A geothermal heat pump system in which the refrigerant is circulated in pipes buried in the ground, rather than using a heat transfer fluid, such as water or antifreeze solution in a separate closed loop, and fluid to refrigerant heat exchanger. A DX system includes all of the equipment both inside and outside the house. DX systems may be single or multi-speed.

http://www.mrslim.com/Products/subCategory.asp?ProductCategoryID=24&ProductSubCategoryID=140or

or

 http://www.alibaba.com/product/earthenergysolutions-11290116-10854411/Geothermal_Heat_Pump_Waterless_Direct_Expansion.html

or

http://www.geothermix.com/english/product/direct1.html

Direct Expansion “DX” Units

A direct earth coupled heat pump or “DX” heat pump is one that has its refrigerant evaporator / condenser in direct thermal contact with the earth from which heat is either extracted from during the heating mode or introduced to during the cooling mode of operation.

The general refrigeration cycle of our DX machine is similar in nature to a conventional water-to-air or water-to-water heat pump in that there exist a compressor, expansion device, reversing valve, and refrigerant-to-air heat exchanger. Conventional technology concerned with heat pumps relies upon the transfer of heat from the ground by means of a secondary heat exchanger system and working fluid, e.g., water, which is pumped to the geothermal unit located in the heated structure. The conventional heat pump has it’s own internal primary heat exchanger which extracts heat (heating mode) or rejects heat (cooling mode) from this water, which is then pumped back to the earth to be reheated.

DX systems similarily use a ground coil system, however, the working fluid is a refrigerant and the copper groundloop is the primary heat exchanger. Such geothermal heat exchange is an efficient and effective way of achieving heat exchange in heating and air conditioning systems, and especially heat pump type systems. Since the ground temperature is relatively constant at 48 °F at a depth below the frost line, the available heat is constant.

DX Heat Cycle (Gif 11K)

The elimination of the secondary earth heat exchanger (typically plastic in nature) and its associated working fluid reduces the temperature difference required between the ground and the evaporating refrigerant yielding a higher suction pressure than a conventional system under similar circumstances and thus a higher efficiency.

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I like the closed loop the best:

If you are in Las Vegas and you need one installed try:

http://www.plumber-las-vegas.com

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Hungarian Vulcan Association Combined – Thats right HVAC Fed Tax Credits

(and its Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwGL5LDb4u8  )

If you think that I am going to cover all the Energy Efficient HVAC options covered by these credits you would be out of your mind…It would take for ever. Even though it is Jam Band Friday and I could just sit around and listen to Eric Clapton all day. But first the Tax credits:

 http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits#c3

HVAC Central A/C Split Systems:
EER >=13
SEER >= 16Package systems:
EER >= 12
SEER >= 14
30% of cost, up to $1,5002 For a list of qualified products, read this FAQ.Note — not all ENERGY STAR products will qualify for the tax credit. View ENERGY STAR criteria.
Air Source Heat Pumps Split Systems:
HSPF >= 8.5
EER >= 12.5
SEER >= 15Package systems:
HSPF >= 8
EER >= 12
SEER >= 14
30% of cost, up to $1,5002
Natural Gas or Propane Furnace AFUE >= 95 30% of cost, up to $1,5002 For a partial list of qualifying products go to: Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) PDF Exit ENERGY STARNot all ENERGY STAR products will qualify for the tax credit. View ENERGY STAR criteria for furnaces, boilers.
Oil Furnace AFUE >= 90 30% of cost, up to $1,5002
Gas, Propane, or Oil Hot Water Boiler AFUE >= 90 30% of cost, up to $1,5002
Advanced Main Air Circulating Fan No more than 2% of furnace total energy use. Read this FAQ if the fan qualifies, but the furnace does not. 30% of cost, up to $1,5002

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnz-wd9uMrY )

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I can not believe that they are still offering tax credits for home heating oil furnaces. That is so late 1800s. The idea that they would be still supporting boilers for gods sake is so 1940s. Proof  That some things never go away. While I much prefer ground based heat pumps Open Air heat pumps are just OK.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XqT4kBWT4 )

Air Source Heat Pumps Split Systems:
HSPF >= 8.5
EER >= 12.5

SEER >= 15

http://www.qualitysmith.com/heat_pump/?src=got0058515ch001pGoogleAdWordsSearch&refcd=GO550t1257028S_air_source_heat_pumps&tsacr=GO2982392887

Find the Perfect Home Heating System

QualitySmith contractors will help you make the best heating system decision for your home and budget. Our partner contractors will walk you through the benefits and features associated with different system types. Just fill in our simple form to find 3 prescreened, reputable heating system contractors to help you make sure you’re ready for cold weather.

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For a much broader discussion of this plus everything else under the sun:

http://www.century-ac.com/consumer_tax_incentives.htm

What are the efficiency requirements to qualify for the credits?

Manufacturers and retailers should be able to help you tell whether a specific product qualifies.

The qualification specifications are:

  • Furnaces and Boilers: Natural gas & propane furnaces must meet an Annual Fuel Use Efficiency (AFUE) 95 or higher, oil furnaces and gas, oil and propane boilers must meet an AFUE of 90 or better.
  • Central Air Conditioning Units:
    • Central air conditioning units and air-source heat pumps must meet the highest tier standards set by the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) as of February 17, 2009, which in most cases requires a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) of 16. SEER measures performance throughout the cooling season. More information on the CEE specification.
  • Biomass Stoves: Stoves must have a thermal efficiency of 75% as measured using a lower heating value, and be used to heat a dwelling unit or heat water for use in the same. The law defines biomass fuel as anything from agricultural crops, trees, wood wastes & residues to pellets, plants, grasses and fibers.
  • Fans for heating and cooling systems: fan uses no more than 2% of total heating system energy use, as defined by DOE test procedure. For more information, see the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association web site. It is still unclear how the 2009 Stimulus legislation has impacted this incentive – it seems reasonable to assume that the cost basis will be the reasonable cost of the fan, not the entire furnace. IRS has yet to issue specific guidance on this issue.
  • Water Heaters:
    • Gas or propane water heaters—Energy Factor of at least 0.82, or a thermal efficiency of at least 90%.
    • Heat pump water heaters—Energy Factor of at least 2.0

Where must the equipment be used?

Under guidance issued by the IRS, equipment is eligible if installed in a home occupied by a taxpayer as their principal residence at the time the equipment is installed. This implies that equipment in new homes is generally not eligible since in new homes equipment is generally installed prior to occupancy. However, efficient equipment in new homes can help that home qualify for the new home tax credit.

