[Biofuel] Boeing aims to quit fossil fuel habit with tobacco-based jet fuel | GreenBiz
http://www.greenbiz.com/article/boeing-aims-quit-fossil-fuel-habit-tobacco-based-jet-fuel Boeing aims to quit fossil fuel habit with tobacco-based jet fuel Will Nichols Wednesday, April 15, 2015 - 12:30am The scientific consensus around smoking being bad for your health is famously as solid as that which demonstrates how human activity is contributing to climate change. Now Boeing and partner South African Airways (SAA) may have found a way to tackle both problems by producing renewable jet fuel from a special type of tobacco plant. The two companies have teamed up for a pilot project that has seen about 120 acres (50 hectares) in Limpopo province planted with Solaris, a nicotine-free, energy-rich tobacco plant. Oil from the plant's seeds will be converted into jet fuel that Boeing says can reduce carbon emissions by as much as 80 percent. In the next few years, SAA will conduct a test flight using the fuel, taking the next step on its drive to be the world's most environmentally sustainable airline. In doing so, it will follow in the footsteps of a range of carriers, including BA, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic and most recently China's Hainan Airlines, in experimenting with greener fuels. In fact, more than 1,600 passenger flights using sustainable aviation biofuel have been completed since the fuel was approved for commercial use in 2011. Aviation industry embraces biofuels Two years later, the industry committed to carbon neutral growth from 2020 (PDF), but is still struggling to work out exactly how to achieve that goal. Darrin Morgan, director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes' sustainable biofuel strategy, said airlines increasingly are turning to biofuels to reduce their emissions as the industry lacks other realistic options. Ground transport is electrifying as we speak. Power generation — they have many options to go towards renewables and decarbonize, he told BusinessGreen. Aviation doesn't. We're going to have to have liquid hydrocarbons for a very long time. The challenge for the industry is that the oil majors who supply them have made limited progress in delivering the lower-carbon fuels the sector craves. Aviation uses only about 6 or 7 percent of total oil barrel use, so most of the oil companies view aviation as a very small player and it's hard for them to justify the extra effort to supply our needs, Morgan explained. So part of why we realized we had to be so active in shaping the fuel landscape for ourselves is because we don't have other options to diversify. Biofuels in South Africa Biofuels plantations have been blamed for deforestation and other land-use change. Campaigners have warned these problems will get worse if airlines start demanding large quantities of alternative fuels. Morgan suggests that in South Africa, at least, this should not be a problem. About 14 percent of the arable land in South Africa is under-utilized or unutilized, he said. If just a small percentage of that 14 percent were used for Solaris or other similar feedstocks, you would provide enough fuel for all of SAA's needs. It's not displacing essential food crops [and] it's a drop in the bucket in terms of total land footprint to produce quite a bit of what is needed. If Solaris reaches a critical mass in South Africa, Morgan can see the potential for investing in refineries in the country, churning out not just jet fuel, but also road transport fuel and renewable chemicals. This could revolutionize a country that as Morgan puts it, failed to win the oil lottery and, like many others in the region, relies on expensive imports of already refined petroleum. Solaris is still in its early stages, so we will have to wait to get a picture of its true potential among the huge range of alternate fuels that will be needed to successfully decarbonize an aviation industry responsible for around 3 percent of global emissions. Biofuels around the globe Boeing is looking at a number of other options, including fuel from plants grown in the desert using saltwater, and it is optimistic that a range of bio-kerosenes promising to be both cleaner than standard fuels and with a greater energy density — essentially offering more power for less weight, a crucial property for aviation — soon will be certified for aviation use. Currently, these fuels are sold for transport by Finland's Neste Oil and Italian company ENI, but Morgan is convinced of the potential for aviation — he said the three refineries already open in Italy, Rotterdam and near Helsinki currently produce around 4 billion liters of bio-kerosene. Now on the global scale, that's not very much, but for aviation that's almost 2 percent of our fuels use with just these initial, first-of-their-kind renewable fuel plants, he added. The age of greener aviation may not have taken off just yet, but there are encouraging signs it is edging towards the runway.
