The Drift River Terminal Evacuated As More Eruptions Loom, Cheveron looks for ways to restart Cook Inlet operations

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

At least that is the headline from Energy News Today:

http://www.energynewstoday.com/

I wouldn’t even bring it up but I do because I am a Google Slut and I think it points to a problem on another front.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/09/decision-due-soon-on-arctic-ocean-oil-drilling.html

Decision due soon on Arctic Ocean oil drilling

September 21, 2009 | 7:07 pm

Opponents of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic are making a last-ditch effort to convince the Obama administration to impose the same kind of moratorium on oil and gas development that it did on major commercial fishing in the Far North.Signatures from nearly 300,000 people supporting a halt on new drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, and also in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, were unveiled outside the Department of Interior in Washington, on the last day available for public comment before the department decides on future leases on the Outer Continental Shelf.

A group of more than 400 scientists also is joining the public push against Arctic drilling. In a letter to the president timed to the deadline for offshore oil comments, a large group of biologists, oceanographers and other scientists warned that profound physical and biological changes in the Arctic Ocean connected to the rapid shrinking of sea ice leave too many unanswered questions to proceed with new oil and gas development.

“Offshore oil and gas activity poses risks to marine mammals, sea birds and fishes from oil spills and chronic habitat degradation through noise, bottom disturbance, and pollution,” the scientists said in their letter. “Adequate technology does not exist to clean up oil spills in broken ice, and the cumulative impacts of widespread industrial activity will only grow.”

The letter urged a delay in new development until adequate studies give scientists a better understanding of the ecosystem. It also said delays would allow for better consultation with Alaska residents in the Arctic concerned about the impacts of oil drilling on the whales and other marine mammals that form the backbone of their livelihoods.

How can we allow this when the Oil Companies do this type of thing on dry land?

http://www.adn.com/volcano/story/737432.html

Mud flows in Drift River; oil terminal status uncertain

By RICHARD MAUER
rmauer@adn.com

Published: March 26th, 2009 12:25 PM
Last Modified: March 27th, 2009 10:55 AM

An eruption of Redoubt volcano Thursday morning triggered a flood of mud-choked water in the Drift River, but officials were at a loss to say whether it passed harmlessly by the oil facility near the mouth of the river or penetrated the protective dike there.

Rod Ficken, vice president of Cook Inlet Pipeline Co., said remote monitoring equipment on two tanks that each contain 3 million gallons of crude oil showed no change in their level, strong evidence that they remain intact.

But until observers can fly over the Drift River oil terminal and report back, no one will know how high the river reached and whether water and mud got into the tank farm, Ficken said. The facility has no remote video or flood sensing equipment, he said.

The terminal was evacuated Monday morning early in the series of eruptions that have periodically swollen the river and threatened the facility.

What they can’t plan for an Active Volcano?

http://www.adn.com/money/industries/oil/story/944581.html

BP pays $1.7 million for rules violations at North Slope fields

By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
ebluemink@adn.com

Published: September 22nd, 2009 12:03 PM
Last Modified: September 22nd, 2009 10:07 PM

BP Exploration Inc. has paid $1.7 million to the state due to inadequate oil spill protection measures at Prudhoe Bay and other North Slope oil fields, state officials announced Tuesday

BP and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation last month signed two compliance agreements to resolve violations of state regulations discovered during routine inspections in 2007, according to the DEC.

BP said Tuesday that it worked with the DEC to find and fix the violations.

The initial inspections showed that at least three BP spill containment areas didn’t meet the capacity requirements spelled out in state rules. As part of the settlement negotiations with the DEC, BP surveyed all of its secondary containment areas and found 16 others that violated the capacity requirements, according to the DEC.

The violations occurred at the Prudhoe Bay, Endicott and Badami oil fields — in truck loading areas and at oil field storage tanks. The tanks, for example, hold thousands of gallons of fuel, oily waste or snowmelt and their spill containment structures are berms that prevent tank leaks from spilling onto the tundra

What they can’t read?

Carbon Sequestration At Mountaineer Coal Fired Power In West Virginia

Posted on September 22, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

What do you think Industrial America has against the Appalachian Mountains?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/earth/22coal.html?_r=1

NEW HAVEN, W.Va. — Poking out of the ground near the smokestacks of the Mountaineer power plant here are two wells that look much like those that draw natural gas to the surface. But these are about to do something new: inject a power plant’s carbon dioxide into the earth.

Multimedia

Times Topics: Coal

Kevin Riddell for The New York Times

The inside of the plant.

The New York Times

The Mountaineer plant in New Haven is ready to inject carbon dioxide into the earth.

Readers’ Comments

Share your thoughts.

A behemoth built in 1980, long before global warming stirred broad concern, Mountaineer is poised to become the world’s first coal-fired power plant to capture and bury some of the carbon dioxide it churns out. The hope is that the gas will stay deep underground for millennia rather than entering the atmosphere as a heat-trapping pollutant.

The experiment, which the company says could begin in the next few days, is riveting the world’s coal-fired electricity sector, which is under growing pressure to develop technology to capture and store carbon dioxide. Visitors from as far as China and India, which are struggling with their own coal-related pollution, have been trooping through the plant.

