Henry Phish

I’ve written about Hybrid Plug In’s before in relation to my ethanol articles, but having read an article on the future of the industry, I thought it only safe to say I should address it again.

I’ve mentioned before in the article The Bad Side of Ethanol that a few third party companies have begun retrofitting cars to use a battery that can plug into a standard wall socket to recharge. Charging takes something along the lines of 9 hours with a traditional socket or less with an upgraded supercharger. Officially, these after market cars have never been officially sanctioned by the automotive industry, but now companies such as Chevrolet, Saturn, and Toyota are jumping into the mix with cars of their own.

Cars such as the Chevy Volt, Saturn Vue, Ford Escape, Ford Edge, Toyota Prius and 1/X Concept, Dodge Sprinter, and Jeep Renegade are leading the pack to bring this relatively recent technology into the mainstream. Of special note is the Chevy Volt, which in a departure from its predecessors, runs completely on electricity, a significant change that could inspire a whole generation of clones.

Another interesting side note is that most of these cars are actually SUV’s, which makes an interesting point: how do you continue to sell automobiles that have consistently had the worst gas mileage in the market? The other day I saw a documentary that stated that mpg for SUV’s has barely changed since the 80’s in comparison to the dramatic changes we’ve seen in cars over the last few years. With high interest in these continued markets, and the high rate of return for these big ticket items for the sellers, these items should continue to set a precedent over time.

Otherwise, the more or less traditional Toyota 1/X Concept and the Prius Hybrid come as no surprise but continue to support rising demand. Still, as technology changes, the future of the hybrid industry seems more and more to be in all electric cars such as the Volt, as opposed to the more traditional gas guzzling models of yesteryear.

So I guess my only questions are: how does this affect the power companies as they try to keep up with new demands for electricity? Also, how does this affect the fuel cell industry?

Just some things to think about.

Carmakers’ Plug-In Plans

I read an article on Yahoo the other day about a man in Japan who died of overwork. The official cause of death was ischemic heart disease, which is essentially a heart attack. I’d never actually thought about it before, but it kind of makes sense that one could die from working too hard. In this case, the man had been working 80 hour weeks for over two months while under severe pressure as the head engineer developing the Toyota Camry Hybrid. This isn’t exactly the Dickensonian era, most of us aren’t working in sweat shops, but putting in 70-80 hours a week takes it toll after a while.

Having put in a few 70 hour shifts myself in the last few years, I can tell you it isn’t for the feint of heart. As one friend of mine commented, “You could never get an American worker to put in that kind of overtime. The unions would have a field day.”

The sad thing about all of this is that this event is so common in Japan that it actually has a name, karoshi; literally translated as “death from overwork.”

Japanese Man, 45, Died of Overwork

CBS News Video

I’ve had a lot of contact over the years with children and adults with Asperger’s Syndrome. Talking with them, I’ve always wondered what this disease was all about, but I’ve never really taken the time to ask questions. When I stumbled across this documentary about David Jordan, it was interesting to see his perspective on the illness. People with the disease are generally mildly autistic. They have difficulty interpreting emotions like normal people do, which affects how they socialize.

Anyway, David’s take on the illness deserves a spot on the blog. Check it out:

This isn’t a new idea, that the first decisions we make in a moments notice are more correct than the decisions we mull over time and time again. It isn’t a new idea, but it is interesting…but I think I already said that.

Get Out of Your Own Way

So a few years ago, a little movie came out called: An Inconvenient Truth, which spoke out on the dangers of global warming and global climate change. With Vice President Al Gore as its narrator and chief spokesperson, the film managed to garnish itself a pair of Oscars and grossed over $23,808,111 as of Oct 29. 2006 according to imdb.com. People were ready for a change…

When I was growing up in the 80’s, solar power was just becoming popular, wind energy was hardly even heard of, and in 50 years we were supposed to have completely run out of fossil fuels. We’d heard the stories about the rain forest depletion, the ever popular ozone hole, cow farts and automobile exhaust causing global warming, and CFCs. No one knew what to think of any of it…except that one day everything we knew would be gone.

