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Choice Energy2009 Summer newsletter

 

Hi Everyone,

Announcing:  Electric Lawn Mowing Service
                    Flatbed Bike Trailers & Electric Bike Conversion Service
 
Here at Choice Energy / Bozeman Biofuels we figured it was time to spread some optimism.  Everywhere we turn, we see signs of people steering toward smarter, more sustainable ways of living.  Despite ridiculously suppressed petroleum prices, people are not being fooled into wanton consumption and are continuing to seek more efficient homes, cars, energy sources, and even food.  Unfortunately, scarcity is the main driver of conservation, and these last months have been painful for many, but what is emerging is in many ways a happier, slower, more sustainable and enjoyable pace of life.   
 
With the disappearance of a multitude of economic bubbles, the active exploitation of those bubbles is becoming a thing of the past and we are returning to earth, both figuratively and literally.  The hours we used to spend selling real estate and hedging investments against commodities we never even intended to take possession of (Morgan Stanley controlled more oil than any other company on earth, but didn't own a single fuel tank or delivery truck) is now available to spend gardening and harvesting instead of driving back and forth to the store, and cooking meals at home instead of going out or living on fast food.  

And for a good reality check in a 'take 3 giant steps backward' way, take a look at this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOtEQB-9tvk

CONTINUING TO GO ELECTRIC            

In the quest for an electric vehicle, we started riding electric assisted mountain bikes two years ago.  After 2000 miles of in town riding on various models, we've settled on a kit that is affordable, reliable, and easy to add to most any bike.  Moreover, the bikes work so great that they have eclipsed our desire for an electric car! 

Electric bikes are a melding of the best parts of an electric car and a bicycle -
1) they go the speed of a car in town, but don't need a parking spot or get stopped behind lines of cars,
2) have the option to pull trailers and go around street closures (not that streets are ever closed in Bozeman!),
3) consume just $.003 in electricity per mile, and crank out 15 miles per charge,
4) don't require vehicle insurance or much maintenance (the average car costs $600/month),
5) travel 4 x the distance of a pedal bike with the same energy input by the rider,
6) and are much more fun than any 4-wheeled hunk of cumbersome steel for in town travel.

We're still greatly anticipating the arrival of a production electric car, but for $900 a bike can made to do the bulk of what most cars are used for.  Stay tuned for our near future time-lapse video comparison of traveling around Bozeman by bike, ebike, and car.  If you want a full speed electric car NOW, then all you have to do is inquire and put down $25k and say the word go.  Converting gas powered vehicles to electric is commonplace and well understood, and we have people in Bozeman who have done it and are willing to do it again.

  If you STILL have yet to see Who Killed The Electric Car, then you may not realize how useful and practical EVs (electric vehicles) are. 


 The frame of the lawnmower hauler
 All Electric Lawn Mowing Service page

 

Perhaps the most exciting thing about EVs is their role in allowing wind and solar power to provide a higher portion of our electric needs.  Through technology being developed called Vehicle-to-Grid, or V2G, the EV is used as grid storage.  Excess energy produced by the power companies at night is stored in the car batteries (with enough EVs plugged in and houses hooked up to the grid).  Through discount incentives from the power provider (in our case, Northwestern Energy) the cars' batteries are allowed to feed into the grid when needed.  In addition, the car's battery works as a backup power supply for the house.

more info on V2G

 
 

Energy Conservation      

Home Energy Conservation Service

    The first and easiest step is reducing energy use.  Commonly, 25% of your energy bill can be saved with just 2 or 3 hours of weatherizing and cleaning and adjusting power usage in your home.  See the Consulting page. 

    So much focus is put on developing new energy sources, but rarely mentioned is cutting back on consumption, which is the cheapest form of renewable energy by a factor of 10 to 1, sometimes 100 to 1.  I'll show you how to use a power meter that measures anything you plug in, which is a great way to learn about electricity.  How many watts of heat does the average human give off?  How many 100-watt light bulbs would Lance Armstrong be able to light up on a flat track for extended rides?  See, it's fun already!!

    If you want to go further, solar air heating and solar hot water are my best recommendations.  There's even someone to install solar for you:
- Choice Energy handles the solar air heating (see Solar page),
- Liquid Solar Systems performs solar hot water installations such as their system at the East Main Car Wash,
- Independent Power Systems has been installing solar electric and wind power in MT and CO for many years.

