crynosys

IFR story is a story of how the US government paid billions to our National Laboratories to engineer a solution to the energy and climate crisis (before it became a crisis), the solution worked, then President Clinton cancelled the project telling the world in his State of the Union speech that this power was "unnecessary."

Nuclear provides 70% of our clean energy in the US, even though we haven't built a new reactor in 30 years!

Despite nuclear being the elephant in the room, the world "nuclear" appears only TWICE in Waxman-Markey. That is absurd since we have 10 times as much energy just in the Depleted Uranium waste (which is just sitting there) than we have coal in the ground.

We are currently not doing anything to exploit our largest energy resource (which is also one of our cleanest). This reactor is ready to be built, GE has a design ready to built, and we are doing NOTHING.

As pissed as some people get when they think about "Who Killed the Electric Car".
That's how I still feel about this Government cock-up.

The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) is a fourth generation nuclear design that provides a clean, inexhaustible source of power, cheap, with virtually no waste, inherently safe (if you remove the cooling, it shuts down rather than melts down), and the added benefit that it consumes the nuclear waste from other nuclear plants that we can’t figure out how to get rid of.

Advantages include:

1. It can be fueled entirely with material recovered from today's
used nuclear fuel.
2. It consumes virtually all the long-lived radioactive isotopes
that worry people who are concerned about the "nuclear waste problem,"
reducing the needed isolation time to less than 500 years.
3. It could provide all the energy needed for centuries
(perhaps as many as 50,000 years), feeding only on the uranium
that has already been mined
4. It uses uranium resources with 100 to 300 times the efficiency
of today's reactors.
5. It does not require enrichment of uranium.
6. It has less proliferation potential than the reprocessing method
now used in several countries.
7. It's 24x7 baseline power
8. It can be built anywhere there is water
9. The power is very inexpensive.
(some estimates are as low as 2 cents/kWh to produce)
10. Safe from melt down because if something goes wrong,
the reactor naturally shuts down rather than blows up
11. And, of course, it emits no greenhouse gases.

Find out more...
http://skirsch.com/politics/globalwarming/ifr.htm

Sherwood Forest Faire - Launches Inaugural Season
Every weekend from Feb 27 through April 4, 2010

I can't say much about the grounds or food Yet,
but the performers listed are extensive and first
class especially for a first year faire.

Located 35 miles east of Austin, Texas on U.S. 290,
The Sherwood Forest Faire is between the towns of McDade
and Paige, near the junction of U.S. 290 and Texas State
Highway 21, within easy striking distance of Austin,
San Antonio, and Houston

Driving at speeds the law will allow it's right
at 2 hours from San Antonio.

http://www.sherwoodforestfaire.com/

See ya there...

This commercial hydroponic pick-u-own farm was
related by folks on my neighborhood mailing list.
I'm looking forward to checking out their setup.
http://markleyfamilyfarm.showitsite.com/
It's been ages since I've had a ripe strawberry.

PS,
*Hydroponics linked with Aquaculture has great backyard
sustainability potential.*
You feed the fish and then the fish feed the plants with
what comes naturally.
Even feeding the fish can be done sustainable by using
household organic waste to grow black soldier fly larvae.
Then you harvest the larvae to feed the fish.
http://thebiopod.com/

*Translation: Can greatly reduce your need to visit HEB
without owning 20 acres.

Turning Waste Into Fuel -- Methane Biodigesters
Cow Pie - or Renewable Energy?
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/BioFuel/biofuels.htm#Methane
Researchers say that it would only take the "out put"
of 3 or 4 cows to power the average household.
But Who wants to handle cow manure?
Even I don't hate CPS that much.

But wait, New Flash for 2006.
Household organic waste can be used in place
of cow dung to produce Biogas.
That's right kitchen scraps, leftovers, moldy bread
can be fermented in a biodigester with a much higher
gas yield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGSl72xZHNk
Proof of concept from India

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiHDQClpZfI
Nice 3D break-down of the parts involved.
I don't think the cold weather adaption would
be necessary in South Texas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF5M0ZYajL8
Sort of how I was invisioning my deck.
But with the digester sitting on the ground.

Last month the well-meaning members of my community and HOA were up
in arms over several rather large derelict brush piles.
With the drought they did/do have a very valid concern about brush
fires and the threat to life and property.
Unfortunately in this regard my HOA is rather tooth-less.
It basically came down to the old folks asking the younger
folks to pitch-in and do the hard, dirty, and dangerous
work of the cleanup for no money.
The situation prompted me to do some more in-depth research into
the uses and possibilities of Biomass.

