Wonderful interview... honest and serious discussion about the OWS movement... Monte
Oct 26, 2011
Oct 25, 2011
DC Douglas' "Why #OccupyWallStreet? 4 Reasons."
Actor, voice over talent and non-political figure D.C. Douglas chimes in with his take on OWS - Occupy Wall Street.
Everyone should understand this... Monte
Oct 24, 2011
The Shocking, Graphic Data That Shows Exactly What Motivates the Occupy Movement
The corporate media may obsess about what Occupy Wall Street is all about, but these images should make it clear.
October 23, 2011
What are the Occupy Wall Street protesters angry about? The same things we’re all angry about. The only difference is the protestors turned their anger into public action. Occupy Wall Street lit the embers and the sparks are flying. Whether it turns into a genuine populist prairie fire depends on all of us.
Now is not the time for wonky policy solutions, as the media meatheads are calling for. Rather, it’s time to air our grievances as loudly as possible, which is precisely what Wall Street and its minions fear the most. Here’s a brief list of why we should be angry and the charts to back it up.
1. The American Dream is imploding...
October 23, 2011
What are the Occupy Wall Street protesters angry about? The same things we’re all angry about. The only difference is the protestors turned their anger into public action. Occupy Wall Street lit the embers and the sparks are flying. Whether it turns into a genuine populist prairie fire depends on all of us.
Now is not the time for wonky policy solutions, as the media meatheads are calling for. Rather, it’s time to air our grievances as loudly as possible, which is precisely what Wall Street and its minions fear the most. Here’s a brief list of why we should be angry and the charts to back it up.
1. The American Dream is imploding...
(click for larger version)
The productivity/wage chart says it all. From 1947 until the mid-1970s real wages and productivity (economic output per worker hour) danced together. Both climbed year after year as did our real standard of living. If you’re old enough, you will remember seeing your parents doing just a bit better each year, year after year. Then, our nation embarked on a grand economic experiment. Taxes were cut especially on the super-rich. Finance was deregulated and unions were crushed. Lo and behold, the two lines broke apart. Productivity continued to climb, but wages stalled and declined. So where did all that productivity money go? To the rich and to the super-rich, especially to those in finance.
2. Our wealth is gushing to the top 1 percent...
The productivity/wage chart says it all. From 1947 until the mid-1970s real wages and productivity (economic output per worker hour) danced together. Both climbed year after year as did our real standard of living. If you’re old enough, you will remember seeing your parents doing just a bit better each year, year after year. Then, our nation embarked on a grand economic experiment. Taxes were cut especially on the super-rich. Finance was deregulated and unions were crushed. Lo and behold, the two lines broke apart. Productivity continued to climb, but wages stalled and declined. So where did all that productivity money go? To the rich and to the super-rich, especially to those in finance.
2. Our wealth is gushing to the top 1 percent...
(click for larger version)
Actually the top tenth of one percent. Because of financial deregulation and tax cuts for the rich, the income gap is soaring. Here’s one of my favorite indicators that we compiled for The Looting of America. In 1970 the top 100 CEOs earned $45 for every $1 earned by the average worker. By 2006, the ratio climbed to an obscene 1,723 to one. (Not a misprint!)
3. Family income is declining while the top earners flourish...
Actually the top tenth of one percent. Because of financial deregulation and tax cuts for the rich, the income gap is soaring. Here’s one of my favorite indicators that we compiled for The Looting of America. In 1970 the top 100 CEOs earned $45 for every $1 earned by the average worker. By 2006, the ratio climbed to an obscene 1,723 to one. (Not a misprint!)
3. Family income is declining while the top earners flourish...
(click for larger version)
As women entered the workforce, family income made up for some of the wage stagnation. But now even family incomes are in trouble. Meanwhile, the incomes of the richest families continue to rise.
4. The super-rich are paying lower and lower tax rates...
As women entered the workforce, family income made up for some of the wage stagnation. But now even family incomes are in trouble. Meanwhile, the incomes of the richest families continue to rise.
4. The super-rich are paying lower and lower tax rates...
(click for larger version)
To add financial insult to injury, the richest of the rich pay less and less each year as a percentage of their monstrous incomes. The top 400 taxpayers during the 1950s faced a 90 percent federal tax rate. By 1995 their effective tax rate – what they really paid after all deductions as a percent of all their income – fell to 30 percent. Now it’s barely 16 percent.
5. Too much money in the hands of the few combined with financial deregulation crashed our economy...
To add financial insult to injury, the richest of the rich pay less and less each year as a percentage of their monstrous incomes. The top 400 taxpayers during the 1950s faced a 90 percent federal tax rate. By 1995 their effective tax rate – what they really paid after all deductions as a percent of all their income – fell to 30 percent. Now it’s barely 16 percent.
5. Too much money in the hands of the few combined with financial deregulation crashed our economy...
(click for larger version)
When the rich become astronomically rich, they gamble with their excess money. And when Wall Street is deregulated, it creates financial casinos for the wealthy. When those casinos inevitably crash, we pay to cover the losses. The 2008 financial crash caused eight million American workers to lose their jobs in a matter of months due to no fault of their own. The last time we had so much money in the hands of so few was 1929!
6. We’re turning into a billionaire bailout society...
When the rich become astronomically rich, they gamble with their excess money. And when Wall Street is deregulated, it creates financial casinos for the wealthy. When those casinos inevitably crash, we pay to cover the losses. The 2008 financial crash caused eight million American workers to lose their jobs in a matter of months due to no fault of their own. The last time we had so much money in the hands of so few was 1929!
6. We’re turning into a billionaire bailout society...
(click for larger version)
We bailed out the big Wall Street banks and protected the billionaires from ruin. Now we are being asked to make good on the debts they caused, while the super-rich get even richer, some making more than $2 million an HOUR! It would take over 47 years for the average family to make as much as the top 10 hedge fund managers make in one hour.
7. The super-rich still control politics...
We bailed out the big Wall Street banks and protected the billionaires from ruin. Now we are being asked to make good on the debts they caused, while the super-rich get even richer, some making more than $2 million an HOUR! It would take over 47 years for the average family to make as much as the top 10 hedge fund managers make in one hour.
7. The super-rich still control politics...
(click for larger version)
Both political parties are occupied by Wall Street. For nearly an entire generation they have competed with each other to gain campaign contributions in exchange for tax breaks and regulatory loopholes for the richest of the rich. Today’s so-called financial reforms are porous, while the money continues to flow to both parties.
8. Unemployment is a catastrophe...
Both political parties are occupied by Wall Street. For nearly an entire generation they have competed with each other to gain campaign contributions in exchange for tax breaks and regulatory loopholes for the richest of the rich. Today’s so-called financial reforms are porous, while the money continues to flow to both parties.
8. Unemployment is a catastrophe...
(click for larger version)
The reckless gambling on Wall Street tore a hole in the economy sending millions to the unemployment lines. Wall Street caused the enormous spike in unemployment and no one else – not the government, not home buyers, not China.
9. Our prospects for the future are growing dim...
The reckless gambling on Wall Street tore a hole in the economy sending millions to the unemployment lines. Wall Street caused the enormous spike in unemployment and no one else – not the government, not home buyers, not China.
9. Our prospects for the future are growing dim...
(click for larger version)
It’s bad enough that unemployment is sky-high. But it’s even worse when you can’t find a job for months, even years. Right now the number of unemployed for 26 weeks or more is at record levels. Many of the long-term unemployed will never work again.
10. The big banks are getting even bigger...
It’s bad enough that unemployment is sky-high. But it’s even worse when you can’t find a job for months, even years. Right now the number of unemployed for 26 weeks or more is at record levels. Many of the long-term unemployed will never work again.
10. The big banks are getting even bigger...
(click for larger version)
Too big to fail is alive and well. Our nation’s biggest banks are growing larger and larger with no end in sight. Despite what politicians say, the taxpayer will bail out the big banks again. And the big banks know it.
Stand up and be counted!
Americans are a patient people. Mass movements do not form very often. Most of us hoped that after the crash, the big banks would be broken up, the casinos would be shut down and the gamblers would be punished. At the very least, we expected that the elite financiers would pay for the damage they created – the jobs destroyed, the neighborhoods wrecked, the services cut. It didn’t happen. Finally something clicked. A small number of kids stood up and got noticed. And now it’s growing. We see an outlet for our frustration, our justifiable anger, our disappointment in leaders who sold out.
We don’t know where it’s all going. But this is the time to stand up and be counted – literally. The currency of a populist revolt is numbers in the street. Let’s show our anger where it will be seen. And let us take heart from the words of Franklin Roosevelt who during his first inaugural address in 1933, led the first occupation of Wall Street:
Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True, they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money.
Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored conditions. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers.
They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.
The money changers have fled their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.
The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money, it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow-men.
Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be values only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit, and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.
Les Leopold is the executive director of the Labor Institute and Public Health Institute in New York, and author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It (Chelsea Green, 2009).
Too big to fail is alive and well. Our nation’s biggest banks are growing larger and larger with no end in sight. Despite what politicians say, the taxpayer will bail out the big banks again. And the big banks know it.
Stand up and be counted!
Americans are a patient people. Mass movements do not form very often. Most of us hoped that after the crash, the big banks would be broken up, the casinos would be shut down and the gamblers would be punished. At the very least, we expected that the elite financiers would pay for the damage they created – the jobs destroyed, the neighborhoods wrecked, the services cut. It didn’t happen. Finally something clicked. A small number of kids stood up and got noticed. And now it’s growing. We see an outlet for our frustration, our justifiable anger, our disappointment in leaders who sold out.
We don’t know where it’s all going. But this is the time to stand up and be counted – literally. The currency of a populist revolt is numbers in the street. Let’s show our anger where it will be seen. And let us take heart from the words of Franklin Roosevelt who during his first inaugural address in 1933, led the first occupation of Wall Street:
Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True, they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money.
Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored conditions. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers.
They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.
The money changers have fled their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.
The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money, it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow-men.
Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be values only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit, and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.
Les Leopold is the executive director of the Labor Institute and Public Health Institute in New York, and author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It (Chelsea Green, 2009).
Oct 22, 2011
Elizebeth Joy --- I guess I have a new blog. / Why we’re raising our kids to be godless heathens.
Our kids are not being raised to follow a religion. Instead, we are instilling these intrinsic values and beliefs in them:
Be Kind and Gentle to everyone and everything. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Have love for humanity and the universe.
Enjoy this life as much as you can. Assume this is all you are going to get (there may not be an afterlife).
Be Kind and Gentle to everyone and everything. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Have love for humanity and the universe.
Enjoy this life as much as you can. Assume this is all you are going to get (there may not be an afterlife).
Search for beauty and good in everything. Everything has a positive side. If you don’t see it, create it.
Test yourself, your ideas and beliefs. Trust what your senses and intuition tell you. The more extraordinary the claim, the more convincing the evidence must be to support it.
Use Reason and Creativity to solve problems, and don’t count on anyone else solving them for you. You are empowered.
Take care of your body. If it’s not working right, the rest of this list can be much more difficult.
Use your Powers for good. Make the world a better place for yourself and everyone else by doing what you can.
