Thursday, November 29, 2012
Organic Transit Kickstarter
You might have heard about the fabulous local start-up, Organic Transit. Our very own Ned Phillips did a feature on them last week. This terrific feature led to Organic Transit engaging Ned to shoot their Kickstarter video. He knocked it out of the park. See below.
The Organic Transit Kickstarter went live today. Check it out here.
Organic Transit's ELF from Ned Phillips on Vimeo.
The Organic Transit Kickstarter went live today. Check it out here.
Organic Transit's ELF from Ned Phillips on Vimeo.
Labels: Durham, economics, energy policy, vehicles
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Organic Transit is taking it to the streets
by Ned Phillips
In downtown Durham, a small group of highly skilled professionals are quietly building the future. Across the plaza from Major the Bull, behind a deep green facade, is an old furniture showroom. Inside there are vehicle schematics and diagrams on the walls. White marker boards are colored with carefully laid out business plans and there’s a workshop area with enough tools to turn on any grease monkey. The leftover furniture has been used to make tables and workspaces, recycling what was once forgotten into something practical and useful. The paint peeling from the immaculate ceiling and the vast spaciousness of the interior remind me of the Ghostbusters firehouse, historic with a touch of shabby-chic.
Organic Transit HQ, #309 East Chapel Hill St, Durham, photo by Ned Phillips
pictured here, Alix Bowman, Director of Strategy, photo by Ned Phillips
This is home of Organic Transit and they are taking their own crack at saving the world. Organic Transit stands on the literal cutting edge of personal transportation; their vehicles are velomobiles with a solar powered battery, filling the much-needed gap between automobiles and bicycles and potentially revolutionizing the way we get around our urban environment. And while Organic Transit seems to have arrived at just the right moment, the road here has been years in the making.
For CEO Rob Cotter, the Organic Transit seed was planted back in the early 1980s in southern California, when Cotter was working with the International Human Powered Vehicle Association. As Vice President of the land division, he interacted with many of the top minds and designs in the field, witnessing single rider vehicles traveling at highway speeds; 55 and 65 mph. Aside from working with BMW and Porsche, he put on the first solar car race in the United States, lectured at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, acted as a consultant for bike sharing in New York City and served as creative director for an international multimedia company, which he credits with teaching him the marketing and public relations side of things. And while it’s been a long journey to Organic Transit, Cotter hasn’t forgotten any of it--- posters and early designs from his SoCal days decorate his Durham headquarters.
The concept of a high tech but efficient, cool but inexpensive vehicle that has the ability to be mass-produced is something Cotter has been working on for quite a while. After years of exchanging designs and ideas with colleagues on the west coast, Organic Transit built their first prototype, called the ELF, in 2010. The exteriors are TrylonTM, a composite of acrylics and a version of ABS plastic. The molds for the plastic body were created at the inventors’ D-I-Y hub, TechShop. The body panels are now being locally manufactured in Eastern North Carolina. The interior of the ELF is almost entirely off the shelf bicycle parts, save the specially designed frame and assembly parts, four of which are in the patent process, with another four or five heading that direction.
CEO Rob Cotter, photo by Ned Phillips
Cotter describes the design of the ELF as closer to an aircraft than an automobile. Decreasing air drag, streamlining and smoothing of components are just some of the concepts applied in the ELF’s design. The riders have the choice to pedal their own way, or use the solar energy stored in the battery pack, which can carry a rider up to 30 miles. The prototype contains a CVT, or continuously variable transmission, a technology used in windmills that provides easy and efficient gear shifting. Current design allows the ELF to carry 350lbs plus the rider. As to its other advantages over a standard bicycle, you have weather protection, lights, visibility on the road, power to get up hills and you can’t fall over and skin your knee.
pictured here and above, Brent Alexander, Logistics team, photos by Ned Phillips
The company already has other designs in development, including a cargo model called the TruckIt, which can carry up to 800 lbs plus the rider, as well as a sleek sport coupe body style. The idea is that eventually, all these body styles will be interchangeable, as well as having customizable interiors, doors, floors and shelves. Organic Transit is already using materials that will be used in future auto production and while the ELF’s exteriors are almost 80% recyclable, the company is moving towards using bioplastics, bamboo, hemp and seagrass. In addition, Cotter has employed local mobile application designers to create apps for speed and calorie monitoring and hopes to hire 35 more people to work in green jobs within the next nine months.
As a community that embraces local business, entrepreneurship and the importance of self-sustenance, Durham is an ideal home for Organic Transit. Here, visionaries such as Cotter and crew were able to get going through the Bull City Startup Stampede and draw on the ever-expanding network of resources in the Triangle. Organic Transit has already built working relationships with and gained the support of Alliance Architecture and Duke University’s Nicholas School for the Environment, two Durham institutions that share a similar view for the future.
And that is a vision of clean efficiency, Cotter says his team has a moral imperative to work hard and fast. Few things are polluting our Earth as quickly and as badly as our transit structure. At stake are all sorts of issues from personal health to climate change. It’s also financial: having thousands of dollars in your pocket at the end of the year versus handing your money over to large oil companies with their own selfish interests. People are moving back into cities and need new transportation solutions. Gas is expensive. Parking takes up too much space. Traffic is inefficient. Organic Transit takes the position that with human power and solar power, we can do what we need to do, within a reasonable limit.
Organic Transit already has 400 international pre-orders for the ELF, from places as far away as New Zealand. Within the next month, expect to see the first Beta wave of vehicles on the streets of Durham. For Organic Transit, Rob Cotter dreams of a “depot” model- franchised, decentralized, manufacturing cafes in urban downtowns. A community place, where you can have a coffee and visit with neighbors as your vehicle is assembled. It then rolls right out the front door and into the world. Standing in the downtown headquarters, I feel it happening. Children peek through the large windows excitedly at the drawings and prototypes. People stop to take photographs of the recycled furniture sign. Friends pop in to say hello and offer encouragement. I imagine an espresso machine over by the lounge area. Rob tells me they will be having a party soon, to celebrate the launch, here in the workspace. All of a sudden it feels like the future is now.
In downtown Durham, a small group of highly skilled professionals are quietly building the future. Across the plaza from Major the Bull, behind a deep green facade, is an old furniture showroom. Inside there are vehicle schematics and diagrams on the walls. White marker boards are colored with carefully laid out business plans and there’s a workshop area with enough tools to turn on any grease monkey. The leftover furniture has been used to make tables and workspaces, recycling what was once forgotten into something practical and useful. The paint peeling from the immaculate ceiling and the vast spaciousness of the interior remind me of the Ghostbusters firehouse, historic with a touch of shabby-chic.
Organic Transit HQ, #309 East Chapel Hill St, Durham, photo by Ned Phillips
pictured here, Alix Bowman, Director of Strategy, photo by Ned Phillips
This is home of Organic Transit and they are taking their own crack at saving the world. Organic Transit stands on the literal cutting edge of personal transportation; their vehicles are velomobiles with a solar powered battery, filling the much-needed gap between automobiles and bicycles and potentially revolutionizing the way we get around our urban environment. And while Organic Transit seems to have arrived at just the right moment, the road here has been years in the making.
For CEO Rob Cotter, the Organic Transit seed was planted back in the early 1980s in southern California, when Cotter was working with the International Human Powered Vehicle Association. As Vice President of the land division, he interacted with many of the top minds and designs in the field, witnessing single rider vehicles traveling at highway speeds; 55 and 65 mph. Aside from working with BMW and Porsche, he put on the first solar car race in the United States, lectured at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, acted as a consultant for bike sharing in New York City and served as creative director for an international multimedia company, which he credits with teaching him the marketing and public relations side of things. And while it’s been a long journey to Organic Transit, Cotter hasn’t forgotten any of it--- posters and early designs from his SoCal days decorate his Durham headquarters.
The concept of a high tech but efficient, cool but inexpensive vehicle that has the ability to be mass-produced is something Cotter has been working on for quite a while. After years of exchanging designs and ideas with colleagues on the west coast, Organic Transit built their first prototype, called the ELF, in 2010. The exteriors are TrylonTM, a composite of acrylics and a version of ABS plastic. The molds for the plastic body were created at the inventors’ D-I-Y hub, TechShop. The body panels are now being locally manufactured in Eastern North Carolina. The interior of the ELF is almost entirely off the shelf bicycle parts, save the specially designed frame and assembly parts, four of which are in the patent process, with another four or five heading that direction.