[Biofuel] The English Bay oil spill: Unseen damage puts ecosystem at risk
http://www.bowenislandundercurrent.com/news/the-english-bay-oil-spill-unseen-damage-puts-ecosystem-at-risk-1.1824167 The English Bay oil spill: Unseen damage puts ecosystem at risk MERIBETH DEEN / Bowen Island Undercurrent April 15, 2015 09:08 AM The English Bay oil spill: Unseen damage puts ecosystem at risk On Thursday morning, when Bowen Belle water taxi pulled in to English Bay to drop commuters off at Granville Island, English Bay Launch owner and operator Mike Shannon says he didn’t see anything that indicated that there might be a problem in the water. “There were Coast Guard boats out, but they do drills fairly regularly, so I figured that was what was happening,” says Shannon. “I couldn’t actually see an oil slick at that point.” For biologist Ramona DeGraaf, what the average person cannot see in spill-affected waters and beaches is of primary concern. DeGraaf, who was on Bowen conducting a shoreline survey in October, says that the embryo of forage fish that spawn on the shores of English Bay will suffocate and die if the gravelly beaches where they lay their eggs are contaminated with oil. “When I talk about forage fish, I am talking about a very specific group of fish that run the marine food chain – herring, surf smelt, sand lance – without these, the whole Straight of Georgia ecosystem is at risk. A reduction in the biomass of these fish is going to have a major impact on all predators, and that includes killer whales,” says DeGraaf. “And English Bay is super-smelt land.” She says that this time of year, there are surf smelt embryos in the beaches, larvae feeding in the water, and adults coming into Burrard Inlet and English Bay to spawn. “Right now, and for however many years that oil is going to be caught in the sediment of those beaches, any embryo deposited is going to suffocate. Even micro-amounts of oil will cause the effect similar to covering your head in a plastic bag full of fumes.” She adds that the shoreline of the Lower Mainland used to be prime spawning habitat for surf smelt and sand lance, but most of it has been destroyed by sea walls and marinas. “Discovering a beach that is intact and suitable for spawning is so rare, it’s like finding dinosaur bones,” says DeGraaf. “But in my shoreline surveys I’ve found good spawning beaches around Dundarave Pier, John Lawson Creek, Totem Beach in Stanley Park and Rec Beach. I am just so glad that at least that there are good spawning grounds up on the Sunshine Coast and near Powell River that should be safe from damage.” Starting this Friday, De Graaf is going to conduct an initial assessment of the impacts of any hydrocarbons at the beach at Sandy Cove in West Vancouver, which has been identified as an important smelt spawning site. From there, she says she will decide where to go in order to expand her study on the toxicity rates within smelt embryos on affected beaches. “I am trying to be hopeful that I’ll find the level of contamination in the beach sediment to be low,” says DeGraaf. “But when you look at that oil sheen on the surface, and if we get some high winds come in, that will likely do the job of mixing it in with the sediment.” Bowen Islander Karen Wristen, executive director of the Living Oceans Society, shares DeGraaf’s concerns about the long-term and less visible impacts of this oil spill. “This weekend, I went down to Seymour Bay and Arbutus Cove because I thought that if oil were to wash up anywhere on Bowen’s shoreline, it would likely be there,” says Wristen. “I didn’t see any evidence of oil, but as I watched the herons feeding, I thought about the impact a contaminated population of fish is likely to have on our local heron population.” Wristen adds that recent research conducted for the Living Oceans Society by Dr. Jeffrey Short, a chemist who worked for the US government assessing damage to caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, shows that oil is deadly to virtually all fish while they are in their larval forms. “Certain compounds in bitumen or bunker oil can dissolve into water and then be absorbed by the translucent embryos,” says Wristen. “When exposed to sunlight, these compounds promote the oxidization of tissues within the embryos – in effect, burning them. This effect was demonstrated in herring embryos on the shorelines of San Francisco Bay after the 2009 Cosco Busan oil spill.” Wristen says that the wider impacts of the oil spill in English Bay may be difficult to monitor, but doing so is crucial. “If we don’t start doing it immediately, we won’t have any hope of linking the cause and effect of this in the future,” she says. The report Wristen sites when discussing fish embryos and oil was written for submission to the Kinder Morgan pipeline hearings, and focuses largely on oil spill response-preparedness. “This event shows the risks, and that really, there is no intention on the part of the Coast Guard to