You are an animal, and you have a place in the world as all animals do. Try not to abuse your position.
Learn as much as you can and pass on your knowledge.
No person is better than you, and you are not better than any person. Mutual respect is the key for the survival of the human race.
Choose your ethics and stick to them. Do not let another person tell you that your beliefs are wrong, and learn to tolerate differences in opinions.
Live without fear. Most fear is unhealthy and unhelpful. Use your gut instinct to choose how to respond the best way in a situation where you may be in danger, but do not live in that state.
Ask for help when you need it, and offer it when you can.
Believe in yourself and what you can accomplish. Always look for new ways to be amazed by yourself, and new ways to transcend your own limits.
Follow the rules of the place where you are. Sometimes they don’t make sense to you, but do your best to follow them. If you really don’t like the rules, or believe that they are hurtful, then find a new place to be.
Gravity works.
Test yourself, your ideas and beliefs. Trust what your senses and intuition tell you. The more extraordinary the claim, the more convincing the evidence must be to support it.
Use Reason and Creativity to solve problems, and don’t count on anyone else solving them for you. You are empowered.
Take care of your body. If it’s not working right, the rest of this list can be much more difficult.
Use your Powers for good. Make the world a better place for yourself and everyone else by doing what you can.
You are an animal, and you have a place in the world as all animals do. Try not to abuse your position.
Learn as much as you can and pass on your knowledge.
No person is better than you, and you are not better than any person. Mutual respect is the key for the survival of the human race.Choose your ethics and stick to them. Do not let another person tell you that your beliefs are wrong, and learn to tolerate differences in opinions.
Live without fear. Most fear is unhealthy and unhelpful. Use your gut instinct to choose how to respond the best way in a situation where you may be in danger, but do not live in that state.
Ask for help when you need it, and offer it when you can.
Believe in yourself and what you can accomplish. Always look for new ways to be amazed by yourself, and new ways to transcend your own limits.
Follow the rules of the place where you are. Sometimes they don’t make sense to you, but do your best to follow them. If you really don’t like the rules, or believe that they are hurtful, then find a new place to be.
Gravity works.
We believe that all people should have the right to research faith and belief systems with an unbiased heart, and to then choose to follow one, or choose not to follow one. We also believe that there is no One Right Way.
My kids know about Christianity. They have heard stories about Jesus and what he did while on Earth. They know that there is a book called the Bible where you can read about him and his religion. They also know bits and pieces about Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Paganism, Buddhism, and other religious beliefs.
They know that some people believe that there is a “magical” being or beings called gods. They’ve also heard about reincarnation and that some people believe that our souls keep coming back as different living things (Carmen really likes this one and wants to come back as a bird). They have been to church and temple and understand that some people go there all the time to talk to (and about) their gods. They know that people wear different outfits, and that sometimes these are based on the rules of their respective gods.
What they have NOT heard is that any of these beliefs or practices is “wrong.” Just different. They also have not yet been told that some people believe that others should be hurt or killed because they believe something different. I don’t want to scare them when they are still so young, after all….
My kids know about Christianity. They have heard stories about Jesus and what he did while on Earth. They know that there is a book called the Bible where you can read about him and his religion. They also know bits and pieces about Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Paganism, Buddhism, and other religious beliefs.
They know that some people believe that there is a “magical” being or beings called gods. They’ve also heard about reincarnation and that some people believe that our souls keep coming back as different living things (Carmen really likes this one and wants to come back as a bird). They have been to church and temple and understand that some people go there all the time to talk to (and about) their gods. They know that people wear different outfits, and that sometimes these are based on the rules of their respective gods.
What they have NOT heard is that any of these beliefs or practices is “wrong.” Just different. They also have not yet been told that some people believe that others should be hurt or killed because they believe something different. I don’t want to scare them when they are still so young, after all….
So far, even though they are little heathens, they are doing just fine. They are bright, ethical, and do not appear to be spiritually lost. So, we’re going to stick with what we’re doing, and encourage them to study different beliefs as they grow. At the very least, it will help them to understand what others believe and where they come from. If or when they choose to follow a religious or spiritual path, I will learn as much about it as possible, and I will stand behind their decision and understand it as best as I can…. much like any other choice they will make in their lives.
Oct 18, 2011
U of Illinois Biochar Group Fall Meeting
Speaker Illinois Biochar Group
Date Nov 7, 2011
Time10:00 am - 11:45 am
Location Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL 61820
Cost Free
Sponsor Illinois Sustainable Technology Center
Contact Nancy Holm
E-Mail nholm@istc.illinois.edu
Phone 217-244-3330
Event type meeting
Originating Calendar Illinois Sustainable Technology Center seminars and events
The Illinois Biochar Group (IBG) will hold its fall meeting at ISTC from 10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. on Nov. 7, 2011. A seminar by Dr. Jean Bogner will follow at noon. For the meeting, several IBG members will present updates of their work with biochar. There will be discussion of future meetings and collaboration on research. For more information about the Group and events, see www.biochar.illinois.edu.
Date Nov 7, 2011
Time10:00 am - 11:45 am
Location Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL 61820
Cost Free
Sponsor Illinois Sustainable Technology Center
Contact Nancy Holm
E-Mail nholm@istc.illinois.edu
Phone 217-244-3330
Event type meeting
Originating Calendar Illinois Sustainable Technology Center seminars and events
The Illinois Biochar Group (IBG) will hold its fall meeting at ISTC from 10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. on Nov. 7, 2011. A seminar by Dr. Jean Bogner will follow at noon. For the meeting, several IBG members will present updates of their work with biochar. There will be discussion of future meetings and collaboration on research. For more information about the Group and events, see www.biochar.illinois.edu.
Oct 17, 2011
Grand Kids & Pumpkins Hines Farm
Cole and Kala Riding Harvesting Trailer Larger Image
Cole and Kala Larger Image
Larger Image
Earlier in the Year (2011) Eileen, Kala & Cole Doing the "Hard Work" in the Garden while I am doing the Picture Taking :-) ... Larger Image
Oct 12, 2011
Aubrey de Grey - longer, healthier life!
Aubrey de Grey passionately talks about the ultimate quest for significantly longer, healthier life!
David Sinclair - Can a pill a day help keep aging away?
David Sinclair talks about resveratrol and wonders - Can a pill a day help keep aging away?
How to Grow Garlic: Organic Gardening
Garlic is as beautiful in the garden as it is easy to grow.
By Chester Aaron
Soil preparation: Garlic will tolerate some shade but prefers full sun. While I've seen cloves sprout in gravel pits, garlic responds best in well-drained, rich, loamy soil amended with lots oforganic matter. Raised beds are ideal, except in very dry regions.
Planting: To grow garlic, you plant the cloves, the sections of the bulb; each clove will produce a new bulb. The largest cloves generally yield the biggest bulbs. To get the cloves off to a strong start and protect them from fungal diseases, soak them in a jar of water containing one heaping tablespoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of liquid seaweed for a few hours before planting. Plant garlic in the fall.
Spacing: Place cloves in a hole or furrow with the flat or root end down and pointed end up, with each tip 2 inches beneath the soil. Set the cloves about 6 to 8 inches apart. Top the soil with 6 inches of mulch, such as straw or dried grass clippings mixed with leaves. You'll see shoots start growing right through the mulch in four to eight weeks, depending on your weather and the variety you've planted. They stop growing during winter, then start again in spring. Leave the mulch in place into spring; it conserves moisture and suppresses weeds (garlic competes poorly with weeds).
Watering: Garlic needs about an inch of water each week during spring growth. If you have to augment rainfall with the garden hose, stop watering by June 1 or when the leaves begin to yellow in order to let the bulbs firm up.
Scape Sacrifice: By mid-June, your garlic will begin sprouting flowery tops that curl as they mature and ultimately straighten out into long spiky tendrils. These savory stalks, known as scapes, should be removed to encourage larger, more efficient bulb growth. However, before adding severed scapes to the compost pile, try incorporating their mild garlic flavor into a delicious scape pesto, scape dip, or scape soup.
Fertilizing: Start foliar-feeding your garlic every two weeks as soon as leaf growth begins in spring (typically in March) and continue until around May 15, at which point the bulbs begin to form, says Darrell Merrell, host of the "Garlic Is Life" Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Merrell uses 1 tablespoon liquid seaweed mix and 1 tablespoon fish emulsion mixed into a gallon of water.
Harvesting Hints When half to three-quarters of the leaves turn yellow-brown, typically in late June or early July (depending on the variety and the weather), it's harvest time. Carefully dig up each bulb; do not pull, or you may break the stalk from the bulb, which can cause it to rot. Once it's harvested, get it out of the sun as soon as possible.
Tie the garlic together in bundles of 6 to 10 bulbs (label them if you've grown more than one variety) and hang them to cure for about four to six weeks in a shaded, dry, and preferably drafty area.
When your garlic is thoroughly dry, trim the roots, taking care not to knock off the outer skin. Cut off the stalks about 1½ inches above the bulb if you plan to keep the garlic in bags. Recycled mesh onion bags are perfect for storage.
By Chester Aaron
Soil preparation: Garlic will tolerate some shade but prefers full sun. While I've seen cloves sprout in gravel pits, garlic responds best in well-drained, rich, loamy soil amended with lots oforganic matter. Raised beds are ideal, except in very dry regions.
Planting: To grow garlic, you plant the cloves, the sections of the bulb; each clove will produce a new bulb. The largest cloves generally yield the biggest bulbs. To get the cloves off to a strong start and protect them from fungal diseases, soak them in a jar of water containing one heaping tablespoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of liquid seaweed for a few hours before planting. Plant garlic in the fall.
Spacing: Place cloves in a hole or furrow with the flat or root end down and pointed end up, with each tip 2 inches beneath the soil. Set the cloves about 6 to 8 inches apart. Top the soil with 6 inches of mulch, such as straw or dried grass clippings mixed with leaves. You'll see shoots start growing right through the mulch in four to eight weeks, depending on your weather and the variety you've planted. They stop growing during winter, then start again in spring. Leave the mulch in place into spring; it conserves moisture and suppresses weeds (garlic competes poorly with weeds).
Watering: Garlic needs about an inch of water each week during spring growth. If you have to augment rainfall with the garden hose, stop watering by June 1 or when the leaves begin to yellow in order to let the bulbs firm up.
Scape Sacrifice: By mid-June, your garlic will begin sprouting flowery tops that curl as they mature and ultimately straighten out into long spiky tendrils. These savory stalks, known as scapes, should be removed to encourage larger, more efficient bulb growth. However, before adding severed scapes to the compost pile, try incorporating their mild garlic flavor into a delicious scape pesto, scape dip, or scape soup.
Fertilizing: Start foliar-feeding your garlic every two weeks as soon as leaf growth begins in spring (typically in March) and continue until around May 15, at which point the bulbs begin to form, says Darrell Merrell, host of the "Garlic Is Life" Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Merrell uses 1 tablespoon liquid seaweed mix and 1 tablespoon fish emulsion mixed into a gallon of water.
Harvesting Hints When half to three-quarters of the leaves turn yellow-brown, typically in late June or early July (depending on the variety and the weather), it's harvest time. Carefully dig up each bulb; do not pull, or you may break the stalk from the bulb, which can cause it to rot. Once it's harvested, get it out of the sun as soon as possible.