CEO Rob Cotter, photo by Ned Phillips
Cotter describes the design of the ELF as closer to an aircraft than an automobile. Decreasing air drag, streamlining and smoothing of components are just some of the concepts applied in the ELF’s design. The riders have the choice to pedal their own way, or use the solar energy stored in the battery pack, which can carry a rider up to 30 miles. The prototype contains a CVT, or continuously variable transmission, a technology used in windmills that provides easy and efficient gear shifting. Current design allows the ELF to carry 350lbs plus the rider. As to its other advantages over a standard bicycle, you have weather protection, lights, visibility on the road, power to get up hills and you can’t fall over and skin your knee.
pictured here and above, Brent Alexander, Logistics team, photos by Ned Phillips
The company already has other designs in development, including a cargo model called the TruckIt, which can carry up to 800 lbs plus the rider, as well as a sleek sport coupe body style. The idea is that eventually, all these body styles will be interchangeable, as well as having customizable interiors, doors, floors and shelves. Organic Transit is already using materials that will be used in future auto production and while the ELF’s exteriors are almost 80% recyclable, the company is moving towards using bioplastics, bamboo, hemp and seagrass. In addition, Cotter has employed local mobile application designers to create apps for speed and calorie monitoring and hopes to hire 35 more people to work in green jobs within the next nine months.
As a community that embraces local business, entrepreneurship and the importance of self-sustenance, Durham is an ideal home for Organic Transit. Here, visionaries such as Cotter and crew were able to get going through the Bull City Startup Stampede and draw on the ever-expanding network of resources in the Triangle. Organic Transit has already built working relationships with and gained the support of Alliance Architecture and Duke University’s Nicholas School for the Environment, two Durham institutions that share a similar view for the future.
And that is a vision of clean efficiency, Cotter says his team has a moral imperative to work hard and fast. Few things are polluting our Earth as quickly and as badly as our transit structure. At stake are all sorts of issues from personal health to climate change. It’s also financial: having thousands of dollars in your pocket at the end of the year versus handing your money over to large oil companies with their own selfish interests. People are moving back into cities and need new transportation solutions. Gas is expensive. Parking takes up too much space. Traffic is inefficient. Organic Transit takes the position that with human power and solar power, we can do what we need to do, within a reasonable limit.
Organic Transit already has 400 international pre-orders for the ELF, from places as far away as New Zealand. Within the next month, expect to see the first Beta wave of vehicles on the streets of Durham. For Organic Transit, Rob Cotter dreams of a “depot” model- franchised, decentralized, manufacturing cafes in urban downtowns. A community place, where you can have a coffee and visit with neighbors as your vehicle is assembled. It then rolls right out the front door and into the world. Standing in the downtown headquarters, I feel it happening. Children peek through the large windows excitedly at the drawings and prototypes. People stop to take photographs of the recycled furniture sign. Friends pop in to say hello and offer encouragement. I imagine an espresso machine over by the lounge area. Rob tells me they will be having a party soon, to celebrate the launch, here in the workspace. All of a sudden it feels like the future is now.
Labels: Durham, energy policy, Ned Phillips, technology, vehicles
Friday, August 31, 2012
Fashion Drive-by: on the Bull City Connector
If we had a way to plot all our missed-connections on a map and post them for public view, they would be clustered around the hubs of Durham's mass transit. The bus, in and out of The Federal for a quick early evening beer on a Tuesday at six, rolling down Main Street towards the West End Wine Bar or Pop's or Toast or Whiskey or Dame's Chicken Waffles or any other spot where, despite the small metropolis feel of this, our charming little city, there are simply so many plush cultural options that it is almost impossible not to feel like a bon vivant.
To recognize the spirit, the vitality, and the importance of public transit, we wanted to shoot some of our fashionable Durham men, fully styled, riding the bus, in operation, a Fashion Drive-By on the Bull City Connector. We have a FREE bus, people. Cities this size, this culturally fly, don't have free public transportation. Surely, not in America. Oh, but yes, here in Durham.
The route wraps around downtown, Golden Belt, old west Durham, Erwin Road, Northgate Park, and a bus comes by each stop about every fifteen minutes. A free ride to downtown on a Friday or Saturday night? Sure, we'll take that.
Our wardrobe partner for this Fashion Drive-by, #FashioninTransit was Vert & Vogue, the environmentally conscious, gorgeous, high-end boutique located in Brightleaf Square. This shop features both women's and men's wear, but is one of the only boutiques in the area with such an amazing selection of men's clothing. It is no wonder they have won the Indy Weekly's Best Men's Clothier award, three years running. They carefully and personally select every item that comes into the store from their fashion partners, the result is unmatched quality.
Vert & Vogue and our Creative Director, Cady Childs, channeled a late sixties, laid back look with modern twists, like Raleigh Denim jeans and pants, handmade belts by De Palma and Tanner Goods. The hair styling was done by Emma Frink and Christina Pelech of Rock Paper Scissors.
And, of course, you may recognize our models: Cody Tyler, the face behind, Totes Codes, which hosts some of the best events and DJ'd parties in the hip Durham clubs, The Pinhook and The Bar, Joe Hall of Hammer no More the Fingers, and Jolo, and Ned Phillips, the filmmaker who created Lila's "Heart to Heart" and HNMTF's "Kilowave" videos along with Jessi Blakely of Jessica Arden Photography (who also is the photographer behind the Clarion Content's #FashionDriveBy movement).
Durham, the degrees of our separation just keep getting smaller and smaller.
In Durham and on the bus, work doesn't stop for Fashion shoots, it just keeps on rolling.
Keep in mind the Bull City Connector buses continued normal operations the whole time the Fashion Drive-by was being shot. Our special thanks to the bus passengers and the bus drivers who were all very accommodating.
And one more thank you to all those who made this shoot possible.
Jessica Blakely aka Jessica Arden Photography
Cady Childs, Creative Director
Vert & Vogue, special thanks to Tessel
Emma Frink and Christina Pelech and Rock Paper Scissors
Margaret McNabb and the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau
Lauren Parker and Go Triangle.org
Cody Tyler, model
Ned Phillips, model
Joe Hall, model
Eric Waters, coordination and staging assistance
Ashlie White, second shooter
Seth Felder, videography
To recognize the spirit, the vitality, and the importance of public transit, we wanted to shoot some of our fashionable Durham men, fully styled, riding the bus, in operation, a Fashion Drive-By on the Bull City Connector. We have a FREE bus, people. Cities this size, this culturally fly, don't have free public transportation. Surely, not in America. Oh, but yes, here in Durham.
The route wraps around downtown, Golden Belt, old west Durham, Erwin Road, Northgate Park, and a bus comes by each stop about every fifteen minutes. A free ride to downtown on a Friday or Saturday night? Sure, we'll take that.
Our wardrobe partner for this Fashion Drive-by, #FashioninTransit was Vert & Vogue, the environmentally conscious, gorgeous, high-end boutique located in Brightleaf Square. This shop features both women's and men's wear, but is one of the only boutiques in the area with such an amazing selection of men's clothing. It is no wonder they have won the Indy Weekly's Best Men's Clothier award, three years running. They carefully and personally select every item that comes into the store from their fashion partners, the result is unmatched quality.
Vert & Vogue and our Creative Director, Cady Childs, channeled a late sixties, laid back look with modern twists, like Raleigh Denim jeans and pants, handmade belts by De Palma and Tanner Goods. The hair styling was done by Emma Frink and Christina Pelech of Rock Paper Scissors.
And, of course, you may recognize our models: Cody Tyler, the face behind, Totes Codes, which hosts some of the best events and DJ'd parties in the hip Durham clubs, The Pinhook and The Bar, Joe Hall of Hammer no More the Fingers, and Jolo, and Ned Phillips, the filmmaker who created Lila's "Heart to Heart" and HNMTF's "Kilowave" videos along with Jessi Blakely of Jessica Arden Photography (who also is the photographer behind the Clarion Content's #FashionDriveBy movement).
Durham, the degrees of our separation just keep getting smaller and smaller.
The Clarion Content takes a ride on the bus.
A Fashion Drive-by on the Bull City Connector...
Cody Tyler of TotesCodes, seen above, wearing a Steven Alan shirt, Raleigh Denim pants, and his own bullet casing necklace. Shirt and pants available at Vert & Vogue.
Joe Hall of Hammer No More Their Fingers, wearing a Steven Alan shirt, available at Vert & Vogue.
Joe will be performing his solo project Jolo, Thursday, September 20th at The Pinhook, along with long lost Durham favorite, Violent Dreams.
Cody Tyler, an event promoter, coordinator, and, oh yeah, art teacher, will be hosting his second annual DURTYQUEER dance party on Friday, September 28th, also at The Pinhook.
Models listed from left to right, Cody Tyler, in Steven Alan shirt, Raleigh Denim pants and De Palma belt; Ned Phillips, in Steven Alan shirt, Protege pants and Tanner Goods belt, Joe Hall in Steven Alan shirt, Protege pants and De Palma belt, all available at Vert & Vogue.
Ned is currently filming a top secret project with the Clarion Content and Jessica Arden.
In Durham and on the bus, work doesn't stop for Fashion shoots, it just keeps on rolling.