The United States still depends on coal-fired plants, many of them built decades ago, to meet half of its electricity needs. Some industry experts argue that retrofitting them could prove far more feasible than building brand new, cleaner ones.

Yet the economic viability of the Mountaineer plant’s new technology, known as carbon capture and sequestration, remains uncertain.

The technology is certain to devour a substantial amount of the plant’s energy output — optimists say 15 percent, and skeptics, 30 percent. Some energy experts argue that it could prove even more expensive than solar or nuclear power.

And as with any new technology, even the engineers are unsure how well it will work: will all of the carbon dioxide stay put?

Environmentalists who oppose coal mining and coal energy of any kind worry that sequestration could simply trade one problem, global warming, for another one, the pollution of water supplies. Should the carbon dioxide mix with water underground and form carbonic acid, they say, it could leach poisonous materials from rock deep underground that could then seep out.

Given the depths to which workers have drilled, they also fret that the project could cause earthquakes, although experts at the Environmental Protection Agency discount the risk of catastrophe.

While this comment was insightful…the problems they have had with Earthquakes in Texas is more troubling:

EDITORS’ SELECTIONS (what’s this?)

raschumacher

united states

September 22nd, 2009

10:02 am

This project will demonstrate that the costs of carbon capture and sequestration make coal more expensive than nuclear and wind power. Let’s get it over with so that we can face up and move beyond fossil fuels. There’s less than a 100 year supply left so we have to do it eventually anyway; let’s do it before global warming destroys the climate that nurtured the development of civilization. Burning stuff is for cavemen.

YES – Burning stuff is for cavemen!!!!

When A Cold Wind Blows – It’s too late yah shoulda started months ago

Posted on September 18, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

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

Weatherize and improvise, renters have very little choice:

http://ask.metafilter.com/25694/Help-us-weatherproof-our-house

Help us weatherproof our house.
October 17, 2005 6:25 PM

I need suggestions for inexpensive weatherproofing on our home.

My husband and I rent a townhome (in Denver) and it is horribly drafty. We can feel cold air coming in through most of our windows. We love our little house–it’s a lot of space for the money–but we have a very uhm, “hands-off” landlord and there’s little to no chance to get them to invest any money in weatherproofing. With energy prices the way they are, I’d love some low-cost suggestions for how to weatherproof our windows along with any other tips for keeping warm while keeping our energy costs down. We’re living on a one-income graduate student budget, so I have to stress the low-cost part. Thank you!1. cheap: Plastic for your windows! You can get it at hardware stores pretty cheaply [whole house of wondows for maybe $20-30 if you shop in bulk at Home Depot or someplace. It’s a bit ugly but basically you tape this plastic over your windows, use a blow dryer on it to shrink the plastic, and voila, you can see out but wind can’t get in. Hair dryers cost a few bucks at a thrift store if you don’t have one. If you have friends, borrow a heat gun if possible.

2. nearly free: make little outlet and light switch gaskets. [instructions]

3. make from common household items: draft stoppers for underneath doors. Get an old pair of nylons and stuff them with rags, old socks, other fabric and some sand/rocks/something heavy. Lay on floors by doors to the outside or colder rooms.

4. worth the $: curtains and rugs and a hassock for your feet so you don’t notice the cold as much. Close curtains at night, open in the morning. An electric mattress pad warmer can heat up the bed before you get in it without you having to sleep under a plugged in appliance all night.

5. also: if it’s a big house shut off a room or two that you don’t use much and cut off the heat to those rooms [if you can] and focus on the parts of the house you actually live in. Cook more meals that take longer to heat up the kitchen. Keeping moving helps you stay warmer.
posted by jessamyn at 6:46 PM on October 17, 2005

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD7GjrlFOPs&feature=PlayList&p=C0DC6B13F2AAAA74&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=10

Check your local utility company’s website. They likely have a list of energy saver tips, household energy guzzlers (so you can prioritize), programs that provide weatherization and/or discounts to low-income households. Call them too. Some util companies are willing to schedule a free onsite energy audit to help you find the worst offenders.

The plastic over the windows trick is good. Just make sure you’re using the right tape. Some can leave a gummy residue or else pull off the paint/wallpaper underneath. Painter’s tape is not transparent, but it’s designed to remove cleanly.

If the landlord is willing to greenlight DIY improvements, $20-30 in materials can buy enough weatherstrip, outlet/switch seals, and door gaskets for a 1 bd apt. All you need is a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, and several hours time. Since weatherstrip just fills in the gaps between door/window and frame, you’ll be able to open & close year-round. Plus in the summer it’ll help keep out whatever bugs normally come in through those same gaps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh-sXCTiuXA&feature=PlayList&p=C0DC6B13F2AAAA74&index=8

Here is what I did a couple of years ago (in my case it was mainly to reduce my cooling bills, but they’re still applicable):