Tie the garlic together in bundles of 6 to 10 bulbs (label them if you've grown more than one variety) and hang them to cure for about four to six weeks in a shaded, dry, and preferably drafty area.
When your garlic is thoroughly dry, trim the roots, taking care not to knock off the outer skin. Cut off the stalks about 1½ inches above the bulb if you plan to keep the garlic in bags. Recycled mesh onion bags are perfect for storage.
How to Plant Garlic: Organic Gardening
Planting Garlic: Step 1 Break a garlic bulb apart into individual cloves, being careful to keep the papery skins covering each clove intact. Then fill a quart jar with water and mix in one tablespoon of baking soda and one tablespoon of liquid seaweed. Soak the cloves in this mixture for two hours prior to planting to prevent fungal disease and encourage vigorous growth.
Planting Garlic: Step 2 In the meantime, prepare your bed for planting. Garlic grows best in rich, well-drained soil that is free of weeds. Dig a furrow about 3 inches deep. Place the presoaked cloves into the furrow, spacing them 6 to 8 inches apart. Be sure the flat root end is down and the pointy end is up.
Planting Garlic: Step 3 Cover the cloves with 2 inches of soil and sidedress the furrow with compost or scratch in granulated organic fertilizer. Water the bed in well and cover it with 6 to 8 inches of straw mulch. You should see shoots poking through the mulch in four to six weeks. The garlic stops growing in the winter months and resumes in spring.For more tips on planting, growing, & harvesting garlic, see our Garlic Growing Guide.
Oct 11, 2011
Sen. Bernie Sanders: Wall Street Protests
The Occupy Wall Street protests are shining a national spotlight on the most powerful, dangerous and secretive economic and political force in America.
If this country is to break out of the horrendous recession and create the millions of jobs we desperately need, if we are going to create a modicum of financial stability for the future, there is no question but that the American people are going to have to take a very hard look at Wall Street and demand fundamental reforms. I hope these protests are the beginning of that process.
Let us never forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, this country was plunged into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes and life savings as the middle class underwent an unprecedented collapse. Sadly, despite all the suffering caused by Wall Street, there is no reason to believe that the major financial institutions have changed their ways, or that future financial disasters and bailouts will not happen again.
More than three years ago, Congress rewarded Wall Street with the biggest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world. Simultaneously but unknown to the American people at the time, the Federal Reserve provided an even larger bailout. The details of what the Fed did were kept secret until a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that I sponsored required the Government Accountability Office to audit the Fed's lending programs during the financial crisis.
As a result of this audit, the American people have learned that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in low-interest loans to every major financial institution in this country, huge foreign banks, multi-national corporations, and some of the wealthiest people in the world.
In other words, when Wall Street was on the verge of collapse, the federal government acted boldly, aggressively, and with a fierce sense of urgency to save our financial system from collapse with no strings attached.
Now that the middle class is collapsing and a record-breaking 46 million Americans are living in poverty, the Federal Reserve has failed to act with the same sense of urgency to make sure that small businesses receive the affordable loans needed to put millions of Americans back to work and prevent millions of Americans from losing their homes.
As a result, Wall Street is back to making record-breaking profits, handing out record-breaking compensation packages, and taking the same risks that caused the financial crisis in the first place. Meanwhile, 25 million Americans are unemployed or under-employed; middle class families are making $3,600 less than they did 10 years ago; the foreclosure rate is still breaking new records; and the American people are still paying over $3.40 for a gallon of gas.
The financial crisis and the jobs crisis have demonstrated to the American people that we now have a government that is of the 1 percent, by the 1 percent and for the 1 percent, as Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz eloquently articulated. The rest of the 99 percent are, more or less, on their own. We now have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major, advanced country on Earth. The top 1 percent earn more income than the bottom 50 percent, and the richest 400 Americans own more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans.
Now that Occupy Wall Street is shining a spotlight on Wall Street greed and the enormous inequalities that exist in America, the question then becomes, how do we change the political, economic and financial system to work for all Americans, not just the top 1 percent?
Here are several proposals that I am working on:
1) If a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. Today, the six largest financial institutions have assets equal to more than 60 percent of GDP. The four largest banks in this country issue two thirds of all credit cards, half of all mortgages, and hold nearly 40 percent of all bank deposits. Incredibly, after we bailed out these big banks because they were "too big to fail," three out of the four largest are now even bigger than they were before the financial crisis began. It is time to take a page from Teddy Roosevelt and break up these behemoths so that their failure will no longer lead to economic catastrophe and to create competition in our financial system.
2) Put a cap on credit card interest rates to end usury. Today, more than a quarter of all credit card holders in this country are paying interest rates above 20 percent and as high as 59 percent. When credit card companies charge 25- or 30-percent interest rates they are not engaged in the business of "making credit available" to their customers. They are involved in extortion and loan-sharking. Citigroup, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase should not be permitted to charge consumers 25- to 30-percent interest on their credit cards, especially while these banks received over $4 trillion in loans from the Federal Reserve.
3) The Federal Reserve needs to provide small businesses in America with the same low-interest loans it gave to foreign banks. During the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve provided hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign banks and corporations including the Arab Banking Corporation, Toyota, Mitsubishi, the Korea Development Bank, and the state-owned Bank of Bavaria. At a time when small businesses can't get the lending they need, it is time for the Fed to create millions of American jobs by providing low-interest loans directly to small businesses.
4) Stop Wall Street oil speculators from artificially increasing gasoline and heating oil prices. Right now, the American people are being gouged at the gas pump by speculators on Wall Street who are buying and selling billions of barrels of oil in the energy futures market with no intention of using a drop for any purpose other than to make a quick buck. Delta Airlines, Exxon Mobil, the American Trucking Association, and other energy experts have estimated that excessive oil speculation is driving up oil prices by as much as 40 percent. We have got to end excessive oil speculation and bring needed relief to American consumers.
5) Demand that Wall Street invest in the job-creating productive economy, instead of gambling on worthless derivatives. The American people have got to make it crystal clear to Wall Street that the era of excessive speculation is over. The "heads, bankers win; tails, everyone else loses" financial system must end. Most important, we need to create a new Wall Street that exists not to reward CEOs and investors for the bets they make on exotic financial instruments nobody understands. Rather, we need a Wall Street that provides financial services to small businesses and manufacturers to create decent-paying jobs and grow the economy by productive means. Think of all of the productive short- and long-term investments that could be made in our country right now if Wall Street used the money it has received from the federal government wisely. Instead of casino-style speculation, Wall Street could invest in high-speed trains; fuel-efficient cars; wind turbines and other alternative energy sources; affordable housing; affordable prescription drugs that save people's lives; and other things that America desperately needs. That is what we have got to demand from Wall Street.
6) Establish a Wall Street speculation fee on credit default swaps, derivatives, stock options and futures. Both the economic crisis and the deficit crisis are a direct result of the greed and recklessness on Wall Street. Establishing a speculation fee would reduce gambling on Wall Street, encourage the financial sector to invest in the productive economy, and significantly reduce the deficit without harming average Americans. There are a number of precedents for this. The U.S had a similar Wall Street speculation fee from 1914 to 1966. The Revenue Act of 1914 levied a 0.2-percent tax on all sales or transfers of stock. In 1932, Congress more than doubled that tax to help finance the government during the Great Depression. And today, England has a financial transaction tax of 0.25 percent, a penny on every $4 invested.
Making these reforms will not be easy. After all, Wall Street is clearly the most powerful lobbying force on Capitol Hill. From 1998 through 2008, the financial sector spent over $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to deregulate Wall Street. More recently, they spent hundreds of millions more to make the Dodd-Frank bill as weak as possible, and after its passage, hundreds of millions more to roll back or diluter the stronger provisions in that legislation.
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are shining a light on one of the most serious problems facing the United States -- the greed and power of Wall Street. Now is the time for the American people to demand that the president and Congress follow that light -- and act. The future of our economy is at stake.
A sensible clear voice from one US Senator... it is time for the 99% to get behind his "just proposals" ... Monte
If this country is to break out of the horrendous recession and create the millions of jobs we desperately need, if we are going to create a modicum of financial stability for the future, there is no question but that the American people are going to have to take a very hard look at Wall Street and demand fundamental reforms. I hope these protests are the beginning of that process.
Let us never forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, this country was plunged into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes and life savings as the middle class underwent an unprecedented collapse. Sadly, despite all the suffering caused by Wall Street, there is no reason to believe that the major financial institutions have changed their ways, or that future financial disasters and bailouts will not happen again.
More than three years ago, Congress rewarded Wall Street with the biggest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world. Simultaneously but unknown to the American people at the time, the Federal Reserve provided an even larger bailout. The details of what the Fed did were kept secret until a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that I sponsored required the Government Accountability Office to audit the Fed's lending programs during the financial crisis.
As a result of this audit, the American people have learned that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in low-interest loans to every major financial institution in this country, huge foreign banks, multi-national corporations, and some of the wealthiest people in the world.
In other words, when Wall Street was on the verge of collapse, the federal government acted boldly, aggressively, and with a fierce sense of urgency to save our financial system from collapse with no strings attached.
Now that the middle class is collapsing and a record-breaking 46 million Americans are living in poverty, the Federal Reserve has failed to act with the same sense of urgency to make sure that small businesses receive the affordable loans needed to put millions of Americans back to work and prevent millions of Americans from losing their homes.
As a result, Wall Street is back to making record-breaking profits, handing out record-breaking compensation packages, and taking the same risks that caused the financial crisis in the first place. Meanwhile, 25 million Americans are unemployed or under-employed; middle class families are making $3,600 less than they did 10 years ago; the foreclosure rate is still breaking new records; and the American people are still paying over $3.40 for a gallon of gas.
The financial crisis and the jobs crisis have demonstrated to the American people that we now have a government that is of the 1 percent, by the 1 percent and for the 1 percent, as Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz eloquently articulated. The rest of the 99 percent are, more or less, on their own. We now have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major, advanced country on Earth. The top 1 percent earn more income than the bottom 50 percent, and the richest 400 Americans own more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans.
Now that Occupy Wall Street is shining a spotlight on Wall Street greed and the enormous inequalities that exist in America, the question then becomes, how do we change the political, economic and financial system to work for all Americans, not just the top 1 percent?
Here are several proposals that I am working on:
1) If a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. Today, the six largest financial institutions have assets equal to more than 60 percent of GDP. The four largest banks in this country issue two thirds of all credit cards, half of all mortgages, and hold nearly 40 percent of all bank deposits. Incredibly, after we bailed out these big banks because they were "too big to fail," three out of the four largest are now even bigger than they were before the financial crisis began. It is time to take a page from Teddy Roosevelt and break up these behemoths so that their failure will no longer lead to economic catastrophe and to create competition in our financial system.
2) Put a cap on credit card interest rates to end usury. Today, more than a quarter of all credit card holders in this country are paying interest rates above 20 percent and as high as 59 percent. When credit card companies charge 25- or 30-percent interest rates they are not engaged in the business of "making credit available" to their customers. They are involved in extortion and loan-sharking. Citigroup, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase should not be permitted to charge consumers 25- to 30-percent interest on their credit cards, especially while these banks received over $4 trillion in loans from the Federal Reserve.