Joe Hall
Free municipal bus routes are a fantastic public service. The bus is an old school, kind of throwback, idea. It hearkens to an era when people knew their neighbors and front porch culture dominated.
The practical personal benefits of taking the bus are legion, from decreasing the propensity to drive drunk, to saving on gas, to safety. The societal benefits of taking the bus are extensive, too. The list includes decreased pollution and traffic congestion, less need for public parking and hence more open space. The bus encourages a pedestrian culture that helps local business. People walk when they get off the bus.
This shoot was only possible with the fantastic collaborative efforts of the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau, specifically Lauren Parker, with Go Triangle dot com and Margaret McNab. Also a special thanks to Eric Waters, who also shot behind-the-scenes at the D-TownMarket #REFASHIONED, for assisting Jessica Arden.
Aware of the Clarion Content's message that runs through all of our Fashion Drive-by's: Durham is what it is because of those who stuck with it through thick and thin, laying the foundations of the cultural renaissance that has people nationally referring to us as the next Seattle, Austin, Brooklyn.
Seizing on the message and the authenticity of Durham, the DCVB and the Bull City Connector folks, like the Clarion Content, wanted to highlight how closely interlinked we all are as members of our community. People don't have to preach diversity to Durham. We symbolize it. People don't have to preach progressive to Durham, we live it. People don't have to preach about the environment to Durham, do they?
Get on the bus, brothers and sisters.
The bus is about the collective, the we are in this together spirit, that says for us to be our best selves, all parts of the city, all of our citizens, young and old, black, white, Hispanic, and Asian, students, grad students, professors, transplants and natives, must feel included, part and parcel of this moment.
Duke, we know you are behind the Bus!!! And we're grateful.
Hat by Steven Alan, belt by De Palma, shirt by Vert & Vogue.
Ned Phillips, of COZMIK PRODUCTIONS, directed Lila's "Heart to Heart" and HNMTF's "Kilowave" videos, seen wearing a Culturata shirt, and Protege pants, both available at Vert & Vogue.
Come along for the ride... Durham's a magical place.
Check out behind scenes video, from friend of the Clarion Content, Seth Felder, here.
And one more thank you to all those who made this shoot possible.
Jessica Blakely aka Jessica Arden Photography
Cady Childs, Creative Director
Vert & Vogue, special thanks to Tessel
Emma Frink and Christina Pelech and Rock Paper Scissors
Margaret McNabb and the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau
Lauren Parker and Go Triangle.org
Cody Tyler, model
Ned Phillips, model
Joe Hall, model
Eric Waters, coordination and staging assistance
Ashlie White, second shooter
Seth Felder, videography
Labels: Art, Durham, economics, energy policy, Fashion, Fashion Drive-bys, photos, Pop Culture
Monday, August 06, 2012
Fashion in Transit: the Bull City Connector
The Clarion Content is stoked to support the bus.
We are delighted to live in the kind of city that supports the bus. Free municipal bus routes are a fantastic public service. The bus is an old, school kind of throwback idea. It hearkens to an era when people knew their neighbors and front porch culture dominated.
The practical personal benefits of taking the bus are legion, from decreasing the propensity to drive drunk, to saving on gas, to safety. The societal benefits of taking the bus are extensive, too. The list includes decreased pollution and traffic congestion, less need for public parking and hence more open space. The bus encourages a pedestrian culture that helps local business. People walk when they get off the bus.
You should take advantage of the wonderful, free, Bull City Connector bus any and every chance you have. It hits all the spots on Main Street, it is a great way to get out to the Scrap Exchange, Liberty Arts, the Cordoba Center for the Arts, Goldenbelt, American Tobacco and more.
And while the bus makes sense every day, tonight we have a special opportunity for you. Do you want to be an extra in a fashion shoot? Would you like to highlight how easy it is to get to your place of business by Durham's free bus?
Then join the Clarion Content and our fabulous Fashion Drive-by team, photographer, Jessica Arden, and Creative Director, Cady Childs tonight at 6pm along the Bull City Connector route.
We are shooting our latest Fashion Drive-by. We will be photographing on the bus with the amazing fashions of the Independent's Men clothier of the year, Vert & Vogue.
We will be highlighting business along the route. Hoping off at stops to take pictures. There will plenty of opportunity for by-standers and patrons of your establishments to become extras. Wave at us through the windows of the bus and you may end up in the background of a high fashion shoot.
We would like to offer our special thanks to the good folks at the Bull City Connector and the Durham Convention and Visitor's Bureau who reached out to the Clarion Content about making this happen.
Labels: Duke, Durham, ecology, energy policy, Fashion, Fashion Drive-bys, infrastructure, Politics
Monday, July 30, 2012
Nuclear Power gets a big, 'No.'
Opponents of nuclear power, like the Clarion Content, have to be cheered by the sentiments of General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt as expressed in the Financial Times on Monday.
The FT reports, "Nuclear power is so expensive1 compared with other forms of energy that it has become 'really hard' to justify...according to the chief executive of GE one of the world's largest suppliers of atomic equipment."
He went on to say, "It's really a gas and wind world today." The FT says GE and Immelt see the shift to wind and natural gas energy sources as permanent, mostly because they are cheaper.2
Notes
1The Clarion Content is opposed to nuclear power because of nuclear waste disposal and the downside risk of accidents, not because of cost.
2The FT notes this is especially bad news for the U.K. which is trying to get nuclear power plants built without public subsidy.
The FT reports, "Nuclear power is so expensive1 compared with other forms of energy that it has become 'really hard' to justify...according to the chief executive of GE one of the world's largest suppliers of atomic equipment."
He went on to say, "It's really a gas and wind world today." The FT says GE and Immelt see the shift to wind and natural gas energy sources as permanent, mostly because they are cheaper.2
Notes
1The Clarion Content is opposed to nuclear power because of nuclear waste disposal and the downside risk of accidents, not because of cost.
2The FT notes this is especially bad news for the U.K. which is trying to get nuclear power plants built without public subsidy.
Labels: energy policy, nuclear issues
Thursday, June 28, 2012
National Fracking Rules coming
The Clarion Content has been following the fracking story and its effects on this area and our community closely. We broke the news that national builder D.R. Horton had been securing fracking rights to Durham properties through "Special Warranty Deeds." They have since backed down at least partially giving mineral rights back to some Durham property owners who were not properly informed they were granting them to the home builder.
This may or may not happen to your water after local fracking...
As we warned last month, the national debate on fracking is not over, many view fracking through the lens of domestic energy production. We think you will be hearing a lot more about fracking as the presidential campaign heats up.
The Obama administration announced this week its intention to toughen oversight of fracking on federal land. It is widely expected that the Interior Department will issue rules regulating hydraulic fracturing, e.g. fracking, by the end of this year.
Of course, a new President might mean a whole different set of rules than the current occupant of the White House is planning. For example, current regulations do not require energy and mining companies injecting high-pressure concoctions of water, chemicals and sand into the earth to even disclose what chemicals and potential pollutants are in their frothy brew (which may or may not seep into your ground water).
Read more about this political hot potato here at The Hill.
This may or may not happen to your water after local fracking...
As we warned last month, the national debate on fracking is not over, many view fracking through the lens of domestic energy production. We think you will be hearing a lot more about fracking as the presidential campaign heats up.
The Obama administration announced this week its intention to toughen oversight of fracking on federal land. It is widely expected that the Interior Department will issue rules regulating hydraulic fracturing, e.g. fracking, by the end of this year.
Of course, a new President might mean a whole different set of rules than the current occupant of the White House is planning. For example, current regulations do not require energy and mining companies injecting high-pressure concoctions of water, chemicals and sand into the earth to even disclose what chemicals and potential pollutants are in their frothy brew (which may or may not seep into your ground water).
Read more about this political hot potato here at The Hill.
Labels: 2012 presidential election, ecology, energy policy, Politics
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Sol Food Mobile Farm: Leaves Durham
Have you heard about the Sol Food Mobile Farm?
If not, you should.
It is one more fabulous, innovative, concerned group of Durham citizens. Four Durham School of the Arts graduates, Eliza Bordley, Reid Rosemond, Ellen Duda and Dylan Hammond are taking a biofuel1 powered bus that they converted on a six month, 9,000 mile, nationwide tour. They are fiscally supported by Zomppa, a food education and advocacy non-profit(and your Kickstarter cash).
This is the roof of the bus...
It is planted as part of a scheme to regulate the temperature inside the vehicle.
Photo credit Scenes from my Lunch Hour
The Clarion Content sat down with this fascinating foursome for an interview yesterday, on the bus that will serve as their home and sleeping quarters, as they prepared to embark on their nationwide tour. They depart from their south central Durham farm base today, first stop Asheville.