[Biofuel] Professor pioneers research on repurposing biodiesel waste
http://theorion.com/blog/2015/04/15/professor-pioneers-research-on-repurposing-biodiesel-waste/ Professor pioneers research on repurposing biodiesel waste April 15, 2015 7:00 AM With more than 200 million gallons of glycerol waste produced each year from manufacturing biodiesel, the process of disposing of this hazardous byproduct can be a sticky business. Lisa Ott, a Chico State chemistry professor, has been engaging in innovative research to turn the glycerol waste into a substance that can in turn be sold for profits. With her method, Ott is going to be taking hazardous material out of the the waste system and making the glycerol into a useful tool for the chemistry department as well as a profitable substance for biodiesel manufacturers, she said. Ott has been studying biodiesel since her postdoctoral education. “We were doing a lot of fuel chemistry work and working with rocket fuels and jet fuels and things like that,” Ott said. “And so that’s where I sort of started thinking about fuel chemistry and got into biodiesel. Since I’ve come here, we have always done some sort of biofuels type (of) research.” Biodiesel is a clean-burning, renewable alternative to traditional diesel, which is minimizing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil. Recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats just barely scratch the surface of what biodiesel can be made from. Ott’s research is focusing mainly on what to do with the glycerin waste produced from manufacturing biodiesel. For every 10 gallons of biodiesel produced there is one gallon of glycerol byproduct, she said. To put things into perspective, Ott spoke about the waste on a larger scale. “If you’re making two billion gallons of biodiesel, that means in the U.S. and EU there’s about 200 million gallons of waste,” Ott said. Biodiesel companies have either been burning this waste, landfilling it or using it as a dust suppressant. Burning the waste is bad for the environment, using it as a dust suppressant seems wasteful and landfilling it is expensive, Ott said. “There’s a local biodiesel company called Springboard Biodiesel,” Ott said, “and if they have to get rid of a barrel of it, it’s like $400 a barrel because it’s hazardous waste.” To fix this problem, Ott involved her chemistry students in doing research on turning the glycerol into another substance that could be sold for profits. Through her research, she found that glycerol waste can be transformed into a deep eutectic solvent. A deep eutectic solvent is an ionic liquid with a very low boiling point that can be used in chemical reactions for scientific research. “If you’re tying to make a new molecule, you have to dissolve your reactants in a solvent,” Ott said, “and we are proposing this as a reaction solvent.” A reaction solvent serves as a medium for chemical reactions, the main purpose of which is to dissolve the reactants in the liquid. Ott, along with other faculty members, Chico State students and two high school students submitted a paper about their research to the journal Fuel Processing Technology. Chico State is the first university to submit a scholarly paper about this subject, she said. “I’ve been looking at the literature, and I haven’t seen anything else,” Ott said. “That doesn’t mean someone else isn’t working on it, but we submitted our paper so hopefully it will come out first.” When the paper is approved and published, Chico State will be the first university to create a way to turn biodiesel waste into a profitable deep eutectic solvent. Curiosity surrounds every problem we have, Ott said, and this is what drove her to create a clean way of reusing hazardous waste. “I think that’s the best kind of chemistry,” Ott said. “(The kind) that comes about from natural curiosity or wanting to solve a problem you have.” ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
[Biofuel] 10 vessels in Vancouver Island fleet could tackle oil spill
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/10-vessels-in-vancouver-island-fleet-could-tackle-oil-spill-1.1824127 [The City and Port of Vancouver, including English Bay and the Burrard Inlet are not on Vancouver Island. They are separated by the Strait of Georgia. I'm guessing it's about 150 km on the water from Esquimalt (mentioned in the article) to English Bay. The Burrard Cleaner No. 9 can manage 11 knots in calm waters and winds, which puts it 8 hours away in best case scenario. Oil can spread pretty quickly on tide water, so 8 hours is a long time. ] 10 vessels in Vancouver Island fleet could tackle oil spill Katie DeRosa / Times Colonist April 15, 2015 08:27 AM The company hired to clean up the oil spill in Vancouver’s English Bay has vessels stationed around Vancouver Island — including the largest ship at CFB Esquimalt — that would be ready to respond if a spill happened in our waters. One of the six vessels involved in last week’s cleanup, after grain carrier MV Marathassa