3) The Federal Reserve needs to provide small businesses in America with the same low-interest loans it gave to foreign banks. During the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve provided hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign banks and corporations including the Arab Banking Corporation, Toyota, Mitsubishi, the Korea Development Bank, and the state-owned Bank of Bavaria. At a time when small businesses can't get the lending they need, it is time for the Fed to create millions of American jobs by providing low-interest loans directly to small businesses.
4) Stop Wall Street oil speculators from artificially increasing gasoline and heating oil prices. Right now, the American people are being gouged at the gas pump by speculators on Wall Street who are buying and selling billions of barrels of oil in the energy futures market with no intention of using a drop for any purpose other than to make a quick buck. Delta Airlines, Exxon Mobil, the American Trucking Association, and other energy experts have estimated that excessive oil speculation is driving up oil prices by as much as 40 percent. We have got to end excessive oil speculation and bring needed relief to American consumers.
5) Demand that Wall Street invest in the job-creating productive economy, instead of gambling on worthless derivatives. The American people have got to make it crystal clear to Wall Street that the era of excessive speculation is over. The "heads, bankers win; tails, everyone else loses" financial system must end. Most important, we need to create a new Wall Street that exists not to reward CEOs and investors for the bets they make on exotic financial instruments nobody understands. Rather, we need a Wall Street that provides financial services to small businesses and manufacturers to create decent-paying jobs and grow the economy by productive means. Think of all of the productive short- and long-term investments that could be made in our country right now if Wall Street used the money it has received from the federal government wisely. Instead of casino-style speculation, Wall Street could invest in high-speed trains; fuel-efficient cars; wind turbines and other alternative energy sources; affordable housing; affordable prescription drugs that save people's lives; and other things that America desperately needs. That is what we have got to demand from Wall Street.
6) Establish a Wall Street speculation fee on credit default swaps, derivatives, stock options and futures. Both the economic crisis and the deficit crisis are a direct result of the greed and recklessness on Wall Street. Establishing a speculation fee would reduce gambling on Wall Street, encourage the financial sector to invest in the productive economy, and significantly reduce the deficit without harming average Americans. There are a number of precedents for this. The U.S had a similar Wall Street speculation fee from 1914 to 1966. The Revenue Act of 1914 levied a 0.2-percent tax on all sales or transfers of stock. In 1932, Congress more than doubled that tax to help finance the government during the Great Depression. And today, England has a financial transaction tax of 0.25 percent, a penny on every $4 invested.
Making these reforms will not be easy. After all, Wall Street is clearly the most powerful lobbying force on Capitol Hill. From 1998 through 2008, the financial sector spent over $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to deregulate Wall Street. More recently, they spent hundreds of millions more to make the Dodd-Frank bill as weak as possible, and after its passage, hundreds of millions more to roll back or diluter the stronger provisions in that legislation.
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are shining a light on one of the most serious problems facing the United States -- the greed and power of Wall Street. Now is the time for the American people to demand that the president and Congress follow that light -- and act. The future of our economy is at stake.
A sensible clear voice from one US Senator... it is time for the 99% to get behind his "just proposals" ... Monte
Oct 6, 2011
Religion's Insidious Marketing
When discussing the absurdity of organized religion, it’s important to recognize that while the tenets themselves may be silly, the mechanisms utilized to instill brand loyalty are so skillfully designed that Madison Avenue can only look on in jealousy. It starts with some form of affirmation of ownership at birth – be it baptism or circumcision – and continues to cement its hold with layer upon layer of ritual until a near-impervious shell forms to protect the fully matured believer from reason and evidence. As the children in this video are shown repeating unnecessary steps to receive their candy reward, children steeped in a religious upbringing are taught that muttering to an invisible man in the sky is part of the being a good person. And instead of a clear box, religion presents them with smoke and mirrors to obscure the truth. If the vast majority of religious parents weren't themselves the byproducts of this incredibly effective years-long marketing ploy, it would be baffling to me that they would want to steep their child in one religion over another any more than they would demand allegiance to Pepsi over Coke. Most religions make the same promises - moral correctness, eternal salvation, a welcoming community - and it is only through vicious rumors about the quality and efficacy of competing products that brand loyalty is maintained.
Here in Illinois, the grip of this millennia-old campaign remains strong even in the realm of public schools. Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case against our mandatory moment of silence, initially passed as the "Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act" until the state legislature renamed it. Through its elected agents, organized religion attempts to normalize its rituals in every sphere of public life and protect those believers still in development from anything that might sway them from the path that claimed them from birth. No wonder Campus Crusade for Christ representative Josh McDowell recently warned that, “The Internet has given atheists, agnostics, skeptics, the people who like to destroy everything that you and I believe, the almost equal access to your kids as your youth pastor and you have". For the first time, a diffused network of information exists, like a sort of spiritual Better Business Bureau to disseminate complaints and counterclaims against the product of organized religion. As the saying goes, the Internet is where religion goes to die. I am not familiar with any research which studies child development as it relates to a religious upbringing, but the strong positive correlation between the faith of parent and child suggests just how hard it is to shake this early developmental programming. It is not socially acceptable to teach your child any number of wrongheaded, antiquated notions, but through organized religion's slick consumer management it has gotten a free pass. With the widespread proliferation of Internet availability, could it be that the world's most successful marketing campaign is finally faltering?
Here in Illinois, the grip of this millennia-old campaign remains strong even in the realm of public schools. Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case against our mandatory moment of silence, initially passed as the "Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act" until the state legislature renamed it. Through its elected agents, organized religion attempts to normalize its rituals in every sphere of public life and protect those believers still in development from anything that might sway them from the path that claimed them from birth. No wonder Campus Crusade for Christ representative Josh McDowell recently warned that, “The Internet has given atheists, agnostics, skeptics, the people who like to destroy everything that you and I believe, the almost equal access to your kids as your youth pastor and you have". For the first time, a diffused network of information exists, like a sort of spiritual Better Business Bureau to disseminate complaints and counterclaims against the product of organized religion. As the saying goes, the Internet is where religion goes to die. I am not familiar with any research which studies child development as it relates to a religious upbringing, but the strong positive correlation between the faith of parent and child suggests just how hard it is to shake this early developmental programming. It is not socially acceptable to teach your child any number of wrongheaded, antiquated notions, but through organized religion's slick consumer management it has gotten a free pass. With the widespread proliferation of Internet availability, could it be that the world's most successful marketing campaign is finally faltering?
If the South Would Have Won: The NFL and Hank Williams, Jr.
By Dave Zirin
In our segmented, culturally segregated, 5,000 channel era, the NFL might be the last entertainment product that tries to be all things to all people. Black or white; northerner or southerner; male, or female: the NFL wants your passion and wants your money. Last week for example was a nod to the wallets of women everywhere as all players were tinted in bright-pink to “raise breast cancer awareness.” The gravity of the issue didn’t stop Cowboys owner Jerry Jones from displaying his cage-dancing cheerleaders in a more straightforward display of breast-awareness, hold the cancer.
The broadcasts are also pointedly diverse as over-caffeinated talking heads come in all colors. The NFL and their chief broadcast partner ESPN particular wants the disposable income of one particularly thorny demographic: your right-wing, gun-toting, Palin-loving, southern football fans. That’s why ESPN inexplicably hired Rush Limbaugh in 2003 to be part of their NFL pre-game team. And that’s why Bocephus himself, Hank Williams, Jr. has sang the Monday Night Football theme song for 20 years. But therein lies the NFL’s problem. It's a trap game. Eventually Limbaugh had to open his mouth and just as the sun rises in the east, the bile did spew. He of course spoke out in crudely racist terms about then-Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, everyone in the ESPN corporate offices reached for their vapors, and Limbaugh was gone.
Now Hank Williams, Jr. has been bounced from singing about “all [his] rowdy friends” because he appeared on Fox and Friends and compared Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. ESPN’s issued the following shocked response, saying, "While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast."
Hank Williams, Jr.’s then put forward a bizarre apology where he felt the need to say, “Every time the media brings up the Tea Party it’s painted as racist and extremists – but there’s never a backlash – no outrage to those comparisons." So a Tea Party supporter compares the Nation's first African American President to Hitler and then says it's a double standard to criticize him because no one gets mad at those who call the Tea Party racist. I now need more coffee.
The bigger question is why was ESPN surprised? This is Hank Williams, Jr. we’re talking about, not Amy Grant. The man brags that he'll never stop "speaking my mind." Unfortunately, his mind resides somewhere on a plantation rocking chair. It’s not just his past controversial statements, such as when he sang about Obama’s “"terrorist friends” at a McCain Palin fundraiser in 2008. The guy actually wrote a song in 1988 about the Civil War called "If the South Would have Won.” The lyrics are, "If the South would have won we would have it made. I'd make my supreme court down in Texas and we wouldn't have no killers getting off free If they were proven guilty then they would swing quickly, instead of writing' books and smiling' on T.V. We'd put Florida on the right track, 'cause we'd take Miami back" [from who? Jews? Cubans? Haitians? Or will Hank go for the trifecta?]. "I said if the south would a won we would a had it made! Might even be better off!" [In a league where 70% of the players are Black, 100% of the owners are white, maybe this should be the Monday Night theme song.]
The problem, in other words, isn’t Hank Williams, Jr. It’s ESPN and the NFL thinking they can stretch the boundaries of their product to unite racists and anti-racists; neo-confederates and people who are ready to put the Stars and Bars in our national rear view mirror; Redskins fans and those who find that franchise name sickening. We are living in times of profound polarization. If the NFL really wants to cater to the demographic that loves Hank Williams, Jr. and Rush Limbaugh, they’d be better ordering the Broncos to just start Tim Tebow.
In our segmented, culturally segregated, 5,000 channel era, the NFL might be the last entertainment product that tries to be all things to all people. Black or white; northerner or southerner; male, or female: the NFL wants your passion and wants your money. Last week for example was a nod to the wallets of women everywhere as all players were tinted in bright-pink to “raise breast cancer awareness.” The gravity of the issue didn’t stop Cowboys owner Jerry Jones from displaying his cage-dancing cheerleaders in a more straightforward display of breast-awareness, hold the cancer.
The broadcasts are also pointedly diverse as over-caffeinated talking heads come in all colors. The NFL and their chief broadcast partner ESPN particular wants the disposable income of one particularly thorny demographic: your right-wing, gun-toting, Palin-loving, southern football fans. That’s why ESPN inexplicably hired Rush Limbaugh in 2003 to be part of their NFL pre-game team. And that’s why Bocephus himself, Hank Williams, Jr. has sang the Monday Night Football theme song for 20 years. But therein lies the NFL’s problem. It's a trap game. Eventually Limbaugh had to open his mouth and just as the sun rises in the east, the bile did spew. He of course spoke out in crudely racist terms about then-Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, everyone in the ESPN corporate offices reached for their vapors, and Limbaugh was gone.
Now Hank Williams, Jr. has been bounced from singing about “all [his] rowdy friends” because he appeared on Fox and Friends and compared Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. ESPN’s issued the following shocked response, saying, "While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast."