Their journey will include ten workshops and as many fifty expos. It is a non-paying gig so the group will be working as many farm trades, farm stays, and farmer's markets as they can. They will also be growing herbs, vermacomposting and stocking up on staples like beans, corn meal and polenta as they hit the road.
During their workshops they will construct community gardens with local children and interested adults. The Sol Food Farm team already has experience in this arena. They partnered with several Durham school of the Arts teachers, including another DSA alum and high school pal, Victor Cadilla, now a DSA history teacher, to found the school's Urban Farm Club. Together with students they built eight raised beds and planted an herb and vegetable garden.
The Sol Food team has amazing plans. They are headed for some fantastic destinations and wonderful collaborations, including, in Maine with renown agricultural researcher and educator, Elliot Coleman, author of The Four Season Harvest.
One of their goals is to bring the message to adults and kids alike that local agriculture exists. Urban farming is possible. Food does not have to be massed produced and shipped across country. As Rosemond put it, "We are doing it out love, it is what we are into."
They are also partnering with an incredible Durham start-up called In R Food that analyzes, among many other things, the distance a product has traveled to market, what's in it and what are the locally produced alternatives.
Left to right Ellen Duda, Dylan Hammond, Eliza Bordley and Reid Rosemond.
Photo credit Scenes from my Lunch Hour
Durham, you never cease to amaze.
Sol Food Mobile Farm will be filing more dispatches from the road. We wish them well. The Clarion Content will keep you updated on their fabulous journey. We will be running a full length feature on the crew, their bus and the mission next week. Stay tuned.
For now, check out more pictures of the Sol Food Mobile Farm bus and crew at Scenes from my Lunch Hour.
Notes
1 Technically waste vegetable oil, which is even better than a many a regular biofuel, because it never goes through processing, it just goes straight from the restaurant's fryer into the fuel tanks.
If not, you should.
It is one more fabulous, innovative, concerned group of Durham citizens. Four Durham School of the Arts graduates, Eliza Bordley, Reid Rosemond, Ellen Duda and Dylan Hammond are taking a biofuel1 powered bus that they converted on a six month, 9,000 mile, nationwide tour. They are fiscally supported by Zomppa, a food education and advocacy non-profit(and your Kickstarter cash).
This is the roof of the bus...
It is planted as part of a scheme to regulate the temperature inside the vehicle.
Photo credit Scenes from my Lunch Hour
The Clarion Content sat down with this fascinating foursome for an interview yesterday, on the bus that will serve as their home and sleeping quarters, as they prepared to embark on their nationwide tour. They depart from their south central Durham farm base today, first stop Asheville.
Their journey will include ten workshops and as many fifty expos. It is a non-paying gig so the group will be working as many farm trades, farm stays, and farmer's markets as they can. They will also be growing herbs, vermacomposting and stocking up on staples like beans, corn meal and polenta as they hit the road.
During their workshops they will construct community gardens with local children and interested adults. The Sol Food Farm team already has experience in this arena. They partnered with several Durham school of the Arts teachers, including another DSA alum and high school pal, Victor Cadilla, now a DSA history teacher, to found the school's Urban Farm Club. Together with students they built eight raised beds and planted an herb and vegetable garden.
The Sol Food team has amazing plans. They are headed for some fantastic destinations and wonderful collaborations, including, in Maine with renown agricultural researcher and educator, Elliot Coleman, author of The Four Season Harvest.
One of their goals is to bring the message to adults and kids alike that local agriculture exists. Urban farming is possible. Food does not have to be massed produced and shipped across country. As Rosemond put it, "We are doing it out love, it is what we are into."
They are also partnering with an incredible Durham start-up called In R Food that analyzes, among many other things, the distance a product has traveled to market, what's in it and what are the locally produced alternatives.
Left to right Ellen Duda, Dylan Hammond, Eliza Bordley and Reid Rosemond.
Photo credit Scenes from my Lunch Hour
Durham, you never cease to amaze.
Sol Food Mobile Farm will be filing more dispatches from the road. We wish them well. The Clarion Content will keep you updated on their fabulous journey. We will be running a full length feature on the crew, their bus and the mission next week. Stay tuned.
For now, check out more pictures of the Sol Food Mobile Farm bus and crew at Scenes from my Lunch Hour.
Notes
1 Technically waste vegetable oil, which is even better than a many a regular biofuel, because it never goes through processing, it just goes straight from the restaurant's fryer into the fuel tanks.
Labels: Durham, ecology, economics, energy policy, food, Living things, science
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Fracking the Big Picture
The Clarion Content has been following the fracking debate through our Durham lens. However, as we told you in our last article, fracking has a writ large context as well. It is a key player in the national debate about energy policy and energy production.
Image found here.
Witness an article in last week's USA Today, under the banner headline, "U.S. energy independence is no longer just a pipe dream" Their writer, Tim Mullaney, used the quaint home of the Little League Baseball World Series, Williamsport as his vehicle. Pennsylvania is a state where the fracking debate is manifest. Jobs and energy production meet local environmental and ecological concerns head on.
USA Today as is their want drifts through the highlights like daytime television: [footnotes we added]
The general gist of it all is selling the amazing possibilities, and though USA Today is quoting Citigroup's report and analyst, is their readership nuanced enough to pick up on that? One wonders.
It becomes especially relevant in the next paragraph when the writer transitions fromparroting citing Citigroup to this beauty, "A dozen years after Texas wildcatter George Mitchell commercialized a new gas-drilling technology called hydraulic fracking, the new energy boom is taking off..."
He then proceeds to tell the happy little tale, Wikipedia meets Johnny Appleseed style, of how fracking has spread its largesse from from Pennsylvania to Alaska to North Dakota back to Williamsport where, "Shell has announced plans to build a cracking plant, which will make chemicals from natural gas, outside Pittsburgh. The expected payoff includes 10,000 construction jobs..."
USA Today does caution its readership that this analysis assumes continued strong conservation trends, along with federal mandates for improved vehicle fuel standards. It also notes that this still won't lead to $2/gallon gasoline.
But what the Clarion Content finds most interesting, most relevant both in Durham and the proverbial Main Streets where the presidential election will be played out, is that never once does the author mention the environmental3 and ecological4 concerns that accompany fracking. Whether accidental or not, the Clarion Content finds it metaphorical for how we anticipate the soundbite politics of the presidential debate will approach fracking. The bitter irony is that here at home in Durham, across the fences and the backyards, concerns about health and the local ecology dominate. We don't want our families, friends and neighbors to get sick, we don't want our area polluted.5
Stay tuned.6
Notes
1Be nice to Canadians, on top of their wealth of natural resources, the Northwest passage is about to open, too.
2Seems like it would be in America's interest to quit destabilizing Mexico with an unsuccessful drug policy.
3 Environmental concerns in this case being human health concerns, pollution that harms ground water supplies or creates new cancer clusters.
4Ecological concerns in this case referring to environmental impacts to the local habitat affecting everything from farming and animal husbandry to wild species die-off.
5The energy industry PR machine has a swell label for that stance, it makes you a nimby. As in "Those damn nimby's, first it was power plants, then it was mountain topping, now its fracking." Let it be said to the Clarion Content whole-heartedly agrees that a realistic national conversation about consumption and conservation has to occur. Dick Cheney be damned.
6The record is not over yet. This will (or should) come up hundreds of times in the presidential campaign.
Image found here.
Witness an article in last week's USA Today, under the banner headline, "U.S. energy independence is no longer just a pipe dream" Their writer, Tim Mullaney, used the quaint home of the Little League Baseball World Series, Williamsport as his vehicle. Pennsylvania is a state where the fracking debate is manifest. Jobs and energy production meet local environmental and ecological concerns head on.
USA Today as is their want drifts through the highlights like daytime television: [footnotes we added]
"about 100 companies have moved to town..." and "Citigroup argues that the U.S., or at least North America, can achieve energy independence by 2020..." more citing Citigroup, "Counting the output from Canada1 and Mexico2, North America is 'the new Middle East'..." "It could help manufacturers and chemical businesses that use lots of energy or make products from natural gas. It might give the U.S. a structural advantage on trade partners in energy costs, helping to offset the edge that cheaper labor gives nations such as China.."
The general gist of it all is selling the amazing possibilities, and though USA Today is quoting Citigroup's report and analyst, is their readership nuanced enough to pick up on that? One wonders.
It becomes especially relevant in the next paragraph when the writer transitions from
He then proceeds to tell the happy little tale, Wikipedia meets Johnny Appleseed style, of how fracking has spread its largesse from from Pennsylvania to Alaska to North Dakota back to Williamsport where, "Shell has announced plans to build a cracking plant, which will make chemicals from natural gas, outside Pittsburgh. The expected payoff includes 10,000 construction jobs..."
USA Today does caution its readership that this analysis assumes continued strong conservation trends, along with federal mandates for improved vehicle fuel standards. It also notes that this still won't lead to $2/gallon gasoline.