spilled about 2,700 litres of bunker fuel, was sent from Cowichan Bay. Western Canada Marine Response Corp. operates a fleet of 31 vessels across the province, including about 10 around Vancouver Island. The largest oil skimmer in Canada, the Burrard cleaner No. 9, is located at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt. The company is responsible for responding to cleanups after an oil spill has been detected by either the ship responsible or the Canadian Coast Guard, said Michael Lowry, a spokesman for the corporation. In the English Bay case, the company was notified at 6:08 p.m. April 8 to be on standby after a recreational boater notified the coast guard about a spill an hour earlier. The company was officially dispatched at 8:06 p.m. and several vessels arrived on scene at 9:25 p.m. One vessel has an infrared camera designed to track oil, which was used to determine that the oil was coming from Marathassa. The vessel was surrounded by a boom by 5:25 a.m., Lowry said. “I just want to dispel the notion that the length of time for the vessel to be boomed was a response-time issue,” Lowry said. “It was a need to identify the source of the spill. That entire time, that oil was being cleaned up.” Lowry said the 2013 closure of the Kitsilano coast guard station had no impact on the company’s ability to respond. Fred Moxy, the former commander of that coast guard station, said over the weekend the response time would have been minutes instead of hours if the station was still open. The Marine Response company, which has offices in Burnaby, Duncan and Prince Rupert, is called to clean up spills about 20 times a year, mostly minor spills around the Burrard Inlet. It collects membership fees from oil companies, float plane companies, the commercial shipping industry, ferries, cruise ships and fishing lodges. Next week in Nanaimo, company employees as well as provincial and federal agencies involved in spill cleanup will participate in a certification exercise, which will involve a simulated spill. Western Canada Marine Response Corp. has 50 full-time employees and an additional 150 contractors trained and ready to respond to a spill. “It’s not feasible having 200 people waiting around for a spill,” Lowry said. “The contractors we train in that location can operate the skimming and the boom until we get there.” Canadian Coast Guard commissioner Jody Thomas said 80 per cent of the spill had been cleaned up within 24 hours of the spill being reported. Lowry said some employees remain on site cleaning the hulls of other vessels and monitoring the beaches. The company will bill the ship’s owner for the cost of the cleanup, but Lowry said it’s too early to determine what that is. Investigators said Monday the spill was a result of mechanical problems that caused oil to leak into the ship’s duct keel, a tunnel carrying pipes that run along the centre line of the vessel. There was also an unrelated problem on Marathassa that contributed to the spill, but Transport Canada declined to provide details because of the ongoing investigation. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
[Biofuel] NEB spill map takes a step toward pipeline transparency - Canada - CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/neb-spill-map-takes-a-step-toward-pipeline-transparency-1.3032260 [links and images in on-line article] NEB spill map takes a step toward pipeline transparency Canada still lags behind U.S. in making complete spill data public By Amber Hildebrandt, CBC News Posted: Apr 15, 2015 12:32 PM ET The NEB says the interactive map of pipeline incidents is part of its effort to be more transparent with the public. (Courtesy of NEB) Canada's pipeline regulator took a big step forward on a promise to be more transparent with the release of a map of spills and other incidents. But gaps in the data still exist. On Monday, the National Energy Board launched the interactive pipeline incident map to showcase 692 spills, fires, injuries and other events over the past eight years. The incident map comes a year and a half after CBC News mapped the data — using data obtained under the Access to Information Act that contained numerous blank fields — and nearly two years after a Senate report called for the NEB to create such a tool for Canadians. The NEB developed the map because Canadians deserve to have access to information about incidents where they live and work, said NEB spokesman Darin Barter. It reflects the NEB's new direction, and a commitment to openness and transparency. Nathan Lemphers, a former senior policy analyst with the Alberta-based Pembina Institute and a specialist in pipeline safety, commended the national regulator for creating the tool. It's very encouraging to see that the National Energy Board is wanting to disclose this information in a format that's easily accessible by the public, said Lemphers. That's a big step forward. But there's still more we can do when it comes to quality of the data and how