Hank Williams, Jr.’s then put forward a bizarre apology where he felt the need to say, “Every time the media brings up the Tea Party it’s painted as racist and extremists – but there’s never a backlash – no outrage to those comparisons." So a Tea Party supporter compares the Nation's first African American President to Hitler and then says it's a double standard to criticize him because no one gets mad at those who call the Tea Party racist. I now need more coffee.
The bigger question is why was ESPN surprised? This is Hank Williams, Jr. we’re talking about, not Amy Grant. The man brags that he'll never stop "speaking my mind." Unfortunately, his mind resides somewhere on a plantation rocking chair. It’s not just his past controversial statements, such as when he sang about Obama’s “"terrorist friends” at a McCain Palin fundraiser in 2008. The guy actually wrote a song in 1988 about the Civil War called "If the South Would have Won.” The lyrics are, "If the South would have won we would have it made. I'd make my supreme court down in Texas and we wouldn't have no killers getting off free If they were proven guilty then they would swing quickly, instead of writing' books and smiling' on T.V. We'd put Florida on the right track, 'cause we'd take Miami back" [from who? Jews? Cubans? Haitians? Or will Hank go for the trifecta?]. "I said if the south would a won we would a had it made! Might even be better off!" [In a league where 70% of the players are Black, 100% of the owners are white, maybe this should be the Monday Night theme song.]
The problem, in other words, isn’t Hank Williams, Jr. It’s ESPN and the NFL thinking they can stretch the boundaries of their product to unite racists and anti-racists; neo-confederates and people who are ready to put the Stars and Bars in our national rear view mirror; Redskins fans and those who find that franchise name sickening. We are living in times of profound polarization. If the NFL really wants to cater to the demographic that loves Hank Williams, Jr. and Rush Limbaugh, they’d be better ordering the Broncos to just start Tim Tebow.
Oct 5, 2011
Energy Storage - Flywheel
This piece resulted from a challenge within the staff to write a collaborative post on emerging energy storage technologies. I left Chemistry back in high-school but one technology that for long has fascinated me lead me to volunteer to the project: the flywheel. It seemed a good justification to study why these ancient mechanisms haven't lost of the industry.
The elusive quest for an answer to that question lead to a rather long writing, that justifies a post on its own. Hopefully this shall be the first of a series on energy storage. Flywheels are very simple mechanisms. If you have a bicycle you can see how it works: lift one of its wheels from the ground and give it an impulse so that it starts spinning. If the wheel hub is in proper condition the wheel keeps on spinning for quite some time. In fact, were your bicycle in space and the wheel could spin for ever, all due to the law of energy conservation - the work employed by your hand on the wheel is stored as kinetic energy as the wheel spins. Here on Earth the bicycle flywheel slowly grinds to a halt because air friction and hub imperfections slowly dissipate this energy.
Basic concepts Flywheels are nothing more than discs or cylinders that spin around a fixed axis. The amount of energy a flywheel can store is proportional to its mass (m), the square of the speed at which it spins (w) and the square if its radius (r). The general equation for a solid disc is of this form: E = 1/4 · m · r2 · w2 Flywheels have been known to Man at least since the Neolithic, when the first potter's wheels were built. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution flywheels started to be employed widely as mechanisms to translate the work of steam engines into constant rotational motion; this solution is still employed today in modern internal combustion piston engines. At face value, a flywheel presents several advantages when compared to chemical batteries:
Efficiency – charge and discharge are made with very small losses; as an electrical storage system a flywheel can have efficiencies up to 97%;
Fast response - it can promptly store huge bursts of energy, and equally rapidly return them;
Lifetime – flywheels built in the XVIII century for the early rail industry still work today.
Maintenance/decommission – flywheels are kept in vacuum containers, functioning with zero material wear in modern designs; they also do not pose the chemical recycling/decommission issues of conventional batteries.
The basic design of an electric storage flywheel is to attach it to an electric engine and enclose it in a vacuum container to avoid air friction. To store energy, the engine provides motion to the disc/cylinder, increasing the rotational speed of the flywheel; the kinetic energy can later be drawn by the engine to generate electricity, this way reducing the rotational speed of the flywheel. First commercial applications, first disappointments This design was the first to be used in commercial applications back in the 1950s, in buses that used heavy steel flywheels as their sole energy storage mechanism; these vehicles got the name of Gyrobus. They were employed in routes with low passenger loads that didn't justify full electrification. Gyrobuses could travel about 5 Km on a full charge, between recharging stations. Recharging would take no more than 3 minutes, since flywheels can easily absorb high voltage electrical currents. These buses were also equipped with regenerative braking systems that recharged the flywheel. Commercial Gyrobus services were started in Switzerland connecting Yverdon-les-Bains and Grandson in 1953 and soon after services were initiated in several routes in the city of Kinshasa in the Belgian Congo; in 1956 another service was started in Belgium, linking Ghent and Merelbeke. With time several problems came up, mostly due to the huge weight of these machines – the Gyrobuses used in Congo weighed more than 10 tonnes. They were hard to drive, damaged roads and above all were electricity guzzlers; a tram used on the same service could easily slash electricity consumption by a third. By the end of 1960 all of the Gyrobus routes mentioned above had been scrapped. This early commercial experiment brought to light the main disadvantages of flywheels:
Weight – alloy flywheels can easily weigh several tonnes, for transport applications this can be a serious issue, due to the added inertia they impose on acceleration and breaking;
Failure – if a flywheel fails by some reason at high rotation, it disintegrates, sending shrapnel as fast as bullets in random directions; to prevent damage they be must kept within an armoured container, adding further weight to the system;
Bearings – alloy bearings proved to wear out quite rapidly, at first reducing efficiency and later rendering the flywheel useless; Gyrobuses required constant service because of this;
Angular momentum – the momentum stored in the flywheel will act against direction changes, which in transport can make turns a complex task.
For every engineering problem there's a solution (or thereabouts) Though Gyrobuses haven't returned, research continued on the application of this technology; at the beginning of the 1990s there seemed to be engineering solutions to deal with all the issues above. The first big change was the introduction of new composite materials: they immediately tackled the weight issue but also ameliorated the container, these materials disintegrate into very small particles much easier to retain. Then the bearings issue was elegantly solved with magnets, creating a magnetic field that makes the flywheel levitate, thus spinning without any contacts with other parts (this requires a small consumption of electricity). Finally, the angular momentum has been addressed with the employment of gimbals, which, while not completely solving the issue, greatly reduce its effects. All these solutions were employed by a company named Rosen Motors in a venture project aimed to produce a car without an internal combustion engine. The concept was based on a small gas turbine coupled with a composite electric flywheel for regenerative braking. In 1997 the first test run was made with the system installed in a Saturn production car; it covered 130 Km in about 2 hours, in what as an engineering breakthrough in many aspects, earning good reactions from several auto-makers. Months later the venture capital of $24 million ran out. Without a single auto-maker wishing to pursue the project the company was forced to fold. Until today no commercial car has ever been fitted with a flywheel based regenerative system. Nevertheless, the research conducted by Rosen Motors proved that flywheel electrical storage had reached technological maturity, with many different potential applications opening up. Many promises, few realizations In the rail industry flywheels have been used more extensively, though it can't be said their usage is widespread. They have been employed to store energy in electric locomotives to guarantee motion along non- electrified sections of rail lines and also to power small locomotives; beyond a few exceptions these solutions have remained mostly experimental. Flywheel powered trams can be particularly convenient in cities for they dispense with overhead electrification. Notwithstanding this fact, today there's only one commercial case to refer, in the Stourbridge line in London. Ever since 2002, 3 different units built by Parry People Movers have been tested, with 2 of them providing regular service since 2008. This sort of tram can also be fitted with diesel engines for longer distances; since the flywheel deals with all acceleration and braking, this engine can be designed to function at optimal revolutions per minute (rpm), thus being very small and efficient. So far the apparent success of these trams hasn't triggered any serious market penetration, though trial services and demonstrations have been run in other lines; a new trial service is set to start next month on the Mid-Hants Railway, also in Britain. More recently, interest has been growing on the employment of flywheels as static batteries by the rail side. They can be used to stabilize the electric current feed to locomotives and also to store energy locomotives feed back to electric lines when braking. In 2009 the press reported a 5.2 million $ project to implement a rail-side 2.4 MW flywheel system on the West Hempstead line in Long Island, US. In parallel, the US company Urenco Power Technology, has been developing and testing smaller rail-side flywheels in the underground lines of New York, London, Tokyo and Lyon. Satisfied with the maturity of the system, at the beginning of this year a spin-off company was launched, Kinetic Traction Systems, with the specific aim of commercializing the technology. Another US company has been working with similar objectives: Beacon Power, but with applications for the electrical distribution grid. The company developed a large scale flywheel that spins up to 16 000 rpm, with a maximum storage capacity of 25 kWh, that can be delivered back to the grid at maximum power rate of 100 kW (over 15 minutes). These flywheels are gathered in clusters that can be used together. Here's a video from 2009 describing the system:
Contrary to what this video suggests, Beacon Power seems quite healthy today, especially after the opening, already this year, of the first commercial flywheel farm, composed by 200 units and installed at Stephentown in New York. This flywheel farm has been deployed primarily as an electricity frequency stabilizer, a perfect match to the flywheel's prompt discharge/recharge characteristics; beyond that, the farm is used to store cheap electricity available in the grid during the night. The company maintains close collaboration with US government authorities through several development programs with broader aims at grid wide stability. The state of Pennsylvania also seems interested in this technology, with capital already committed to a flywheel farm. Further applications are being envisioned, particularly the marriage of flywheel farms with wind farms in order to decentralize load balancing; in this case the system will also be coupled to a thermal generator feed by diesel or gas, that once again can be greatly optimized by the prompt aid of flywheels. If there's an application where flywheels seem bound for serious market penetration it is this one; nonetheless, considering how long intermittent technologies have been penetrating the electricity production market, these seem yet small steps. When fun meets technology To fully understand the flywheel state-of-the-art a final (and longer) story needs to be told. In recent years flywheels took a boost from an unexpected source: Formula 1. In a bid to “green” the sport and provide deeper technological transfer to the auto industry, the FIA introduced new rules for the 2009 season that allowed teams to optionally fit their cars with a regenerative electric storage system with a fixed maximum capacity. This system was baptised Kinetic Energy Recovery System - KERS. These new rules seemed to put those teams opting for the KERS at an advantage, but their late introduction gave little room for the new technology to be developed and absorbed, especially concerning the extra weight applied on the cars. The 2009 season ended up dominated by one of the low budget teams that opted to not even develop a KERS. After this débâcle no F1 team used KERS in 2010, but a left over from 2009 brought the curiosity of many: while most teams opted for chemical batteries, the Williams team had developed a flywheel, that though not successful on track, seemed quite promising for the road. With maximum spinning rates of 60 000 rpm, the Williams flywheel presented itself as such an advantageous systems that the team set up a corporate arm to commercialize it. At the beginning of 2010 the charismatic German marque Porsche commemorated the 110th anniversary of the first hybrid car in history, developed by its late founder Ferdinand Porsche, with the public presentation of a hybrid version of the track going flavour of its flagship. The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid features two electric wheels at the front axle complementing the traditional 6 cylinder engine plus a KERS – the flywheel developed by Williams. This car made its race début that year at the 24 hours of Nurburgring held on the mythical 25 km circuit. Covering 25% more distance on each fuel tank, this car lead the race from the 14th to the 23th hour, with the thermal engine giving up its ghost 45 minutes from the chequered flag. The impact of this near feat was such that Porsche presented a new flywheel fitted race car in 2011, the 918 RSR, termed by the company as a “racing lab” for the technology, though so far it hasn't taken part in any race. This flywheel system is presenting such an advantage over traditional cars in endurance racing that it's actually becoming hard for these cars to be accepted by race organizers. In its latest version, the Williams flywheel has a maximum capacity of 340 Wh, but it can produce more than 200 hp (~ 150 kW). In time, the urge to “green” the sport and reduce energy consumption will likely force endurance race and championship organizers to set specific rules for regenerative systems, once and for all opening the doors to flywheels. As much happened in 2011 in Formula 1, with improvements on KERS regulations resulting in most teams re-adopting it. This season the system is limited to 60 kW peak output and maximum storage of 100 Wh. The next big rules revision will come in 2014 when engines will take a huge downsize from 2.6 litres to 1.6 litres; this will be matched by an increase in flywheel peak output to 120 kW. Several companies are today developing flywheels to use in Formula 1 and motorsport in general. Notable among these is the Flybrid, which is coupled to the transmission, thus avoiding electric conversions with direct kinetic energy translation. Another charismatic car maker, Jaguar, is presently studying the introduction of the Flybrid system into its production cars. In the long run Jaguar aims at completely replacing the traditional combustion engine by small turbines functioning at constant, highly efficient regimes. Here's a corporate video on the application of the Flybrid to city buses:
So, why aren't flywheels popular? Porsche owns Volkswagen, the largest car maker in Europe, and Jaguar is part of the Tata group, the largest car maker in India, could this be the dawn of a new wide-spread technology or just a curiosity restricted to 100 000 € plus cars? Answering this question may start by comparing flywheel state-of-the-art with present chemical battery solutions. This wasn't exactly a simple task, since data varies widely from source to source on certain technologies. For what it is worth I stuck to the numbers found at Wikipaedia. Here's a compilation of energy density (energy per unit volume) and specific energy (energy per unit mass):
These are all round numbers that intend above all to present the relative positioning of each technology. Clearly flywheels do not present any drastic advantage above chemical batteries in terms of density, being somewhat above Nickel Metal Hydride, getting close to Lithium batteries but far from Zinc-Air batteries. The only advantage that flywheels may have in this regard is that they don't have funny names in their components; in the long run this may mean a cost advantage to flywheels: carbon is abundant, they have much longer lifetimes (more charge cycles per capital cost) and do not present the same recycling issues. But the lack of data, since presently few systems are in commercial operation, makes an assessment of this sort hard to perform. In any event, flywheels do not seem to be the most appropriate means of pure energy storage, hence it is not to be expected their success on applications of that genre. Things start to look entirely different regarding specific power (power per unit mass) which tells how fast the system can store and/or deliver energy:
Flywheels not only are clearly ahead of everything else, they also appear at the antipodes of those systems that are ahead in terms of energy density and specific energy. The conclusion is straightforward: for applications where energy must be made available fast and in large quantities, or likewise stored rapidly, and the overall energy capacity isn't critical, flywheels are at a clear advantage. An illustration can be useful, coming again to transport applications. What amount of energy does a car dissipate when braking, say a vehicle weighing 1 tonne and moving at 100 Km/h? To answer this we must dig into the old high-school Physics trunk for the kinetic energy expression: KE = ½ · m · v2 Or in English: half the mass (m) times the square of velocity (v). In SI units the mass is 1000 kg and velocity is 27.(7) m/s; doing the math our illustration results into 385 kJ, or little over 100 Wh. Meaning that a flywheel with 1 kg and occupying about half litre could store the energy needed to bring a car moving at 100 Km/h to a standstill. Depending on how hard the brakes are stepped on, this energy can be produced in just a handful of seconds. If it takes 10 seconds, average power output of such braking will be 36 kW. While an 8 kg flywheel can easily deal with such power, a Lithium-ion battery would have to be much larger, weighting some 120 kg. This means a flywheel is useful even in fully electric cars, dealing with acceleration/deceleration, whilst a chemical battery package could be dedicated exclusively to vehicle range. An answered question I started preparing this post in the hope of finding an answer to the lack of commercial application of flywheels as a means of electrical or kinetic energy storage. With the writing finished I can't say I achieved such an objective. There are a few commercial applications where flywheels are starting a shy market penetration, namely on the rail industry for regenerative braking and cable-less storage and as supporting infrastructure to load balancing within the electrical grid. But precisely where they seem to be more advantageous, in road transport, commercial applications simply do not exist. Car makers have so far chosen storage technologies for their hybrid solutions that seem to go against logic, preferring specific energy to specific power; especially so when the technology has been available for 15 years. Considering that only expensive car makers are developing flywheels (Jaguar, Porsche) could this be a cost issue? There isn't satisfactory data to answer that, but the flywheel's simplicity, long lifetime and lack of rare and/or polluting materials seems to point against it. Nevertheless, the likely success of this technology on the electrical grid and rail industry, plus the unexpected push from motorsport may change things in the years to come.
======================
With an electrical storage system a flywheel can have efficiencies up to 97%... This appears to be a "no brainier" for storage of wind power energy... Monte
The elusive quest for an answer to that question lead to a rather long writing, that justifies a post on its own. Hopefully this shall be the first of a series on energy storage. Flywheels are very simple mechanisms. If you have a bicycle you can see how it works: lift one of its wheels from the ground and give it an impulse so that it starts spinning. If the wheel hub is in proper condition the wheel keeps on spinning for quite some time. In fact, were your bicycle in space and the wheel could spin for ever, all due to the law of energy conservation - the work employed by your hand on the wheel is stored as kinetic energy as the wheel spins. Here on Earth the bicycle flywheel slowly grinds to a halt because air friction and hub imperfections slowly dissipate this energy.
Basic concepts Flywheels are nothing more than discs or cylinders that spin around a fixed axis. The amount of energy a flywheel can store is proportional to its mass (m), the square of the speed at which it spins (w) and the square if its radius (r). The general equation for a solid disc is of this form: E = 1/4 · m · r2 · w2 Flywheels have been known to Man at least since the Neolithic, when the first potter's wheels were built. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution flywheels started to be employed widely as mechanisms to translate the work of steam engines into constant rotational motion; this solution is still employed today in modern internal combustion piston engines. At face value, a flywheel presents several advantages when compared to chemical batteries:
Efficiency – charge and discharge are made with very small losses; as an electrical storage system a flywheel can have efficiencies up to 97%;
Fast response - it can promptly store huge bursts of energy, and equally rapidly return them;
Lifetime – flywheels built in the XVIII century for the early rail industry still work today.
Maintenance/decommission – flywheels are kept in vacuum containers, functioning with zero material wear in modern designs; they also do not pose the chemical recycling/decommission issues of conventional batteries.
The basic design of an electric storage flywheel is to attach it to an electric engine and enclose it in a vacuum container to avoid air friction. To store energy, the engine provides motion to the disc/cylinder, increasing the rotational speed of the flywheel; the kinetic energy can later be drawn by the engine to generate electricity, this way reducing the rotational speed of the flywheel. First commercial applications, first disappointments This design was the first to be used in commercial applications back in the 1950s, in buses that used heavy steel flywheels as their sole energy storage mechanism; these vehicles got the name of Gyrobus. They were employed in routes with low passenger loads that didn't justify full electrification. Gyrobuses could travel about 5 Km on a full charge, between recharging stations. Recharging would take no more than 3 minutes, since flywheels can easily absorb high voltage electrical currents. These buses were also equipped with regenerative braking systems that recharged the flywheel. Commercial Gyrobus services were started in Switzerland connecting Yverdon-les-Bains and Grandson in 1953 and soon after services were initiated in several routes in the city of Kinshasa in the Belgian Congo; in 1956 another service was started in Belgium, linking Ghent and Merelbeke. With time several problems came up, mostly due to the huge weight of these machines – the Gyrobuses used in Congo weighed more than 10 tonnes. They were hard to drive, damaged roads and above all were electricity guzzlers; a tram used on the same service could easily slash electricity consumption by a third. By the end of 1960 all of the Gyrobus routes mentioned above had been scrapped. This early commercial experiment brought to light the main disadvantages of flywheels:
Weight – alloy flywheels can easily weigh several tonnes, for transport applications this can be a serious issue, due to the added inertia they impose on acceleration and breaking;
Failure – if a flywheel fails by some reason at high rotation, it disintegrates, sending shrapnel as fast as bullets in random directions; to prevent damage they be must kept within an armoured container, adding further weight to the system;
Bearings – alloy bearings proved to wear out quite rapidly, at first reducing efficiency and later rendering the flywheel useless; Gyrobuses required constant service because of this;
Angular momentum – the momentum stored in the flywheel will act against direction changes, which in transport can make turns a complex task.