But what the Clarion Content finds most interesting, most relevant both in Durham and the proverbial Main Streets where the presidential election will be played out, is that never once does the author mention the environmental3 and ecological4 concerns that accompany fracking. Whether accidental or not, the Clarion Content finds it metaphorical for how we anticipate the soundbite politics of the presidential debate will approach fracking. The bitter irony is that here at home in Durham, across the fences and the backyards, concerns about health and the local ecology dominate. We don't want our families, friends and neighbors to get sick, we don't want our area polluted.5
Stay tuned.6
Notes
1Be nice to Canadians, on top of their wealth of natural resources, the Northwest passage is about to open, too.
2Seems like it would be in America's interest to quit destabilizing Mexico with an unsuccessful drug policy.
3 Environmental concerns in this case being human health concerns, pollution that harms ground water supplies or creates new cancer clusters.
4Ecological concerns in this case referring to environmental impacts to the local habitat affecting everything from farming and animal husbandry to wild species die-off.
5The energy industry PR machine has a swell label for that stance, it makes you a nimby. As in "Those damn nimby's, first it was power plants, then it was mountain topping, now its fracking." Let it be said to the Clarion Content whole-heartedly agrees that a realistic national conversation about consumption and conservation has to occur. Dick Cheney be damned.
6The record is not over yet. This will (or should) come up hundreds of times in the presidential campaign.
Labels: Durham, ecology, Economy, energy policy, Politics, Pop Culture
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Fracking follow-up
The Clarion Content has been closely following the battle over fracking and subsurface mineral rights closely since we broke the story that national builder, D.R. Horton, had obtained fracking rights and mineral rights in the Triangle. Our sources are now saying that company holds these mineral rights in as many as sixty subdivisions in North Carolina.
However, they may be backing down in the face of massive amounts of bad publicity...
What? It isn't helping to sell homes when people discover you have the right to pump noxious chemicals 500 feet beneath the surface of their land? Just because those chemicals pollute groundwater and might cause earthquakes, people are concerned?
The Durham Herald-Sun's Laura Oleniacz reports that D.R. Horton gave mineral rights back to twenty-two Durham property owners according to the Durham County Register of Deeds office. The reason D.R. Horton gave was based on a technicality, "...company officials discovered last week that some property owners’ contracts didn’t mention that the company was reserving the mineral rights to some properties."
Oleniacz also notes that, "the D.R. Horton company also said that it is now stopping its practice of retaining mineral rights in cases where those rights have not already been reserved by a previous property owner, and until the state legislature 'has fully addressed the issues now pending before it.'"
Does not exactly sound like they have given up.
And clearly, statewide, the battle is not over yet, be prepared to hear the phrase "domestic energy production" hundreds of times in the upcoming presidential election cycle. Fracking is domestic energy production. Folks who attended the information session organized by Durham County Agricultural Cooperative Extension Services and Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA heard that while North Carolina farmers and landowners are being paid as little as a $1/acre for fracking rights, in some western states the going rate is $25/acre. Energy companies offer farmers and landowners, huge initial signing bonuses, too, in exchange for permission to frack on their property.
They build huge well pads, the hydraulic equivalent of open pit mines, often seven to ten acres in dimension. The pump their toxic brew beneath the surface, push what shale and natural gas products they can to the surface and leave, often with no reclamation provisions in place, not even minimal aesthetic repair.1
State Senator Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, introduced a bill to the North Carolina Senate's Energy Policy Issues Committee that recommends to the General Assembly eliminating the state's current prohibitions on horizontal drilling (fracking).
In the status quo many questions remain unanswered. Is D.R. Horton giving back mineral rights to all the North Carolina properties where they have claimed them? Or only where they did not properly disclose they were obtaining them? Are they willing to give back these mineral and subsurface rights to any D.R. Horton homeowner who requests them? What if your neighbor doesn't request their return? What is the effect on the property values of the neighborhood? The individual?
Durham property attorney, Carey Ewing, who was an essential part of bringing the story to the public eye, says that uncertainty prevails, "Homeowners need more information and no one is giving it to them."2
And while D.R. Horton's spokespeople insist, "D.R. Horton is not in the mining business. It is in the business of building, and selling, quality homes and providing excellent value to its homeowners..." What is the other part of their conglomerate up to? What is D.R.H. Energy's role in this dirty business?3
Stay tuned. We will keep you updated.
Notes
1If North Carolina does end up legislating to allow fracking, at bare minimum, the state must put in place strong regulation about how the land is to be left afterward, both above and below the surface of the ground.
2Ms. Ewing is quoted in both the Durham Herald-Sun's and the AP's recent stories about fracking in North Carolina. Full disclosure: the Clarion Content editor has previously retained, on an entirely separate issue, Ms. Ewing's firm, the Ewing Law Center.
3D.R.H. Energy also owns mineral and subsurface drilling rights to many D.R. Horton properties in North Carolina. The energy company has not issued a public statement about its role or intentions.
However, they may be backing down in the face of massive amounts of bad publicity...
What? It isn't helping to sell homes when people discover you have the right to pump noxious chemicals 500 feet beneath the surface of their land? Just because those chemicals pollute groundwater and might cause earthquakes, people are concerned?
The Durham Herald-Sun's Laura Oleniacz reports that D.R. Horton gave mineral rights back to twenty-two Durham property owners according to the Durham County Register of Deeds office. The reason D.R. Horton gave was based on a technicality, "...company officials discovered last week that some property owners’ contracts didn’t mention that the company was reserving the mineral rights to some properties."
Oleniacz also notes that, "the D.R. Horton company also said that it is now stopping its practice of retaining mineral rights in cases where those rights have not already been reserved by a previous property owner, and until the state legislature 'has fully addressed the issues now pending before it.'"
Does not exactly sound like they have given up.
And clearly, statewide, the battle is not over yet, be prepared to hear the phrase "domestic energy production" hundreds of times in the upcoming presidential election cycle. Fracking is domestic energy production. Folks who attended the information session organized by Durham County Agricultural Cooperative Extension Services and Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA heard that while North Carolina farmers and landowners are being paid as little as a $1/acre for fracking rights, in some western states the going rate is $25/acre. Energy companies offer farmers and landowners, huge initial signing bonuses, too, in exchange for permission to frack on their property.
They build huge well pads, the hydraulic equivalent of open pit mines, often seven to ten acres in dimension. The pump their toxic brew beneath the surface, push what shale and natural gas products they can to the surface and leave, often with no reclamation provisions in place, not even minimal aesthetic repair.1
State Senator Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, introduced a bill to the North Carolina Senate's Energy Policy Issues Committee that recommends to the General Assembly eliminating the state's current prohibitions on horizontal drilling (fracking).
In the status quo many questions remain unanswered. Is D.R. Horton giving back mineral rights to all the North Carolina properties where they have claimed them? Or only where they did not properly disclose they were obtaining them? Are they willing to give back these mineral and subsurface rights to any D.R. Horton homeowner who requests them? What if your neighbor doesn't request their return? What is the effect on the property values of the neighborhood? The individual?
Durham property attorney, Carey Ewing, who was an essential part of bringing the story to the public eye, says that uncertainty prevails, "Homeowners need more information and no one is giving it to them."2
And while D.R. Horton's spokespeople insist, "D.R. Horton is not in the mining business. It is in the business of building, and selling, quality homes and providing excellent value to its homeowners..." What is the other part of their conglomerate up to? What is D.R.H. Energy's role in this dirty business?3
Stay tuned. We will keep you updated.
Notes
1If North Carolina does end up legislating to allow fracking, at bare minimum, the state must put in place strong regulation about how the land is to be left afterward, both above and below the surface of the ground.
2Ms. Ewing is quoted in both the Durham Herald-Sun's and the AP's recent stories about fracking in North Carolina. Full disclosure: the Clarion Content editor has previously retained, on an entirely separate issue, Ms. Ewing's firm, the Ewing Law Center.
3D.R.H. Energy also owns mineral and subsurface drilling rights to many D.R. Horton properties in North Carolina. The energy company has not issued a public statement about its role or intentions.
Labels: Durham, ecology, energy policy, Ethically questionable, Politics
Monday, April 23, 2012
Fracking meeting
Since the Clarion Content broke the story that Mineral Deeds were being signed in Durham County granting national builders like D.R. Horton fracking rights, there has been much hue and cry.
The Assistant Attorney General of North Carolina, M. Lynne Weaver, wrote D.R. Horton asking them for further information about how they disclosed to potential homebuyers that they were reserving such rights. (See below.)
That they reserved the rights, and have been reserving them in certain property agreements as far back as 2010, is not in dispute.
What does that mean? What can you as a Durham resident and/or homeowner do?
