Here is an uploaded Youtube video of the new bullet train California High Speed Rail link into Arcata, CA. Recorded today.
Thanks Bayard for making it all possible!…

Note: Run was on Saturday

When thinking about retrofitting coal boilers or building biomass power plants from scratch, utilities should consider all of their options.

Spurred by renewable portfolio standards, impending carbon legislation and public concerns about the environment, utilities across the U.S. are considering how they might lower emissions and incorporate more renewable energy into their electricity generation mix. And while wind, solar and other types of renewable energy plants remain on the table as options to explore, one choice they may already be familiar with is biomass.

If a utility already burns coal, it may be able to convert some or all of its coal-burning plants to biomass plants.

“No question that the utilities in the U.S. are starting to take a serious look at this,” said Charlie Niebling, general manager at New England Wood Pellets, a wood pellets manufacturer. “I think it’s being driven by the prospect of passage of a carbon cap-and-trade bill that will fall heavily on the utility electric generation sector,” he said.

Converting a coal-fired power plant into one that uses biomass is precisely what First Energy plans to do. Last April the utility announced plans to repower its coal-fired R.E. Burger Plant Units 4 and 5 using biomass. Ultimately, the plan is for the 312 MW plant to be powered by up to 100 percent biomass. However, the plant also is being designed with co-firing up to 20 percent coal.

First Energy spokesperson Mark Durbin said the utility is making the switch as a result of a Consent Decree involving the Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and several other parties. “At Burger, we had three choices: install scrubbing equipment, shut it down or repower the plant with another fuel source,” he said.

Repowering the plant with biomass seemed like the best option because it would not only help the utility keep jobs but it would also allow the utility to meet some of Ohio’s renewable portfolio standard goals—with a baseload power source to boot. “Biomass power is continuous and not dependent on the sun shining,” said Durbin. “It can be dispatched when you need it.”

First Energy subsidiary First Energy Generation Corp. is developing the project, which has a cost in the ballpark of $200 million.

Engineers from First Energy traveled to Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Holland this past spring to visit and learn from existing biomass projects. The system at Les Awirs in Belgium is a retrofitted 80 MW pulverized coal power plant that was converted in 2002 to use biomass as its sole fuel. The utility, Electrabel, uses pelletized recycled forestry/wood waste that is then pulverized before being fed into the power plant’s former pulverized coal boiler. This is a system similar to the one being considered in Ohio.

When complete, the Burger plant will be among the largest biomass power plants in the U.S. Since a project of this size hasn’t been done in the United States, challenges do exist, said Durbin. While the company already has in place equipment and systems to monitor particulates and nitrogen oxide emissions, it will need to solve a number of problems before getting the project off the ground. One problem is storage.

“Coal can get wet, get snowed on,” said Durbin. By contrast, biomass needs to stay dry. Durbin said the company plans to source biomass much in the same way it sources coal: from the best supplier. That may involve using wood chips and/or waste wood and processing it in a manner similar to the way coal is processed, or it may involve sourcing pellets. It’s also possible the company would use organic material such as switchgrass. “We are still working through the logistics,” said Durbin.

What About Heat?

For now, First Energy Generation plans to use the biomass to produce electricity alone and not harvest waste heat for cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP). And that’s a problem, according to Dan Richter, professor of soils and forest ecology at Duke University.

“If we burn wood for electricity only, about three to four logs need to be burned to recover the energy contained in one. If heat and electricity are recovered with advanced wood combustion (AWC) technology, we can capture three to four times the energy that is recovered when burning wood solely for electricity,” he said.

Richter said AWC technology is widely deployed in Europe with plants achieving up to 90 percent efficiencies from burning biomass. Interestingly, four of the five plants that First Energy Generation engineers visited in Europe are combined heat and power (CHP) plants, even though the Ohio plant will generate electricity only.

Richter and a consortium of experts in the forestry and energy industry believe that burning wood solely for electricity wastes sizeable amounts of thermal energy.

“When we do calculations on how much wood is available in the nation and we look at potential supplies for energy we find that there’s just not enough of it to waste,” he said. “But if we can use it efficiently — capturing 70, 80, 90 percent [of the embodied energy in wood] — then wood does become a pretty interesting source of renewable energy that the country isn’t really aware of yet.”

The group authored an op-ed, Rekindling Wood Energy in America, published on RenewableEnergyWorld.com in June in which they stated, “Wood is widely used for solid-wood and paper products, and is critical to forest biodiversity, water and soil quality, recreation and carbon sequestration. For all these reasons, common sense indicates wood must be used as efficiently as possible.”

What’s a Utility to Do?

To use AWC, any burning of biomass must capture and use the heat created in the process. Richter points to college campuses, small towns and urban areas across the country that are using this type of technology through CHP systems; in essence, using biomass to generate electricity as well as to heat and cool buildings in a centralized location.

Richter said that siting is one of the keys to take advantage of AWC technology. “Siting is so important to be able to technologically capture the heat as well as to ensure supplies of the biomass energy itself,” he said.

In other words, people or industries need to be near the system to take advantage of the biomass-generated heat. There also needs to be enough woody biomass nearby to ensure that transportation isn’t an issue.

But what about utilities that are converting coal-fired plants that are not sited in such a way so that they could harvest heat?

“What they might do is think about developing an industrial park around the plant,” said Richter.

Benefits Abound

In western Massachusetts another company is preparing to build a wood-fueled power plant. Russell Biomass is proposing a 50 MW plant on the former home of the Westfield River Paper Co.