accessible it is, he said. For example, Lemphers noted that a number of incidents lack details on the type of substance or volume leaked, some figures in the map don't reflect previously published data and the descriptions of the terminology used are still mired in jargon. The map is also missing a description of what happened in each incident — something the regulator does collect and can be pretty important for understanding context, said Lemphers. The Calgary-based NEB says some data is missing in the map because it won't include any information that they haven't investigated and verified. Canada still lags behind U.S. A U.S. pipeline transparency advocacy group also applauded the Canadian effort to be more transparent with the public. But, Carl Weimer, executive director of the Washington State-based Pipeline Safety Trust, said the NEB still lags well behind the federal regulator in the United States that makes easily available a good deal more information about individual incidents. South of the border, citizens have access to such details as the cause of the incident, information on property damage, the age of the component that failed, pressure the pipeline was operating at and other information that help tell the full story of the failure, said Weimer.' The NEB said it does plan to refine its map based on feedback. If we can improve the system or increase the amount of data, we will do so, said Barter. Also, new incident data will be uploaded on a quarterly basis, with the next round slated for July. However, the board is also planning a 15 per cent cutback of its workforce in the next two years as a temporary pool of money dedicated in 2012 to safety oversight runs out, according to a report released earlier this month. Those cuts come despite increased public scrutiny of pipeline safety and a rise in large projects set to get underway. If we want the data to be reliable, we need people who can give it a critical eye on behalf of our public regulator, said Lemphers. The federal regulator oversees 73,000 kilometres of pipeline that cross international and provincial borders and are operated by more than 100 companies. Together, these companies ship more than $160 billion worth of crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas and natural gas liquids through these federally regulated conduits. The Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, which represents some of the country's largest operators of both federally and provincially regulated pipelines, says NEB's mapping effort responds to the public's call for greater transparency, according to vice-president of external relations Philippe Reicher. The industry group says it, too, plans to heed that call — with a similar tool to showcase its own members' data. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
[Biofuel] Proposed oil pipeline needs better spill detection | Pembroke Daily Observer
http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/2015/04/15/proposed-oil-pipeline-needs-better-spill-detection [image (map) in on-line article] Proposed oil pipeline needs better spill detection By Sean Chase, Daily Observer Wednesday, April 15, 2015 7:04:52 EDT PM SEAN CHASE/DAILY OBSERVER Dr. Alan Hepburn, with Ontario Rivers Alliance, told Petawawa council this week that TransCanada will need to use better spill detection equipment on its Energy East Pipeline, which will run through the Upper Ottawa Valley past all major centres including Deep River, Petawawa, Pembroke, Renfrew and Arnprior. PETAWAWA - The company converting an existing natural gas pipeline so it can transport oil must institute better spill detection equipment and protocols says a local environment protection group. Representing Ontario Rivers Alliance, Dr. Alan Hepburn told council they should be concerned about sections of the proposed TransCanada Energy East pipeline that will run in close proximity to Petawawa. He noted the pipe slated for conversion has been in the ground for 20 to 40 years and is subject to metal fatigue and degrading of the interior coating. The Energy East pipeline is an ambitious $12 billion project which would see a 4,500-kilometre pipeline built to carry 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in Eastern Canada. This would be a combination of 1,400 kilometres of new pipeline construction linking up with 3,000 kilometres of existing natural gas pipeline, including the line which runs through the Ottawa Valley, which will be converted to carry crude oil. In his assessment of the condition of the pipeline, Hepburn explained that a 10-metre section the pipeline would have to accommodate 8,700 kilograms of oil, an increase 17 times more than the gas it currently carries. His largest concerns, however, were confined to the potential for leaks. As an example, he said there were nine spills involving 5,200 kilometres of large crude oil pipelines in Alberta over a period of 22 years that saw the release of more than 10 cubic metres of