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(There was so much more then Layla from Derek and the Dominos –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxAKPBrjvqI )

If you are interested in the State Tax Incentives for Energy Efficient HVAC equipment here is an excellent site.

http://energytaxincentives.org/general/incentives.php

State and Utility Incentives

In addition to the federal tax incentives, complementary incentives may be available from your state or local utility. For information on many of these programs, see these links:

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When in doubt you can always shop at SEARS

http://www.searshomeimprovements.com/ProductOffer1.aspx?OVMTC=Broad&site=&creative=2768202091&OVKEY=heat+pumps&gclid=CNHe7pK-85oCFQ3yDAodtlirdw&o=2&t=102&primary=true

Your choice in a home improvement company is a big decision. Choose a company you can trust for reliable products, service, installation and peace of mind on one of your biggest investments – your home. Choose Sears!

Reduce Energy Costs and get up to a $1500 Tax Credit from the 2009 Stimulus Package with a new Heating & Cooling System


As your heating & cooling system ages, it can lose its ability to heat or cool your home. Enjoy comfort year round with a new Heating & Cooling System for Sears.
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Gosh just like mom and pops

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AscPOozwYA8 )

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The Day After Memorial Day – In all fairness to the Energy Conglomerates

The US Military is the largest single user of carbon based energy in the World. When you toss in the other worlds militaries, if we just cut the militaries of the world to patrolling borders global warming would backup by decades. Not only that but the Energy Companies are pushed around by the military big time. No military and the pirates take tankers…No Iraq war no Iraqui oil…No defense against China they suck all the world’s resources up like a vacuum cleaner…Do I feel sorry for the Energy Companies or the Military? No they deserve each other I just don’t think we deserve them. GO AWAY.

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/29925

I am not going to reprint the total article here…this guy did a lot of work on graphs and charts and things but it is interesting and he is not the only person to report on this. It is important to note that the Energy Bulletin has been adopted by the Post Carbon Institute (http://www.postcarbon.org/). Wonder when that happened?

Published May 20 2007 by Energy Bulletin
Archived May 21 2007

US military energy consumption- facts and figures

by Sohbet Karbuz

As the saying goes, facts are many but the truth is one. The truth is that the U.S. military is the single largest consumer of energy in the world. But as a wise man once said, don’t confuse facts with reality. The reality is that even U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) does not know precisely where and how much energy it consumes. This is my Fact Zero.

Below I give some facts and figures on U.S. military oil consumption based mostly on official statistics.[1] If you want to reproduce them make sure you read every footnote even if you need to put on your glasses. Also read the footnotes in this article.

FACT 1: The DoD’s total primary energy consumption in Fiscal Year 2006 was 1100 trillion Btu. It corresponds to only 1% of total energy consumption in USA. For those of you who think that this is not much then read the next sentence.

Nigeria, with a population of more than 140 million, consumes as much energy as the U.S. military.

The DoD per capita[2] energy consumption (524 trillion Btu) is 10 times more than per capita energy consumption in China, or 30 times more than that of Africa.

Total final energy consumption (called site delivered energy by DoD) of the DoD was 844 trillion Btu in FY2006FACT 2: Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) sold $13 billion of energy to DoD services in FY2006. More than half of it was to Air Force.

FACT 3: Oil accounts for more than three-fourths of DoD’s total site delivered energy consumption. Oil is followed by electricity (slightly more than 10%) and natural gas (nearly 10%). In terms of fuel types, jet fuel (JP-8)[3] accounts for more than 50% of total DoD energy consumption, and nearly 60% of its mobility[4] fuel.

FACT 4: Nearly three quarters of DoD site delivered energy is consumed by vehicles (or for mobility if you like). Only one quarter is consumed in buildings and facilities.[5]FACT 5: DoD consumed 97 million gasoline gallon equivalent in its non-tactical vehicles and for that it spent 238 million dollars.

FACT 6: In 2006, its oil consumption was down to 117 million barrels (or 320 thousand barrels per day),[10] despite increasing activity in Iraq and Afghanistan.

FACT 7: In 2006, for example, DESC reports in its Factbook that it sold 131 million barrels of oil (or 358 kbd) to DoD but DoD Federal Energy Management Report states that DoD consumed 117 million barrels (or 320 kbd).[12]

FACT 8: According to 2007 CIA World Fact Book there are only 35 countries in the world consuming more oil than DoD.

FACT 9: There exist no official estimates. Let me know if you see or hear one. According to my most pessimist estimates it is about 150 thousand barrels per day FACT 10: Whatever the true figure oil consumed by the U.S. military does not show up in world oil demand. See for more explanation under item #425 in October 2004 issue of ASPO Newsletter.

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For more of this incredibly insightful and well written article please go to the above website and see it..Even the Military is aware that it is seen as a BIG FAT energy PIG, but it is also aware that NO OIL = NO WAR

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/addressing-the-militarys-energy-efficiency/

Addressing the Military’s Energy Inefficiency

 

Report

The folks who gave the world the Hummer, the poster child of fuel inefficiency, want to spawn a new generation of eco-friendly military equipment with cross-over potential in the “civilian sector,” say a group of retired American military officers who released a sharply worded report on Monday calling on the Department of Defense to reduce its “carbon bootprint.”

“The American military gave you the Humvee, and now we’re taking it back,” said retired Adm. John Nathman, the former vice chief of naval operations and an adviser to President Obama, in a conference call on Monday. “You’re going to see some fairly dramatic movement by the Department of Defense in terms of public visibility.”

The report, “Powering America’s Defense,” was published by CNA Analysis and Solutions, a research group based in Alexandria, Va., that issued a previous study on defense and energy security in 2007.

In the new study’s preface, 12 retired military officers lay out the case for weaning the military — and the country — off oil:

Many of our overseas deployments were de?ned, in part, by the strategic decision to ensure the free ?ow of oil, to the U.S. and to our allies. Many of the troops we commanded were aided by air cover from high-thrust delivery systems that only an energy-intense society can provide. Many of these same troops were often burdened and imperiled by battle?eld systems that were energy-inef?cient. Some of the attacks on our troops and on American civilians have been supported by funds from the sale of oil. Our nation’s energy choices have saved lives; they have also cost lives.