According to Peter Bos, project developer, the Russell Biomass plant will use wood from 40 or 50 different wood suppliers. The suppliers will provide wood chips from untreated wood that comes from land clearing and tree removal, stumps, waste pallets and municipal as well as private woodyards that receive clean waste wood.

Bos said New England has quite a bit of waste wood. While the company has yet to sign a purchased power agreement, it is talking with investor-owned utilities and municipal power companies in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England.

The project is not without opponents, with groups protesting everything from air pollutants to the impact the waste heat will have on salmon populations in nearby rivers. To address this opposition, Bos said the company simply must provide the facts clearly and consistently, again and again. He said this biomass plant is the tightest permitted biomass plant in New England.

“If the others are safe — and there are others at schools and hospitals across New England — then ours is the safest.”

Like First Energy’s plant in Ohio, the Russell Biomass plant (pictured left) will not use CHP technology, instead using biomass to create electricity at an efficiency rate of 25 percent. The heat won’t be harvested in any kind of district heating scenario; “it’s just not a good location for that,” said Bos. However, using the 85-degree cooling water that exits the plant to heat a greenhouse is an option that has been discussed.

With or without CHP, New England Wood Pellet’s Niebling believes we’ll see more utilities looking at biomass power.

“Many utilities are probably quietly exploring this option getting ready for what may be coming out of Washington,” he said. “If it’s cost effective to do, I suspect many of them are going to do it.”

Source: Renewable Energy World and WIH Resource Group

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

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Source: Sustainablog and WIH Resource Group

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

Feel free to visit our websites for additional information on our services at: http://www.wihrg.com and http://www.wastesavings.net and our daily blog at http://wihresourcegroup.wordpress.com

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This past spring, my family and I were able to get all the compost we needed for our vegetable garden from a local community’s compost pile at their department of public works. The compost was created from all of the leaves and yard clippings that had been collected curbside. Many communities collect leaves, clippings and other outside organic matter to turn into compost, but some communities are taking it a step further.

Cities such as San Francisco, Minneapolis, Toronto, and Boulder all have programs in place that allow residents to place food scraps curbside to be turned into compost.

Food that is mixed in with regular trash is estimated to make up about 40% of the trash in landfills. It also is the biggest offender in creating landfill methane which is a powerful greenhouse gas – 72 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Reducing landfill methane is just one of the benefits of keeping this type of waste out of landfills.

According to San Francisco’s environmental site

Curbside composting’s many benefits include:

• saving money by reducing trash to landfill service and thereby lowering garbage bills;
• conserving valuable organic resources by returning organic matter and nutrients to the soil;
• reducing climate warming gases from landfills and reducing the risk of potential groundwater pollution
• extending the life of our landfill by saving space

Since it is not possible for everyone to compost in their home, curbside composting programs like these are valuable community services. I’m going to bringing up the idea at my town’s next Green Team meeting. Right now, my community does pick up vegetative waste but it is limited to things like “grass clippings, sticker balls, acorns, pine cones and viney type materials such as ivy, honey-suckle, poison ivy, laurel and plant clippings.” I wonder what would need to be changed to include food waste in the can that is provided to collect these other things.

If this sounds like an idea that would work in your community, contact your department of public works to see how you can help implement a curbside composting program.

One of the benefits of keeping compostable food out of landfills is that it reduces landfill methane – a greenhouse gas that is 72% more powerful than carbon dioxide.This begs the question, does this actually reduce methane emissions?  It seems, based on the lack of detail in the article, that the same amount of methane would be produced whether the organic waste was sitting in a compost pile or a landfill. Why wouldn’t that be true?

This is a good question, and deserves to be answered in a post instead of just a reply in the comments section.

Landfill methane is a gas that is produced in a landfill because the things in the landfill undergo anaerobic decomposition. Basically, this means that because municipal solid waste that is buried in a landfill does not receive oxygen, it will produce methane.

A compost pile, on the other hand, undergoes aerobic decomposition. Because it is exposed to oxygen, either by turning it or through the use of worms and other living organisms, it produces CO2 (carbon dioxide) instead of methane.

Of course, not all compost piles are treated the same, so some attention needs to be paid to the compost pile to so that it receives the oxygen that it needs. But, if a compost pile is being taken care of properly, it will produce far less methane than a landfill.

This is a very basic answer, but I think it should answer the question as to why food waste is better off in a compost pile than in the local landfill.

Source: Sustainablog WIH Resource Group

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

Feel free to visit our websites for additional information on our services at: http://www.wihrg.com and http://www.wastesavings.net and our daily blog at http://wihresourcegroup.wordpress.com

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Last weekend’s coastal flooding revealed a brief but important chapter of Lewes history when the marshes between Freeman Highway and Savannah Road filled with the high tide mid-morning on Saturday.  It’s no accident that the cedar-studded line working its way across the marsh toward the city’s wastewater treatment plant forms an almost perfect arc.  In fact, the arc is part of an early 20th century railroad system that combined train and steamboat travel.  The rail line that the arc peels off from, in the foreground of the photograph, is still in use but the rail bed built above the marsh to make the looping line for the cedars went out of use nearly 100 years ago. Read more about this interesting rail line in my Barefootin’ column in the Friday, Dec. 25 edition of the Cape Gazette.