Install curtains or other air barriers on all windows and sliding-glass doors.
If your existing HVAC thermostat is not a programmable “set back” thermostat, replace it with one that is.
Replace or install weatherstripping on windows.
Replace or install weatherstripping and door sweeps on exterior doors or a door to a garage. Also consider installing weatherstripping and door sweeps on interior doors to less-often used rooms.
If you have a little-used room, such as a laundry room, close the heating vent to the room, install a vent cover, and keep the door closed.
Caulk cracks (use a good UV & weather-resistant caulk for the exterior and a cheaper paintable caulk for the interior). In particular, check around the roof-line or anywhere something penetrates a wall (such as ceiling beams, vents or pipes). Make sure to seal around any exterior outlets (and consider installing exterior outlet covers).
Seal air leaks and other larger gaps with expanding foam. Good places to check are around switch and outlet boxes, places where ceiling beams penetrate interior walls, etc.
If your HVAC ducts are accessible, seal any leaks with metal-backed tape or mastic. Also consider applying insulation, if they are uninsulated.
Install outlet cover plates on interior outlets in exterior walls.
Install foam gaskets inside all interior electric outlet and switch boxes behind the outlet and switch plate covers.
If you have a hot water tank, consider installing an exterior tank wrap (make sure it doesn’t warn against using a tank wrap).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SPogGqCgeM&feature=PlayList&p=C0DC6B13F2AAAA74&index=9

And you can get it all at ACE The Friendly Hardware Place – A socialist cooperative:

http://www.acehardware.com/info/index.jsp?categoryId=1282811

Weatherproofing Your Home

The average house-even when well-insulated-contains cracks and gaps between building materials that add up to a hole about 14 inches square (see image below). In the winter, those gaps may make the house drafty and chilly. All year long, a leaky house not only wastes energy but can lead to water damage and provide a path for insects.

Inside this document you will find information about:

Weatherproofing Basics
Types of Caulking
Using Caulking
Types of Weatherstripping
Installing Weatherstripping

WEATHERPROOFING BASICS

In all the discussion of insulation and R-values, don’t forget that poor weatherproofing is often a more important source of discomfort, as well as high heating and cooling bills.
Some air leakage can be prevented during construction by using housewrap or getting a tight fit between framing members, for example. Once the house is built, however, the remaining gaps must be sealed. Gaps around doors and window sashes should be weatherstripped, and gaps between permanent building materials sealed with caulking.

Tight is nice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfArO24gSNw&feature=PlayList&p=C0DC6B13F2AAAA74&index=15

Weatherstripping – Having a leaking house does not make sense

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

It is an obvious point…the trouble really is in the temperate zones of the world. In theory where it is really hot most of the time you want either a totally open house or a totally closed house. In a predominately cold climate you definitely want a totally closed house. However where you have nice Springs and Falls humans like to “open up the house and air things out”. Thus weather stripping.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/repair/how-to-apply-weatherstripping.htm

How to Install Weatherstripping

If you had a 6-inch-square hole in the middle of your front door, you would certainly do something in order to plug it up. Yet there are thousands of homes in which a 1/8-inch-wide crack exists all the way around the door, and this gap is just about the equivalent air loss of that 6-inch-square hole. Letting these cracks exist is like throwing dollars out the door or window. Fortunately, weatherstripping can reduce your heating/cooling bills by as much as 30 percent while reducing drafts that can cause discomfort.

Your home may or may not need weatherstripping. Luckily, there are some very simple ways to find out. If you can feel cold air coming in around doors and windows on a windy day, you know the answer. If you are uncertain, you can create your own windstorm at the precise spot where you suspect air might be leaking. Go outside with a handheld hair dryer and have a helper inside move his or her hands around the door and/or window frame as you move the hair dryer.

Learn More

You may discover that all your doors and windows are airtight. Or you may find a door or window that is airtight around three edges but needs help along the fourth edge. What you will probably conclude, however, is that your home has several drafty areas that would benefit from weatherstripping.
In this article, we’ll show you how to install weatherstripping on all parts of your house. We’ll also examine the various types of weatherstripping, which is our first order of business

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

Weatherstripping

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Weatherstripping is the process of sealing openings such as doors, windows, and trunks from the elements. The goal of weatherstripping is to prevent rain and water from entering by either blocking it outright or by blocking most of it and returning or rerouting it. A secondary goal of weatherstripping is to keep interior air in, thus saving energy with heating and air conditioning.

The materials used in weatherstripping are thresholds, a piece of material, either a sweep or a J-hook, to match the door to the threshold, and the actual weathstripping itself.

Every exterior door, or door to an uninsulated room such as an attic, must be weatherstripped as required by code enforcement in various states of U.S.:}

There is so much of it out there:

http://www.randysurleymfg.com/

Randy Surley Manufacturing Company has a wide variety of commercial and residential weather stripping materials suitable for any circumstance. Our product line consists of perimeter weather stripping for doors and windows such as cushion and spring bronze, kerf, brush, and pile. We also have a wide variety of thresholds including interlocking, saddles, aluminum, and brass. We also carry many different door bottoms, sweeps, and seals. We are continually expanding our product line to meet your needs. Contact us if you do not see what you are looking for.
Manufacturer and supplier of premium weather stripping and door thresholds for interior and exterior applications for both commercial and residential jobs.

http://www.foamtapes.net/?gclid=CKGI456G-ZwCFQMNDQod4Uwqbw

Now You Can Buy Tapes Online From The Industry’s Leading Manufacturers at Competitive Prices!

Choose a category from below, use the toolbar on your left to select by material or go directly to our FAQ’s

	Gasket Tape
	Adhesive-Backed, closed cell foam and sponge tapes designed to prevent the escape of gas or liquid.