One place to start getting answers to some of those questions is a public meeting tomorrow night. Durham County Agricultural Cooperative Extension Services and Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA have organized an informational session at the Durham Agricultural Extension Center, #721 Foster Street, at 7pm.
Some of the topics on the table include: Understanding the hydraulic fracking process, the potential impacts of drilling on crops, livestock, forest land, and water resources, how to understand oil and gas rights lease terminology, how to fairly negotiate a mineral rights lease and landowner protections,1 and adequate compensation for mineral resources.
We hear that the organizers of the No Frack PAC might be in attendance.
For more information contact: Jordan Treakle at Jordan@rafiusa.org or 919-444-1321
Notes
1Remember these agreements are fairly common in some of the Western and Rocky Mountain states.
2Letter from the Attorney General's office.
The Assistant Attorney General of North Carolina, M. Lynne Weaver, wrote D.R. Horton asking them for further information about how they disclosed to potential homebuyers that they were reserving such rights. (See below.)
That they reserved the rights, and have been reserving them in certain property agreements as far back as 2010, is not in dispute.
What does that mean? What can you as a Durham resident and/or homeowner do?
One place to start getting answers to some of those questions is a public meeting tomorrow night. Durham County Agricultural Cooperative Extension Services and Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA have organized an informational session at the Durham Agricultural Extension Center, #721 Foster Street, at 7pm.
Some of the topics on the table include: Understanding the hydraulic fracking process, the potential impacts of drilling on crops, livestock, forest land, and water resources, how to understand oil and gas rights lease terminology, how to fairly negotiate a mineral rights lease and landowner protections,1 and adequate compensation for mineral resources.
We hear that the organizers of the No Frack PAC might be in attendance.
For more information contact: Jordan Treakle at Jordan@rafiusa.org or 919-444-1321
Notes
1Remember these agreements are fairly common in some of the Western and Rocky Mountain states.
2Letter from the Attorney General's office.
Labels: Durham, ecology, energy policy, Politics, public protest
Monday, April 02, 2012
Fracking in Durham
The Clarion Content has been tweeting for several days that we are sitting on an amazing fracking related story. We have waited on the sidelines as political figures from Governor Bev Perdue on down have told constituents what a boon fracking will be to North Carolina, and specifically our region of North Carolina, which sits on the geologically promising Deep River Basin.
Quite obviously the debate between the believers in the economic benefits of fracking and those who fear its massive environmental costs are unresolved. There is strong opinion and strong emotion on both sides.
What we believe most of you, dear readers, are unaware of, is that in some parts of Durham County permission to frack is already being granted, in advance of state legislative approval and in preparation for private profiteering. The Clarion Content and our sources have obtained deeds from the public records that indicate prominent builder D.R. Horton is securing rights to frack underneath some of its most recent Durham developments.1 (See below.)
We have redacted these deeds to protect the homeowners and their communities, but they should make you jump right out of your skin.
Public records indicate D.R. Horton homebuyers are using D.R. Horton's attorney at closing are receiving a "Special Warranty Deed" to their homes, rather than the far more common "General Warranty Deed." These "Special Warranty Deeds" grant D.R. Horton, a Delaware company and D.R. H. Energy, Inc.2, any and all rights, titles and interests to subsurface resources beneath the homebuyer's property.
Fracking is the process of drilling into shale deposits and using water and toxic chemicals to break up the subsurface rock and extract natural gas. The fracking process usually comes in from the side, it is not drilling straight down like an oil well, so D.R. Horton and D.R. H. Energy do not need to own the land they intend to frack, if they own the rights to the minerals buried deep beneath the land.
As you can see in the deeds below D.R. Horton and their pals D.R.H. Energy have reserved:
"Any and all oil rights, mineral rights, natural gas rights, rights to all other hydrocarbons, geothermal heat rights, water rights and all products derived from these, collectively 'Subsurface Resources'."
They have also secured:
"the perpetual right to drill, mine, explore and operate for and produce, store and remove any of the Subsurface Resources on or from the Property by any means whatsoever including without limitation the right to whipstock or directionally drill and mine, from lands other than the Property wells, tunnels and shafts into, through or across the subsurface of the Property...and to redrill, retunnel, equip, maintain, repair, deepen and operate any such wells or mines..." ---All italics added for emphasis.
Yikes!
We sought comment from numerous Durham politicos and finally got this back from Amy Blalock, a Senior Public Affairs Specialist in the Office of Public Affairs, of the City of Durham,
"Ultimately, the State’s General Assembly will make decisions about where North Carolina goes on this issue, and local government authority over the matter will be determined by the State. In the meantime, all property owners should carefully consider any offers to purchase mineral rights, thoroughly research the matter themselves, and if necessary, consult an attorney with expertise in real estate and mineral rights law."
Doesn't exactly sound like city government has your back on this one, Durham.
D.R. Horton spokesman did not return calls requesting comment.
Considering fracking's potential list of harms include everything from ground water and well water pollution to increased seismic activity (yep, earthquakes) in previously seismically inactive areas, homebuyers ought to look long and hard at their deeds before signing anything.
See full size document here.
See full size document here.
See full size document here.
See full size document here.
Notes
1The Register of Deeds Public Records Search reveals five Durham developments where D.R.H. Energy has secured similar rights. We have also seen similar deeds for properties in Granville, Franklin and Wake Counties.
2Think the similarities in the two companies' names might be more than coincidental?
Labels: Durham, ecology, energy policy, Ethically questionable, Politics
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Earthquake rattles nuclear reactor
North Anna Power Station
Among the scariest elements of yesterday's East Coast earthquake, which was felt from Durham, NC to Boston, Mass., was how closely it occurred to the North Anna Power Station, a nuclear reactor complex, located about 10 miles from the quake's epicenter. As yet, the facility's reactors show no signs of cracks in their concrete containment centers. The nuclear facility is located 92 miles southwest of downtown Washington, D.C. An estimated 1.9 million people live within 50 miles of the plant's nuclear reactors.
The quake knocked out the plant's off-site power source. One of the four back-up diesel generators powering the auxiliary safety systems died within hours of the quake. Sound like Japan anyone?
The North Anna Power Station is designed to withstand quakes of a maximum of 5.9 to 6.1 on the infamous Richter Scale. Yesterday's quake was a 5.9. The North Anna power plant is notorious already. It has accumulated one of the largest concentrations of radioactivity in the United States. The L.A. Times reports that Robert Alvarez, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and a former assistant Energy secretary during the Clinton administration noted, the plant’s spent fuel pools contain four to five times more radioactive material than their original designs intended. The plant's reactors are thirty-one and thirty-three years old respectively.
Ahhh, nuclear power. What a country!
Labels: energy policy, infrastructure, nuclear issues
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
More of the same
We saw another signal that Osama bin Laden's apparent assassination is not going to change much of anything this morning. Both ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today show, neither of which we watch frequently, went directly from stories about bin Laden's death to commercials featuring the chairman of Exxon Mobil.
Aren't those two on the same side, trying to bleed America to death?
Aren't those two on the same side, trying to bleed America to death?
Labels: 2012 presidential election, Central Asia, economics, energy policy, Middle East, war
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Not what you want to hear
Storms raged across the American South last night leaving death and destruction in their wake. (Notice how no one jokes about 2012 and Mayans any more? We have been through a lot of late.) Reports indicate 170 souls lost their lives last night across several states.
And in a phrase that may sound all too eerily familiar from Japan, the storms knocked out power to three nuclear reactors, all located in Alabama and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Fortunately, unlike Japan, there was no damage to back-up systems. Diesel generators kicked in, cooling systems were maintained and core temperatures never moved. But don't let any of these nuclear power apologists tell you, "It could never happen here."
Bullsh*t. We are one unforeseen natural disaster away from sharing Japan's circumstances. America must move away from, not toward, nuclear energy.
Labels: energy policy, infrastructure, Politics, technology
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Drill, Alaska? A reality check.
The U.S. Geological Survey issued a reality check to those who think that United States can get by without foreign oil. Mind you, those who think U.S. oil resources are/were sufficient are in a special minority of dreamers, right there with those who still think the Earth is the center of the universe and the tooth fairy is real.
Despite the fact that these folks aren't the sort to be swayed by facts or numbers, it cannot help their cause that the U.S. Geological Survey revised the amount of untapped oil reserves that it estimates are in Alaska and its waters down by 90% this week.
The Survey group's new estimate is 896 million barrels of oil are in the reserve, approximately 90% less than a 2002 estimate of 10.6 billion barrels. The good news natural gas reserve estimates were revised upward from 8 trillion cubic feet of gas to 61 trillion cubic feet gas.
Side note, the United States desperately needs more liquefied natural gas terminals. Imagine an America willing to invest in its infrastructure. Too bad, it is a dream, not a reality.