The storm also accentuated the red ruins of the old Lofland Brick Company on Round Pole Branch Road just outside the easterly limits of Milton. I will post a photograph of those ruins on Wednesday morning.  I will also post a photograph taken at the height of last weekend’s storm in Rehoboth Beach, about a half an hour after I took this photo in Milton.  It shows the Boardwalk project work at the end of Rehoboth Avenue with the nor’easter-driven seas licking at the dunes just beyond the grasses.  This nor’easter made up in intensity what it lacked in duration.  The amazing thing about Rehoboth on Saturday was that there was zero snow here compared to the six inches already on the ground in Milton at the same time.

We were in a pocket here along the coast that protected us from the brunt of the storm.  As Walter Brittingham often says, we’re so blessed to live here.

Covanta Honolulu Resource Recovery Venture, has amended its existing service agreement with the City and County of Honolulu, HI to include its activities as the designer, builder and operator of a $302 million expansion of the H-POWER Energy-from-Waste facility in Honolulu, HI. The 900 ton per day (TPD) expansion project, which will be funded and owned by the City and County, will increase the facility’s capacity by approximately 40%. Furthermore, the agreement extends Covanta’s tenure as the facility’s operator for 20 years upon the start of commercial operation of the expanded facility, which is expected to occur in 24 to 34 months.

The H-POWER facility serves as an integral component of the comprehensive solid waste management program of the City and County of Honolulu. “Covanta has provided exemplary service to the City since the beginning,” said Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann. “Their staff’s dedication and strong management skills have helped make H-POWER a major success and we’re very confident that adding this third boiler will be a major success for everyone.”

When the new unit comes on line, it will provide Honolulu with additional disposal capacity for the municipal solid waste generated by 850,000 residents and six million visitors to the island of Oahu each year. Overall processing capacity will be increased to 900,000 tons per year.

“We are delighted that the City and County of Honolulu have elected to continue our long-standing partnership by engaging us in this important expansion project and extending our role as the operator of this premier facility. Their decision reinforces the important role that Covanta and energy-from-waste play in Oahu’s solid waste management efforts,” said Seth Myones, President of Covanta Americas. “Upon completion, H-POWER’s expanded capacity will minimize the need for landfilling to help preserve land on this beautiful island, while also providing residents with additional clean, renewable energy to reduce their dependence on imported oil.”

After the expansion, H-POWER’s output will constitute approximately 84 megawatts, representing six percent of the island’s electricity, a major contribution to Oahu’s goal of becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy production. On an annual basis, the expanded facility will offset the need to burn nearly one million barrels of oil. In addition to those environmental benefits, the expansion will also provide a much needed boost to the local economy, generating approximately 300 construction jobs as well as additional jobs to operate and maintain the facility once completed.

Source: Covanta, City and County of Honolulu Hawaii and WIH Resource Group

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

Feel free to visit our websites for additional information on our services at: http://www.wihrg.com and http://www.wastesavings.net and our daily blog at http://wihresourcegroup.wordpress.com

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Until 1984 the Croton Landfill was the dumping site of much of Westchester’s garbage and solid waste. But beginning in 1996, what might once have been considered science fiction will become reality. A county program, now in the design stage, will convert the methane gas produced at the landfill into a source of revenue.

The program will use existing technology to capture the methane, a gas that is produced by the decomposition of vegetable matter, purify it and convert it to electricity and compressed natural gas. Methane at the landfill is now burned off and must be eliminated to prevent the possibility of fire. The county is also studying the possibility of taking another landfill gas, carbon dioxide, and capturing it for commercial sale.

The electricity generated by the program will be used at the 125-acre Croton Point Park, which is next to the landfill. The county spends $250,000 a year for electricity to light the park and heat buildings. Any excess electricity produced will be sold to Con Edison, which under state law must purchase it. The compressed natural gas will be used in the county’s natural-gas-powered vehicles, with any surplus being sold to pipeline operators.

The gas-conversion system, including machinery and a building to house it, will cost the county $6.9 million. This will come from savings in the budget for capping the landfill. Once closed, a landfill must be capped, or covered and ventilated, to prevent buried waste and gases from leaking into the environment. That part of the job will be completed this fall. Other Sites in Operation

But even after capping, the landfill will continue to produce methane gas until the year 2031, according to preliminary estimates prepared by the county. Once in operation, the gas-conversion plant will pay back its capital costs in 4.3 years. During the 35-year life of the program, the county estimates electricity savings at the park and net earnings of $19.2 million.

“This program will work for everyone,” said Anthony P. Trelewicz, Commissioner of the county’s Department of Environmental Facilities based here. “The first benefit is to the environment. By creating electricity, methane gas is not released or burned into the atmosphere. The second benefit is to the taxpayers of Westchester. The money saved on electricity will reduce the park budget. The electricity and natural gas sold will be a revenue.” In large concentrations, methane is regarded as an environmental pollutant.

Mr. Trelewicz said methane is being converted to electricity at landfills in Macedon and Oceanside, both in New York State, and in New Milford. Methane is being turned into natural gas in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc., and Cleveland bottles and sells carbon dioxide from its landfill.

“The gas-extraction system already exists underground at the Croton Landfill,” the Commissioner added. “The pipes and wells underground are usable and were put there as part of the capping of the landfill. When you cap a landfill, you must put in that underground system to vent the gases or there could be an explosion and fire.”

Methane is now burned off at the Railroad 1 Landfill in Croton, an adjacent 20-acre municipal site, which was capped in 1986 and will be included in the gas-extraction program. While burning methane is considered safe for the environment, county officials feel that this program is a better way to eliminate the gas and provide income.