As we consider America’s current energy posture, we do so from a singular perspective: We gauge our energy choices solely by their impact on America’s national security. Our dependence on foreign oil reduces our international leverage, places our troops in dangerous global regions, funds nations and individuals who wish us harm, and weakens our economy; our dependency and inef?cient use of oil also puts our troops at risk.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking minority member chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, told The Associated Press that he strongly agreed “with the stark conclusions” of the report, whose authors point out that fluctuating oil prices, dependence on foreign resources and an ailing electricity grid imperil national security both at home and abroad.

“Climate change is a threat multiplier,” said Vice Adm. Dennis V. McGinn, a retired officer and former commander of the Third Fleet.

Defense officials have previously described the American military as likely the world’s largest consumer of petroleum products, with an annual outlay in excess of $13 billion.

Each $1 per barrel increase in oil prices translates into $130 million of extra cost.

Calls for the military to address its environmental performance are not new. But in the past year or so, energy efficiency seems have become more of a priority, from a new solar wall installation at Fort Drum to the purchase of a large electric vehicle fleet for military bases.

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After all is said and done, are we safer with all this energy consumption? I think not:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/19-9

US Energy Use a National Security Threat: Study

WASHINGTON – US dependence on fossil fuels and a vulnerable electric grid pose a perilous threat to the country’s national security, retired military officers warned Monday in a report.

The threat requires urgent action and the Defense Department should lead the way in transforming America’s energy use by aggressively pursuing efficiency measures and renewable sources, said the report by CNA, a nonprofit research group.

“Our dependence on foreign oil reduces our international leverage, places our troops in dangerous global regions, funds nations and individuals who wish us harm, and weakens our economy,” it said.

“The market for fossil fuels will be shaped by finite supplies and increasing demand. Continuing our heavy reliance on these fuels is a security risk,” said the report titled “Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security.”

The authors, top ranked retired officers from the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, also point to the strained domestic electricity network as a possible hazard for US military bases.

“Our domestic electrical system is also a current and significant risk to our national security: many of our large military installations rely on power from a fragile electrical grid that is vulnerable to malicious attacks or interruptions caused by natural disasters,” it said.

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Bataan Nuclear Power Plant And Earthquakes – Shake, Rattle and Roll

(it’s jam band friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Feq_Nt3nM )

This maybe the longest list of Qualifiers I have ever published and I have to start by eating crow to boot. I made a missssstaaake yesterday. The piece that I was quoting yesterday was actually a piece on seismic activity, but I thought what it said was more applicable to Volcanic eruptions. I said that the Natib Caldera had erupted 3,000 years ago, but the actual article said that a major fault shift had occurred every 2,000 years. The last major fault shift was 3,000 years ago so a major Earth Quake was overdue. The caldera last blew 14 to 18,000 years ago and not enough is known about its activity to say what its periocity is. Whew, I feel so much better…A major earthquake in the area is overdue.

( I know that Shake Rattle and Roll isn’t really a jam song but what the heck it’s Friday)

As was noted in one of the comments in the seismic piece, the Philippines is not alone in either being on the Ring Of Fire nor is it the only Earth Quake prone zone in the world.  Japan and America are both very sophisticated places technologically and also have extensive infrastructures to handle disasters in general. The Philippines is neither. Plus where are you going to evacuate too? It is an island. Not only that but the Japanese and the Americans have released a lot of radiation over the years. Look the big deal is Bataan is not fueled. Once it is fueld you might as well run it because everything is radioactive anyway. Drago in the US is just as much a threat.  I bitched about it for years while it was being built and submitted written protest to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency in DC when it was Licensed.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpT8Sd9wRlQ&feature=related )

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So having said all that, the Philippines really shakes:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=7.8686,126.8434(M5.7+-+Mindanao,+Philippines+-+2009+May+21+05%3A53%3A59+UTC)&t=h&z=7

Everyday. Why because the Philippines sits on the edge of a Techtonic Plate. So really BIG things can happen:

( Elvis shake those hips http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCBT7PfAEgc&feature=related )

http://www.drj.com/drworld/content/w1_116.htm

Earthquake Devastates Philippines

By Cathy Clark and Jim Taylor

On July 16, 1990 at 4:26 p.m. local time, a severe earthquake registering 7.7 on the Richter scale struck the northern Philippines. The earthquake caused damage over a region of about 7700 square miles, extending northwest from Manila through the densely populated Central Plains of Luzon and into the mountains of the Cordillera Central.
Over 5,000 people were reported dead or injured, and in excess of 2300 infrastructures were either destroyed or seriously damaged. While the quake was devastating, it was not an unusual occurrence in the Philippines; since 1950 alone there have been six major earthquakes at various locations in the archipelago, having magnitudes ranging from 7.3 to 8.3.

STRUCTURAL DAMAGE

Buildings were decimated by ground shaking, soil failure and liquefication (causing them to settle into the ground), and landslides.
Nearly all multistory buildings in the Philippines are constructed of reinforced concrete frames, supporting slab floors. Short-column failure was evident in many buildings observed to have the classic diagonal cracking where the column was acting as a short shear wall and could not carry the loads. Many unreinforced masonry infilled walls separated from the concrete frames and collapsed.
In the heavily shaken regions, two general types of disastrous failure to multistory, larger reinforced concrete buildings were observed–failed first stories and total building collapse.

First-story (or Soft-story) Failures

The ground floor of a building is frequently the weakest part of the structure. It is seldom enclosed on all four sides by walls capable of resisting shear forces, and it is also generally taller than upper floors. Ground floor shops, stores, lobbies, or garages normally allot most of their front wall area to doors or plate glass, leaving one side of the building with no shear resistance. Bending and shear forces induced by strong ground shaking are therefore concentrated in the ground-floor columns. As a result, the building may fail by collapse of only its first story, with the stronger upper section of the building remaining intact.

Multistory Failures

Many multistory building failures or “pancake” collapses (typically with structures of six to ten stories) were observed in the city of Baguio. One such collapse included a nine-story hotel which killed over a dozen occupants on the ground floor. This type of damage has been observed repeatedly in numerous earthquakes throughout the world where design and construction deficiencies exist.

