YarriB's blog

Portland to Monterey, on Two Wheels

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Energy Update

In previous reports it implied no progress on cellulosic ethanol (CE). We
can now report that much progress has been made by duPont. They had a DOE
contract to develop the process. They have a pretreatment step and use
enzymes from Genecor. Their pilot process is called duPont Danisco.

They have also licensed the process to POET Energy which has 26 plants
producing ethanol from corn. Their CE pilot plant is in Indiana and is called
Project Liberty. They plan to be producing 3.6 billion gallons per year of
CE by
2022.

So the effort looks good. This plus the work on alga may be the answer for
alternative fuels.

This fuel may be needed by the motorcycle riders seen in the attached.

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Lauren's Science Project

What drink would you like with cookies? You would think that everyone would
want milk. But Lauren
ran a survey of her classmates offering them a choice of milk, orange
juice, and water. The results shown in the table below were a surprise. Although
9 of 20 still chose milk, 6 chose orange juice, and 5 just plain water.
The conclusion shows that if you are opening a cookie store, be sure to offer
a variety of drinks as
well as milk.

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(no subject)

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Picture

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Andy's Science Project

See below. Does an ice cube melt faster in fresh water or salty water.
Since we put salt on the road to melt ice, one might think the cube would melt
faster in salty water. But the result show the opposite and Yarringtons
everywhere are scratching their heads to understand why. But, that is why we
do the test.

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(no subject)

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Test

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Crossword puzzles with the grandkids

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Breakfast puzzles with Lauren & Andy in Saratoga.

Renewable Energy Update

So how are we doing with this renewable energy thingy. OK, so Jerusalem
artichokes were not the silver bullet. But, I haven't heard about much
progress on cellulosic ethanol either.

Jerusalem Artichokes. Virginia Tech has a research project to find the
best variety and may build a pilot
unit. The concept is to grow artichokes instead of tobacco there in
the tobacco belt.

Gym Generators. Generating electricity when exercising on stationary
bikes is an idea ahead of
its time. Also, the original calculations are suspect.

Termites. Using termites to chew wood to make ethanol seems to have
disappeared.

Wind and Solar. Good progress reported on these developments with
usage about on
schedule. With natural gas and nuclear as backups, the combinations
plant looks good.
Storing energy made during off peak hours using compressed air may be
a substitute for
batteries.

Stay tuned for further development in the following decade.