For every engineering problem there's a solution (or thereabouts) Though Gyrobuses haven't returned, research continued on the application of this technology; at the beginning of the 1990s there seemed to be engineering solutions to deal with all the issues above. The first big change was the introduction of new composite materials: they immediately tackled the weight issue but also ameliorated the container, these materials disintegrate into very small particles much easier to retain. Then the bearings issue was elegantly solved with magnets, creating a magnetic field that makes the flywheel levitate, thus spinning without any contacts with other parts (this requires a small consumption of electricity). Finally, the angular momentum has been addressed with the employment of gimbals, which, while not completely solving the issue, greatly reduce its effects. All these solutions were employed by a company named Rosen Motors in a venture project aimed to produce a car without an internal combustion engine. The concept was based on a small gas turbine coupled with a composite electric flywheel for regenerative braking. In 1997 the first test run was made with the system installed in a Saturn production car; it covered 130 Km in about 2 hours, in what as an engineering breakthrough in many aspects, earning good reactions from several auto-makers. Months later the venture capital of $24 million ran out. Without a single auto-maker wishing to pursue the project the company was forced to fold. Until today no commercial car has ever been fitted with a flywheel based regenerative system. Nevertheless, the research conducted by Rosen Motors proved that flywheel electrical storage had reached technological maturity, with many different potential applications opening up. Many promises, few realizations In the rail industry flywheels have been used more extensively, though it can't be said their usage is widespread. They have been employed to store energy in electric locomotives to guarantee motion along non- electrified sections of rail lines and also to power small locomotives; beyond a few exceptions these solutions have remained mostly experimental. Flywheel powered trams can be particularly convenient in cities for they dispense with overhead electrification. Notwithstanding this fact, today there's only one commercial case to refer, in the Stourbridge line in London. Ever since 2002, 3 different units built by Parry People Movers have been tested, with 2 of them providing regular service since 2008. This sort of tram can also be fitted with diesel engines for longer distances; since the flywheel deals with all acceleration and braking, this engine can be designed to function at optimal revolutions per minute (rpm), thus being very small and efficient. So far the apparent success of these trams hasn't triggered any serious market penetration, though trial services and demonstrations have been run in other lines; a new trial service is set to start next month on the Mid-Hants Railway, also in Britain. More recently, interest has been growing on the employment of flywheels as static batteries by the rail side. They can be used to stabilize the electric current feed to locomotives and also to store energy locomotives feed back to electric lines when braking. In 2009 the press reported a 5.2 million $ project to implement a rail-side 2.4 MW flywheel system on the West Hempstead line in Long Island, US. In parallel, the US company Urenco Power Technology, has been developing and testing smaller rail-side flywheels in the underground lines of New York, London, Tokyo and Lyon. Satisfied with the maturity of the system, at the beginning of this year a spin-off company was launched, Kinetic Traction Systems, with the specific aim of commercializing the technology. Another US company has been working with similar objectives: Beacon Power, but with applications for the electrical distribution grid. The company developed a large scale flywheel that spins up to 16 000 rpm, with a maximum storage capacity of 25 kWh, that can be delivered back to the grid at maximum power rate of 100 kW (over 15 minutes). These flywheels are gathered in clusters that can be used together. Here's a video from 2009 describing the system:
Contrary to what this video suggests, Beacon Power seems quite healthy today, especially after the opening, already this year, of the first commercial flywheel farm, composed by 200 units and installed at Stephentown in New York. This flywheel farm has been deployed primarily as an electricity frequency stabilizer, a perfect match to the flywheel's prompt discharge/recharge characteristics; beyond that, the farm is used to store cheap electricity available in the grid during the night. The company maintains close collaboration with US government authorities through several development programs with broader aims at grid wide stability. The state of Pennsylvania also seems interested in this technology, with capital already committed to a flywheel farm. Further applications are being envisioned, particularly the marriage of flywheel farms with wind farms in order to decentralize load balancing; in this case the system will also be coupled to a thermal generator feed by diesel or gas, that once again can be greatly optimized by the prompt aid of flywheels. If there's an application where flywheels seem bound for serious market penetration it is this one; nonetheless, considering how long intermittent technologies have been penetrating the electricity production market, these seem yet small steps. When fun meets technology To fully understand the flywheel state-of-the-art a final (and longer) story needs to be told. In recent years flywheels took a boost from an unexpected source: Formula 1. In a bid to “green” the sport and provide deeper technological transfer to the auto industry, the FIA introduced new rules for the 2009 season that allowed teams to optionally fit their cars with a regenerative electric storage system with a fixed maximum capacity. This system was baptised Kinetic Energy Recovery System - KERS. These new rules seemed to put those teams opting for the KERS at an advantage, but their late introduction gave little room for the new technology to be developed and absorbed, especially concerning the extra weight applied on the cars. The 2009 season ended up dominated by one of the low budget teams that opted to not even develop a KERS. After this débâcle no F1 team used KERS in 2010, but a left over from 2009 brought the curiosity of many: while most teams opted for chemical batteries, the Williams team had developed a flywheel, that though not successful on track, seemed quite promising for the road. With maximum spinning rates of 60 000 rpm, the Williams flywheel presented itself as such an advantageous systems that the team set up a corporate arm to commercialize it. At the beginning of 2010 the charismatic German marque Porsche commemorated the 110th anniversary of the first hybrid car in history, developed by its late founder Ferdinand Porsche, with the public presentation of a hybrid version of the track going flavour of its flagship. The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid features two electric wheels at the front axle complementing the traditional 6 cylinder engine plus a KERS – the flywheel developed by Williams. This car made its race début that year at the 24 hours of Nurburgring held on the mythical 25 km circuit. Covering 25% more distance on each fuel tank, this car lead the race from the 14th to the 23th hour, with the thermal engine giving up its ghost 45 minutes from the chequered flag. The impact of this near feat was such that Porsche presented a new flywheel fitted race car in 2011, the 918 RSR, termed by the company as a “racing lab” for the technology, though so far it hasn't taken part in any race. This flywheel system is presenting such an advantage over traditional cars in endurance racing that it's actually becoming hard for these cars to be accepted by race organizers. In its latest version, the Williams flywheel has a maximum capacity of 340 Wh, but it can produce more than 200 hp (~ 150 kW). In time, the urge to “green” the sport and reduce energy consumption will likely force endurance race and championship organizers to set specific rules for regenerative systems, once and for all opening the doors to flywheels. As much happened in 2011 in Formula 1, with improvements on KERS regulations resulting in most teams re-adopting it. This season the system is limited to 60 kW peak output and maximum storage of 100 Wh. The next big rules revision will come in 2014 when engines will take a huge downsize from 2.6 litres to 1.6 litres; this will be matched by an increase in flywheel peak output to 120 kW. Several companies are today developing flywheels to use in Formula 1 and motorsport in general. Notable among these is the Flybrid, which is coupled to the transmission, thus avoiding electric conversions with direct kinetic energy translation. Another charismatic car maker, Jaguar, is presently studying the introduction of the Flybrid system into its production cars. In the long run Jaguar aims at completely replacing the traditional combustion engine by small turbines functioning at constant, highly efficient regimes. Here's a corporate video on the application of the Flybrid to city buses:
So, why aren't flywheels popular? Porsche owns Volkswagen, the largest car maker in Europe, and Jaguar is part of the Tata group, the largest car maker in India, could this be the dawn of a new wide-spread technology or just a curiosity restricted to 100 000 € plus cars? Answering this question may start by comparing flywheel state-of-the-art with present chemical battery solutions. This wasn't exactly a simple task, since data varies widely from source to source on certain technologies. For what it is worth I stuck to the numbers found at Wikipaedia. Here's a compilation of energy density (energy per unit volume) and specific energy (energy per unit mass):
| Energy Density (Wh/l) | Specific Energy (Wh/kg) | |
| Compressed Air | 17 | 34 |
| Supercapacitor | 35 | 20 |
| Lead Acid Battery | 40 | 20 |
| Nickel Metal Hydride | 90 | 90 |
| Lithium-Iron-Phosfate | 220 | 110 |
| Flywheel | 210 | 120 |
| Lithium-ion | 440 | 175 |
| Zinc-Air | 1600 | 470 |
These are all round numbers that intend above all to present the relative positioning of each technology. Clearly flywheels do not present any drastic advantage above chemical batteries in terms of density, being somewhat above Nickel Metal Hydride, getting close to Lithium batteries but far from Zinc-Air batteries. The only advantage that flywheels may have in this regard is that they don't have funny names in their components; in the long run this may mean a cost advantage to flywheels: carbon is abundant, they have much longer lifetimes (more charge cycles per capital cost) and do not present the same recycling issues. But the lack of data, since presently few systems are in commercial operation, makes an assessment of this sort hard to perform. In any event, flywheels do not seem to be the most appropriate means of pure energy storage, hence it is not to be expected their success on applications of that genre. Things start to look entirely different regarding specific power (power per unit mass) which tells how fast the system can store and/or deliver energy:
| Specific Power (W/kg) | |
| Zinc-Air | 100 |
| Lithium-ion | 300 |
| Nickel Metal Hydride | 600 |
| Lithium-Iron-Phosfate | 3000 |
| Supercapacitor | 3500 |
| Flywheel | 5000 |
Flywheels not only are clearly ahead of everything else, they also appear at the antipodes of those systems that are ahead in terms of energy density and specific energy. The conclusion is straightforward: for applications where energy must be made available fast and in large quantities, or likewise stored rapidly, and the overall energy capacity isn't critical, flywheels are at a clear advantage. An illustration can be useful, coming again to transport applications. What amount of energy does a car dissipate when braking, say a vehicle weighing 1 tonne and moving at 100 Km/h? To answer this we must dig into the old high-school Physics trunk for the kinetic energy expression: KE = ½ · m · v2 Or in English: half the mass (m) times the square of velocity (v). In SI units the mass is 1000 kg and velocity is 27.(7) m/s; doing the math our illustration results into 385 kJ, or little over 100 Wh. Meaning that a flywheel with 1 kg and occupying about half litre could store the energy needed to bring a car moving at 100 Km/h to a standstill. Depending on how hard the brakes are stepped on, this energy can be produced in just a handful of seconds. If it takes 10 seconds, average power output of such braking will be 36 kW. While an 8 kg flywheel can easily deal with such power, a Lithium-ion battery would have to be much larger, weighting some 120 kg. This means a flywheel is useful even in fully electric cars, dealing with acceleration/deceleration, whilst a chemical battery package could be dedicated exclusively to vehicle range. An answered question I started preparing this post in the hope of finding an answer to the lack of commercial application of flywheels as a means of electrical or kinetic energy storage. With the writing finished I can't say I achieved such an objective. There are a few commercial applications where flywheels are starting a shy market penetration, namely on the rail industry for regenerative braking and cable-less storage and as supporting infrastructure to load balancing within the electrical grid. But precisely where they seem to be more advantageous, in road transport, commercial applications simply do not exist. Car makers have so far chosen storage technologies for their hybrid solutions that seem to go against logic, preferring specific energy to specific power; especially so when the technology has been available for 15 years. Considering that only expensive car makers are developing flywheels (Jaguar, Porsche) could this be a cost issue? There isn't satisfactory data to answer that, but the flywheel's simplicity, long lifetime and lack of rare and/or polluting materials seems to point against it. Nevertheless, the likely success of this technology on the electrical grid and rail industry, plus the unexpected push from motorsport may change things in the years to come.
======================
With an electrical storage system a flywheel can have efficiencies up to 97%... This appears to be a "no brainier" for storage of wind power energy... Monte
ISU Gets $25M As Part Of New Biofuel Program - Wallaces Farmer
USDA supports big project aiming to develop biofuel production systems using grasses, crop residue, etc. Revolutionizing the process for making a "drop in" fuel is focus of the new grant.
Published: Oct 5, 2011
An Iowa State University-led group will get $25 million of $136 million in federal grants that will go to five universities to develop transportation and aviation biofuels made from tall grasses, crop residues and forest resources. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced on September 27 that an ISU-led group has been awarded the $25 million grant for a land use and biofuel production study.
Perhaps the three largest issues to face agriculture in this century are the food-versus-fuel debate in biofuel production, water and nutrient runoff, and soil erosion. Now, the Iowa State University-based study over the next five years will examine whether a single, coordinated production system can address all of these concerns while making profits for farmers.
A multi-state, interdisciplinary team led by Ken Moore, ISU professor of agronomy, recently won a $25 million USDA grant and will develop the blueprint for using marginal farmlands to grow perennial grasses that will, in turn, provide a biomass source for a drop-in biofuel.
Growing perennial grasses on marginal Midwest cropland has many environmental advantages, including reducing soil and nutrient runoff, slowing soil erosion and increasing carbon sequestration. Growing those grasses currently has few benefits for the farmers who own the land and make the production decisions, however. And convincing farmers to take land out of corn production when prices hover near $6 to $7 per bushel will require developing a market for the perennial grass that gives farmers a solid return.
This use of land takes "food-versus-fuel" argument out of the equation
"In general, the lands we are using in our research aren't really very good for producing food, so we are taking the food-versus-fuel argument out of the equation," says Moore. "By using perennial grasses on this land, we are reducing soil erosion, improving soil and water quality and even providing wildlife habitat."