	Weatherstripping Tape
	Adhesive-Backed, open or closed cell foam and sponge tapes designed to protect an interior from external extremes in temperature.

	Mounting Tape
	Closed cell foam tapes with adhesive on both sides, designed to bond irregular surfaces together, primarily for mounting lightweight objects to surfaces.

	Glazing Tape
	Specially engineered double-coated mounting tapes designed specifically for mounting glass into window sashes.

	Flashing Tape
	Uncured Butyl Rubber tape designed to provide long-term, watertight window and door installations.

http://www.technologylk.com/products.aspx?category_dept=301&category_ID=1209&source_ID=google&keyword=Door_Weatherstripping&gclid=COGxyMqG-ZwCFSXyDAod0EjKbw
:}

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Improve/Weatherstripping.html

Weatherstripping Windows and Doors

Skill Level: Beginner

You may not think that those small cracks and crevices around your doors and windows are a very big deal. But, did you know that a 1/8″ space between a standard exterior door and its threshold is equivalent to a two square inch hole in the wall? Closing those gaps can save you up to 15 percent in heating and cooling costs and also can reduce the demand on your heating and cooling system. Best of all, you can probably weatherstrip your entire home in a single day. Lowe’s is happy to provide this information as a service to you.

WHoooof

Mafia Sinks Nuclear Waste – Some stories defy catergorization

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

So I was preparing another post on weatherization and I was searching through Digg and Peak Oil for such stories…probably on window replacement or maybe weather stripping and I came across this WTF story that I just had to post.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8257912.stm

Mafia ‘sank ships of toxic waste’

By Duncan Kennedy
BBC News, Italy

A shipwreck apparently containing toxic waste is being investigated by authorities in Italy amid claims that it was deliberately sunk by the mafia.

An informant from the Calabrian mafia said the ship was one of a number he blew up as part of an illegal operation to bypass laws on toxic waste disposal.

The sunken vessel has been found 30km (18 miles) off the south-west of Italy.

The informant said it contained “nuclear” material. Officials said it would be tested for radioactivity.

Murky pictures taken by a robot camera show the vessel intact and alongside it are a number of yellow barrels.

Labels on them say the contents are toxic.

The informant said the mafia had muscled in on the lucrative business of radioactive waste disposal.

But he said that instead of getting rid of the material safely, he blew up the vessel out at sea, off the Calabrian coast.

He also says he was responsible for sinking two other ships containing toxic waste.

Experts are now examining samples taken from the wreck.

Other vessels

An official said that if the samples proved to be radioactive then a search for up to 30 other sunken vessels believed scuttled by the mafia would begin immediately.

Tree Hugger and the New York Times adds this:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/toxic-waste-ship-sunk-mafia-found-italy.php

calabria coast photo
Somewhere out there are more toxic waste ships waiting to be found. Photo: Peter Rohleder via flickr.

This may sound like a pretty good TV crime show plot, but this is non-fiction: Reuters reports that Italian authorities have discovered a ship containing 180 barrels of toxic waste (some of which may be radioactive), which was purposely sunk by the Mafia, off Italy’s southern coast. What’s more, it’s suspected there are 32 more vessels waiting to be found:

The ship was discovered after a former member of the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime organization tipped off police — the informant was personally responsible for sinking this ship and two others.

The 360′-long vessel is about 18 miles off the coast of Calabria, in 1600′ of water. Based on TV images, at least one barrel has fallen off the ship and it now empty on the sea floor.

Since tighter environmental regulations in the 1980s, illegal dumping of toxic waste has been embraced by the Mafia as another lucrative income stream.

Mafia Has Used Somalia As Dumping Ground for 20 Years
Here’s the broader connection here: Since the 1990s the Mafia have been known to dump toxic waste in the waters off Somalia — where the utter lack of government means it costs one-tenth that of dumping in Europe. In 2004, toxic and radioactive waste washed up on Somali beaches, causing illness in local people. This toxic waste dumping is also cited by local fisherman as contributing to declining fish stocks in the region, thereby pushing people to piracy.

The New York Times and the Associated Press adds this:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/15/world/AP-EU-Italy-Toxic-Mafia.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=mafia%20sink%20ships&st=cse

Giordano said the former mobster, Francesco Fonti, from the Calabria-based ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate, has claimed the mob sank ”hundreds” of barrels of illegally disposed of waste.

The prosecutor, based in Paola, Calabria, has promised that if analyses do turn up toxic substances, the hunt would be on for more sunken ships.

Fonti claims mobsters made millions of dollars illegally dumping radioactive and other toxic wastes for northern Italian businesses. Fonti has said he himself has been involved in the alleged sinking of three vessels, including the ship the robotic diver is now filming.

In recent interviews, Fonti’s face was blackened out to protect his identity, since he is under state protection.

Fonti claims the ship being filmed was carrying 120 barrels of radioactive waste when he alleged he used explosives to sink it some 20 miles (32 kilombers) off the Calabrian coast in 1992.

Investigators have long looked into claims that Italy’s southern-based crime syndicates, including the Naples-area Camorra and the ‘ndrangheta ran illegal rackets disposing of toxic wastes, including in clandestine land dumps.

The plot of the Italian hit movie ”Gomorrah” revolved around a Camorra racket that dumped toxic refuse in farmland near Naples.