Within the next few months, the county will award a consulting contract for a design study, a job that Mr. Trelewicz estimates will take six to nine months. In addition to providing construction specifications, the study will determine how much methane the landfill can produce and how long it will last. When the study is completed, bids will be sought for the project.

As proposed, the gas-collection system will capture 1.5 million cubic feet of gas a day. One-third of the gas will be used to power a 740-kilowatt generator in a sound-deadening building, which will produce power for the park. The remaining gas will be used to create the natural gas equivalent of 700 gallons of gasoline a day. The building will be large enough, though, to allow a switch to total-electric production if desired.

“The compressed-natural-gas conversion is a pilot program that will last for one year,” Mr. Trelewicz said. “During this time, we will study the market for compressed natural gas in the county. If we want to sell it, we have to make sure there are customers out there besides us. One possible customer would be the municipalities. But if we can’t sell it, there is no use producing it. In that case, we can convert the plant to total generation of electricity.”

The county is now operating five natural-gas-powered vehicles in a pilot program to test the economic and environmental benefits. The vehicles travel 150 to 200 miles on two cylinders of natural gas, approximately the equivalent of 16 gallons of gasoline. The county purchases fuel for these cars under a contract with Con Edison, which has a fueling station in Rye.

Mr. Trelewicz expects the gas-conversion plant to be operating by 1996. “This is an exciting project,” he said. “We build waste-treatment plants, but this is different. We are using the byproducts of what was once waste to make fuel and energy.”

Source: The New York Times and WIH Resource Group

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

Feel free to visit our websites for additional information on our services at: http://www.wihrg.com and http://www.wastesavings.net and our daily blog at http://wihresourcegroup.wordpress.com

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Follow Bob Wallace and WIH Resource Group on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wihresource

The trestle crossing the James River in Snowden on a misty morning.
© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

North Coast Railroad Authority has extended the comment period for the recirculated Draft EIR to 5:00 p.m. January 14, 2010.

Green Wheels:An Update on the Eureka-Arcata 101 Improvement Project

In the grand scheme of regional non-motorized connectivity between cities, the 101 is at the top of the list. If built, the 101 Eureka-Arcata Corridor Improvement Project has the potential to negatively impact trail development between Arcata and Eureka. Designing “improvements” for the 101 without certain accommodation for the Humboldt Bay Trail— a future portion of the California Coastal Trail (SB908)— could potentially hem us in. The proposed Humboldt Bay Trail will likely fall on either Caltrans right of way or the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) right-of-way. So, any development along the 101 that increases the width of 101 could impact our ability to have a Rail-with-Trail. This leaves us with our other option, Rail-to-Trail, not only a harder sell among railroad stalwarts, but a cue to Caltrans that this issue cannot be talked about in isolation from the HBT.

The NCRA and Caltrans share another issue in common—sea level rise—which goes hand in hand with trail design as well. To protect the highway from rising sea levels, either the entire highway needs to be elevated, or the railroad prism needs to be enhanced to act as a levy. If Caltrans chooses to enhance the railroad prism as a levy, it makes fiscal sense to do it in a way that accommodates the proposed Class I multi-use trail on the levy. If they choose to raise the level of 101, either gradually as it undergoes maintenance, or as part of this project, Caltrans musti establish that a Class I multi-use trail is fully feasible outside the Caltrans right-of-way in the face of wetland constraints and sea level rise challenges to the trail, or must accommodate the trail within its right-of-way and protect it, along with the highway facility from sea level rise. This will require Caltrans to conduct design, engineering and permitting for the trail to fully establish its feasibility.

MIJ: Report: Alto Hill Tunnel reopening carries big price tag

The $225,000 study, paid for with federal funds, will be discussed at a meeting Wednesday in Mill Valley.

It estimates reopening the half-mile Alto Tunnel between the two communities would cost $48 million to $52 million, which would include adding a 10-foot-wide bike path and an 8-foot-wide pedestrian walkway.

SRPD: Public makes pitch for SMART train features

It’s their trains, and the public at a Wednesday night workshop made it clear what they would like the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit cars to look like.

An open letter from Wine Train to Sen. McCain

It worries me that no calls were made before we were held up to the entire American public — a small business in Northern California — as an enormous source of government waste.
If you had spoken with us, or even project officials, you might have asked: Why would the Napa Valley Wine Train need, or take,

$54 million in taxpayer money to move a small section of rail line 33 feet? The answer is: We didn’t!

So, who does? Napa County has an award-winning flood control project and design; one that was proposed, and approved by voters, many years ago. This is the project that is being funded. That design has impacted a lot of businesses. It has necessitated the movement of several rights-of-way, and at my last count four or five bridges (including the Wine Train’s). The goal of this project is to protect the city of Napa from continued flooding, period, not enhance specific companies.

SRPD: SMART gets $2.5 million for commute-rail work

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district has received $2.5 million in federal funds for preliminary engineering and environmental work on its planned commuter rail line.

SRPD: Builder, taxpayer groups protest SMART deal

Leaders of the North Coast Builders Exchange and the Sonoma County Taxpayers Association demanded Wednesday that SMART directors put a stop to negotiations between their Railroad Square project developer and a group representing labor and environmental interests.

UDJ: Possible sites for new courthouse discussed

.

“It’s a classic win-win, because we would have enough property for freight and passenger service in the future, and the land could be used for an important public service,” Stogner said.

