Flying High On Pond Weed  

The Australian has a report about an Air NZ jumbo on a biofuel test flight.

AIR New Zealand will start ground-breaking aircraft testing of biofuels as early as next year and believes the technology could become commercially viable for airlines sooner than expected. The airline is partnering with aircraft manufacturer Boeing and engine-maker Rolls-Royce to test a biofuel blend on one of its Boeing 747s. It will be the first real-world test of biofuels for the Rolls-Boeing combination.

The test will be aimed at determining the commercial viability of blends and how they affect existing jet engines. It will also help validate on a real engine predictions emerging from laboratories. The Kiwi flag-carrier said yesterday the Boeing 747 test flight would originate in Auckland but not carry passengers. Only one of the plane's four engines would run on a biofuel-kerosene mix. Tests before the flight at the end of next year or early in 2009 would determine what sort of biofuel would be used and the level of the blend.

Air NZ chief executive officer Rob Fyfe said the test marked a significant step in Air NZ's plans to lead the global aviation industry in developing the most environmentally responsible airline practices possible. "Simply, we are taking the first step on what promises to be a defining and inspiring journey," he said. "It's hard to believe that as little as a year ago, biofuel seemed like pie in the sky and was being written off by many commentators in terms of aviation application. "But it is now becoming a genuine possibility and the technology is moving so fast that it may become commercially viable in a much shorter time frame than we previously thought."

The problem with early biofuels was that they did not contain the same ratio of energy to mass as jet fuel. But advances in technology have produced renewable fuels that have closed the gap.

Rolls-Royce senior vice-president airlines Jim Sheard said the Air NZ flight test would form an important part of Rolls-Royce's program to assess the environmental benefits and viability of renewable fuels. "The work surrounding the flight test will move the science of renewable fuels forward by a significant degree," Mr Sheard said. "Prior to the flight we'll evaluate the fuel to ensure its suitability as a long-term alternative. We will understand its behaviour in a modern gas turbine engine and, crucially, its emissions."

Mr Sheard said aviation industry requirements for fuel remained stringent and said testing was necessary to see whether biofuels met those specifications. He said a crucial point was that there be no change to engine performance or operability as a result of using the fuels. "Some biofuels may not meet that specification; others will," he said. "And I think at this stage of the journey we're just trying to understand which of the fuels are going to produce that required specification."

Airlines around the world are facing increased pressure from environmentalists about the level of aircraft emissions and are feeling the pain of rising oil prices.

This may be using algae derived biodiesel from Aquaflow Bionomic - take note those of you who think air transport will be unviable post peak - as per this news item from earlier in the year.

Air New Zealand and Boeing are secretly working to create the world's first green aviation fuel, made of wild algae. The fuel is essentially derived from bacterial pond scum created through the photosynthesis of sunlight and carbon dioxide on nutrient-rich water sources such as sewage ponds.The company providing the biofuel is Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation. If the project pans out the small and relatively new New Zealand company could lead the world in environmentally sustainable aviation fuel.

Air New Zealand would most likely test the fuel on one engine while normal aviation fuel would drive the other engine. Fuel is held in cells on the aircraft that can be directed to a specific engine.

None of the parties involved will talk about the joint venture development because of confidentiality agreements but whispers about the project were circulating at the roll-out of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Seattle in the US last week. Local Marlborough media reported a visit by Boeing to Aquaflow earlier this year and Boeing has stated publicly since then that it believes algae is the airline fuel of the future.

Virgin Fuels announced in April it was working with Boeing to demonstrate biofuel in a 747-400. The focus is on testing algae-derived jet fuel, especially its freezing point.

Boeing's Dave Daggett was reported this year as saying algae ponds totalling 34,000 square kilometres could produce enough fuel to reduce the net CO2 footprint for all of aviation to zero. Until now the relatively new Blenheim company's focus has been on biodiesel for cars, trucks, buses and boats.

English Environment Minister David Parker drew public attention to the company in December when he test drove a Land Rover around that was powered by Aquaflow's blend of algae biofuel and diesel (5% algae fuel and 95% conventional fuel) just a year after it was developed.

Andrew Leonard at Salon has a look at The Seven Commandments of Mexican ethanol. A set of rules that only the extremely virtuous will be able to satisfy I suspect (as far as ethanol goes anyway).

What is the perfect biofuel solution? Or is the very concept hopelessly utopian? Globalization and the Environment highlights an exploration of how one might go about constructing a sustainable ethanol economy that simultaneously serves the interests of social justice, the environment, and renewable energy, in the context of Mexico.

The overriding goal of author Ricardo Cantú in his delightfully titled "Ethanolomics: The Think-About's of the Mexican Ethanol Project" is to devise a strategy for improving the living standards of the rural poor in Mexico via an invigoration of the agricultural economy, without committing the major sin of inducing price hikes in food staples that will hurt the urban poor.