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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_SOmE5tfNo&feature=related )

Not only that but it appears to happen about once every 20 years or so:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/1968_Casiguran_earthquake

Ph Locator Aurora Casiguran

 The 1968 Casiguran earthquake occurred on August 2, 1968 at a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in Casiguran
Casiguran is a 3rd class Philippine municipality in the northern part of the Philippine province of Aurora province, Philippines. It is located 121 km from Baler, Aurora, the provincial capital….
Quezon

Quezon is a Provinces of the Philippines of the Philippines located in the CALABARZON Regions of the Philippines in Luzon. The province was named after Manuel L….(now part of Aurora province).The city of Manila, or simply ‘Manila’, is the Capital of the Philippines and one of the 17 cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila…. was the hardest hit with 268 people were killed and 261 more were injured. Many structures that suffered severe damage were built near the mouth of the Pasig River

The Pasig River is a river in the Philippines and connects Laguna de Bay into Manila Bay. It stretches for and divides Metro Manila into two….on huge alluvial deposits. A number of buildings were damaged beyond repair while others only suffered cosmetic damage. Two hundred and sixty people died during the collapse of the 6-story Ruby Tower, located in the district of Binondo. The entire building, save for a portion of the first and second floors at its northern end, was destroyed. Allegations of poor design and construction, as well as use of low-quality building materials, arose. In the District of Santa Ana is a district of the City of Manila in the Philippines, located at the southeast banks of the Pasig River, bounded on the northeast by Mandaluyong City, Makati City to the east, southwest is the Manila district of Paco, Manila, and to the west, Pandacan, Manila…. one person was injured by debris from a damaged apartment building.
Two more people from Aurora sub province and Pampanga  is a Provinces of the Philippines of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga….
died as a direct result of the quake. Around the town of Casiguran, there were several reports of landslides, the most destructive one at Casiguran Bay.

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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t61oJT-d900&feature=related  )

So let’s put our thinking caps on here. The Luzon Earth Quake happened in 1990 and Pinatubo happened in 1991. What if the Luzon earthquake had hit Manila like the Casiguran. I don’t think I would have wanted to have had to worry about a Nuclear Reactor popping off. Guess what it has been about 20 years…

:}

Bataan Death March Repeated – How desperate is the Nuclear Power Industry to be reborn

There is a movement afoot in the Philippines to actually fuel a long abandoned Nuclear power plant. It was built but never fueled because nuclear power makes no economic sense. The fuel is too expensive, and creating the fuel is so lethal as to be largely unthinkable. But in this particular case…much like the nukes in California built on earthquake fault zones…the Philippines in general is sooooo close to the water table as to invite the China Syndrome. For those that relate that to a mildly entertaining and scary movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078966/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FxtBJ59Jm8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnDBXGb6Nn8

The reality of the China Syndrome was suppressed at Three Mile Island where at least a 1,000 people died and 1,000s more were sickened in a 5 state region in New England:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmmdh8Xlbvg&feature=related

It was never confronted at Chernobyl where 10s of 1,000s died and 100s of 1000s of people were sickened worldwide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=101OEaksU0s&feature=related

Where unbelievably 3 Nuclear Reactors still operate today…next to a Lake..

So why intheworld would you want to fuel a reactor built in 1976 on an island near the sea in a tropical jungle? Because it cost 2.6 billion $$$ to build (thanks Ferdinand Marco…where do you think his wife got those shoes) and which is still costing the people of the Philippines 155,000 $$$ a day. As the song says, Money Money Money:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkOmcIl79s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O8gTib5rnw

But let’s start at the beginning, I was 22 in 1976 and working at Powerton, a Com Ed coal fired powerplant in Pekin, IL.

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

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant, completed but never fueled, on Bataan Peninsula, 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Manila in the Philippines. It is located on a 3.57 square kilometer government reservation at Napot Point in Morong, Bataan. It was the Philippines’ only attempt at building a nuclear power plant.

[edit] History

The Philippine nuclear program started in 1958 with the creation of the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) under Republic Act 2067.[1]

Under a regime of martial law, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in July 1973 announced the decision to build a nuclear power plant.[1] This was in response to the 1973 oil crisis, as the Middle East oil embargo had put a heavy strain on the Philippine economy, and Marcos believed nuclear power to be the solution to meeting the country’s energy demands and decreasing dependence on imported oil.[2]

Construction on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant began in 1976. Following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States, construction on the BNPP was stopped, and a subsequent safety inquiry into the plant revealed over 4,000 defects.[1] Among the issues raised was that it was built near major earthquake fault lines and close to the then dormant Pinatubo volcano.[2]

By 1984, when the BNPP was nearly complete, its cost had reached $2.3 billion.[2] A Westinghouse light water reactor, it was designed to produce 621 megawatts of electricity.[2]

Marcos was overthrown by the People Power Revolution in 1986. Days after the April 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the succeeding administration of President Corazon Aquino decided not to operate the plant.[1][3] Among other considerations taken were the strong opposition from Bataan residents and Philippine citizens.[1][3]

The government sued Westinghouse for overpricing and bribery but was ultimately rejected by a United States court.[4]

Debt repayment on the plant became the country’s biggest single obligation, and while successive governments have looked at several proposals to convert the plant into an oil, coal, or gas-fired power station, but all have been deemed less economically attractive in the long term than the construction of new power stations.[2]

Despite never having been commissioned, the plant has remained intact, including the nuclear reactor, and has continued to be maintained.[2] The Philippine government completed paying off its obligations on the plant in April 2007, more than 30 years after construction began.[2]

On January 29, 2008, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes announced that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 8-man team led by Akira Omoto inspected the mothballed Bataan Nuclear power station on rehabilitation prospects. In preparing their report, the IAEA made two primary recommendations. First, the power plant’s status must be thoroughly evaluated by technical inspections and economic evaluations conducted by a committed group of nuclear power experts with experience in preservation management. Second, the IAEA mission advised the Philippines Government on the general requirements for starting its nuclear power programme, stressing that the proper infrastructure, safety standards, and knowledge be implemented.[5] The IAEA’s role did not extend to assessing whether the power plant is usable or not, or how much the plant may cost to rehabilitate.
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What a bad idea.

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Dan Piraro, Jason Love And Matthew Difee Go Live – What do 3 pretty funny guys have to do with energy

Or even the environment or residential energy conservation? Well Actually nothing but Dan lets me post a cartoon of his periodically here when I am completely out of ideas or when he is particularly brilliant which ever comes first. So when he asked his blog readers to reach out to media moguls and poobas to see if they might air a version of it like on Showtime or HBO I could not resist but first the toon:

http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/

bz-earthday-04-22-09wb.jpg

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Now the Pitch:

COMEDY SHOW!!!

(Click the image for largerer viewage.)

A RARE COMEDY EVENT COMING TO YOUR TOWN!!!
(If your town is New York City.)