The site used to be a railroad maintenance yard, and the land was contaminated when the NCRA bought it from Pacific Union Railroad in 1996, according to Stogner. He said a study needs to be done to determine what the contamination is and how to go about cleaning up the site.

“They (Pacific Union) have until 2013,” Stogner said. “Whatever is done with the property, the cleanup responsibility will have to be assigned by the purchaser, or worked out with the responsible party, which is Union Pacific Railroad.”

The AOC expects to complete the new Ukiah courthouse by 2015, and planned $5.6 million for property acquisition.

Stogner said another hurdle to jump for locating at the depot site is that the NCRA needs permission to sell the land from Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration, which contributed money for the purchase.

MIJ: Not all on board for high-density housing near rail stations

Last week the Metropolitan Transportation Commission handed out $1.8 million to cities to provide financial support “for planning processes that seek to increase transit ridership by maximizing the development potential around current or future transit stations and corridors.”

The MTC – which is pushing housing and retail around transit hubs to limit car trips – happily handed out the cash to every city that applied for the dollars in Marin and Sonoma. But in Marin only one of the three eligible cities stepped forward: San Rafael. Novato and Larkspur passed, each saying they were not quite ready to embrace the concept until they know more.

San Rafael received $140,000 to plan around a Civic Center Station, which will go in along the west side of Civic Center Drive, and another $388,000 for planning at its downtown station just north the transit center. The city will have to provide a 20 percent match.

NVR: Hidden history in Napa

Amid the grit and grease that is Wine Country Motors on Sixth Street, mechanics tromp over ribbons of steel embedded in the concrete floor.

These rails might seem as out of place as a mounted moose head, but they tell a story. Wine Country Motors occupies a building that accommodated a century of the city’s transportation history.
Wine Country Motors and half a dozen other contemporary businesses are housed within the shell of the enormous car barn of the old Vallejo, Benicia & Napa Valley Railroad.

Built in 1905, the car barn and repair shop remained after the electric railroad went belly-up in 1935. Today people visit the ghost of the old railroad to rent a car, buy smoking supplies, or get their vehicle smogged.

I’ve been making some products, working from my collection of vintage railroad photographs. I’ve tried to get the look of manufacturer’s builders photos, which were black and white, with the backgrounds opaqued out. This was an opaque clay mix actually painted on the 8×10 inch negatives to get rid of the background.

Carefull selections in Photoshop are easier than that, but complex selections can still be a serious pain! By using the pen tool, instead of the lasso, this process is much less frustrating. I’ve just put together a short article on how this is done.

Here is one of the photos I worked from and how the final product looks. I kept the cut out, logo, and text all on separate layers, so I could re format it to fit a coffe cup and other products. I also made this available as a poster print.

You can see more of my Zazzle items at my store, earth_sea’s Store at Zazzle

It might be meaningful to have an IC train connecting Basel – Bern – Lausanne – Geneva.

Back in Pennsylvania there’s a railroaders club. Each member owns a coach car; they stay parked in barns till once a year when they chain-hook  to a dynamo and barrel up through Canada. On the ride they visit each other, drinking and telling train stories, while tethered to the might of a hurtling behemoth that thunders them across time.

-Bob Zatko

“Methane gas is by far the most accessible fuel as an alternative to diesel.” – Lars Mårtensson, Environmental Director Volvo Trucks
80% methane replacement expected after engine refinement and testing

Volvo Trucks is staking a claim in the heavy-duty natural gas vehicle arena, announcing it will be the first manufacturer with an ‘efficient’  natural gas diesel dual-fuel engine meeting Euro V exhaust emission standards (introduced in 2009). Field testing will start in Sweden and the UK in 2010. “This unique technology allows us to combine the advantages of gas with the diesel engine’s high efficiency rating, which is about 30-40 percent superior to that of the spark plug engine,” comments Lars Mårtensson, Environmental Director Volvo Trucks. “As a result, this truck consumes considerably less energy than traditional gas trucks do.”

Following trials of different biofuels which commenced August 2007, Volvo Trucks is now focusing on two renewable fuels: DME and methane gas + diesel. “Methane gas is by far the most accessible fuel as an alternative to diesel. There are larger reserves of natural gas than oil. But above all, production of climate-neutral biogas is gaining momentum in many countries, which solves the most urgent problem – reducing CO2 emissions,” says Lars Mårtensson.

Volvo Trucks says its technology has significantly increased operational range by combining higher density liquified methane gas with diesel and using this fuel in a diesel engine. The company further states that the diesel engine’s driveability is better compared to a spark ignited engine.How Volvo Trucks’ gas truck works

The solution is based on Volvo’s Euro 5 diesel engines. When the engines are converted for gas operation, special tanks are added for either liquid volume-efficient methane gas (Liquefied natural gas – LNG/Liquefied biogas – LBG) or pressurised methane gas (compressed natural gas – CNG/compressed biogas – CBG). In addition, a separate fuel system is added with gas injectors in the inlet manifold.A small amount of diesel is injected and ignited by the compression, which in turn ignites the methane gas/air mixture. This saves the need for a spark plug and allows Volvo to make full use of the efficient diesel technology. As a result, the power and drive-ability are identical to that of a conventional diesel truck.“Processors continuously calculate fuel ratio according to the driver’s current driving pattern. The optimum – i.e. the highest – proportion of gas is achieved during smooth, stable driving,” explains Lars Mårtensson. If the gas runs out, the truck can continue operating on only diesel.