Labels: ecology, economics, energy policy, Predictions
Friday, April 02, 2010
Give the guy a break
Obama and the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar
The Clarion Content was once again pleasantly surprised by President Obama this week. We think people should get off his back a bit. We all know he could have been dealt better cards.
The issue we are referring to is the President's announcement that he is going to allow significantly expanded offshore drilling. The policy Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar presented will allow oil and gas exploration fifty miles off the coast of Virginia, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, 125 miles from Florida's coast in areas that are currently closed to development by a congressional moratorium. It will not allow any drilling or exploration anywhere on the entire West Coast, from the Canadian to Mexican border. It will ban exploration in Bristol Bay, the eastern-most arm of the Bering Sea, home the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery, and a pristine gem to some environmentalist's eyes. President Obama also used the moment to announce an order doubling of the federal fleet of hybrid cars and trucks.
As they say on Fox News, sounds pretty fair and balanced to us. The Obama plan is pragmatic, ultimately the United States consumes far more resources than it has, no matter where exploration is allowed. Nonetheless, to completely ban further oil exploration is needlessly dogmatic and plays into hands of the President's right-wing opposition. In our view Obama has been far more of a practical centrist than his foes are willing to admit. The Clarion Content certainly prefers this exploration rationalization1 as a sop to right wing energy hawks over the extension and funding of nuclear power2 (which unfortunately a centrist Obama also supports). Ironically, we are not fans of the policy that President Obama hopes to move the energy hawks his way on, cap and trade. As we have heard it proposed it is macroeconomically dangerous in this turbulent era for capitalism to enact such a drastic policy shift to attempt head-off environmental change that will happen anyway3.
In sum, we are strangely pleased by Obama announcing a policy, in this case by an Executive Order which will not need Congressional approval, that we do not entirely support (expanded oil drilling) in an attempt to influence Congress's vote on a policy (cap and trade) about which we disagree with the direction he is headed. Why then are we pleased? Digging into our collective guts the consensus appears to be because we believe this announcement indicates the President's smarts and independence. He will not be painted into an uncompromising corner. He will continue to surprise by doing more pragmatic things than expected and governing from a more centrist position than his harshest critics are able to accredit to him. Hopefully, these are good things.
Notes
1The Bush policy of allolwing drilling anywhere the oil majors wanted was an environmental disaster in action.
2Although we are gradually more influenced to reevaluate what a Gaian perspective on nuclear power might be...
3The Clarion Content is not opposed to ameliorating the outcomes of global warming. We believe some attempts to limit temperature rise to be a good idea. However, since climate change itself is a theoretical inevitability, stasis being implausible, we don't put much stock in fighting it or even attempting to control it. We would instead focus efforts on the development end for those most effected by climate change. Better to work on more effective and cheaper education, more reliable health care provision, road maintenance and water delivery.
Labels: ecology, Economy, energy policy, Politics
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Clunker Bill clears the House
The United States House of Representatives passed a bill that would give consumers vouchers to turn in gas guzzling vehicles and buy new cars that are more fuel efficient. Clunkers eligible for the program must get 18 miles per gallon, or less, in combined city/highway mileage. There are $3,500 subsidies that can be used toward purchasing cars and vans that are more fuel efficient than the older clunkers by four miles per gallon. There is a bigger $4,500 subsidy that can be used toward purchasing vehicles that are more fuel efficient than the older car by 10 miles per gallon. However, cars that are older than 25 years are not eligible to be traded in for credit. The bill supported by President Obama faces an uphill battle to pass in the United States Senate.
Read more here at CNN Money.
Labels: ecology, economics, energy policy, Politics
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Russians buying a car company
Putin and Schroeder share an awkward hug
The German government announced yesterday that it had picked a partnership led by Magna International Inc., a Canadian auto-parts supplier, Russia’s biggest bank, OAO Sberbank, and Russian carmaker OAO GAZ as the buyer for Opel, the European division of GM. This augurs ever closer ties between Russia and Germany, which in turns stokes the fears of every Eastern European living between the two states.
The last premier of Germany, Gerhard Schroeder, was hired by Russian state gas export monopoly, Gazprom OAO, months after he left office in 2005 to spearhead the construction of the Nord Stream pipeline that will provide Russian gas to Germany (while circumventing Eastern Europe).
As the Polish opposition noted in a comment to Bloomberg news services, “Nothing’s ever purely economic with the Russians, there’s always political interest involved.” No doubt.
The Clarion Content finds the arguments in favor of Russian ownership specious. Firstly, there is no indication that the rule of law as yet reigns supreme in Russia. Nothing exists that would stop the Russian state from outright confiscation of the company and/or its assets. Secondly, as the Poles know well, Russia always has ulterior power projection motives in mind, take a look at their natural gas blackmail of the Ukraine! Which incidentally still simmers and could explode at any time, likely taking down the democratically elected government of the Ukraine with it. The Germans, always suckers for authoritarianism, probably secretly sympathize with the style and manner of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. The laughable suggestion made by a German professor in the Bloomberg article that Russia is poised to become Europe's biggest car market ignores the reality of Russia's plummeting population decline and massive income inequality.
Fact is, if this is a legal acquisition, it is hard to oppose as a libertarian. The Clarion Content decried the ludicrous Senate maneuvering that blocked the Chinese state owned oil monopoly's purchase of Conoco, same for the jingoistic blocking of the sale of American ports to the state of Dubai. We do not actually oppose the Russians purchase of G.M.'s Opel. We just want to sound the horn of caution about what it says for erstwhile United States ally, Germany.
Labels: economics, energy policy, Politics
Friday, May 01, 2009
Conservation: it is on us
The Clarion Content is proud to introduce our newest guest columnist, Cliff Phillips. We are very grateful to those that sent him in our direction. His piece touches on a timely theme, one that has been percolating in American culture, personal responsibility. The Clarion Content recently read and circulated a commentary in Esquire around the Bush II-Obama transfer of power that ruminated on America's cultural complicity in our predicament. Here Mr. Phillips offers a methodology of improvement, a thought on how to act rather than complain. Be the example you wish to see in the world. This piece was originally penned prior to Obama's election, but based on the President's call to action in his inauguration speech, "greatness is never given, it is earned," it is even more relevant now.
Conservation is an Energy Source
Cliff Phillips
Every crisis conceals an opportunity. Every problem contains its own solution. We can see the answer through an effort of imagination or, failing that, hindsight. Our ever-escalating consumption of energy and resources has brought us to a volatile point in our history. Does the looming crisis of scarcity and pollution offer an opportunity we don’t see? Can our imagination illuminate the situation, or will hindsight teach us -too late- what could have been done to salvage our future?
The fact is, we have ample energy and answers are within reach. We can continue the blind, destructive search for new energy, or we can recognize that our energy problems mask enormous opportunities, beginning with a wealth of readily available conservation energy.
Our energy policy has to be an inclusive, public decision if it is to be sustainable. Experts have useful contributions to make, but they sorely lack the imagination (or breadth of experience) to deal comprehensively with this all-encompassing issue. The last energy expert to chart our long-term policy was Dick Cheney. The public was kept out of the process and the decisions were made in secret by a skilled but unimaginative few. Rolling blackouts immediately followed, as “market mechanisms” were put to work, threatening power grid supply and economic stability.
Since that time, the United States has embarked on an ongoing occupation of an oil-rich country, dragged its feet on implementing new energy technologies and efficiencies, and proposed only belatedly the further development of dwindling carbon energy fuels, coupled with dangerous and ludicrously expensive nuclear energy. These initiatives, especially the nuclear one, are to be funded by giant open-ended taxpayer subsidies resembling advance bailouts. They also impose incalculable additional costs on the public in terms of public health, pollution, and military expenditure, to name just a few. They guarantee a future of tight supplies and escalating prices, along with global political instability and environmental collapse. The single greatest stakeholder in this energy policy is the American public (who after all pays for it), and it is poorly served by this expertly engineered, but very unimaginative way forward.
What would the American public envision as its own “energy future,“ if it were not imposed from some secret industry committee in the Vice President’s office? A resolution of the worst failures of our energy policy would:
*Add 25-35 percent to available electric power
*be faster, easier and cheaper to develop than our existing resources
*generate an immediate boost to the national energy supply, to jobs, and to the economy , making American business more competitive and efficient while saving it billions of dollars each year
*quickly reduce our carbon and other emissions below 1990 levels, enabling the United States to participate in good faith and with leadership in international treaties intended to control carbon releases and limit climate change
*give the country sufficient time to develop renewable energy technologies which are non-polluting, safe and affordable
*and ease global political instability which already threatens security everywhere...
Of course this scenario is in many ways opposite to what we know from experience. Yet every item on the list is achievable through a responsible use of energy and resources.
Conservation is an energy source. It is real. Its potential is equal to the sum total of our society’s waste and inefficiency, which is on a scale not seen in human history. Our energy problem is a crisis of consumption and not a crisis of supply, and the sources of waste are far easier to identify and ‘tap’ than new sources of energy.