I’m doing one of my increasingly rare comedy shows in NYC for an ENTIRE WEEK next month and I can’t bear the thought of going on unless you’re going to be there. Please don’t break my already fragile heart by saying, “I can’t afford to fly all the way to New York From Seattle,” or “I wish I could be there but I’m in prison until 2019.” What is more important to you? Your precious money or my flimsy ego? (Before you answer that, consider that I will give you an autograph when you come to the show, which you can then sell on eBay to offset $3-$4 of your airfare and hotel costs.)

Seriously, this is a big show for me. I do a talk or a short set now and then, most often on the West Coast, but I’m doing fewer of these long-form comedy shows all the time and this is a full week of performances off-Broadway in NYC, so there are a lot of seats to fill. Please come. If you can’t come, send someone you know in NYC to the show and tell them to tell me you said “hi.”

After the show, you’ll be able to meet me, Jason, and Matthew as we hang out in the lobby selling books, signing breasts, and pooping out witty ripostes like a member of the Algonquin Round Table. If you’re lucky, you might even meet CHNW!

Ticket info here. Hope to see you there!

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So if you are the Chief Executive Officer of a cable channel like say:

Matt Blank

at Showtime

or

Bill Nelson

at HBO

or

Doug Herzog

at Comedy Central

or even

John Odoner

at JTV

Give these poor guys a break and send someone to their show. Thanks again Dan!
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Tidal Generators – Let’s harness the Moon before it drifts away

It’s Jammin Band Friday. Not only that but I have spent so much time this week hyping the Wind Power 2009 conference/convention that I thought I should end on a surfin note:

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

It is a little know fact that the moon is moving away from the Earth at about an inch per year. We know this because on one of the Apollo Landings (quick for those of you who don’t believe that they ever happened -CLOSE Your Eyes) they placed an aluminum block on it’s surface. Since that time and with intensifying accuracy we have been bouncing lasers off of it and this has allowed us to determine the distance to the moon (its original purpose) but the unexpected find that that distance is widening…Anyway this means that eventually the Moon will drift away into space. I think we should harvest its today power while we can. I mean in a million years or so it could be gone. Here is a huge thought problem for you…Where will it go?..Whoa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz-I2pYc4Kg

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http://www.gedwardcook.com/

We The People 

Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness:  Health Care is a RIGHT 
Solar Power  The Wave of Tomorrow!!!
The three devices  The Syphon Wave Generator , The Floating Wave Generator and The Under The Bottom Generator
could have a major effect in stopping global warming by converting ocean waves into electricity.
Click Here to see the new Syphon Wave Generator video on You Tube!!
            The Syphon Wave Generator           The Floating Wave Generator          The Under the Bottom Generator
Patent No. 7355298     04/08/2008               Patent No. US 7315092    01/01/2008          Patent Pending No. 61204580
                              The Three inventions are being developed by Green Wave Energy Corp www.GWEConline.com
Click these links for more information and videos
NEW!   WORKING SYPHON MOVIE
THE FLOATING WAVE GENERATOR
  There will soon be a new video of a working Floating Wave Generator producing Hydrogen and Real Power and The Under the Bottom Generator!!

ARE YOU READY FOR REAL CHANGE?
How about a power plant for less than $1 per watt to construct and install?
Click here for more information!
For Energy Saving Products including:
Wind Mills   Solar Collectors  and  Power Save Products
go to  GWEC    www.GWEConline.com  
 WHAT WILL THESE GENERATORS DO?
STOP GLOBAL WARMING!
These units could produce enough power to replace most oil, coal and nuclear power plants with 100% solar produced electricity.  The Syphon Wave Generators would produce enough electricity at such a low cost they would make it possible to separate the hydrogen from ocean water and  store it in power cells to use in our cars and trucks. We would also be able to convert homes now powered with heating oil to electric heat saving billions of gallons of oil per year. I estimate one square mile of Syphon Wave Generators, in good locations with average two meter waves, would produce as much power as ten nuclear reactors.  1,000,000,000 watts!
FEED THE HUNGRY!
Today we are growing more and more crops to convert into fuel to run our cars. These crops could feed every hungry person in the world.  I find this unconscionable. We could and should be using our farm land to grow food crops and use the solar power to power our world. We could do this and the Syphon Wave Generator and the Floating Wave Generator are tools to help make this happen.
Thanks for your interest
G Edward Cook
 
:}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6HQtZFxcUo

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http://blogs.tampabay.com/energy/2008/10/wave-power-gene.html

October 02, 2008

Wave power generator cranks up off Portuguese coast, and Oregon may be next

Pelamiswavepower The world’s first commercial wave power project has cranked up at last three miles off the Portuguese coast, CNN reports. The first phase is expected to generate 2.25 megawatts, enough power for 1,000 homes, according to the Guardian.

“If successful, a second phase will see energy generation rise to 21 megawatts from a further 25 machines providing electricity for 15,000 Portuguese homes,” CNN says.

The generators, made by a company called Pelamis, are three red cylindrical converters (shown here) which are partially submerged in the Atlantic Ocean. “Moving up and down on the endless waves of the open sea, they convert motion into electricity, without emitting any of the carbon dioxide that is warming the planet,” the Guardian notes.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxYbR-YyNjs

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http://www.sri.com/news/releases/080307.html

Novel Wave-Powered Generators Deployed in Sea Trials off Florida Coast

 

Technology from SRI International Offers Clean Energy Production from Ocean Waves

Wave BuoyST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – August 3, 2007 – SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research and development organization, announced today the deployment of a prototype buoy-mounted, ocean wave-powered generator off the coast of Florida in the Tampa Bay. Beginning today, SRI will test the wave-powered generator for approximately two weeks. The deployment is part of a program sponsored by HYPER DRIVE Corporation, Ltd., a Japanese company focused on development and deployment of wave-powered generators around the world.

SRI’s wave-powered generators can be deployed on existing ocean buoys that use batteries as their energy source. SRI’s new generator utilizes patented electroactive polymer artificial muscle (EPAM™) technology, and offers a renewable method to continually power ocean buoys. SRI will use instrumentation that allows remote monitoring of the generator’s output energy as well as wave height and buoy motion. Assisting the Menlo Park, California-based research team are researchers in SRI’s new Marine Technology Program, which is located in St. Petersburg, Florida. SRI is also working with Artificial Muscle, Inc., an SRI spin-off company and the exclusive licensee of EPAM, in the development of the EPAM components for the wave-powered generators.