oil. The average release in a pipeline spill was 1,400 cubic metres of crude oil. Considering there is 2,000 kilometres of pipeline in Ontario, he estimated a major release involving pipelines in this province once every seven years. Further he added there could be one leak every ten years for the converted line in Ontario. Hepburn was also critical of the standard leak detection instrumentation employed by companies which he said appears to be designed to detect economically significant leaks only. For example, the 48-year-old Rainbow pipeline at cracked in 2011 releasing 4.5 million litres of oil into low-lying marshlands near the northern Alberta community of Little Buffalo. It had released 4,500 cubic metres before the leak was detected. Hepburn stressed that the maximum size of an environmentally insignificant leak should be determined and then proponents should be required to install systems that can detect any leak above this threshold. In addition, he said regulators should take into consideration the pipeline runs along an earthquake zone and that an independent seismic analysis should be conducted. They have to represent themselves to the National Energy Board to make sure that steps are taken to reduce the potential for leaks throughout the entire length of the pipeline, Hepburn said later. Right now the minimum size of leaks they can detect are quite massive. Councillor James Carmody said that municipal oversight of the project is essential, however, he anticipated their voices would not be heard. Something that's in the national interest would have a tendency to dilute the municipal interest, he said. It's incumbent upon us to protect our own water supplies. Deputy Mayor Tom Mohns agreed that the municipalities have a bigger stake adding he is concerned about the response time by the company to shut down a line once a leak has been discovered. If we have a mess in this area, they could care less, said Mohns. It will be up to us to clean it up in the end. TransCanada hopes to receive final regulatory approval by the end of 2015. It is anticipated the project will be completed and operational by 2018. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
[Biofuel] Oil spill expert denies Coast Guard's claim about Vancouver fuel leak - The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/oil-spill-expert-denies-coast-guard-claim-about-vancouver-fuel-leak/article24094846/ Oil spill expert denies Coast Guard's claim about Vancouver fuel leak SUNNY DHILLON VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail Published Friday, Apr. 24 2015, 8:00 AM EDT Last updated Thursday, Apr. 23 2015, 9:48 PM EDT A U.S. oil spill expert says he never described the Canadian Coast Guard’s response to a fuel leak on Vancouver’s English Bay as “exceptional,” despite the Coast Guard’s claim. In fact, Steven Candito, president of the National Response Corporation, one of the largest oil-spill removal operations in the world, says the Coast Guard’s response may have been too slow. The fuel spill was reported around 5 p.m. on April 8 by a person on a sailboat. The Coast Guard has said it did not recognize the seriousness of the spill until 8 p.m. It has said a boom was secured around the leaking vessel, the MV Marathassa, by 5:53 a.m. The Coast Guard’s response has been criticized by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, B.C. Premier Christy Clark, and some area residents. Mr. Robertson has said it took too long for the boom to be put in place, and has also taken issue with the fact the city wasn’t notified about the spill for more than 12 hours after the original report. The Coast Guard has vigorously defended its efforts. In a lengthy statement April 12, Commissioner Jody Thomas said: “The Canadian Coast Guard’s response to the Marathassa spill was exceptional by international standards, a fact corroborated by a U.S. oil spill expert.” The Twitter account for Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Pacific region also referenced an unidentified U.S. oil spill expert. It initially said the expert called the response “adequate.” It later said the expert deemed the response “quick and effective.” A request to the Canadian Coast Guard last week for more information on the U.S. expert was referred to Transport Canada. A Transport Canada spokeswoman then said the question should be redirected to the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard spokesman this week identified Mr. Candito as the expert. Mr. Candito, in a phone interview, said he has not followed the Vancouver spill very closely, though he did conduct an interview with CBC on April 10. He said he was surprised his comments had been referenced by the Coast Guard. Mr. Candito noted that at the time of the CBC interview the Coast Guard said the boom had been in place by midnight, a response he then characterized as “fairly good.” The Coast Guard later revised the containment time to just before 6 a.m., which Mr. Candito told The Globe