Greenpeace and the Italian environmental group Lega Ambiente have been compiling lists over the last few decades of ships that have disappeared off Italy and Greece as they pursue reports of boats laden with toxic substances being sunk.

A Greenpeace official, Alessandro Gianni, told Associated Press Television News in an interview Tuesday that in the ’90s, his organization tried to learn the fate of ships that might have been involved in toxic dumping.

So that is the story of Somalian Piracy…Since the various organized crime families are world wide now how much of this has been going on. The Russians sank a Chinese Ship in January. Another Russian Ship went “astray” in July. Has the Mafia turned the high seas into their personal toxic dumping ground? Better question to ask is, did Big Businesses like the Nuclear Power Plants of the world turn to the Mafia to dump their toxic waste…hmmmmm?

R 60 In The Attic – When I first started talking about this everyone thought I was crazy

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

I will be the first one to admit, our attic is finished. I had no control over that. The build out and remodel all took place 50 years ago. Does it make it better that we have a metal roof? When I first started saying PACK YOUR ATTIC with all the insulation you can get your hands on. Everyone said, “How can you say that. There is no payback. There is no room. What if you change your mind” That was of course in an R10 or an R13 world. Then everything changed. Guess what it will change again.

That is because we have all been raised in a “pay as you go” energy system. Have been for generations. But if you think of a world where you pay your energy costs “UP FRONT”. Then you quit worrying about Paybacks and “is it worth it”? You start thinking in terms of how much do I need.

Again for the entire class: You can never lose money by CONSERVING energy.

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

Superinsulation is an approach to building design, construction, and retrofitting. A superinsulated house is intended to be heated predominantly by intrinsic heat sources (waste heat generated by appliances and the body heat of the occupants) with very small amounts of backup heat. This has been demonstrated to work in very cold climates but requires close attention to construction details in addition to the insulation.

Superinsulation is one of the ancestors of the passive house approach. A related approach to efficient building design is zero energy building.

There is no set definition of superinsulation, but superinsulated buildings typically include:

Very thick insulation (typically R40 walls and R60 roof)
Detailed insulation where walls meet roofs, foundations, and other walls
Airtight construction, especially around doors and windows
a heat recovery ventilator to provide fresh air
No large windows facing any particular direction
No conventional heating system, just a small backup heater

Nisson & Dutt (1985) suggest that a house might be described as “superinsulated” if the cost of space heating is lower than the cost of water heating.

That last is important because what if you are using free solar. Then your costs are both zero. So one of them has to be a negative number…haha

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/constructionps.htm

On a more serious note, everyone agrees that the standard currently is good for NEW Construction…I say it is good enough for old as well:

http://www.residentialarchitect.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=275&articleID=886806

massachusetts pilot project explores super insulation for old houses

new construction could also benefit from techniques.
Publication date: February 24, 2009

By Nigel F. Maynard

Alex Cheimets and Cynthia Page live in a duplex that used to consume about 1,400 gallons of heating oil a year. But now their building is one of the most energy-efficient in its Arlington, Mass., neighborhood, thanks to a pilot project that retrofitted the structure with almost $100,000 worth of insulation and other products to increase energy efficiency and lower utility costs.

The so-called Massachusetts Super Insulation Project seeks to determine the benefits and cost-effectiveness of retrofitting old energy-wasting houses with insulation upgrades in key areas. Though the cost for the upgrades in the home were substantial, some of the techniques used—among them proper air-sealing and adequate moisture barriers—are easily applied to new construction at a relatively low cost.

Massachusetts officials are keenly interested in the results of the project, because it dovetails nicely with the state’s efforts to become more energy-efficient. “Our governor, the state House and Senate, and the executive branch are aware that the nation’s energy strategy is not acceptable, and a big part of it is the existing housing stock,” says Philip Giudice, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DER).

“Nationally, buildings account for 40 percent of all energy consumption, and one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions,” says Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles, who chairs Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s Zero Net Energy Buildings Task Force. “This superinsulation project in Arlington promises to be a model for the type of innovation in the building industry that the Patrick Administration hopes will soon be widespread across Massachusetts.”

Ameren Illinois – A Utilitiy That Just Keeps Takin And A Takin

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

After Tim Landis, Adriana Colindres is my favorite write for the SJ-R. But here is her story from another paper. I personally find these stories revolting because we in Riverton were without power for 4 hours. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. No car crashes. No catastrophic incident like a shut down plant or a coal strike. When our local grocer (who has huge coolers thus a huge stake in the issue) asked what had happen he was told that there was squirrel damage at the local substation. These guys can’t beat squirrels but they want our money.

http://www.galesburg.com/news/x837456249/Ameren-seeks-fee-to-make-up-for-uncollectible-bills

Ameren seeks fee to make up for uncollectible bills

By ADRIANA COLINDRES

GateHouse News Service

Posted Sep 09, 2009 @ 06:37 AM

SPRINGFIELD —

AmerenCIPS, AmerenCILCO and AmerenIP are asking the state’s utility regulator for permission to impose a fee on customers that would cover unpaid bills left behind by other customers.

The three companies, jointly called the Ameren Illinois Utilities, filed paperwork last week with the Illinois Commerce Commission. It’s not clear yet when the ICC will decide on the matter, or how much the fee might be.