“HYPER DRIVE is excited to work with SRI on this important application of EPAM technology,” said Shuji Yonemura, CEO, HYPER DRIVE. “We see great potential in applying this technology to wave-power generation around the world in the near future.”

“When SRI International opened its operations in St. Petersburg earlier this year, we anticipated great strides in marine research like we see today,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker. “This energy-generating technology is a perfect fit for an industry based in St. Petersburg, which was designated Florida’s first and only green city by the Florida Green Building Coalition.”

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOuS04rPwj4

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http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/bouncing_buoy_w.php

wave_power_1.jpg

Proving once again that there is little new under the sun (or the waves) is this 1932 version of the wave power generators that we showed here and here. It works on the basis of an “inertia motor” where “When a wave starts to lift the hollow sphere, the massive weight inside, because of its inertia, resists the movement and exerts terrific pressure in the lower cylinder. Finally the inertia of the weight is overcome. Then it possesses momentum. When the sphere reaches the crest of a wave, the combined effort of the momentum and the recoil of the huge, semi-elliptic springs exerts an equal pressure in the upper cylinder. The tremendous pressure is applied to oil, which, in turn, operates a special turbine which runs a generator. The current is conducted to the shore by submarine cable.” ::Modern Mechanix

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Heaven Let The Light Shine Down – indeed

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

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Enbridge Energy And The Rape Of The Canadian Oil Sands – Damge that you can see from space

Why are these people?:

http://www.enbridge.com/

News Releases

Enbridge Inc. Announces Change to Webcast Start Time for 2009 First Quarter Financial Results

Enbridge’s Hybrid Fuel Cell Power Plant Featured on Daily Planet and a Finalist in Green Toronto Awards

News Release (PDF – 69.0KB)

Joint energy industry carbon dioxide storage project achieves key milestone

more…

Enbridge Ontario Wind Power Turns on Green Energy in Kincardine

more…

CCS proposals offer significant emission reductions

04.01.2009

Enbridge Announces plans to hold Open Season for proposed LaCrosse Pipeline

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Doing this?

can1.jpg

www.solarnavigator.net

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=70fd4398-81ff-4f17-8ad4-d81e1abe8a46

 

Oilsands damage is ignored

In a province running out of conventional oil and gas, Alberta’s oilsands are seen as a lifeline that will guarantee the continuation of our comfortable energy-driven society.

In a province running out of conventional oil and gas, Alberta’s oilsands are seen as a lifeline that will guarantee the continuation of our comfortable energy-driven society.

Too much of the time, people in this province don’t think about the cost of this gigantic oilsands development. It’s easy to do: most Albertans don’t live in, and rarely visit, the northern one-fifth of the province where the oilsands lie. What we don’t personally see or smell or taste, we tend to ignore.

The four-day series on the environmental impact of the oilsands boom written by Journal environment reporter Hanneke Brooymans, which started on Friday, is a valuable corrective to our neglect.

can.jpg

www.wellsphere.com

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/12/canadian_oil_at.php

Canadian Oil: At What Price?

by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 12. 9.05

Most of you are already aware of the damage caused by the burning and the extraction of oil (like the apprehended damage caused by extraction in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, for example). But what about the famous Canadian tar sands? After only two years of digging for bitumen near Fort McMurray in Alberta, Shell has already dug up a pit that is as much as three miles wide and 200 feet deep. 400-ton trucks, said to be the largest in the world, are used to move around all that dirt, and it takes a lot of it since on average 2 tons of tar sand are required to make 1 barrel of oil.

can2.jpg

www.ienearth.org

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/155046/Oil-sands-company-now-says-1606-ducks-diedhttp://www.responsibleminer.com/234/canadian-oil-sands-declared-more-environment-damage.html

Oil sands company now says 1,606 ducks died

04/01/2009 | 06:49 AMEDMONTON, Alberta — A Canadian oil sands company says more than three times as many ducks died last spring on a northern Alberta toxic waste pond than the 500 birds originally estimated.

Syncrude Canada chief executive Tom Katinas said Tuesday the carcasses of 1,606 ducks were collected from the toxic oily waters. The ponds contain waste from the process of separating oil from sand.

Katinas released the updated figure a week after an Alberta court granted the consortium three more months to enter a plea on federal and provincial wildlife charges. – AP

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Don’t Believe go look for yourself:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=canadian%20oil%20sands&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il

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Why should we in Illinois care?

http://www.sj-r.com/news/x1092988725/Officials-lobby-for-oil-pipeline-project-might-start-in-early-summer

 

Officials lobby for oil pipeline; project might start in early summer

Environmental groups oppose last phase of Canadian-U.S. energy company’s plan

GateHouse News Service

Posted Apr 29, 2009 @ 12:06 AM

Last update Apr 29, 2009 @ 10:39 AM

SPRINGFIELD —

Construction of a major underground oil pipeline along the eastern edge of Sangamon County could begin as early as this summer.

An energy developer and the Canadian consul general from Chicago are in Springfield this week to seek support for the endeavor as a major boost for jobs and energy security, including a meeting scheduled today with Gov. Pat Quinn.

The first section of the nearly 3-year-old, $350 million construction project has been completed to an area about 50 miles northeast of Peoria.

But the final phase has run into opposition from environmental groups and some landowners, who say the pipeline would only encourage continued reliance on polluting petroleum products and would violate property rights.

“Canada has the second-largest reserves in the world. There’s 170 billion barrels of reserves, and 97 percent are in the oil sands,” said Don Thompson, president of The Oil Sands Developers Group.

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Central Illinois Where The Energy Past Confronts The Future – Which will win?

While Scooters and Wind Turbines may be the future the past always tries to claw its way back into the picture. In the past week we have had news about ADM’s efforts to inject poison into Mother Earth, a letter to the SJR indicating that a Carbon Tax would create the End Of Civilization As We Know It, and a team of Lobbyists here in Springfield and Chicago drumming up support for the extension of a pipeline from Peoria to the Wood River Refinery to complete the Rape Of Northern Canada…

Thank God no one suggested a New Nuclear Powerplant or I would have run out of space on this blog.

First ADM:

http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2008/01/04/news/doc477daa5c2edd0528350999.txt

Friday, January 4, 2008 12:22 AM CST
Sequestration project in works at ADM; effort is similar to that planned for FutureGen

DECATUR — A project to test carbon dioxide storage capacity deep below Archer Daniels Midland Co.’s campus is scheduled to begin this spring.

