Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Do It Yourself : Make Our Own (MOO)

Back in October friends of mine provided a DIY program on easy herbal remedies and how to make your own laundry detergent. While I am still waiting for the recipes for the herbal remedies to post, Gary Crowth has provided his recipe and philosophy behind MOO: Make Our Own. Click on pdf for the image file. Stay tuned for the herbal info in the new year.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Whistle blower fesses up on oil figures

Seeing the documentary The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American dream inspired my interest in green programming. While climate issues have always been a the focus for the environmental groups and policy organizations, I have maintained that climate and energy scarsity need to be considered symbiotically when examining the problems and possible solutions. There has been lots of disagreement concerning the theory of Peak Oil and it is understandable now that we find that key figures have been falsified. Last month a whistleblower from the International Energy Agency reported that oil figures were distorted due to pressure from the United States out of fear of panic. A friend posted the Guardian link on Facebook. Oddly, I have not heard U.S. media reports on it, no casual water cooler discussions, nothing percolating out in the 'hood.

Last Green Program for 2009 on December 12

At the end of October we had our first Do It Yourself (DIY) program with Gary Crouth teaching how to make our own laundry detergent and Yasmeen Arif-Sayid giving a presentation on herbal remedies. I have received a promise that they would write something up for the blog, so stay tuned. We will have our second in the DIY series on:

Saturday, December 12, 10-11:30

Need ways to save money and get through the recession? Things you can do yourself? Mary Beth Thakar and Rose Lord have some ideas for you: -Growing lettuce inside in the cold months -- and herbs as well-Make your own yogurt at half the cost -- and fresher-Healthy, vitamin-enriched sprouts are easy to grow from all kinds of seeds-Cooking three things at once in one pot, saving time and energy-Homemade food gift ideas-Up-to-date "Stone soup" -- making soup from a mix of ingredients -How to refill ink cartridges -Teas from unexpected sources

Be sure to keep watching the program calendar for new programs.

What I learned about ethanol

I have never been impressed with the reports about ethanol and it has never made much sense to me to use food for fuel. So what I learned from a friend of mine about ethanol usage and car mileage got me thinking: Who is really being served by ethanol?

My friend bought a Prius well over a year ago and in the beginning was very happy with her mileage. Now, however, she is experiencing a rather sizable decline in miles to the gallon; as much as 10 miles to the gallon less than in the first year. After asking around she found that car mechanics are aware of the problem and she learned that the mix of ethanol in gasoline is decreasing mileage.

I wonder why I have not heard much about this in the news. I see lots of blog entries when I google the issue. And I do not notice any major change in my mileage over the past year or so; Although I have always noticed slightly lower mileage during the winter months. Could it be the decrease is more noted in the Prius because the car provides a readout of your gas usage? Are hybrids more sensitive to the mix of ethanol in a blended gasoline?

In a simple google search I found older articles and blog posts (2006) concerning lower mileage blamed on ethanol/gasoline mixes. But a blog called American Fuels provided more recent and scientific data. In summary, this is what it says:
-ethanol has fewer btu's than unmixed gasoline
-gasoline varies in its percentages in btu's (as much as 3.4-4.5%)
-summer gasoline has higher btu's than winter gasoline
-ethanol btu is constant

I think the blog is interesting and I like the variety of links he has listed. For example, I read a posting a year ago about algae being used as a fuel source and this blogger has included it as one of his blog posts.

Monday, December 7, 2009

In The News

I have been aware of the problem with plastics causing cancer and acting as estrogen mimics for sometime. I try to warn my co-workers not to use plastic in the microwave oven, but it is hard to change habits. It is good to see articles such as this in the New York Times that I can use to educate folks. Don't use 3, 6, and 7 plastics. And don't microwave anything in plastic!