What I found rather excited me. With the amount of brush that my
community regularly generates I could Easily provide ALL the energy
my home required. No Solar PV or Solar Thermal panels required.


http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/BioFuel/biofuels.htm#CompostHeat
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_pain.html
A lowly compost pile can produce enough heat to replace your water
heater as well as providing enough hot water to heat for your
house all winter long.
And that's just for starters.
You can also produce enough methane from the Same compost pile to
produce all the electricity your home requires.
I personally don't think I'd go as far as to power my car with the
methane gas, but it most certainly is a possibility.


http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/BioFuel/biofuels.htm#WoodGas
http://www.gekgasifier.com/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3495618/surviving_2012_doomsday/
If you feel you just have to burn the brush pile.



Yes Ladies and Gents, You can store that nasty brush pile you your
attic and walls.
Why would you want to do that?
It will lower your heating and cooling costs and increase
your comfort levels.
And now with congress planning to double or triple our health insurance
rates we'll need that extra cash.

http://www.foxmaple.com/proclay.html
http://innercityfarmer.com/tag/light-clay-straw/
http://www.econest.com/nm_guidelines.htm
PS, Light clay/straw insulation has been used of centuries in Europe.

Enterprise class UPS for that 5 to 20 seconds between mains drop and
generator start-up.

links to BuildingGreen's reviews

http://tiny.cc/LYju6
http://tiny.cc/OEhqd

PS... it has a magnetic levitation module.

Obama asks the World to balance it's carbon debt.
World tells Obama to balance the US budget first.
What's the world coming to when the USA can't even
bribe third world nations anymore?

Oh Yeah,

Climate science's data set irrefutably proved to be
inaccurate, doctored, and/or just plain made up.

World leading climate scientists unwilling to open
there research/conclusions for peer review.

Green movement zealots holding up China's gender based
infanticide as a shining example the whole world should embrace.

The Senate is burning the weekend oil debating what they will
do with another trillion in tax dollars from the American public.

If your a good little "party member" they might allow you to visit
the doctor in 2014. Maybe. Don't get sick till then Comrade.


"I told you so just doesn't seem to cover it."

"There is no energy shortage, there is no energy crisis, there is a crisis of ignorance."
These words, spoken by Buckminster Fuller over 20 years ago, ring even more true today.

Take Solar Energy(PV) for example: It only produces power in direct sunlight. So what do you do for electricity
when the sun goes down? You used to have to charge up a truck load of batteries to keep the lights on at
night. Fairly reiently the utilities have been badagered into allowing folks to interconect with the
public utility grid and sell their excess PV power to the utilities for credit on their bill.
Very green and tree huggie right?
But wait, Isn't half the planet facing the Sun at All times?
How about we interconnect all the worlds power grids.
Solar power available 24/7.

But then what do we do with all the coal power plants?
We'll need somewhere to put the extra solar farms.

County song to the rescue again...

Frak Cap and Trade

The sun never sets on CPS energy...

Awesome wild flower honey Mead. The perfect introduction to Mead.
Not to sweet(as mead goes) and not dry at all.
The perfect companion for a Dr Who special.
I didn't know any comercial mead was produced so close.
We were enjoying the Free-tail Brewing Company and noticed it on the menu.
They didn't carry it any longer but a little web search when I got home revealed.
It is produced just outside of Fredericksburg, Tx
Bell Mountain Vineyards
http://www.bellmountainwine.com/oberhof.htm

How do we get health care insurance for the 13 to 17 Million uninsured
legal residents of the United States of America?

It's even easier than lowering the overall cost of health care.

Enact legislation that ensures a citizens right to purchase heath
insurance for companies based outside their state of residence.
It's just that easy.
Remove a little state political graft, and presto
13 million people can now afford personal health care.

No 2 TRILLION dollar social health care bureaucracy required.

Yes, people way smarter than I thought this up.

Next....

For about two years I've been researching how to insulate the outside of my
concrete house . I was just about to get prices for Mason Greenstar's
papercrete mortar mix when it finally dawned on me to go back further and
see what old ideas was reworked to come up with papercrete.
The progenitor is none other than lime/straw/clay adobe.
A couple of keywords later and I had found this site.
http://planetaryrenewal.org/ipr/insulation.html
A light clay/straw mix has the R-value I'm looking for without the embodied energy
cost associated with concrete. It's also dirt cheap..
So what's the catch? It takes forever to completly dry out and shrinks something
horrible when it does. Then I remember.
http://www.geoswan.com/
George Swanson's ancient recipe for a MgO/Straw/Clay breathing wall in-fill dries in hours
and doesn't shrink.

