Algal Fuels and Massive Scales

Guest post by John Goetz

I keep an active watch of the news for progress being made in the areas of renewable and alternative energy sources. One area that has caught my eye is algal fuel (biofuel produced by algae). One company that has been in the news lately is Sapphire Energy, which claims to be able to produce ASTM compliant 91-octane biogasoline. Sapphire Energy says their technology “requires only sunlight, CO₂ and non-potable water – and can be produced at massive scale on non-arable land”.

I am not trying to pick on any one solution or Sapphire Energy in particular. I simply wondered how massive a scale of CO2 and non-arable land is needed to make a noticeable dent in our gasoline demand.

First, how much CO2 do we need? The IPCC guidelines for calculating emissions require that an oxidation factor of 0.99 be applied to gasoline’s carbon content to account for a small portion of the fuel that is not oxidized into CO2. To calculate the CO2 emissions from a gallon of fuel, the carbon emissions are multiplied by the ratio of the molecular weight of CO2 to the molecular weight of carbon, or 44/12. Thus, the IPCC says the CO2 emissions from a gallon of gasoline = 2,421 grams x 0.99 x (44/12) = 8,788 grams = 8.8 kg/gallon = 19.4 pounds/gallon.

Now let’s assume Sapphire Energy simply reverses the process and consumes the CO2 to produce gasoline. In other words, we take 19.4 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere for every gallon of gasoline we produce. This seems like is a nice “carbon neutral” process.

Jason-2 satellite set to launch June 15th from Vandenberg, will track sea level

Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM).
Click for High resolution image (Credit: NOAA)

Hopefully, this will put an end to tide gage data and it’s nuances (such as subsidence). From a  NOAA press release:

A new satellite set to launch next month will monitor the rate of sea-level rise and help measure the strength of hurricanes, according to a leading NOAA scientist.

At a press briefing May 20th, Laury Miller, chief of NOAA’s Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, said NOAA will use data from the Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) to extend a 15-year record from two earlier altimeter missions that currently show sea level is rising at a rate of 3.2 mm/year — nearly twice as fast as the previous 100 years. “This rate, if it continues unchanged over the coming decades, will have a large impact on coastal regions, in terms of erosion and flooding,” said Miller.

The Jason-2/OSTM is scheduled for lift off June 15 at 1:47 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The spacecraft is a joint, international effort between NOAA, NASA, France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat).

 Like its predecessor missions TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1, Jason-2/OSTM is designed to extend the climate data record by providing a long-term survey of Earth’s oceans, tracking ocean circulation patterns and measuring sea-surface heights and the rate of sea-level rise. These are all key factors in understanding climate change.

The satellite will use a radar altimeter instrument attached to it and fly in a low Earth orbit allowing it to monitor 95 percent of Earth’s ice-free oceans every 10 days.

In addition to detecting climate change factors, Jason-2/OSTM will also be used in the prediction of short-term, severe weather events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms. According to Miller, NOAA will use the altimeter measurements to monitor ocean conditions that trigger changes in the strength of tropical cyclones, as they move over the ocean towards the land. The technique involves mapping the ocean heat content — the fuel that feeds a storm’s intensity — along the storm’s predicted track.

“Using data received in earlier altimeter missions during hurricanes with wind speeds in excess of 155 miles per hour, we’ve been able to reduce our intensity prediction error by an average of five percent – and in some cases as much as 20 percent,” Miller said. “If we increase the accuracy of intensity predictions, we help save lives.”

During the Jason-2/OSTM lifespan, NOAA will work with CNES to handle the complete ground system support. This includes commanding all the satellite’s maneuvers, downloading all the data the satellite captures, and distributing it to weather and climate forecasters, who are monitoring ocean-born storms and phenomena such as El Niño/La Niña and global sea-level rise.

Additionally, Jason-2/OSTM will be the first, newly launched satellite in which NOAA provides ground support from its NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md. The facility opened in 2007 and houses $50 million worth of high-tech equipment and controls nearly $5 billion in satellites.

“NOAA is definitely up to the challenge of providing smooth, continuous operational support for this mission, which is sure to bring tangible benefits throughout the world,” said Mike Mignogno, program manager for NOAA’s Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

What we should be focusing on for power generation

While Jim Hansen lobbies states to get newly designed clean burning coal fired generation plants not built, California remains lukewarm still on an opportunity to extract geothermal heat for a variety of locations in California. Nevada on the other hand, is moving forward fast, expecting to quadruple their energy output from geothermal.