The fee, which would appear on monthly bills, would make up for what are known as “uncollectibles” — the unpaid bills that remain after a customer’s utilities are shut off due to non-payment…..

…….

Ameren also has other business still pending before the Illinois Commerce Commission: a proposed $226 million delivery rate hike for electricity and natural gas customers. The ICC is expected to decide on that next spring.

On Tuesday, the ICC announced three public hearings in connection with the rate case.

The hearings are scheduled for Sept. 29 in hearing room A of the ICC offices, 527 E. Capitol Ave., Springfield; Oct. 5 in the Kenneth Hall Regional Office Building, 1100 Eastport Plaza, Collinsville; and Oct. 27 in the Pekin City Council Chambers, 111 S. Capitol St., Pekin.

The Ameren Illinois Utilities provide electricity to about 1.2 million customers throughout the southern two-thirds of the state. They serve more than 800,000 natural gas customers in the same areas.

:’}

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/08/03/daily50.html

Ameren seeks $185 million in stimulus

St. Louis Business Journal – by Kelsey Volkmann

Ameren’s Missouri and Illinois utilities applied this week for $185 million in stimulus money for infrastructure upgrades, smart grid projects and electric vehicles.

AmerenUE applied for $140 million in stimulus funding, and Ameren Illinois Utilities applied for $45 million.

AmerenUE’s application includes the following funding requests for a 50 percent federal match:

• $125 million in projects for modernizing the company’s Missouri delivery system.

• $15 million for an operating system that would synthesize and provide data to help better manage AmerenUE’s response to service disruptions.

• Matching funds to purchase two plug-in electric trouble trucks.

Of the total $787 billion federal stimulus package, about $43 billion is targeted for energy projects and energy efficiency. About $4.5 billion of that is targeted to support research and development of the nation’s smart grid, which delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology.

Ameren Illinois Utilities seeks $45 million in stimulus to fund smart grid projects to improve electric service reliability. Its smart grid project will cost $83 million, of which $75 million is eligible for a 50 percent federal match of $37.5 million, the utility said.

Ameren Illinois Utilities also said it is requesting $7.5 million for a $15 million advanced distribution management system, a foundation for the smart grid project that will provide a common interface to monitor, control and manage the electrical distribution system and electrical devices.

Ameren Illinois Utilities said it plans to ask the Illinois Commerce Commission to allow the utility to add a charge to customer bills to recover AIU’s portion of the project costs.

St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. (NYSE: AEE) serves 2.4 million electric customers and 1 million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois

http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2009/8/25/ameren-seeks-gas-price-hike-cities-around-columbia/

Ameren seeks electricity price hike in cities around Columbia

Communities around Columbia might see an increase next year.

By Wes Duplantier

Published Aug. 25, 2009

Correction appended

AmerenUE, the state’s largest utility company, has asked regulators for permission to raise its electric rates by as much as 18 percent, but the increase will not affect Columbia.

Ameren spokesman Mike Cleary said the increase would not directly affect MU students because the company does not provide electrical services to Columbia, only natural gas. Rates might go up in surrounding communities such as Ashland, Rocheport, Boonville and Moberly.

The company estimated the $402 million proposal would amount to an increase of about 50 cents per day for the average family. Its request comes as it is also asking for $185 million from the federal stimulus package to modernize its delivery systems. This is the company’s third request for a rate increase since 2007.

Cleary said the increase, if approved, would mostly be used to pay for reliability improvements such as reinforcing pipelines and electrical poles, and to make up for increasing delivery costs of fuel.

“We’ve just got to put everything into perspective,” Cleary said. “The reason for this increase is reliability. That’s our No. 1 priority because it’s the thing our customers have been asking us to improve the most.”

Cleary said raising rates in a down economy might affect consumers. He said Ameren has a number of programs for customers to get assistance paying bills so they will not lose service. Those programs include the ability to make minimum payments and budget billing to help eliminate sudden seasonal spikes in a family’s utility bills.

“The message we’re trying to get across is: If you’re having trouble paying the bills, call us early and don’t wait until you get a cut-off notice,” he said.

Ruth Ehresman, director of Health and Budgetary Policy for the Missouri Budget Project, said even with such programs, low-income families hit hardest by the economic crisis would face even more difficulties.

“We do know that many low-income families struggle to pay their utility bills already and a rate increase will always be problematic,” Ehresman said. “We’re always concerned when low-income families’ ability to provide basic resources is made more difficult.”

I wish there something more to add, but considering their level of service and customer satisfaction ratings…what more is there to say?

Oil Celebrates 150 Years Of Commercial Production – But it doesn’t look older than when it was 10

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

( It’s Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyDie_4dOdU -)

Why is Oil so old and yet it acts like a little child…We start this post with video from the Energy Citizens protest against Cap and Trade…I have a sense of humor but this is just childishly bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMhNZB3Vndw

Courtesy of Wes King

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4s0nzsU1Wg&feature=related )

But I digress here are some really useful Stats about OIL I bet you never knew:

http://www.yelp.com/topic/los-angeles-10-facts-about-oil-and-gas-not-the-kind-that-comes-out-of-your-arse

10 Facts About Oil and Gas… not the kind that comes out of your arse….

08/02/2008 ART “The Permaculturalist” L. says:

http://www.edf.org/art…

With gas prices skyrocketing, public transit ridership is at an all time high. Instead of cutting back on public transportation services, we should be reforming our national transportation system to create more affordable travel options for the whole country.