Achieving the desired balance will not be easy. As ground rules, Cantu provides a set of guidelines:

They are:

* 1. Over the whole chain, the use of biomass should produce fewer emissions of greenhouse gases net than on average with fossil fuel.
* 2. Production of biomass for energy must not endanger the food supply and other local applications (such as for medicines or building materials).
* 3. Biomass production must not affect protected or vulnerable biodiversity and will, where possible, have to strengthen biodiversity.
* 4. In the production and processing of biomass, the quality of soil, surface and ground water and air must be retained or even increased.
* 5. The production of biomass must contribute towards local prosperity.
* 6. The production of biomass must contribute towards the social well being of the employees and the local population.
* 7. The overall ethanol production costs should be cheaper and more accessible than that of the fossil fuels, or at least the same level, excluding all the subsidies or tax benefits to the producers or distributors.

That's quite a checklist. Let's pick one absolutely not at random: The production of biomass must contribute towards local prosperity.

Cantú stresses that a key requirement of a biofuel economy in Mexico is that the farmers capture the rewards of their production. In other words, one wants to avoid a situation in which farmers sell their sugar cane or maize or sorghum at rock-bottom prices to middlemen who then grab all the upstream profits. Cantú envisions farmer cooperatives setting up their own ethanol mills, and dealing directly with distributors. ...

Paul Cleary (author of "Shakedown - Australia's Grab for Timor Oil") has a look at East Timor in the SMH, noting the country is All the weaker, thanks to our greedy grab for oil.

For a country controlling a maritime region of 15 million square kilometres - more than twice the size of its landmass - Australia has limited powers to stop unlawful exploitation of creatures such as endangered whales and fish, and the resources found underneath the seabed.

This is one of the legacies of the tactics used by the Howard Government in its dealings with the poorest country in our region - East Timor - in the dispute over the Timor Sea's oil and gas.

In March 2002, two months before East Timor became independent, the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, with the attorney-general, Daryl Williams, announced "changes to the terms upon which Australia accepts international dispute resolution mechanisms" for maritime disputes, including boundaries. What seemed a dull statement had profound implications for Australia's conduct in the disputed Timor Sea and elsewhere.

The Government knew East Timor had a strong claim over petroleum resources worth at least $120 billion on the northern side of the median line between the two countries.

At the time of this announcement the Howard Government had agreed to an interim treaty giving East Timor a 40 per cent share. It knew East Timor was entitled to a lot more when it became a new nation, hence the announcement two months before independence designed to deny the new country legal recourse.

The "declaration" signed by Downer withdrew Australia's acceptance of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice for maritime disputes, and of the dispute settlement procedures under the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. This included matters "relating to the exploitation of any disputed area of or adjacent to any such maritime zone pending its delimitation".

In his press statement, Downer claimed the change was made as a result of maritime boundary claims by New Zealand, Norway and France. But the target was East Timor, which was not mentioned in the release. The minutes of a meeting of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and United Nations officials in late 2000 reveal how the Government's withdrawal was aimed at East Timor and was described by a senior foreign affairs official, Michael Potts, as a "get-out-of-jail card".

At the time of the announcement Australia was pocketing about $1 million a day in tax revenue from the Woodside-operated Laminaria-Corallina oilfields, which sit twice as close to East Timor as Australia. The withdrawal meant Australia denied revenue to the new country that could have been used to generate jobs and prevent the formation of today's rock-throwing gangs.

WorldChanging's Jon Lebkowsky has an interview with Douglas Rushkoff about the "Technologies of Persuasion".

Jon: Tell us about Maybe Logic Academy and the "Technologies of Persuasion" course you're going to teach there. Persuade us!

Doug: ... What I will tell you is that Robert Anton Wilson's online school, Maybe Logic Academy, asked me three or four years ago to do a course for them, and I kept delaying because I just haven't had time. But then when RAW went and died, I figured a few of us really had to step up and take the torch – provoke inquiry, lead discussions, help people see the underlying assumptions shaping our reality. And these Maybe Logic folks are good people, with real integrity, who care about the kinds of issues that Bob cared about.

And so I put together a course loosely based on a NYU course I did a year ago that proved unexpectedly successful. It's called "Technologies of Persuasion," and it will give us an opportunity to explore the relationship of media, technology, and human agency. Did the inventions of text, the printing press, the television, or the Internet improve our access to the laws and values by which we live? Who gains more power when a new medium surfaces – the audience or the advertisers? Why do we seem never to be able to capitalize on renaissance?

They asked me to assign at least one of my own books, which I did, but I've also got some great readings in there by everyone from Adorno to Genesis P- Orridge. So I think we'll have a good time. And I'm really looking to be swayed, myself. I haven't been too hopeful lately about the potential of new media to liberate us from the darker effects of corporate capitalism. Maybe some enlightened souls will show up and make me a bit more optimistic again.

