Aflockalypse, Apple and solar power plants

It came to light yesterday that Apple has begun “user-proofing” the iPhone with a new type of security screw in an effort to keep users from opening the device.  Apparently the screws are swapped out anytime a customer brings an iPhone 4 in for service, and the owner of the phone is not told about the switch.  Apple has refused to comment, but it is widely known that it tries very hard to protect its secrets.  I think this has more to do with trying to protect the $79 they will charge you to replace the battery instead of you being able to do it yourself for considerably less.  One more reason not to buy an Apple product as far as I am concerned.  I don’t own one, don’t plan on owning one.

Everybody can take a breath of relief, according to a New Jersey Institute of Technology source.  The giant red star Betelgeuse will not explode in 2012 as previously predicted.  While its distance from earth can only be estimated, the current best guess is that Betelgeuse is 640 light years from earth.  For those who may have napped through that portion of sixth grade science class, a light year is the distance that a beam of light travels in a year through free space.  That means that if Betelgeuse exploded today, the people on earth would not see it until the year 2651, or 640 years from now.  If you want to keep tabs on it for yourself, go out on a clear night and find the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse is the pinkish star in the upper left corner of the constellation.  If you look tonight, you are looking at history.  The light you see is at least 640 years old, if the estimates are correct.

A new species of crayfish has been discovered in Tennessee, and is said to be at least twice the size of any others that live there.  Found in a creek that is frequented by human visitors, this 5” long specimen has managed to elude detection until now.  Makes you wonder why we spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money to investigate the flora and fauna in places like the Amazon jungle and ignore our own back yards.  (Side note…I love fried crawfish tails!)

The “Aflockalypse” continues with reports of more mass bird die-offs.  These happened in California and Italy this time and the “end of the world” fans are all abuzz about it.  As I said in an earlier issue, this is just the normal workings of Mother Earth, it’s just now people are actually paying attention and have the technology to document it.

In the last issue of this blog, we talked about several renewable energy sources.  One of the best and the most abundant energy sources is our own sun, which brings us all sorts of energy every day, free of charge.  Many folks have taken up the task of inventing ways to harness this bonanza, but as with everything else it has its opponents.  There’s a new solar power plant under construction in the California desert which is being challenged in court now by a group who claim this project poses a threat to migratory birds, the desert tortoise, bighorn sheep, ground water resources and rare plants.  The proposed facility will produce 370 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 140,000 homes.  It never seems to matter what gets proposed, one or more of these “environmental” groups opposes it, yet these same groups are the first to say that we have to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. So what would they have us do? Just stop everything?  Life will go on in spite of all this, and we should do what we can to preserve the natural condition of the earth, but we have to have food and power.  A return to living in harmony with nature is not possible, and will not happen.  You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.  We are an industrial society, and will continue to be so until the actual “end of the world”.  We may bring that about ourselves, or it may be a cataclysmic natural occurrence, but it will end sometime.

Methane, wood gas, hydrogen...which to choose?

This edition will explore a few alternative fuels.  Some are more practical than others. Some hold legitimate promise.  Others….well, let’s just say that they are ok, if you can make it work.

Let’s start off with a look at home produced methane. Methane, commonly known as natural gas is a renewable resource and can be produced at home.  The internet is full of plans to build your own effluence digester.  Yes, I said effluence…the stuff that any animal that eats leaves behind.  If you live on a farm, the raw materials for home made methane are all around.  Chickens, pigs, cows and horses will provide you with plenty of it, to be had simply by shoveling it up.  Don’t laugh; if you have a large dairy farm and get hooked up with the right people and equipment, you can make as much or more money from the methane as you can the milk!  Many cities make methane as a part of their sewage treatment facilities.  It’s relatively easy to do, but on a small scale, can be a lot of work.  The leftovers make great fertilizer too.  Methane can be used as a vehicle fuel, but specialized equipment is necessary, as well as extensive modification to a standard vehicle.  There have been some vehicles commercially produced to run on methane, but they are not widely available.

Ethanol is another fuel that can be made at home as well as on a large scale. There are lots of sources on the internet for information on the how and why (and why not) of making ethanol. Home production is possible, but as with methane, it’s a lot of work, and can lead to legal entanglements.  Check your local and state laws concerning making and using ethanol.  Already widely used commercially as a fuel, it’s sold in most states in various mixes with gasoline.  It’s detractors say that using ethanol can interfere with the food supply since it’s made from corn, beets, sugar, and other potential food crops for both humans and animals.  A 25% or greater mix with gasoline can damage engines that are not equipped for its use, and some say performance and mileage is somewhat degraded by using ethanol as a fuel.  Any mix with gasoline, while reducing the overall amount of gasoline used, only prolongs the problem of using gasoline as a fuel in the first place.

Biodiesel also holds potential for relieving at least some of our dependence on petroleum, but it has its own problems.  Yes, it’s a renewable resource, but like ethanol, it’s a bandaid.  Most biodiesels need to be mixed with normal diesel or ethanol to burn efficiently  in today’s engines. On top of that, it also runs the risk of affecting the food supply.  Most homemade biodiesel is in created by recycling used cooking oil from restaurants.  Let’s face it folks, there simply isn’t enough to go around.

Wood gas…this pops up every time gasoline prices skyrocket.  Produced in a contraption called a “gasifier”, this fuel is made by partially burning wood chips, sawdust, charcoal, coal, natural rubber or similar materials. Waste products like rice hulls can also be used. Wood gas itself is a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and in some cases methane and tar.  This process is widely documented and will not be explained in detail here.  Suffice it to say, you can run an internal combustion engine on this fuel with little modification to the engine. The first gasifier was built in 1839, and the first use as a vehicular fuel was in 1901.  Commercial gasifiers are available for purchase, and make a good source of fuel for use in emergency situations, but do you really want to drive down the highway with a wood fire burning in your vehicle?

Hydrogen is in many circles the holy grail of alternative fuels. Stars run on it, so why not cars?  Early attempts at using hydrogen as an automotive fuel were fraught with problems, mainly that of safely storing enough of it on board to get you to where you wanted to go.  While burning hydrogen technically doesn’t produce as much energy as gasoline, it’s much easier to ignite.  A crash could result in an enormous fireball. Fortunately, the invention of the fuel cell alleviated that problem to a great extent.  The internet is full of scams about running your car on water, so if you venture into this arena, be careful how you spend your money.  While it can be produced at home, safely doing so in quantities sufficient to power an automobile is probably beyond the capabilities of the average do-it-yourselfer. Still, it is the most abundant substance in the universe, so we should be able to figure out how to use it, don’t you think?