What's old and Still works is relearned.

The word democracy appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution -- two most fundamental documents of our nation. Instead of a democracy, the Constitution's Article IV, Section 4, guarantees "to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government."

So what's the difference between republican and democratic forms of government? John Adams captured the essence of the difference when he said, "You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe." Nothing in our Constitution suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights.

Contrast the framers' vision of a republic with that of a democracy. In a democracy, the majority rules either directly or through its elected representatives. As in a monarchy, the law is whatever the government determines it to be. Laws do not represent reason. They represent POWER. The restraint is upon the individual instead of government. Unlike that envisioned under a republican form of government, rights are seen as privileges and permissions that are granted by government and can be rescinded by government.

"Democracy is the road to Socialism"

Karl Marx

“The goal of socialism is communism.”

Vladimir Lenin

Democracy=Socialism=Communism

This is probably of interest to only one person on my F-list...

I ran into Claudette Sumrall at The RoundUp and learned some sad news.
Amazon Gridwall has had to file chapter eleven.
The credit crunch claims another "better" idea.

Poof goes the foundation wall for my garage/workshop.

It seems that by virtue of a chest style deep freezer's
inherent efficiencies it can be operated as a super efficient Refrigerator.
This can be achieved by augmenting or modifying its thermostat.
Beer to the Rescue. Home-brewers have been using this trick for years.

pardon the nasty linkage
http://sanantoniosustainableliving.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-make-your-fridge-even-more.html

http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/kegerator-conversion-kits-cid-785.html

This fall as a near perfect scenario of Appliance Stimulus Package Rebates, Weatherization Assistance Program Grants, State and Utility Rebates, and the Income Tax Credit all come together making this the right time to replace the inefficient water heater and save on your energy bill while cutting back on your carbon footprint and being Green.

These have actually been around for years, but you had to know were to look.
Then you had to retro-fit your existing water heater.

So what the hell is a heat pump water heater? Other than money in the bank?
Standard electric water heater element burns 4500 Watts.
A heat pump model uses 500 watts.

The New drop in replacements for electric water heaters:

http://www.geappliances.com/products/water/heat-pump-water-heater/

http://www.rheem.com/Products/tank_water_heaters/hpwh/hpwhhomeowner

http://www.stiebel-eltron-usa.com/accelera.html


Older retro-fit offerings


http://www.beyondpollution.com/products.htm

http://www.aers.com/etech_residential_water_heating.html

http://www.northrdt.com/

http://trevormartin.com/hwg_main.asp


The some of the retro-fit models can be used on gas water heaters also.
The airgenerate by beyondpolution is actually made in Houston.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Yes the numbers are real and rather conservative in a couple of places.
Yes our government IS spending twice as much money as it collects from us.

The president wants to know when to expect the check for your part of the National Debt?

This past week I got to drive a 2008 Prius for several days.
The technical complexity and resources necessary to produce the Prius
make it an ecological and economic loser.
Its production has twice the ecologically impact of a solely gasoline powered
automobile.
Economically it takes 5 years to offset the cars premium price with it's lower
gasoline consumption.

Now for the cool stuff:

The central display screen that shows you what the hybrid systems
are doing, in almost real-time, is totally geek cool.

The electric powered A/C system that runs off the battery pack is
awesome at stoplights where you need to feel superior to the folks
wasting gas while you sit in your stupid looking car.
yeah, I really am that Green geek...

It really does have room for 4 adult sized people.

It Has A Power Button!

For 10,000 dollars more you can add an adequate auxiliary battery pack and
a plug-in-charge capability.

Reality: If I could afford 35K for a car I'd be driving a lithium powered EV,
with little carbon footprint or need for foreign oil/wars.

Its seems that 8 inches of soil is as effective as R-30 worth of attic insulation.
Basically all you need is a swimming pool liner and half your back yard,
to keep your house cool in the summer.
A low or no pitch roof works best, but,
I've seen terraced green roofs on higher pitches.
Getting something to actually grow in the soil just adds to the benefits.

Info courtsey of John J. Moroney