The company will announce today a partnership with the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium, which is led by the Champaign-based Illinois State Geological Survey, to work on the $84.3-million project.

It will be one of seven projects the U.S. Department of Energy is funding to demonstrate carbon dioxide, or CO2, storage capacity in underground formations throughout the country. Researchers are looking for uses of carbon dioxide other than emitting it into the atmosphere.

“The whole idea is to understand what is going on in any given area to figure out whether this technique can be safe and effective,” said Robert Finley, director of the Illinois State Geological Survey. “Ultimately this is a technique that we are looking at very carefully to understand what the volume of the CO2 is that might actually be placed in the subsurface.”

The consortium will receive $66.7 million to test a part of the Mount Simon Sandstone, a saline-water-bearing rock formation that has increased in notoriety recently because the FutureGen plant in Mattoon also will test it. The formation runs below most of Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana and part of Ohio.

Beginning in late April, workers will drill more than 6,500 feet below the surface to the rock layer where the carbon dioxide will be stored. The drilling is expected to take about two months to complete, Finley said.

The energy department has awarded $4.2 million in funding for the drilling, Finley said. Another $5.24 million to cover the first year of the project is expected to be awarded within weeks, he said.

The project will inject 1,000 tons per day of carbon dioxide from ADM’s ethanol plant into the ground, Finley said. The layer where it will be injected is about 1,000 feet thick in the Decatur area, Finley said.

Injecting is scheduled to start in October 2009 and be completed in 2012. For two years after that, officials will monitor, take samples and make sure nothing is leaking from the formation.

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OK let us see – How can something be CERTAIN and yet Experimental? No one will answer that question. The Illinois EPA which is being investigated by the Federal EPA for Collusion with Polluters gave them a permit in a heartbeat..:

http://myecoproject.org/global-warming-news/sequester-co2-first-us-large-scale-co2-storage-project-advances/

Sequester CO2: First U.S. Large-Scale CO2

Storage Project Advances

April 11, 2009 by Administrator
Filed under Global Warming News

Leave a Comment

One Million Metric Tons of Carbon to be Sequesteres at Illinois Site

(Washington, D.C.) – Drilling nears completion for the first large-scale carbon dioxide (CO2) injection well in the United States for CO2 sequestration. This project will be used to demonstrate that CO2 emitted from industrial sources – such as coal-fired power plants – can be stored in deep geologic formations to mitigate large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) hosted an event April 6 for a CO2 injection test at their Decatur, Ill. ethanol facility. The injection well is being drilled into the Mount Simon Sandstone to a depth more than a mile beneath the surface. This is the first drilling into the sandstone geology since oil and gas exploratory drilling was conducted between 15 and 40 years ago. No wells within 50 miles have been drilled all the way to the bottom of the sandstone, which the storage well will do.

The project is funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

“This test represents an exciting step forward in the Department’s collaborative efforts to develop America’s carbon sequestration capabilities,” said Dr. Victor K. Der, Acting Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy. “In Decatur, we’re moving from theory to application.”

A collaboration between ADM and the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC), the injection test is part of the development phase of the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships program managed by the National Energy Laboratory (NETL) for the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE).

The project will obtain core samples of the Mount Simon Sandstone during drilling that will be used in analysis to help determine the best section for injection. The sandstone formation is approximately 2,000 feet thick in the test area.

From 2010 to 2013, up to one million metric tons of captured CO2 from ADM’s ethanol production facility in Decatur will be injected more than a mile beneath the surface into a deep saline formation. The amount of injected CO2 will roughly equal the annual emissions of 220,000 automobiles.

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What was it that Sarte said about Collaboraters, “shave the women’s heads and shoot the men”. There will be accidents and deaths from this process. THERE ALWAYS ARE in any industrial process. The worst case is explosions and deaths followed by contaminated ground water. If eventually successful, what else will they try to put down there? This is short term planning for short term gain (the hallmark of Corporate Capitolism) at its finest.

You might ask – at what cost?

http://www.adm.com/en-US/news/_layouts/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?ID=2

The $84.3 million project will be funded by $66.7 million from the U.S. Department of Energy over a period of seven years, supplemented by cofunding from ADM and other corporate and state resources.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is the world leader in BioEnergy and has a premier position in the agricultural processing value chain. ADM is one of the world’s largest processors of soybeans, corn, wheat and cocoa. ADM is a leading manufacturer of biodiesel, ethanol, soybean oil and meal, corn sweeteners, flour and other value-added food and feed ingredients. Headquartered in Decatur, Illinois, ADM has over 27,000 employees, more than 240 processing plants and net sales for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007 of $44 billion. Additional information can be found on ADM’s Web site at http://www.admworld.com/.

From:
Jessie McKinney
ADM Media Relations
217/424-5413

Download as PDF

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Wonder why I wasn’t invited to the April 6th event? This looks promising doesn’t  it?

http://sequestration.org/

Early morning moon over rig.

The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC), lead by the Illinois State Geological Survey, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Schlumberger Carbon Services, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE) marked a milestone in one of the nation’s first large-scale studies intended to confirm that carbon dioxide emissions can be stored permanently in deep underground rock formations. At a ceremonial groundbreaking celebrating the imminent completion of an approximately 8,000-foot-deep injection well on ADM’s Decatur, Ill., property, officials noted the significance of the DOE funded Illinois Basin-Decatur study.

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Looks like NASTY getting ready to happen to me.

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Nuclear Power Goes South – I don’t want to work, it’s jam band Friday

I just want to bang the drum all day….That is a direct quote from Duke Power’s William Griggs when asked why there are 12 nuclear power plant license applications in the south eastern US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZclddLcOYYA
Well maybe not but they sure see it as easy money. Once again to cheap to meter:

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40785

ENERGY: Protests Greet Nuclear Power Resurgence in US South
By Matthew Cardinale


A recent protest at the Oak Ridge nuclear plant in Tennessee.

Credit:Nicholas Foster/Atlanta Progressive News


WAYNESBORO, Georgia , Jan 14 (IPS) – Residents and environmental activists are in a bitter dispute with large U.S. energy corporations and the federal government over the safety of nuclear power, as more than a dozen corporations plan to, or have filed, paperwork to open new nuclear power plants, primarily in the U.S. South.

Energy giants like Southern Company, Entergy, and Florida Power and Light are attracted by billions in governmental incentives offered under the George W. Bush Administration.

“There’s a whole suite of incentives being pumped out by the federal government to try and cajole the utilities back into the game,” Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South told IPS.