Jon: I figured you would be teaching critical thinking about media. I think that's easier to do now than before the Internet appeared, because that 'net-driven explosion in the number and diversity of microchannels for communication, stewing in an environment for many media, has been a sort of Krell mind amplification for the masses, where we could suddenly, readily see the men behind the curtain. Now we have guys like the Eisenbergs (in "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing") saying that traditional marketing is dysfunctional, and coming up with a "persuasion architecture" to define and address various personae.

Do you get consulting gigs with a lot of post-broadcast questions? "How can we make them buy our widget when adverts mean nothing to them?" (And when the widget market is generally Open Source!)

Doug: Well, I don't do any consulting. Never really have, except to Dell back when. My "gigs" as such are always just talks. Sometimes they'll ask me to come back and ask me questions, but nine times out of ten those are VPs looking for a more rewarding career path, and using me as more of a spiritual counselor or shrink. So I give them permission to quit.

Don't hire me as a consultant unless you're truly ready to leave your job.

My whole pitch on marketing and communications is for companies to stop creating mythologies and persuasion campaigns around the products that they're disconnected with, and to start getting involved in some aspect of the thing they're selling.

The easiest tactic is to become involved in at least one area of the design or manufacturing of the product you're selling. So, if you're making shoes, you should have someone on the staff who is connected not only with the shoe industry, but with the particular shoes you're selling. Ideally, your company actually designs and makes the shoes. This way, instead of creating a marketing myth (our shoes are made by elves who live in a hollow tree) you can actually develop a culture around the shoe itself. The employees and customers end up becoming part of the same culture of shoe design, manufacture, and appreciation.

So I go and talk at lots of companies, and try to help them figure out whether there's anyone on their staff who is connected to the industry that the company is a part of. And then, to look at how to make that person or persons more central to what the company says about itself.

All the rest of it – this Blink/LizardBrain/CultureOfPropaganda nonsense is just a way for sold-out intellectuals to sell books to cynical marketers. It's all based on the faulty observation that human beings make all of their choices in the same reptilian fashion. Just because a person's brain may light up in certain way when the see a blue Pepsi can doesn't mean that they'll make important life choices that way – or even trivial choices at the grocery store.

The kind of marketing you're talking about is an effort to fill in where advertising has failed. And while it doesn't really work to sell particular products, it does have a major and deleterious effect on our society. The underlying communication still gets through. And that communication is: you are not worthy, you are in need, you need to buy something to fill that hole in your soul. Mommy doesn't love you, but the corporation does.

I've been reading a little RAW lately and that last snippet is just part of how he viewed the media - the advertising component also appeals to readers because of the positive and uplifting image it has in contrast to most of the content it is delivered with, which is usually heavily infested with fnords. I have noticed there are some web sites out there which dispense with both advertising and non-alarming content and deal almost exclusively in fnords. This probably isn't a good thing, for all concerned.

Links:

* The Australian - Clean energy targets lift wind farms
* Green Car Congress - New Tidal Power Unit Due for River Testing in 2008
* Renewable Energy Access - Vertigro Algae Research and Development Center Begins Operation
* Colorado Springs Gazette - Former CIA Chief looks to future
* Mail and Guardian - Jatropha: fuel for thought?
* Israel 21C - Riding an Israeli electric car to peace
* New York Times - Ethanol’s Boom Stalling as Glut Depresses Price. Thus far corn growers and ethanol producers are running faster than ethanol consumers.
* Business Week - Big Oil's Big Stall On Ethanol. Dumb and dumber.
* The Guardian - Brazil's biofuel blues
* PhysOrg - Biofuels could increase global warming with laughing gas, says Nobel prize-winning chemist Crutzen
* Salon - Our rosy future, according to Freeman Dyson. Probably the only global warming skeptic I am willing to listen to any more.
* Asia Times - A massive wrench thrown in Putin's works. Watching the great gas pipeline game in central Asia.
* National Post - 'All bets are off' in Alberta. The locals want a bit more of the tar sands action - maybe greed will be good for the environment if it puts off some development...
* Reuters - Little-known Indian tribe spotted in Peru's Amazon. I don't think these guys have any hope of getting any oil revenue or delaying any projects - more likely they simply won't survive.
* The Australian - Reserve boost gives Ranger uranium mine four more years
* The Australian - Brisbane businesses to feel water pinch
* The Oil Drum - A Note From our Milkman
* The Oil Drum - Analysis of the Hon. John Dingell's carbon-tax proposal
* New York Times - Two Different Accounts of Deadly Airstrike in Baghdad
* SMH - 'US plan to bomb Iran'
* Glenn Greenwald - The U.S. military's role in preventing the bombing of Iran. "I don't share this view that All Is Lost, but it is increasingly difficult every day to find within the mainstream politcial establishment and the Democratic Party even small amounts of meaningful resistance to the most radical and war-seeking elements in the Bush administration." The Democratic jellyfish is looking more lifeless than ever.
* Billmon - I told you so. The great man lives !
* Cryptogon - Congressman: State Department Official Threatened Investigators