 GOING NUCLEAR

There is one source of energy that is limitless:  it is located 93 million miles away, takes 8 minutes to get here, and leaves no waste.  The question is, can we afford NOT to go solar.  With all of the free sources of energy to tap into (wind sun, waves, hydro) it makes it really hard to vote for continuing the Oil & Coal Party.  Here's a good summary of the farse of Liquid Coal:  http://beyondoil.nrdc.org/news/gas-from-coal.php

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Solar Hot Water             Solar Electric & Wind    Solar Air Heater

Another excellent local resource is Gary at http://www.builditsolar.com.  Check out the brilliance of his "Half Plan" and his DIY weekend-scale solar projects and a vast reference of electric mowers, cars, bikes; wind, micro-hyrdo, personal CO2 calculators, lighting, and much more!

Announcing NCCs
Neighborhood Conservation Clubs
The City of Bozeman and AERO (a great long-time Montana organization called Alternative Energy Resources Organization) are assisting the formation of energy conservation clubs for businesses and neighborhoods.

NCCs are a grassroots forum for you to take action and conserve resources while forming strong relationshipos with your neigthbors.  Working in groups of 4-10, neighbors and friends will complete projects that conserve resources in and around their homes and neighborhoods. 

For more info visit www.aeromt.org/ncc.php or email the Bozeman coordinator. 

 


 

There is no single fuel to supply our habits, so even pure biodiesel is a dead end if we continue at the current rate of consumption.  So we need to get out of the car habit and re-evaluate what constitutes a necessary trip, use the bus, bike, and feet more, consider staying home and gardening or reading a book. 

While used vegetable oil works great, there was never an illusion of having enough of it to make a significant difference.  Camelina holds promise, but I question the ability to grow enough of it to make a dent in our habits.  Algae may be able to pull it off, so this is the technology to watch.  Basically, we're harvesting sunlight, and algae seems to be the most efficient way to do that.

 

 

Days we’re happy we’re in the business. Days we’re not.

The MAJOR ADVANCEMENTS of Choice Energy in the last year include:

- Completing three large Solar Air Heaters in town. 

- Completing a gravity driven, solar heated vegetable oil filtration system for a local soil composting business, which provided an entire summer's worth of fuel for its dump trucks, skid steers, soil conditioner, and skid steer. 

- Continuing to supply filtered vegetable oil to residents and travelers, and upgrading to direct fueling capability with auto shutoff nozzle and a digital flow meter.  We also added compressed air for tire inflation.

- Processing and selling another 300+ drums of oak firewood.  The wood is available again this season, see Firewood page - kiln dried oak that would have ended up in the landfill; hauled, cut, and delivered on veg power.  The firewood project needs someone at the helm – let us know if you need a physical labor job.

- Reaching the 2000-mile mark on pedal-electric bikes!  And completing a green job from my own web site - the Flatbed Bike Trailer project. 

- Starting the All Electric Lawn Mowing service.  After encountering no problems last summer using our battery powered lawn mower, we decided to combine mowing and biking and go mobile with the cleanest, most energy efficient mechanized lawn mowing option available. 

- Getting out of town for nearly a month of glacier skiing in Canada, including my first glacier traverse.  We skied up and over the Wapta Glacier in Banff in early April, staying at 3 huts along the way.  This counts as a Choice Energy advancement since it's required for my sanity!

 

MAJOR FAILURES:

- Receiving news in Jan that the building housing the new veg oil filtration system on Sypes burned to the ground, after a whole summer of filtering enough oil to run an entire soil composting business.  This building was also home to 2 of 3 the solar air heaters built by Choice Energy.  The fire was started by operator error involving a heating unit, and a new filtration system has now been completed and is fully operational. 

- Shutting down the biodiesel buying club and fuel center.  When the price of biodiesel went to $6/gal in May 08, somehow the supply AND demand dried up.  We bought one tote (275 gal) in Aug 08 from Earl Fisher Biofuels in Chester, MT and sold it for $5.25/gal and it was a superior fuel, being made from MT canola instead of Iowa soy.  But the price was a problem.
   Now the price of soy biodiesel is back down to nearly the price of petro diesel, but we moved out of the shop where the fuel station was.  If anyone has a location where 30-40 people could self serve from ranch type fuel tanks then I would be happy to work with you to provide equipment and support to get the buying group going again.

Sorry, the list of failures is short this year....

 

 

If you're looking to get into nearly petroleum free driving, I am selling my converted 87 Mercedes 300D Turbo (http://bozemanbiofuels.com/87.benz.htm).  The car was purchased under the plan of Buy-Convert-Drive-Sell, and as hard as it is to execute the last step, the time has come.  It has been run on svo for over 10k miles on veg oil and works great.  It's a high end greasecar.  Greasecars are not for short trips around town as they prefer to be run continually and be used for extended driving, especially in winter.  $6500, serious inquiries only.

 

 

For more information on any of the above see the other pages of www.bozemanbiofuels.com or email me. 

Paul

 

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