Last year while I was surveying Lovelock, NV USHCN station, I happened upon a geothermal plant along Interstate-80. You can see it here on Google Earth. While it doesn’t look like much from the air, you can see the main building and the array of pipes to the wells. i’d been meaning to blog about it, and today was the day.

There is quite a bit of area in the USA that can be exploited for geothermal energy. Most of it in the west. 

Click for a larger image 

NASA sends “The Weather Rock” to Mars

When I made a post discussing the weather station on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander titled “First Weather Station on the Surface of Mars“, I expressed some concern that there might be something wrong with the meteorological package due to the first photo of the MET mast showing something dangling:

And I jokingly wrote: “Given that this mission was put together on a low budget, using parts previously designed for other spacecraft, it makes me wonder if the weather station we see above isn’t simply this low tech device“.

After further research, I’m forced to conclude that in fact, NASA did send a “weather rock” to Mars as part of the meteorological package!

Yes I know, you still don’t believe me, so here are the technical details. The instrument is called the “Telltale Project” and it was developed by the Mars Simulation Laboratory at the University of Aarhus in Demark.

In their project page about the instrument they write:

The Telltale is a passive wind indicator for the 2007 NASA Phoenix lander developed and constructed at the Mars Simulation Laboratory at the Aarhus University.

The Telltale consists of a gallows that is mounted on the top of the Meteorological Mast of the Lander. The active element of the instrument is an extremely lightweight Kapton tube hanging in Kevlar fibres. Images taken of the instrument will show the deflection of the Telltale due to the wind. A mirror is mounted below the active part to enable better direction information. Full resolution JPG (24 kB)

Click for a larger image.
Part of the Phoenix lander showing the Telltale on top of the Meteorological Mast ©NASA/JPL

So there you have it, what originally looked like a possible malfunction in the first photo of the first weather station on Mars turned out to be an accurate representation of the instrument, an instrument not unlike that of the “weather rock” found as a novelty item all over the world. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

In other news, I’m told that inside the MET package box, NASA has included several of these, monitored by a tiny camera, to assist in weather forecasting of seasons on Mars. ;-)

UPDATE: The first day’s weather report from Phoenix Lander on Mars is now available, see below:

What I’ve been up to: electrifying my ride

Some regular readers may have noticed that I’ve been a bit detached from the blog in the past week. There’s a good reason for that. I’ve been immersing myself in the joys of owning and learning about the nuts and volts of an electric car.

Yes, that evil old Anthony Watts, doubter of Anthropogenic Global Warming, is now driving an NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle) to and from work every day, to lunch, and on errands in town. I put 100 miles on it the first week. Of course this sort of energy efficiency isn’t anything new for me, since I put solar on my home, and on one of the local schools when I was a trustee. But never mind that, I’m still “evil” for doubting AGW. ;-)

It would be interesting to see what some other pro-AGW folks drive. I see Jim Hansen has a 85 mile each way commute from his house in Kintnersville, Pennsylvania to Columbia University in NYC.

The NEV is a 2002 Ford “Think” which is no longer in production since California dropped the ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle) mandate in 2003. It is one of the rare “pickup truck” models, and as seen below, the former owner drove that point home:

If you are a Ford pickup truck owner, you’ll recognize the logo. The famous Ford F-150 pickup truck is rated for a 1500 pound cargo capacity. This vehicle is rated at 500 pounds, hence the designation, though not an official one.

Those who have owned Fords are often reminded of these famous F.O.R.D descriptions:

“Fix Or Repair Daily”, or “Found On Road Dead”.

Since this operates on 6x 12V Gel Cells, which are under the seats, I’ve added a new one:
Found On Road Discharged

Though not really, I get about 25-30 miles of range from this vehicle, and finding a power plug is easy between my home, office, and some folks around town I know. Currently it has a top speed of 25MPH, which is limited by a controller, but the vehicle can be modded with new programming and an enhanced efficiency motor to reach up to 39MPH. I’m not sure if I need that, as I have not found the speed to be an issue. I mostly take the back streets anyway, and my office is about 2 miles from my home. The only place I can’t go is the Highway, but I don’t need to.

The complete vehicle specs are listed here, from testing done by the US Department of Energy.