Check out our 10 Facts About Oil and Gas to learn more.

96 Percent of the world’s transportation energy currently supplied by oil.
$75
Cost of barrel of oil on July 18th, 2007.

$131
Cost of barrel of oil on July 18th, 2008.

9.6 billion
Number of fewer miles Americans drove in May 2008 compared to May 2007.

10.3 billion
Number of trips taken via the U.S. public transportation system in 2007, the highest in 50 years.

44
Percent increase in price of diesel fuel paid by public transit agencies.

20
Percent of America’s public transit agencies that are cutting services due to budget constraints.

46
Percent of population that has no access to public transit.

$6,251
Amount the average two-worker household saves annually by taking public transportation instead of driving a car.

2030
Year by which lifting the ban on offshore drilling may start to impact the price of gas

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm63_M_4BF0&feature=related )

But if you want to see how Oil both behaves childishly and causes trouble all over the world, here is Greg Palasts take on it…

http://www.gregpalast.com/the-best-thing-in-the-world-for-big-oil/

The Best Thing in The World for Big Oil”

…Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Palast on why Saddam had to go.

“This war in Iraq has been the best thing in the world for Big Oil and OPEC. They’ve made the largest profits in the history of the world. The interesting thing about your book is you show how it was all planned from the beginning. The story is like a spy thriller.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Listen to RFK and Greg Palast on Iraq, a 20-minute conversation about blood and oil for ‘Ring of Fire’ from Air America.

The following is part of the story referenced in their discussion:

THE JERK: WHY SADDAM HAD TO GO

by Greg Palast
Excerpt from ‘Armed Madhouse‘

The 323-page multi-volume “Options for Iraqi Oil” begins with the expected dungeons-and-dragons warning:

The report is submitted on the understanding that [the State Department] will maintain the contents confidential.

For two years, the State Department (and Defense and the White House) denied there were secret plans for Iraq’s oil. They told us so in writing. That was the first indication the plan existed. Proving that, and getting a copy, became the near-to-pathologic obsession of our team.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqCtbEGcBBA&feature=related )
Cutting to the Chase several paragraph’s down the page and much intrigue and much spilled ink:

In the sanitary words of the Council on Foreign Relations’ report (written up by Jaffe herself), Saddam’s problem was that he was a “swinger”:

Tight markets have increased U.S. and global vulnerability
to disruption and provided adversaries undue potential in-
fluence over the price of oil. Iraq has become a key
“swing” producer, posing a difficult situation for the U.S.
government.

Now hold on a minute: Why is our government in a “difficult” position if Iraq is a “swing producer” of oil?

The answer was that Saddam was jerking the oil market up and down. One week, without notice, the man in the moustache suddenly announces he’s going to “support the Palestinian intifada” and cuts off all oil shipments. The result: Worldwide oil prices jump up. The next week, Saddam forgets about the Palestinians and pumps to the maximum allowed under the Oil-for-Food Program. The result: Oil prices suddenly dive-bomb. Up, down, up, down. Saddam was out of control.

“Control is what it’s all about,” one oilman told me. “It’s not about getting the oil, it’s about controlling oil’s price.”

So, within days of Bush’s election in November 2000, the James Baker Institute issued this warning:

In a market with so little cushion to cover unexpected
events, oil prices become extremely sensitive to perceived
supply risks. Such a market increases the potential lever-
age of an otherwise lesser producer such as Iraq…

I met with Falah Aljibury, an advisor to Goldman Sachs, the Baker/CFR group and, I discovered, host to the State Department’s invasion planning meetings in February 2001. The Iraqi-born industry man put it this way: “Iraq is not stable, a wild card.” Saddam cuts production, or suddenly boosts it, playing games with the U.N. over the Oil-for-Food Program. The tinpot despot was, almost alone, setting the weekly world price of oil and Big Oil did not care for that. In the CFR’s sober language:

Saddam is a “destabilizing influence… to the flow of oil
to international markets from the Middle East.”

With Saddam out of control, jerking markets up and down, the price of controlling the price was getting just too high. Saddam drove the oil boys bonkers. For example, Saddam’s games pushed the State Department, disastrously, to launch, in April 2002, a coup d’etat in Venezuela.

This could not stand. Saddam delighted in playing cat-and-mouse with the USA and our oil majors. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t playing with mice, but a much bigger and unforgiving breed of roden

The original is not so bad either

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbsHOQmKhps )
I mean if you really want to set the world on fire:

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/discovery-news-2009-cool-jobs-burn-boss.html

Yahoo Attacks The Illinois State Fair – Well not really but my Yahoo account was attacked

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

The reason this Post is so late in the day is because I opened my web browser today and it showed that I had 35 messages waiting for me. Someone had unleashed a worm on my address book and it was busy sending all my friends spam. Some of it dangerous spam. I was mortified. I spent over 2 hours checking to make sure it was originating on my computer. People sent some of it back to me so I could see what the heck was spewing out of my account. Then in consultation with my computer expert Afredo I determined that just changing my email password could halt the attack…So I did and it ended. I had to blow off lunch with David Lasley, Dave Fuchs and the Sangamon County Democrats just to get to here…Damnit.