seemed slow for a spill that took place so close to a major city. “It sounds like it took too long,” he said. “… These are obviously very difficult things to evaluate if you don’t have all the facts. In that context, yeah, I would say to get [the] boom in the water around a vessel that’s berthed in a harbour like Vancouver where there’s presumably a lot of resources, it shouldn’t take 12 hours, right?” Mr. Candito said the public is always concerned when a spill occurs, and rightly so. But he said each spill is different and sometimes the public outcry can go too far. He said mystery spills, in which neither the source of the leak nor the material involved is immediately known, can prove a challenge. Frank Stanek, a Fisheries and Oceans Canada spokesperson, in an e-mail Thursday said it still considers the Coast Guard’s response “exceptional, as evidenced by the trace amounts of oil remaining on the shores.” The Coast Guard has said 80 per cent of the spill was recovered within 36 hours. Mr. Candito, when asked about that figure during the CBC interview, said he would expect a better recovery rate in an enclosed harbour but 80 per cent was still “very good.” Mr. Stanek did not provide a response to a question about Mr. Candito now indicating the response time may have been too slow. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
Re: [Biofuel] Plug-In Hybrid HUMMERs Headed For The South Pole On Biodiesel
Hello Darryl. I think they need for that trip is to choose a biodiesel ready for low temperatures like the used by jet planes, a winterized fuel prior it is used in Antartica; that proccess is to expose fuel to freezing temperatures equivalent to artantic conditions, give time to cristalize and after that, pass it throught a filter the fuel to be used by vehicles to avoid a thick mass of partly frozen biodiesel. The fraction of longer carbon saturated fatty acid methyl esther will be separated by cristalization and filtration and use only the liquid fraction. Best Regards. Juan Bóveda El 24/04/2015 12:50, Darryl McMahon escribió: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1097982_plug-in-hybrid-hummers-headed-for-the-south-pole-on-biodiesel [My son has a personal connection with these vehicles and the team which built them. The original prototype battery pack and chargers are scattered through my garage just now, awaiting new uses. images in on-line article] Plug-In Hybrid HUMMERs Headed For The South Pole On Biodiesel Stephen Edelstein Apr 24, 2015 If you were going to drive to the South Pole, what vehicle would you choose? There's a team gearing up right now to undertake that very adventure--using a pair of plug-in hybrid Hummers. The mission is called Zero South, signifying the group's goal of being the first to reach the South Pole without using any fossil fuels. And the team's choice of vehicle wasn't an accident. The intentional irony of converting a Hummer into a plug-in hybrid had a certain appeal, according to a Zero South statement. Zero South hopes to promote awareness of environmental issues, and believes electrified Hummers will make excellent conversation starters. We shall draft a symbol of military defense for the front lines of environmental defense, expedition organizer Nick Baggarly declared. There's a practical element to the choice of vehicle, too. To tackle Antarctic ice and snow, the Zero South team needed a vehicle with a wide track. Each Hummer is equipped with a 3.2-liter six-cylinder turbodiesel engine that will run on biofuel during the expedition. There's also an electric motor for each axle, retaining the Hummer's four-wheel drive capability. Electricity is supplied by a 24-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, mounted in an insulated battery box to maintain consistent temperature. Green powertrains weren't the only modifications made to the pair of Hummers. The expedition vehicles features reinforced drivetrain and suspension components, as well as upgrades allowing them to operate in temperatures as low as -60 degress Fahrenheit. Then there are those tank treads. They're supplied by a company called Mattracks, which sells them as an aftermarket add-on for Hummers and other SUVs and trucks. On road tires, the plug-in Hummers are capable of an estimated 32 miles of electric range, although Zero South hasn't yet determined how far they'll be able to go on the tracks. It's also unclear where they would recharge while traversing Antarctica. One of the vehicles is designated to tow a modified Airstream trailer, nicknamed the Snowstream. The entire journey is expected to span 1,200 miles; if successful, Zero South says its vehicles will be the first hybrids driven to the South Pole. The group plans to document its journey on camera, and produce a 10-episode television miniseries and feature-length film for maximum exposure of their proposed exploit. ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel - ___ Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