The American people have the moral obligation and the practical necessity to eliminate waste and inefficiency everywhere we can. When we do this, we will increase our autonomy as individuals and as a nation. We will eliminate many of our dependencies, which have stifled our initiative and smothered our democratic institutions. As must be the case if we are to transform a major crisis, we will have devised a solution from the problem itself.
Consider that a third or more of our household energy consumption can currently be chalked up to waste and inefficiency. Generating and distributing electricity for the grid wastes an even larger proportion before we get to turn the lights on at home. Likewise, we waste a large percentage of our transportation fuels as well as raw and finished materials in manufacturing, packaging, construction, etc (stuff is energy). As many have pointed out, our economy is predicated on the waste of energy and resources. Yet there is reason to be glad for the depth and breadth of our prodigal waste. There is more energy currently available through conservation and efficiency than from any single energy source. It does not require decades to develop at enormous taxpayer expense. And conservation sources save money while new energy sources cost money.
Every kilowatt/hour of conserved energy represents a savings to consumers and an increase in money circulating in the economy. Every kilowatt/hour saved is a reduction in pollution. Every kilowatt/hour of conservation and efficiency is a gift of time to our children, who face a future horror it we don’t begin to treat conservation as an energy source now.
The time is over when a President of the United States can claim that energy is a major national security issue yet fail to have a national energy conservation program. The time is over when we as individuals can bemoan a future of scarcity and pollution caused by some inadequate, abstract policy. It is caused by us, and we can do something about it.
The sad legacy of waste and pollution we have built into our economy in the past sixty years can be turned to our advantage now. The crisis conceals an opportunity. The problem contains the solution.
Conservation is an energy source.
This piece originally ran in the The Greenfield Recorder.
Conservation is an Energy Source
Cliff Phillips
Every crisis conceals an opportunity. Every problem contains its own solution. We can see the answer through an effort of imagination or, failing that, hindsight. Our ever-escalating consumption of energy and resources has brought us to a volatile point in our history. Does the looming crisis of scarcity and pollution offer an opportunity we don’t see? Can our imagination illuminate the situation, or will hindsight teach us -too late- what could have been done to salvage our future?
The fact is, we have ample energy and answers are within reach. We can continue the blind, destructive search for new energy, or we can recognize that our energy problems mask enormous opportunities, beginning with a wealth of readily available conservation energy.
Our energy policy has to be an inclusive, public decision if it is to be sustainable. Experts have useful contributions to make, but they sorely lack the imagination (or breadth of experience) to deal comprehensively with this all-encompassing issue. The last energy expert to chart our long-term policy was Dick Cheney. The public was kept out of the process and the decisions were made in secret by a skilled but unimaginative few. Rolling blackouts immediately followed, as “market mechanisms” were put to work, threatening power grid supply and economic stability.
Since that time, the United States has embarked on an ongoing occupation of an oil-rich country, dragged its feet on implementing new energy technologies and efficiencies, and proposed only belatedly the further development of dwindling carbon energy fuels, coupled with dangerous and ludicrously expensive nuclear energy. These initiatives, especially the nuclear one, are to be funded by giant open-ended taxpayer subsidies resembling advance bailouts. They also impose incalculable additional costs on the public in terms of public health, pollution, and military expenditure, to name just a few. They guarantee a future of tight supplies and escalating prices, along with global political instability and environmental collapse. The single greatest stakeholder in this energy policy is the American public (who after all pays for it), and it is poorly served by this expertly engineered, but very unimaginative way forward.
What would the American public envision as its own “energy future,“ if it were not imposed from some secret industry committee in the Vice President’s office? A resolution of the worst failures of our energy policy would:
*Add 25-35 percent to available electric power
*be faster, easier and cheaper to develop than our existing resources
*generate an immediate boost to the national energy supply, to jobs, and to the economy , making American business more competitive and efficient while saving it billions of dollars each year
*quickly reduce our carbon and other emissions below 1990 levels, enabling the United States to participate in good faith and with leadership in international treaties intended to control carbon releases and limit climate change
*give the country sufficient time to develop renewable energy technologies which are non-polluting, safe and affordable
*and ease global political instability which already threatens security everywhere...
Of course this scenario is in many ways opposite to what we know from experience. Yet every item on the list is achievable through a responsible use of energy and resources.
Conservation is an energy source. It is real. Its potential is equal to the sum total of our society’s waste and inefficiency, which is on a scale not seen in human history. Our energy problem is a crisis of consumption and not a crisis of supply, and the sources of waste are far easier to identify and ‘tap’ than new sources of energy.
The American people have the moral obligation and the practical necessity to eliminate waste and inefficiency everywhere we can. When we do this, we will increase our autonomy as individuals and as a nation. We will eliminate many of our dependencies, which have stifled our initiative and smothered our democratic institutions. As must be the case if we are to transform a major crisis, we will have devised a solution from the problem itself.
Consider that a third or more of our household energy consumption can currently be chalked up to waste and inefficiency. Generating and distributing electricity for the grid wastes an even larger proportion before we get to turn the lights on at home. Likewise, we waste a large percentage of our transportation fuels as well as raw and finished materials in manufacturing, packaging, construction, etc (stuff is energy). As many have pointed out, our economy is predicated on the waste of energy and resources. Yet there is reason to be glad for the depth and breadth of our prodigal waste. There is more energy currently available through conservation and efficiency than from any single energy source. It does not require decades to develop at enormous taxpayer expense. And conservation sources save money while new energy sources cost money.
Every kilowatt/hour of conserved energy represents a savings to consumers and an increase in money circulating in the economy. Every kilowatt/hour saved is a reduction in pollution. Every kilowatt/hour of conservation and efficiency is a gift of time to our children, who face a future horror it we don’t begin to treat conservation as an energy source now.
The time is over when a President of the United States can claim that energy is a major national security issue yet fail to have a national energy conservation program. The time is over when we as individuals can bemoan a future of scarcity and pollution caused by some inadequate, abstract policy. It is caused by us, and we can do something about it.
The sad legacy of waste and pollution we have built into our economy in the past sixty years can be turned to our advantage now. The crisis conceals an opportunity. The problem contains the solution.
Conservation is an energy source.
This piece originally ran in the The Greenfield Recorder.
Labels: 2008's President, Cliff Phillips, ecology, Economy, energy policy, Guest columns, Politics, thought
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Interesting Links and links of interest
Interesting Links
First, submitted by our northern most New Jersey reader, these are wonderfully photo-shopped pictures fusing modern day Leningrad, with World War II era Leningrad or possibly Stalingrad. Scan down there are lots of them, some more subtle than others. (If somebody who reads Cyrillic could definitively identify the locale from reading either the text or the accompanying comments, that would be great.)
This next one, Cake-wrecks, is a blog we were informed about by a local Durham foodie. It is filled with hilarious and insightful pictures of professional cakes that maybe could have gone a different way... for better or worse. Her dry, caustic commentary on the cakes makes the site laugh-out-loud funny.
Finally, as far as the interesting links go, we have told you about Some Guy's Blog before, as he puts it, "if it were a book, you would read it on the toilet." This post caught our eye, fantastic old school, cartoon, beer commercials. You'll love them.
Links of interest
Have you heard Will Ferrell is doing George Bush II as a one man show on Broadway? It is called "You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush." This Ferrell's first foray onto stage. He recounted to the New York Times that his most memorable Broadway experience was attending shows with his father, the Righteous Brother's keyboardist. He will be doing a seventy-five minute show with no intermission. It runs through the middle of March. Read the whole story here.
Dan Hurley, heard of him? Maybe not, but he is doing good things with gifts he was given...read more here in the New York Post. His father, Bob Sr., and brother, Bobby Hurley were more well known, both in the wider world and the little corner of college and high school basketball they inhabited.
This is a fascinating policy piece on trains. It was written by a member of the New America Foundation a think tank that President Obama favors. We can only hope that he or somebody on his team read this piece before the stimulus bill was passed. We have hardly read a more articulate making of the case for investment in trains in America. Certainly, it appears quite evident that train infrastructure investment should be favored over interstate highways.
Finally a bemusing or disturbing story depending on your perspective submitted by a well-read Durhamanian. Wow, this is the textiest, texaholic ever! According to the New York Post, thirteen year-old Reina Hardesty racked 14,528 text messages in a month or nearly 470 per day. The cell phone bill statement her father got ran to more than 440 pages. Go figure she is from Southern California. At least she has unlimited texting, as do several of her closest pals.
This is the link to old Interesting Links posts. (You have to scroll below this one first, after clicking through the link.)
Labels: 2008's President, ecology, Economy, energy policy, food, interesting links, NBA, Politics, Pop Culture, sports, television