Now here is the really important part, look at the DOE rated energy cost:

Energy Cost: @ $0.10/kWh: $0.016/mi

In California, I pay about 15 cents per kilowatt/hour, so my cost would be: $.024/mile or 2.4 cents per mile. With battery replacement every 4 years, I figure that will rise to 3, maybe 4 cents a mile. Even if I’m off by a factor of 100%, and it costs me 6-8 cents a mile to drive, it is still a bargain. In my regular vehicle, given the $3.89/gallon gas price, I figured I was spending about $40-$50 per week in gasoline costs just doing my daily routine and errands.

So, my mission here is simple; I’m not saving the planet, I’m saving money.

That is infectious, and my local newspaper editor, David Little, did his weekly Sunday column on it and the electric car club in town. He’s hooked.

Right now the vehicle is in my garage, I completely disassembled the body and dash so I could locate an intermittent electrical connection and give the entire vehicle a good cleaning and inspection. The former owner lived in a desert area, and there was a lot of sand in it. It has been a joy to work on. It is simple and efficient in design, and easily maintainable with simple hand tools. I’ve located the electrical problem and fixed it. Once I get the vehicle reassembled, I’ll get back to blogging more on the issues related to USHCN and surfacestations.org

In the meantime, I’m having a ball! Bumper sticker suggestions are welcome.

Putting myths about UAH and RSS satellite data to rest

The NOAA-N Polar Orbiting Weather Satellite

There have been some questions posed recently about how the satellite global temperature record is created by UAH and RSS from the MSU (Microwave Sounder Unit) on weather satellites. For example, Andrew recently posted this comment:

“I keep hearing rumors that the satellite data was “adjusted” to match the surface data better. Is that true? If so, that would be disturbing.”

It is always best to ask the source, so I put the question to Dr. John Christy, who is the lead scientist at UAH that produces this dataset:

“I’ve had some queries on my blog recently that are suggesting that the UAH and RSS satellite data is somehow “tuned” to the surface data, or that the surface data is used to provide some offset function. Given that the MSU looks at microwave emissions from oxygen, essentially a first principles measurement, I don’t see any reason that surface data would be used in any way to adjust the MSU data.

But I figured I’d ask the source, if you’d care to elaborate. If not, no worries.”

To which Dr. Christy graciously responded within a couple of hours:

“No other data are used in the construction.  That is why we can do comparison studies without any interdependence.”

So from Dr. Christy’s response it is clear that there is no data sharing or comparative adjustment of any kind between that satellite global temperature record and the land-ocean global temperature record such as is produced by HadCRUT and GISS.

Now THIS is interesting: Pielke on Dr. Joanne Simpson

The Dr. Roger Pielke Sr. weblog today includes a letter from Dr. Joanne Simpson, recently retired.  He calls her “among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years”. It seems that she really spoke her mind on the subject of climate models and the problems of the changing measurement environment around climate monitoring stations.

The full letter is here on that weblog.

Excerpt:

Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receive any funding, I can speak quite frankly. [...] The main basis of the claim that man’s release of greenhouse gases is the cause of the warming is based almost entirely upon climate models.

We all know the frailty of models concerning the air-surface system. We only need to watch the weather forecasts. [...] The term “global warming” itself is very vague. Where and what scales of response are measurable? One distinguished scientist has shown that many aspects of climate change are regional, some of the most harmful caused by changes in human land use.

No one seems to have properly factored in population growth and land use, particularly in tropical and coastal areas.

[...] But as a scientist I remain skeptical. I decided to keep quiet in this controversy until I had a positive contribution to make. […] Both sides (of climate debate) are now hurling personal epithets at each other, a very bad development in Earth sciences.

I agree, enough of this sniping.

Witness the cordial exchange I have with Atmoz, a graduate student at the University of Arizona in Tucson. We see things differently, each of us has made some good analyses and each of us has made some mistakes, but we don’t insult each other over it.

Though I do wish he and others would remove the cloaks of anonymity. Science has never been advanced by an anonymous person, there’s always a real person with a name at the center of discovery and progress.

Help save Windows XP - sign the petition

You probably all know by now how much I dislike despise Windows Vista, even though I’ve been a Microsoft customer and systems integrator for years, this OS is useless for the kind of work I do and is a technical support nightmare. I only sell systems built on Windows XP for that reason.

