apple juice

Congress Actually Ends Taxpayer Funding Of Ethanol Subsidies

Yay!

I would support subsidies for actual “green” energy sources, however, ethanol is not one of those sources. Not only is it a net-energy loss (takes more energy to produce than what you get out) but…

“Using corn is the least productive way to make ethanol, at roughly 300 gallons per acre of feedstock. The Brazilian ethanol industry gets twice as many gallons per acre using sugar cane, and other feedstocks like switchgrass have been projected to produce up to 1,200 gallons per acre.”

So now, where is the investment in switchgrass ethanol?

Or perhaps we put a 50 cents / gallon tax on petroleum based road fuels?

(Via Green Car Reports.)

This bugs me:

Volvo is laying claim to the first production diesel plug-in hybrid title with the company’s new V60. The vehicle makes use of a five-cylinder 2.4-liter turbo diesel engine with 215 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission as well as an electric motor good for up to 70 horsepower and 147 pound-feet of torque. The forced-induction internal combustion engine puts power to the front wheels while the electric motor feeds its grunt to the rear. An 11.2-kWh lithium-ion battery pack fields power storage duties, and Volvo says the V60 plug-in diesel hybrid can travel up to 32 miles on all-electric power with a single charge.

Why can’t we buy this car in America!

As with most plug-ins, charge times vary depending on the available current, but Volvo claims the V60 can top off its cells in as little as 3.5 hours on a 16-amp line. Interestingly enough, the vehicle allows the driver to chose between three drive modes. Pure mode relies on the electric motor as much as possible while Hybrid mode splits the difference between the diesel mill and the electric motor. Finally, Power mode calls on the full 285 horsepower and 362 pound-feet of torque for the most driving enjoyment. Volvo says the V60 diesel plug-in hybrid can kick up to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds in Power mode.

What? It goes 0-60 in 6.2 seconds? It’s a plug-in hybrid AWD diesel that can go 30 miles on electric only?

Wicked ice storm last night here in the Twin Cities. Sonja and I were driving home after a dinner party. This screen shot from the gentleman behind east-lake.net pretty much sums it up.

 

Google Traffic at 1:00am:

 

(Via east-lake.net.)

This is what I’m talking about!

Amtrak Unveils Ambitious Northeast Corridor Plan, But It Would Take 30 Years to be Realized

“After months of sitting on the sidelines as states and regional agencies promoted major new high-speed rail investments, Amtrak has finally announced what it hopes to achieve over the next thirty years: A brand-new, 426-mile, two-track corridor running from Boston to Washington, bringing true high-speed rail to the Northeast Corridor for the first time.”

(Via the transport politic.)

If you think expanding regional high-speed rail is a good thing for the country, then you may want to reconsider voting republican…

Republican Wave Could Spell Trouble for High-Speed Rail Projects from Coast to Coast

I recently posted to my facebook status: “my real life is getting in the way of my digital one,” and that’s not such a bad thing. So much is new since I last posted. It may be the longest gap in blog posting since apple juice’s inception back in the early oughts. Let me bring you up to date on one area of my life.

One of the original themes of the blog was my car, a beloved 2003 Golf TDI. Dear friends, Bogey is no longer with us. Yes, sadly on the commute to work two weeks ago, I was in a car accident. Luckily, I am fine. Bogey didn’t fare so well. I rear-ended a pickup and his bumper became entangled with my engine. (No, I was not on my phone, fiddling with the radio, picking my nose, etc. I checked my blind spot to change lanes and when I looked back, traffic was coming to a complete and utter stop in front of me.)

The car was declared a total loss by my insurance. Thus, the search began. I’d love to have just walked into the VW dealer and bought a new 2010 Jetta Sportwagen TDI. They are looking quite nice. However, it is a bit more money than I had to spend.

After driving a few gasoline fulled 1.8T Jetta Wagons, I decided that I simply had to find a diesel. I find explaining diesel cars like explaining Macintosh computers to people in the late 90s. Until you drive one, you just won’t understand.

Nothing was showing up in Minnesota, so I widened the search. Other metro areas were canvassed, the eastern seaboard was searched (thanks, Jean!). I was ready to hop on a plane to Denver to investigate one potential vehicle when I found a 2005 Jetta Wagon TDI in neighboring Iowa.

I have the car back in Mpls now, and I’m hoping this one picks up where my Golf left off. It has a slightly more powerful 100HP engine (whoa, triple digits!), and I’m guessing slightly lower highway mileage. It only 87,000 miles, and like my Golf, I’m hoping to achieve at least 200,000 miles with this car. I’ll get a picture up soon. It’s beige, but not in a bad way. Manual transmission, heated seats (key in Minnesota).

It’s so silly to become attached to things, I have to remind myself of that. However, cars become such a part of our lives, (what car did I drive wife and daughter home from the hospital in? The Golf) and you can’t help but weave their stories into yours. I’m hoping this new (old) Jetta weaves a few new stories into our lives.

Sidenote: If you know me at all, you know the nerd inside of me. I just signed up for a new site called Fuelly, that helps track your fuel usage. They have a simple mobile site accessible from your iPhones, Blackberries, Nokias, etc. Enter the odometer and fuel amount when you fill up. Easy as pie. See neato badge to the right. Join and we can be fuelly friends. Seriously, it’s like the new twitter and facebook rolled into one.

“Protesters who attended Saturday’s Tea Party rally in Washington found a new reason to be upset: Apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.

Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.

Seriously.”

(Via Wall Street Journal.)

Awesome. Protest government spending on one hand, and complain about the lack of government services on the other.