I remember an advertisement on television in which a little boy and his parents get dressed in space suits and walked across an alien planet on their way to “somewhere.” Along the way, they converse of everyday things such as school and life, and when the family finally reaches their destination, we realize that it is a greenhouse, where they can view one of the last remaining trees on earth.

Images such as that last remaining tree stick with you over the years, and give you the realization that without continued stewardship, we would eventually end up with one tree in a museum.

It was in this early atmosphere of rising environmental importance that I wrote a letter to my senator, Tom Harkin, about the growing danger of deforestation and the need for more uses of clean energy to decrease our dependence on coal and oil. His response was a bit surprising to an 8 year old boy…alternative energy was inefficient, and while he supported the effort, as well as my interest, for the immediate future there were severe hurdles to be overcome.

That was the letter that opened my eyes to how complex the world could be. In all my naivety, I hadn’t realized that if the problem had been a simple one, then the solution would have already been found. What I would realize later, is that it was this continual environmental awareness…little by little, drop by drop…that ultimately would lead to a change in the environment as a whole. As time progressed, so would technology. Solar power became more efficient. Solar cells currently designed by Sunpower Corp rate at 21 to 22% efficient and are near their theoretical max of 26% according to an engineering friend of mine who makes them. Wind power is alive and well outside the front door of my grandmothers house in rural Iowa and is popular in the desert regions of California as well. And in 50 years we’re still going to run out of fossil fuels. But ultimately, in the social conscience, it became easier to think green, feel green, and be green.

The truth is that the 80’s were just sowing the seeds of environmentalism that later culminated in the growing activism of the 00’s. Today, environmentalism seems commonplace. Every corner on trash day contains a recycling bin full of everything from pop bottles, to tin cans, to cardboard, to glass. Nearly everything we dispose of on a daily basis is in some way recyclable if we put forth the effort. These days, you don’t even have to sort the paper from the plastics, it’s all done for you by a machine that magically takes the work out of it. Further evidence can be seen in the popularity of gas economical vehicles such as the Corolla, Civic, and Prius. The growing use of biological additives to fossil fuels such as Ethanol. And the growing popularity of green culture springing up all around us.

By the time Al Gore crossed the stage of the Grauman Chinese Theater in Hollywood, and accepted an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. America was already gearing up for a change.

So I was watching the news the other day and a story on a growing trend in corn farming was on. Harking back to a series of articles I wrote a couple of years ago on the creation of alternate methods of Ethanol production, the story followed the rising use of Minnesota corn for the dinner table being boughten instead by manufacturers for use in Ethanol production. As one farmer put it, this was a good step for his industry, as the price of feed and dinner table corn was flat, and the use of corn as an alternate and popular fuel source opened up the market for both small and large farmers alike.

While I have several pages of writing on Ethanol in the archives, the story got me thinking about current trends in our economy and how they might grow in the future. Tech was big in the 90’s. The early 00’s were big into disposable culture. But I think that the latter half of this decade and the early part of the next are going to be green.

So stay tuned, as for the next few posts we’ll look into past and the future to see what might become of our brighter tomorrow.

This thing is really pretty amazing.

As part of demonstrating a method that saves cooking oil a goldfish was placed in the fryer. I know what you’re thinking “How could they?.” The goldfish was placed in water below the cooking oil.

Because oil floats on water, despite the massive heat (163 degrees Celsius) the goldfish simply stay away from the surface and all is well. They eat the crumbs of croquettes and other fried foods that fall to the bottom, and can live in there for 5-10 years** as they happily clean away, ignorant to the fact that certain death awaits any potential escapees.

CScout Japan

Via Boing Boing

I stumbled on this site when Jeff sent me an article on corporate metrics…or lack thereof…in the world of Viral Marketing. It was an interesting article if you want to check it out.

Of course, of more interest is a response to the article that mentions the website www.willitblend.com. The name pretty much says it all, doesn’t it!

Enjoy!

In an effort to study the effects of time lapse photography, a scientist attempts to repeat several classic experiments with unforseen results.

Everyone enjoys a good experiment now and again…this one is just hilarious.
Chungian Motion Video