These marginal lands are primarily riparian lands near waterways, says Moore. He points out that often these lands are planted in corn and can have their yields reduced or lost due to flooding.
The research will focus on harvesting the grasses (mostly native species such as bluestem and switchgrass) and using the biomass as a feedstock for a biofuel process known as pyrolysis.
The study will be conducted in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Vermont, Idaho and Nebraska by researchers at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.; University of Wisconsin, Madison; University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; University of Vermont, Burlington; USDA Ag Research Service offices in Madison, Wis., Wyndmoor, Pa., and Lincoln, Neb.; U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls; and Iowa State University. Information about the grant and latest results can be found on the project website at http://cenusa.iastate.edu.
Examining the best way to grow, harvest, transport, refine and distribute
Midwestern states were the logical choice, according to Moore, as the land, the producers, the scientists and the know-how are already in place. Researchers will examine the best way to grow, harvest, transport, refine and distribute the biomass and biofuel, which is considered a drop-in fuel that can be added directly to other fuels without any special infrastructure.
The comprehensive study will also involve researchers from many disciplines in order to look at the big picture, says Moore. "One of the great aspects of this is that we have everyone from agronomists, to engineers, to geneticists, to economists, to ecologists, to modelers," he notes.
One of those experts is Robert C. Brown, the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Iowa Farm Bureau director of Iowa State University's Bioeconomy Institute. Brown will lead the pyrolysis research.
Robert Brown will lead the pyrolysis research at Iowa State University
Pyrolysis is a process that uses thermal decomposition of biomass in the absence of oxygen to produce an energy-rich liquid known as bio-oil. Additional refining turns the bio-oil into gasoline and petrochemicals, explains Brown.
The bio-oil differs from cellulosic ethanol in several ways. "In the case of bio-oil, we really don't care what the biomass is. It can be wood, straw, switchgrass, even paper waste -- anything that has cellulose in it, we can convert it into a uniform product called bio-oil using the pyrolysis process," he says.
"This is in contrast to biochemical approaches, which use enzymes and microorganisms to turn biomass into fuels. Specific enzymes are needed to break down different kinds of carbohydrates found in plants," he adds. "This makes it more difficult to process diverse kinds of biomass."
Looking at how to make ethanol from big bluestem, other perennial grass
While any cellulosic material can be converted to bio-oil, Brown says the amount of potassium in plants determines the efficiency of conversion to bio-oil. That is a perfect match for the perennial grasses that are the focus of the study. "Perennial grasses die back every year, returning nutrients to the roots where they are stored to support new growth in the spring," says Brown. "This allows us to harvest biomass without removing much of the deleterious potassium."
Part of the agronomic research of the study will be looking at ways to produce bluestem and switchgrass with the trait of having less potassium in the biomass at harvest time.
Interest in bio-oil has "exploded" because it is a drop-in fuel, easy to use
Brown says interest in bio-oil has "exploded" in the past three years partly because it is considered a drop-in fuel that can be added directly to the U.S. gasoline delivery system. "This process gives us the ability to produce, essentially, the same kind of fuel (gasoline) we are using today in automobiles, but we are producing it from renewable resources," he says.
A co-product of the pyrolysis process is a carbon- and nutrient-rich solid called biochar that can be used to as a soil amendment to increase the productivity of poor soils. Brown says preliminary research suggests that biochar can improve corn production in marginal soils. He has even run experiments in his own garden that have increased his harvest of tomatoes by 70%.
Biochar improves Iowa soils only slightly, but can double yield in poor soil
Biochar improves Iowa soils only slightly, while as much as doubling the productivity of poor soils, he says. "It could change the face of agriculture in Africa, potentially increasing corn yields to become comparable to U.S. agriculture," adds Brown.
In addition to pyrolysis research, Moore and his team will focus on how to develop flexible, efficient and sustainable logistics systems; identify sustainable bioenergy systems to achieve social, economic and environmental goals and understand socioeconomic and environmental consequences of perennial bioenergy systems; identify germplasm characteristics amenable to pyrolytic conversion and evaluate performance of pyrolytic biofuels; evaluate policy, market and contract mechanisms to facilitate broad adoption by farmers; develop procedures for managing risks and protecting health for each component of the biofuel productions chain; provide interdisciplinary education and engagement opportunities for undergrad and grad students; and develop outreach programs for all stakeholders of the bioenergy system.
A twitter account has been set up to follow the research at cenusabioenergy.
This project is supported by Ag and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2011-68005-30411 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Glad to see our Midwest universities getting significant research monies for these needed technologies development... Monte
Published: Oct 5, 2011
An Iowa State University-led group will get $25 million of $136 million in federal grants that will go to five universities to develop transportation and aviation biofuels made from tall grasses, crop residues and forest resources. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced on September 27 that an ISU-led group has been awarded the $25 million grant for a land use and biofuel production study.
Perhaps the three largest issues to face agriculture in this century are the food-versus-fuel debate in biofuel production, water and nutrient runoff, and soil erosion. Now, the Iowa State University-based study over the next five years will examine whether a single, coordinated production system can address all of these concerns while making profits for farmers.
A multi-state, interdisciplinary team led by Ken Moore, ISU professor of agronomy, recently won a $25 million USDA grant and will develop the blueprint for using marginal farmlands to grow perennial grasses that will, in turn, provide a biomass source for a drop-in biofuel.
Growing perennial grasses on marginal Midwest cropland has many environmental advantages, including reducing soil and nutrient runoff, slowing soil erosion and increasing carbon sequestration. Growing those grasses currently has few benefits for the farmers who own the land and make the production decisions, however. And convincing farmers to take land out of corn production when prices hover near $6 to $7 per bushel will require developing a market for the perennial grass that gives farmers a solid return.
This use of land takes "food-versus-fuel" argument out of the equation
"In general, the lands we are using in our research aren't really very good for producing food, so we are taking the food-versus-fuel argument out of the equation," says Moore. "By using perennial grasses on this land, we are reducing soil erosion, improving soil and water quality and even providing wildlife habitat."
These marginal lands are primarily riparian lands near waterways, says Moore. He points out that often these lands are planted in corn and can have their yields reduced or lost due to flooding.
The research will focus on harvesting the grasses (mostly native species such as bluestem and switchgrass) and using the biomass as a feedstock for a biofuel process known as pyrolysis.
The study will be conducted in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Vermont, Idaho and Nebraska by researchers at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.; University of Wisconsin, Madison; University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; University of Vermont, Burlington; USDA Ag Research Service offices in Madison, Wis., Wyndmoor, Pa., and Lincoln, Neb.; U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls; and Iowa State University. Information about the grant and latest results can be found on the project website at http://cenusa.iastate.edu.
Examining the best way to grow, harvest, transport, refine and distribute
Midwestern states were the logical choice, according to Moore, as the land, the producers, the scientists and the know-how are already in place. Researchers will examine the best way to grow, harvest, transport, refine and distribute the biomass and biofuel, which is considered a drop-in fuel that can be added directly to other fuels without any special infrastructure.
The comprehensive study will also involve researchers from many disciplines in order to look at the big picture, says Moore. "One of the great aspects of this is that we have everyone from agronomists, to engineers, to geneticists, to economists, to ecologists, to modelers," he notes.
One of those experts is Robert C. Brown, the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Iowa Farm Bureau director of Iowa State University's Bioeconomy Institute. Brown will lead the pyrolysis research.
Robert Brown will lead the pyrolysis research at Iowa State University
Pyrolysis is a process that uses thermal decomposition of biomass in the absence of oxygen to produce an energy-rich liquid known as bio-oil. Additional refining turns the bio-oil into gasoline and petrochemicals, explains Brown.
The bio-oil differs from cellulosic ethanol in several ways. "In the case of bio-oil, we really don't care what the biomass is. It can be wood, straw, switchgrass, even paper waste -- anything that has cellulose in it, we can convert it into a uniform product called bio-oil using the pyrolysis process," he says.
"This is in contrast to biochemical approaches, which use enzymes and microorganisms to turn biomass into fuels. Specific enzymes are needed to break down different kinds of carbohydrates found in plants," he adds. "This makes it more difficult to process diverse kinds of biomass."
Looking at how to make ethanol from big bluestem, other perennial grass
While any cellulosic material can be converted to bio-oil, Brown says the amount of potassium in plants determines the efficiency of conversion to bio-oil. That is a perfect match for the perennial grasses that are the focus of the study. "Perennial grasses die back every year, returning nutrients to the roots where they are stored to support new growth in the spring," says Brown. "This allows us to harvest biomass without removing much of the deleterious potassium."
Part of the agronomic research of the study will be looking at ways to produce bluestem and switchgrass with the trait of having less potassium in the biomass at harvest time.
Interest in bio-oil has "exploded" because it is a drop-in fuel, easy to use
Brown says interest in bio-oil has "exploded" in the past three years partly because it is considered a drop-in fuel that can be added directly to the U.S. gasoline delivery system. "This process gives us the ability to produce, essentially, the same kind of fuel (gasoline) we are using today in automobiles, but we are producing it from renewable resources," he says.
A co-product of the pyrolysis process is a carbon- and nutrient-rich solid called biochar that can be used to as a soil amendment to increase the productivity of poor soils. Brown says preliminary research suggests that biochar can improve corn production in marginal soils. He has even run experiments in his own garden that have increased his harvest of tomatoes by 70%.
Biochar improves Iowa soils only slightly, but can double yield in poor soil
Biochar improves Iowa soils only slightly, while as much as doubling the productivity of poor soils, he says. "It could change the face of agriculture in Africa, potentially increasing corn yields to become comparable to U.S. agriculture," adds Brown.
In addition to pyrolysis research, Moore and his team will focus on how to develop flexible, efficient and sustainable logistics systems; identify sustainable bioenergy systems to achieve social, economic and environmental goals and understand socioeconomic and environmental consequences of perennial bioenergy systems; identify germplasm characteristics amenable to pyrolytic conversion and evaluate performance of pyrolytic biofuels; evaluate policy, market and contract mechanisms to facilitate broad adoption by farmers; develop procedures for managing risks and protecting health for each component of the biofuel productions chain; provide interdisciplinary education and engagement opportunities for undergrad and grad students; and develop outreach programs for all stakeholders of the bioenergy system.
A twitter account has been set up to follow the research at cenusabioenergy.
This project is supported by Ag and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2011-68005-30411 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Glad to see our Midwest universities getting significant research monies for these needed technologies development... Monte
Oct 4, 2011
"Bank Of America Customers Get The Heck Out Of That Bank!" Senator Dick Durbin
Give them hell Dick! Glad you are our Illinois Senator fighting for the 99% of us... Monte
Sep 28, 2011
Defending Hines Farm Ducks from Male Coyote Attack
Eileen's Dark Rouen Ducks - Larger Picture of Dark Rouen Ducks
Coyote came to attack our Rouen ducks. 17 Caliber HMR spoiled his attack at 188 yards. Larger Picture of Coyote
.17 H & R Single shot with 4X-32X 50MM Scope
Hornady .17 HMR Rifle Bullets
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