Field testing to optimize technologyThe amount of diesel required during operation varies, but Volvo Trucks aims to minimise the proportion of diesel.“We expect to be able to run on up to 80 percent methane gas once the technology has been refined and tested,” says Mats Franzén, Manager Engine Strategy and Planning, Volvo Trucks. “Our field tests in 2010 will start with a mixture containing up to 70 percent methane gas. The remainder will consist of bio-mix diesel, i.e. fossil diesel mixed with diesel produced from renewable raw materials.”Calculated over the whole fuel chain, from production to use on roads, the new technology could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 percent in the long term compared to traditional diesel operation, if biogas and 100 percent biodiesel are used.Market Appeal

There are two main factors driving the increased market demand for gas-powered trucks. One is cost savings. Methane gas is currently a relatively cheap fuel in many markets.

The other driving factor stems from the strict environmental regulations in many towns and cities, playing a crucial role in purchasing decisions, particularly in municipal companies. To optimise and refine the technology, Volvo Trucks is also collaborating with technology companies Clean Air Power, Hardstaff Group and Westport Innovations.Both natural gas and biogas consist of methane. The difference is that natural gas is a fossil fuel, whereas biogas is produced from biodegradable material such as waste.Source: Volvo North America, Volvo Trucks, NGV Global News and WIH Resource Group

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 A Phoenix, AZ based mid-sized recycling and waste hauling company with processing plants in Arizona and offices in Phoenix, New York City and Beijing, China is actively looking for a VP of Sales. The company processes recyclable by-products at its plants in Arizona, and purchases scrap throughout the U.S. for the Asia/Pacific region. It has over 50 full-time employees and processes over 80 million pounds annually of recyclable by-products and waste residue.

The position of Vice President Sales is responsible for developing and leading a current team of 7 sales professionals based in Phoenix, AZ. This is a senior level position with responsibility as an officer of the company.

The candidate must have a minimum of 10-15 years experience in industrial and commercial sales. The candidate must have a minimum of 5 years experience directing both inside and outside sales professionals. The candidate will be expected to produce and close individual sales opportunities as well as evaluate and construct a team of sales professionals.

To be considered for this position, candidates must have substantive high-level relationships and a deep working knowledge of Arizona based industrial and commercial manufacturers and distribution centers.

Only Phoenix area candidates will be considered.

No relocation assistance is available. The candidate must provide references, including references from previous customers, and be able to pass a background check.

Skills and Qualifications

 • 15 years of verifiable and successful sales and sales management experience

 • Familiarity with Phoenix area manufacturing, distribution, construction, and MRO markets

 • A self starter with an entrepreneurial attitude that requires little or no micro-management and a tremendous desire to win

 • Ability to hire, train, motivate, and coach both inside and outside sales resources to meet financial goals

 • Track record selling total business solutions with a consultative sales approach

 • Strong communication and organizational skills

 • Previous success with sales planning and implementing new sales programs

If you are a high-caliber individual interested in excelling at a mid-sized, growth oriented company, please include a detailed resume, salary requirements and references to:

Bob Wallace Principal & VP of Client Solutions

WIH Resource Group

Email: admin@wihrg.com

Fax: 623-505-2634

Source: WIH Resource Group

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As a few key issues continue to stall negotiations, the Danish prime minister took control of the climate conference on Dec. 16. as the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) moves into the final days of talks.

The president of the UN Climate Conference, Connie Hedegaard, has resigned, allowing the Danish prime minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen to take direct control of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen to ramp up efforts to secure a new deal, reports The Independent.

At the same time, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Dec. 16 that all countries should set tougher goals to fight global warming and rich nations should set how much aid they will give to poorer nations by 2020, reports Forbes.com (via Reuters).

Ban said the exact amount was up to member states but developing nations insist on a number such as $100 billion a year suggested by African nations by 2020, reports Forbes.com.

Males Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, on behalf of the African Group, announced on Dec. 16 that funding for adaptation and mitigation of climate change should reach $100 billion a year by 2020, reports Xinhua News Agency.

Zenawi also said in the article that funding should start by 2013 and reach $50 billion a year by 2015, with the funds allocated for the most vulnerable and poor nations, such as Africa and small island states.

Ban also said the Kyoto Protocol might be replaced by a new pact despite opposition by developing countries and that the world should set a goal to halve worldwide GHG emissions by 2050, reports Forbes.com.

However, this may difficult as the Group of 77 and China warned against any attempts to dismantle the Kyoto Protocol, which sets binding emissions reductions for industrialized countries, reports Xinhua News Agency.

The group also wants to keep the two-track negotiation mechanism established in the Bali Action Plan, which states developed countries should set emissions reduction targets for the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol after the first period expires in 2012, and discuss how to help developing countries with their mitigation and adaptation efforts under the UNFCCC, according to the article.

Other key sticking points include both India and China’s refusal to set limits on their emissions, saying it hurts their economic growth, and their demand for at least $200 billion a year to help developing countries grow while curbing their emissions, reports BusinessWeek.

Businesses also continue to put pressure on climate negotiators to establish a strong climate deal. More than 1,000 companies, representing more than $11 trillion in market capitalization and $2.6 trillion in annual sales, released a position paper, “Business — The Real Deal”, prepared by WWF that spells out their demands.

They say a strong climate deal should allow businesses to make long-term investments in low carbon technologies, provide incentives to invest heavily in low carbon R&D and protects economies from dramatic impacts of climate change, reports WWF.