There were some things that I saw at the Illinois State Fair that I did not really care for. One of those things was the prominence of Biofuel in both of Governor Pat Quinn’s tents. We all know that biofuel, especially ones made from foods, distract people from getting rid of the internal combustion engine. It also drives up food prices so this:

and this:

were NOT appreciated.

Though the latest craze in biofuels is watermellons that are farm waste:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/26/watermelon-fuel.html

Watermelon Juice: The New Fuel?

Michael Reilly, Discovery News

Fill ‘er Up | Discovery News Video

Aug. 26, 2009 — A staple of backyard barbecues and summer time snacks, watermelon is also a promising new source of renewable energy.

According to a new study, leftover watermelons from farms’ harvests could be converted into up to 9.4 million liters (2.5 million gallons) of clean, renewable ethanol fuel every year destined for your car, truck, or airplane’s gas tank.

Agriculturally, watermelon is a peculiar fruit — each year farmers across the country leave between 20 and 40 percent of their crop to rot on the ground. These are the ugly ducklings of the lot; though perfectly fine on the inside, the misshapen or blemished melons simply won’t sell at the grocery store.

“If a crow lands on a melon, takes two pecks at the rind, and then flies away, it’s no good,” Wayne Fish of the United States Department of Agriculture in Lane, Oklahoma said. “I had farmers telling me, ‘I’m leaving one-fifth of my melons on the land. Is there anything I can do with them?'”

Across the United States, he estimated that 360,000 tons of watermelons spoil in fields every year.

Some local growers wondered whether the waste melons could be turned into ethanol, the clean-burning fuel derived from plant sugars. In a series of new experiments published yesterday in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels, Fish and a team of researchers showed that they can.

What’s more, watermelon juice may turn out to be the perfect way to optimize industrial-scale production of ethanol from corn, molasses and sugar cane.

Then there was this. What the hell. This causes Earth Quakes in Texas yet it makes it to the State Fair?

Fracking is Coming to Decatur. People better get ready for it:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526233,00.html

Drilling Eyed as Possible Culprit Behind Texas Earthquakes

Sunday, June 14, 2009

CLEBURNE, Texas — The earth moved here on June 2. It was the first recorded earthquake in this Texas town’s 140-year history — but not the last.

There have been four small earthquakes since, none with a magnitude greater than 2.8. The most recent ones came Tuesday night, just as the City Council was meeting in an emergency session to discuss what to do about the ground moving.

The council’s solution was to hire a geology consultant to try to answer the question on everyone’s mind: Is natural gas drilling — which began in earnest here in 2001 and has brought great prosperity to Cleburne and other towns across North Texas — causing the quakes?

“I think John Q. Public thinks there is a correlation with drilling,” Mayor Ted Reynolds said. “We haven’t had a quake in recorded history, and all the sudden you drill and there are earthquakes.”

At issue is a drilling practice called “fracking,” in which water is injected into the ground at high pressure to fracture the layers of shale and release natural gas trapped in the rock.

There is no consensus among scientists about whether the practice is contributing to the quakes. But such seismic activity was once rare in Texas and seems to be increasing lately, lending support to the theory that drilling is having a destabilizing effect.

On May 16, three small quakes shook Bedford, a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. Two small earthquakes hit nearby Grand Prairie and Irving on Oct. 31, and again on Nov. 1.

Diabetes Caused By Fish – This so outrageous for 2 reasons

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Doug Nicodemus

I never post on the weekends. 5 days a week is about all I can handle but this is so freaking out there that I just had to put it up. This fact is mostly an insult to the world at large because of DDT’s continued destruction 50 years after its ban. I mean what else is out there and how will it kill us? But the other part is the response to the fact that toxins in fish can cause diabetes is that “health” officials are telling us that fish are good for us, and the seeming indifference to what should be major emotional outbursts. They are “cutting back on their consumption”. Not trying to find the people responsible and kill them. How civilized.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-fish-diabetes-bdaug23,0,7994362.story

Toxins in Lake Michigan fish linked to diabetes

By Vanessa McMains Tribune reporter

August 23, 2009

This is a fish tale in which smaller is better than bigger, especially if the catch is to be eaten in any quantity.

That’s because a new study of Great Lakes boat captains over 15 years found a correlation between the chemical DDE and diabetes. Those who ate more fish had more DDE in their blood and were more likely to develop diabetes, according to results published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in July.

DDE is produced in the bodies of small bottom-feeding fish from ingesting the prevalent pesticide DDT. The chemical transfers to bigger fish when they eat smaller fish and then accumulates in the fat and liver of people who eat lots of what they catch.

“Sports fishermen are at the top of the food chain,” said Bruce Fowler, assistant director of science at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which funded the study, along with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Charter boat captains tend to catch and eat more fish than the average recreational fisherman. But the captains care about their health, said Henry Anderson of the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, who managed the study.

“Many saw that their levels were high from the study and they cut back on their intake of fish,” he said.

Exactly how DDE may lead to diabetes is unknown. Another pesticide, Agent Orange, can cause diabetes, but it’s believed to do so in a different way than DDE, said Mary Turyk, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and lead author of the study