The U.S. Congress last month passed 38.5 billion dollars in loan guarantees to the nuclear industry. “If they can’t pay back the loan, or don’t want to pay back the loan, the government will guarantee the banks up to 80 percent,” Carroll said.

Five sites have already applied for the first combined licensing applications in 32 years, Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told IPS. They are located in south Texas, Bellefonte in Alabama, Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, North Anna in Virginia, and Lee Site in South Carolina.

Four companies have applied for Early Site Permits for sites in Grand Gulf, Mississippi; Clinton, Illinois; North Hanna, Virginia; and Plant Vogtle in Burke County, Georgia.

“We’ve had indications of interest from 12 to 15 other companies,” Hannah said.

The NRC held a public hearing in Waynesboro, Georgia, one of the closest affected cities to Plant Vogtle, on Oct. 4, 2007, to address the NRC’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The NRC must produce the EIS, as per the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act.

The NRC insists the risks posed by nuclear power are small and within federal guidelines. However, activists argue the draft EIS ignores many issues and contend that nuclear power is unsafe.

At a time Georgia is in a historic drought, when residents are being told the state is running out of drinking water, the NRC and other agencies allow over a billion gallons of water per year from the Savannah River to be consumed by the existing Plant Vogtle Units 1 and 2.

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

It could be their enormous water demands that kills them this time but they have never been a very good idea on so many levels.

But here is what the rah rahs had to say about it:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf41.html

The Energy Policy Act 2005 then provided a much-needed stimulus for investment in electricity infrastructure including nuclear power. New reactor construction is expected to start about 2010, with operation in 2014.

In February 2007 the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) reported that it saw a need for 64 GWe of new nuclear generating capacity in the USA by 2030 – 24 GWe of it by 2020, with nuclear representing some 25.5% of output by 2030.

After 20 years of steady decline, government R&D funding for nuclear energy is being revived with the objective of rebuilding US leadership in nuclear technology. In 1997 nuclear fission R&D was, at US$ 37 million, lower than in France, South Korea, or Canada – only 2% of total energy R&D, which compared pathetically with 68% (US$ 2537 million) of a much larger budget in Japan. From the 1999 budget, this situation has been turned around with various programs including the flagship Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) and also Plant Optimisation. The first 45 NERI grants were awarded in 1999, signalling a reinvigoration of the federal role in nuclear research, following successful conclusion of the advanced reactor program in 1998.

For FY 2008 (from October 2007) the Department of Energy is seeking $875 million for its nuclear energy programs. . The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative for closing the fuel cycle and supporting the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership would receive $395 million of this and Generation-IV R&D would get $36 million, chiefly for the very high temperature reactor. The Nuclear Power 2010 program aimed at early deployment of advanced reactors would get $114 million.

For US nuclear plant data, see Nuclear Energy Institute web site, nuclear statistics section.

Contents

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBvCGBa0B0&NR=1

South Carolina is so confident about building the Nuke that they at least are going to self finance theirs. What happens when an actual State goes bankrupt?

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE51B46920090212

South Carolina regulators OK nuclear

power project

By Jim Brumm

WILMINGTON, North Carolina (Reuters) – South Carolina regulators have unanimously approved a request by the state’s largest utility, South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G), to join with a state-owned utility to build two nuclear reactors.

The South Carolina Public Service Commission vote on Wednesday gave South Carolina Electric & Gas the right to begin raising electricity rates next month to help pay for its portion of the $9.8 billion project.

SCE&G, a subsidiary of SCANA Corp, and Santee Cooper, known formally as the South Carolina Public Service Authority, plan to build the two reactors at the site of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, about 30 miles north of the state capitol, Columbia.

The commission approval also puts the SCE&G/Santee Cooper project ahead of the other 16 applications filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a combined construction and operating license (COL) for a nuclear power plant.

The NRC’s review of the COL applications is expected to take three to four years. It has been three decades since a nuclear power plant was built in the United States.

The South Carolina utilities have contracted Westinghouse Electric Co. — owned by Japan’s Toshiba and Shaw Group — to build the nuclear plant and expect to have the first reactor in operation by 2016.

SCE&G proposes financing its planned $5.4 billion investment in the new power plant by raising rates 0.49 percent in March and another 2.8 percent in October 2009, followed by increases in each of the next 10 years.

The first increase will be about 53 cents a month for SCE&G customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours of power per month, which now costs $107.60, according to SCE&G spokesman Robert Yanity.

As a state-owned utility, Santee Cooper does not need to seek Public Service Commission approval of its investment in the planned nuclear power plant.

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Some people take that bang the drum more seriously than they take Nuclear Power:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTrwg8bt14k&feature=related

But heh you know how they arrre in the sowth…all gracious, laid back and stupider than well a hog waller:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2009-03-29-nuclear-power-energy-return_N.htm

Nuclear power inches back into energy spotlight

The nation’s nuclear power industry — stuck in a decades-long deep freeze — is thawing.

Utilities are poised to build a new generation of nuclear plants 30 years after the Three Mile Island accident, whose anniversary was Saturday, halted new reactor applications. The momentum is being driven by growing public acceptance of relatively clean nuclear energy to combat global warming.

Several companies have taken significant steps that will likely lead to completion of four reactors by 2015 to 2018 and up to eight by 2020. All would be built next to existing nuclear plants.

Southern Co. (SO) says it will begin digging an 86-foot-deep crater this June in Vogtle, Ga., to make way for two reactors after recently winning state approval, though it won’t pour concrete until it gets a federal license, likely in 2011. At least five power companies have signed contracts with equipment vendors. And Florida and South Carolina residents this year began paying new utility fees to finance planned reactors.

The steps signal that a nuclear renaissance anticipated for several years is finally taking shape. Seventeen companies have sought U.S. federal approval for 26 reactors since late 2007. All have enhanced safety features.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjyUrA1sD18&feature=related

Then again if you are a Nuclear Tourist you will have much more to see:

http://www.nucleartourist.com/us/us-plant.htm

That is right IF YOU ARE a Nuclear Tourist:

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The following links provide information about each of the nuclear plants in the United States. The first links and maps provide information from the NRC website. The final links are Virtual Nuclear Tourist site and utility pages.

NRC Pages

Map of the United States Showing Locations of Operating Nuclear Power Reactors

Select a triangle showing the location of an operating nuclear power reactor from the map below.

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Sorry about the kid and the drum but new Nukes is a lame idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9EHYaMsJhA&NR=1

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