Although Prime Minister Gordon Brown has admitted that a new deal may not be decided on in Copenhagen, he said a deal could create up to 500,000 jobs alone in the UK’s “low carbon” industries, while helping the developing world fight climate change, reports BBC.

City leaders are also calling for strong emissions reductions. Mayors from New York, Toronto, Buenos Aires and Copenhagen along with other city leaders signed a resolution for “an ambitious and empowering deal” on carbon-dioxide emissions cuts at a meeting running concurrently with the climate talks, reports Bloomberg News.

One deal that negotiators may be able to finalize focuses on the role that forests play in curbing emissions. The New York Times is reporting that negotiators have nearly completed a deal that would compensate countries for preserving forests and other natural landscapes such as peat soils and swamps.

A final draft of the compensation program agreement, called Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), is expected to be delivered on Dec. 16 to ministers of the nearly 200 countries, reports the New York Times. While some negotiators said some details need to be worked out, all the major issues have been resolved, according to the article.

Sources: Environmental Leader, The New York Post & WIH Resource Group

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The Obama administration should have sent federal stimulus money not to the U.S. states, but to cities, where ”most of the environmental damage is done and most of the chances for improvement are,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday.

Bloomberg joined about 80 other local leaders from around the world at a ‘’summit” that took place alongside the U.N. climate conference.

The mayors and other officials were from rich capitals like London and Tokyo and impoverished cities as Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Dhaka, Bangladesh. They were taking part in the five-day session to compare notes on how cities can help reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases, and save money on energy and other costs.

City leaders say they want to show the way, but can’t do it alone.

”While nations talk, cities act. Cities are delivering real cuts in greenhouse gases,” Toronto Mayor Steve Miller said. ”We have already cut 1 million tons of CO2 per year. To do more, we need our national governments to act.”

Midway through the 193-nation U.N. conference Tuesday, deep divides between rich and poor nations brought talks to a crawl. Negotiators sought agreement on new reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions by industrialized countries, and controls on emissions growth in the developing world.

President Barack Obama and more than 100 other national leaders are scheduled to participate in the conference’s final days this week. Miller, Bloomberg, Copenhagen’s Ritt Bjerregaard and dozens of the other mayors Tuesday signed a joint declaration urging the leaders ”to embrace this chance and seal an ambitious and empowering deal in Copenhagen.”

New York — a city of islands, subways and other underground infrastructure — will be threatened by seas rising from global warming. To guard against ever-stronger sea surges from future hurricanes, some scientists and engineers have suggested the city build giant barriers in New York Harbor.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, is moving ahead with immediate plans to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 2006 levels by 2030.

The New York City Council last week approved legislation requiring owners of larger buildings to do energy audits and replace insulation and take other steps toward energy efficiency, including upgrading their lighting. The city has also planted 300,000 of 1 million new trees, has extended bike lanes over 200 miles of streets, and has encouraged conversion to hybrid vehicles of 22 percent of the taxi fleet, among other emissions-saving steps.

”It is a big deal,” Bloomberg said at a panel session after the summit opening. He boasted that the city was making progress without financial support from New York State.

In fact, the mayor said, some of the $787 billion federal stimulus package, to create jobs in the midst of U.S. recession, became a ”great waste of money” when it was funneled to the states for projects.

”If the federal government really wants to do something, you give the money directly to the cities. The dumbest way to distribute the money is to send it to the states, because they have to spread it around the states for political reasons,” often to be spent on useless projects, he said.

”I’ve said this to the president and to every member of Congress I can buttonhole,” Bloomberg added. ”You really have to send the money where the problem is.”

Cities and towns consume two-thirds of the world’s total primary energy and produce more than 70 percent of its energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, the International Energy Agency reports. That will grow to 76 percent by 2030, the agency says. Most comes from electrifying and heating private, commercial and municipal buildings.

Other big cities are also trying to lead on climate. Sao Paulo, Brazil, for example, a sprawl of 11 million people, has by law set as a goal a 30 percent reduction in emissions by 2013. It has already achieved 20 percent since 2005, chiefly through its new system of generating biogas for energy at landfills, instead of allowing waste methane, a greenhouse gas, to rise into the skies.

Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million, also has set ambitious goals. It’s cut CO2 emissions by 20 percent from 1995 to 2005. Mayor Bjerregaard plans to reduce it by another 20 percent by 2015, and then to become ”carbon-neutral” by 2025.

After round-table talks Tuesday, Bjerregaard said the plans and accomplishments laid out by other mayors ”will inspire all of us to act.”

Sources: The New York Post & WIH Resource Group

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The Joplin Museum Complex in Joplin, Mo., asked the City Council on Monday night to move its cramped operations to Memorial Hall on Seventh Street, aka Route 66, and levy a sales tax to help pay for it, renovations and operating expenses, reported the Joplin Globe.

Brad Belk, director of the museum complex, told the council that the plan would give the museum the expansion space it needs to house collections that are in storage. It would make the museum a visitor destination on Seventh Street, the former U.S. Route 66, and place it near downtown revitalization efforts. It also would preserve Memorial Hall, where use has been spotty for several years, Belk said. [...]

The museum has outgrown its 8,000 square feet of display and meeting space, though it possesses what visitors describe as an important collection of minerals that were part of the mining boom that developed Joplin and the Tri-State Mining District that included Southeast Kansas and Northeast Oklahoma.

Besendorfer said that when she became a board member and first toured all the nooks and crannies inside the museum at Schifferdecker Park, “I was so impressed yet dismayed that we have phenomenal collections, yet they are in the basement (in storage). Sadly, we have to say ‘no’ to (more) collections. We don’t have the space to save them for later.”