Well now somebody is doing something to keep Windows XP alive. I run a business where I provide turn key systems. Having to supply Vista will be a technical disaster for many of the programs we rely on to do complex computer graphics work. So a vote for XP is essentially a vote to help me.

Vote here: SAVE XP

From Slashdot:

Computerworld Australia is running a story with a response from Microsoft to Infoworld’s SAVE XP petition Web site, which has gathered over 75,000 signatures so far. Apparently Microsoft is aware of the petition, but says it is “listening first and foremost to feedback we hear from partners and customers about what makes sense based on their needs, that’s what informed our decision to extend the availability of XP initially, and what will continue to guide us” — a somewhat strange response given that the vast majority of people signing the petition ARE Microsoft customers! The Save XP movement has attracted the attention of the software giant, despite its claims that Vista has sold more than 100 million copies and its adoption rate is in line with the company’s expectations. “We’re seeing positive indicators that we’re already starting to move from the early adoption phase into the mainstream and that more and more businesses are beginning their planning and deployment of Windows Vista,” the company said. Nevertheless vendors such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Fujitsu, and more recently NEC, all offer the opportunity to downgrade to XP Pro.”

Love those Tatas

Ok, the title is not what you think.

Recently Tata Motors of India announced they’d be offering a fuel efficient vehicle (50MPG)  priced at $2500 USD that almost any family in India could afford to buy and to operate.  Called the Tata Nano, it is seen as enabling people to move up from the lower ends of India’s transportation spectrum, where two-wheeled scooters selling for as little as $900 are often crammed with entire families.

The Nano’s closest competitor is the Maruti 800, a four-door selling for nearly twice as much.

In terms of performance, it doesn’t offer much more than the Ford Model T. The Nano has a two-cylinder 0.6-liter gasoline engine with 33 horsepower, giving it a top speed of about 60 mph, according to Tata Motors. It gets 50 miles per gallon. Tata claims that the car meets safety and environmental standards (such as Euro IV emissions compliance) which is as I understand it, pretty tough. In any case, the Nano is probably cleaner than the 2 cycle Vespa scooter or other small motorbikes currently all over India.

It is very low on use of raw materials, and it gets better mileage that the Toyota Prius (46MPG) yet environmentalists are having a bit of a cow about it.

Here is a recent blog posting from Sidartha Stone,  who grew up in India, but lives in Silicon Valley, and holds a Ph.D in mechanical engineering.

Here is an excerpt:

Car A gets a fuel efficiency of 46 miles per gallon. Car B gets about 50 miles per gallon. Car A is called the Toyota Prius and is hailed by environmentalists as a step towards solving global warming. Car B, a new car called the Tata Nano unveiled by an Indian company, is reviled by environmentalists as disastrous for global warming. The New York Times devotes an entire editorial condemning the Tata Nano. Columnist and author Tom Friedman calls for the Tata Nano to be “taxed like crazy.” The reason for this extreme criticism? The Tata Nano is cheap - very cheap. It is a revolutionary new car design that will cost only about $2,500 and will bring car ownership within reach of millions of new people in the developing world. The environmentalists’ hypocrisy is breathtaking.

This is not unlike that of the Duke of Wellington at the dawn of the railroad era, who criticized the railways on the grounds that “[They will] only encourage the common people to move about needlessly.”

This environmental angst over the Tata reminds me of this classic Far Side comic:

Making NOAA’s MMTS wireless

This is a custom wireless MMTS with internal data logger that I built, view from my backyard.
NOTE: yes I know it is not the best placement, this is just a preliminary test.

Those who have followed my work surveying official climate stations and their placement issues also know that I’ve been critical of the MMTS (Max Min Temperature System) which has been deployed at a majority of the COOP and USHCN networks. As of this writing, 55% of USHCN is made up of the original MMTS system, with 16% of the network being the improved “Nimbus” version, which has a display unit with max-min memory to prevent data loss. With 71% of the USHCN network being based on MMTS technology, it represents the major component of surface temperature measurement.

The big problem with MMTS is the fact that it is a cabled sensor, whereas the original Stevenson Screens could be placed anywhere, and often at better locations, the MMTS system cable often prevented proper placement because NWS COOP managers could not easily run the cable under walkways or driveways, since they lacked heavy equipment and time. This despite the fact that the original specification for MMTS cabling allowed for distances up to 1/4 mile. Stated simply; COOP managers don’t have access to trenching machines, and installation work is often done with shovels in a single day. 