What’s being proposed is a one-sixth of a cent sales tax that would cover the $7 million in expenses. The sales tax could then be lowered once construction bonds are paid off.

The city attorney is also checking to see whether moving the museum to Memorial Hall would violate the facility’s covenants, which allows it to be used as a meeting hall and auditorium. Memorial Hall was built in 1923.

The mayor seemed reluctant to proceed, but a majority the City Council advanced the measure to possibly put the sales tax on a referendum. The council could vote on it as soon as January, with a public vote as soon as April.

I noticed a few Joplin Globe readers want the railroad depot to be the museum. But these pictures show the depot in such disrepair that it would very likely take far more than $7 million to repair it. Restoring the depot is a worthy goal, but you’d better have deep, deep pockets to do it.

The United States pledged on Monday to contribute $85 million to a $350 million multinational fund aimed at speeding up renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in poor countries.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu also announced a high-level meeting will be held in Washington next year of major developed countries’ energy ministers to discuss global deployment of clean energy technology.

Chu made the announcements on the sidelines of a December 7-18 international climate conference in Copenhagen.

The talks temporarily stalled on Monday when African countries walked out, accusing rich countries of trying to kill the U.N. Kyoto Protocol which set targets for emissions cuts by most industrialized countries.

Projects which the fund will support include a plan to speed affordable solar-generated lighting systems and LED lanterns to those without access to electricity.

Chu said the devices would eliminate air pollution from indoor kerosene lamps that he said contributes to 1.6 million deaths per year in poor countries.

Other facets of the programme are the encouragement of more energy-efficient appliances in developing countries and rich country information-sharing of clean energy technologies.

The White House said the financing would enhance a World Bank strategic climate fund that helps poor countries develop national renewable energy plans. 

Italy, Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland also are participating and already have promised funds. Speaking more broadly about U.S. efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases associated with climate change, Chu said the Obama administration was serious about helping develop clean coal technology.

“What we want to see is the beginning of routine deployment hopefully within eight or 10 years,” Chu said.   Emissions from coal-burning power plants are considered a major contributor to global warming.

Sources: Reuters, Copenhagen & WIH Resource Group

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After a yearlong review, environmental officials announced yesterday that they are continuing a 15-year-old moratorium on expanding or building new incinerators.

The review was part of the state’s effort to revise its solid-waste master plan and reduce the 1.5 million tons of trash it exports every year.

State officials had sparked controversy this year as they held public meetings around the state to consider revising regulations that have blocked the expansion of existing plants since 1994. New incinerators have been banned since 1990.

“We are serious about managing the waste we generate in a way that saves money for cities and towns, curbs pollution, and protects the environment,’’ Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement. “There are better ways than traditional incineration.’’

The extension was hailed by environmental groups.

“This is great news for the environment and for public health,’’ said James McCaffrey, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club. “We applaud the administration for outlining a comprehensive agenda to promote green energy and combat waste that doesn’t include burning trash.’’

Over the years, to the chagrin of environmental groups, waste management companies have lobbied aggressively to lift the ban, arguing that new technology significantly reduces emissions and that it is better to burn the trash and collect the resulting energy than dump the refuse in the state’s rapidly filling landfills or ship it out of state.

Ted Michaels – president of the Energy Recovery Council, a Washington-based trade association for waste-to-energy companies – called the state’s decision “a real disappointment.’’

“We believe waste-to-energy is an asset in Massachusetts and other states,’’ he said. “It’s being embraced by the most environmentally progressive countries in the world, especially in Western Europe. ’’

Officials at Wheelabrator Technologies, which operates incinerators in Saugus, North Andover, and Millbury that provide enough electricity to power more than 150,000 homes a day, declined to comment.

Environmental officials had decried the efforts to end the moratorium, arguing that new incinerators, however improved technologically, would contribute more pollution. Allowing new plants, they said, would encourage more incineration of waste and stifle incentives to recycle.

They also pointed out that the state already incinerates about one-quarter of the 12 million tons of waste it produces a year, significantly above the average 7 percent of trash burned nationwide.

“Recycling saves three to five times the energy that can be captured by incineration and without the harmful impacts on public health and the environment,’’ said Lee Ketelsen, codirector of Clean Water Action New England. “Every 10,000 tons of garbage that goes to disposal creates only one job, but the same amount of discarded products can employ dozens of people in recycling and hundreds more in reuse and repair.’’

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles said the master plan would strengthen the moratorium by reducing the amount of recyclable material going into the waste stream. It will also develop new standards for existing waste-to-energy facilities that require higher recycling rates, lower emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and higher efficiency in energy conversion.

In a telephone interview, Bowles said a careful review found that it would be better to do more to promote recycling. “There are potentially new technologies out there, but there hasn’t been enough exploitation of other technologies,’’ he said. “The waste-to-energy technology created some unacceptable choices.’’

The state’s overall recycling rate for municipal waste stands at about 37 percent, up just 3 percent since 2000, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Bowles said the state will focus on expanding recycling efforts by pushing new legislation that would make producers of electronics responsible for their disposal, expand the state’s bottle law to include water and sports drink bottles, and prod communities to increase so-called single-stream recycling, which eliminates the need for households to sort recyclables.

State officials said they expect to issue a new draft of the solid-waste master plan in early 2010.

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.  

Sources: The New York Times Company, Boston Globe & WIH Resource Group

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