So, I decided to solve the problem.

The cabling problem has routinely placed MMTS sensors closer to the residences and offices of COOP observers, which has resulted in most USHCN stations that have MMTS/Nimbus being rated a CRN4 due to building/asphalt/concrete proximity of 10 meters or less.

The USHCN station at Bainbridge, Georgia surveyed by Joel McDade is a perfect example that illustrates how an obstacle like a road prevented placing the MMTS unit at the previous location where the Stevenson Screen used to be. Hence, the measurement environment is now entangled with shade tree, asphalt, air conditioner, and nearby building issues.

Bainbridge, GA USHCN station, MMTS in foreground, Stevenson Screen in background

The solution is a wireless MMTS, and that idea has been bandied about by NOAA, but never implemented.

From the NWS San Diego website http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/cpm/temperature.php?wfo=sgx

“Currently, the MMTS requires a cable to connect the sensor with a display. Future plans are for wireless displays. This would eliminate many of the problems associated with cabled systems.”

I’m pleased to say that I have constructed and am now testing a prototype wireless MMTS unit as shown in the photo at the top of this post.

This unit departs from typical design in that is is entirely self contained, running on a small battery, and logs not only temperature, but humidity and dewpoint data also. Connection is via a USB port, and the data can be downloaded into a PC in comma delimited format, ready to graph or to upload to a central data collection point. The unit is a combination of some off the shelf parts, some hardware that I’ve added, and some modifications for the purpose of climate observation. The Gill shield (IR shield) is of my own design, but the datalogger unit could easily be installed inside most any existing NWS MMTS shield, or commercially available Gill shield. I’m working directly with a company that has created the basic battery powered microcontroller design to make it work in this climate monitoring application.

The beauty of this system is that it can be left running for days, weeks, and even months (depending on logging interval) and then the data can be downloaded in the field to a laptop. This allows for placement of these units at locations for use in studies of UHI, and cross checking of existing USHCN locations. The datalogger is programmable in many ways and can be adapted for various monitoring tasks.

Here is what the internal sensor package/datalogger unit looks like:

The  sensor package/datalogger unit simply inserts into the center fitting of the Gill shield, and the entire assembly simply screws onto the pipe fitting on the mounting pole. To get the data, simply unscrew the Gill shield, place it on a surface, plug in a USB extension cable, and download the data. A waterproof USB port could also be installed on the side of the pole to allow field connections without dis-assembly.

The entire sensor package/datalogger and Gill Shield w/pole unit was created for less than $150 in parts. I expect costs will be much lower as production costs are tuned.

Now there’s no reason to compromise placement, or fret over trenching cables.

Here is a list of features and specs:

• Temperature in Centigrade or Fahrenheit, programmable
• Range of -35° to +80°C (-31 to +176°F)
• Dew Point in Centigrade or Fahrenheit, programmable 
• Humidity in 0-100 %RH
• Data logging intervals from 10 seconds to 1 hour
• Internal data memory from days to months, depending on logging interval
• Battery life up to one year
• Inexpensive and portable
• Resolution of 0.5 degree
• Status LED’s indicate operation and fault conditions
• Operates on a single 1/2 size AA 3.6V Lithium Battery

Specifications

Humidity Range	0 to 100%RH
Humidity Repeatability (short term)	±0.2%RH
Humidity Accuracy (overall error)(20-80%RH)	±3.5%RH*
Humidity Response Time	5 seconds
Humidity Long Term Stability	1%RH/Yr
Temperature Measurement Range	-35°C to 80°C (-31°F to 176°F)
Temperature Repeatability	±0.2°C (±0.4°F)
Temperature Accuracy (over entire range)	Typical: ±1°C (±2°F) Max: ±2.5°C (±5°F)
Temperature Response Time	20 seconds
Dew Point Accuracy (overall error) (25°C, 40-100%RH)	±2°C (±4°F)**

I’m working on improving the accuracy of the sensor, and I’m investigating an NIST calibration process.

With the unit shown above in my yard, I’ll run a one week test to see how well it compares to my Davis weather station, and I’ll publish the results next week.

Here is a graph of a simple outdoor/indoor test I ran last night and today:

If there is interest, I’ll make these units available to anyone whom wishes to conduct experiments or to install and compare against nearby NOAA stations. if so, please advise me.