Tag Archive for 'Green'

Kicking Oil Addiction

Published on July 3, 2010 in Digging for Dirt. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

One of the dominant news items is the oil spill, which is beyond its third month. It has challenged scientists, environmentalists, the oil industry and the patience of not only this country but also the world. The extent of its damages cannot yet be measured. Just the other day I read a report that a scheduled bridge project for Minnesota has been delayed because of the oil spill. It’s predicating the need for additional environmental impact studies.

People from Alabama’s Gulf Shores area are complaining because the clean up is restricted to beach surfaces and does not include the oil that gets buried by the tide hammering it into the sand. At this point the beach clean up is cosmetic.

The problems become myriad because cleaning crews cannot work for long periods in the blistering hot sun with temperatures in the 100+ degree range. For every fifteen minutes they work they have to spend fifteen minutes cooling down and recuperating.  By necessity and safety regulations, eight-hour workdays become four hours but the cost doesn’t decrease.

Hurricane Alex adds to the already unmanageable situation erasing the to-date clean up efforts in hours. You have to feel compassion for the people who live in the New Orleans, Mobile, and Gulf Shores area. They were crushed by Katrina and are still trying to recover only to be subjected to this tragedy. Thousands of words have been written about the situation; hours of TV coverage have been aired; reasons for the failure analyzed by experts; solutions offered by virtually everyone and still the situation continues…

Among the verbiage that has been expounded, written and spoken, is the demand that we become oil independent. This isn’t going to happen. Alternate fuel sources, while available simply can’t replace what we already have in place and let’s not forget the emerging countries that are just now becoming oil addicts. Kicking an addiction isn’t easy and can’t be done overnight. It takes time, understanding and support.

Are alternate energy sources available? Certainly. They’re just not practical in today’s economic environment. How would you react if you were told that effective immediately you couldn’t use your car, you air conditioning or your electricity? You’d be paralyzed. As a society we’d no longer be able to function because we have become totally dependant on the things that energy provides.

So, what do we do? We evolve, make the transition, adapt. We learn how to use hydrogen and an energy source; expand our use of solar and wind power; become less extravagant in our consumption of energy.

In the late 70s the country experienced its first fuel shortage. Then we were driving 300, 400, and even 500+ horsepower cars that weighed several tons and drank gallons of gas. We were satisfied with fuel economy in the 10 – 15 mpg range because gas was only 32.9 cents a gallon for regular and 39.9 cents a gallon for premium.  At that time more than 90% of the cars on the road were V-8s with rear-wheel drive. The country freaked out when gas prices shot to 99.9 cents a gallon and the auto industry responded by giving us 4-cylinder front wheel drive vehicles that delivered 25+ miles per gallon. The race was on, not the horsepower race that ran wild in the 60s and 70s but the fuel-efficiency race to deliver vehicles that got more than 30 miles per gallon.

What happened? Vans, then SUVs. Everyone had to have one and the bigger the better so were back to the same level of fuel consumption – almost – as we were 70s. The only difference, we are driving more now then and we’re using more fuel.

The point is that we started on a mission to become oil independent in the late 70s and early 80s and let ourselves get distracted, first by van – remember the van craze? You still see them.  Then we went from vans to SUVs. Right, everyone needs four-wheel drive capabilities and four-wheeled behemoth to go to the grocery store, or church or run errands.  Sure you do.

Not many people are going to run out and trade their SUVs in on SmartCars, but you certainly can start curbing (pun intended) your trips to the store or whatever. Other things you can do is make certain that you follow the recommended maintenance practices outlined in your owners manual. (Yes you did get one with the vehicle when you bought it.) A properly maintained vehicle will dispense lower emissions into the atmosphere; give you better fuel mileage and longer vehicle life. Not only that, it is a positive step towards oil independence.

In your homes, control your air conditioning or heating use as well as the use of electricity. This may seem trivial but if 300,000,000 people do a little, the result will be significant.

If by the time you read this the oil spill has been stopped, that’s great but we should still work, doing our part, to achieve oil independence and kick the oil addiction. Maybe if the people who ever they are/were) from the late 70s had taught us the value of finding ways to cut and eventually eliminate oil consumption we wouldn’t be struggling with this same problem today – high energy consumption on the road, at home and with everything we do.

Greg Sitek

Note: This article will appear as the editorial in the August 2o10 issues of the Associated Construction Publications (ACP)

Nation’s First Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine Vehicle

Published on June 2, 2010 in Digging for Dirt. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

For me this story started in April of this year. For the students in the story it started two years ago. I received an invitation to an open house for the unveiling of the country’s first hydrogen powered vehicle. At first I thought it was a breakthrough by one of our automakers. It wasn’t. Then I thought it was a hoax. It wasn’t. On April 24th I posted an article about the students at the Los Altos Academy of Engineering having completed an engineering project that resulted in the creation of the nation’s first hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicle—HICE (Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine). Then I had biggest surprise of all. These are high school students.

The press releases, media information and invitation were professionally written and extremely well done. I literally receive several hundred press releases a week and the material for this event was better than the vast majority that clogs my inbox. I presumed that a teacher serving as the “coach” for the team developed and sent the materials. I was wrong. It was in fact one of the students, John Weng. If I was concerned about the future of this country these students certainly did more than their share to relieve those concerns.

The open house was held on May 8, 2010.

As Weng puts it in his post-event release, “With unyielding ambitions and state-of-the-art technology, students of the Los Altos Academy of Engineering (LAAE) have hosted their fifth annual open house in conjunction with a press conference on the nation’s first hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicle—HICE (Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine). The press conference discussed the vehicle while the open house displayed the countless other accomplishments of the program.

“After the completion of HICE, students were eager to display the one-of-a-kind vehicle using a student-modified engine to burn hydrogen as a fuel. HICE is a redefinition of traditional hydrogen cars as they are generally fuel cell vehicles. The concept behind this contemporary vehicle is similar to that of a gasoline vehicle. Using a four-stroke engine, it is designed to burn hydrogen without the use of gasoline, therefore reducing carbon emissions.”

2010 Class Los Altos Academy of Engineering

About the Amazing Engine

The following report was written by Alexander Sosa, 2009-2010 Mechanical team member/Engine Specialist

“HICE” has three wheels: two in the front and one in the rear. The tires used for this prototype car are low-coefficient of rolling resistance electric vehicle racing Bridgestone Ecopia tires. The rear wheel is serving as the drive wheel powered by a Honda GX-35 Internal Combustion Engine.

“The chassis of HICE consists of ten bulkheads perpendicular to the length of the car. The bulkheads are made out of aluminum

Hydrogen tank

honeycomb, which are aircraft grade materials from Boeing.

“The vehicle’s front suspension consists of a single rotating axis system made out of precision-machined aluminum. The aluminum rail of the system serves as the holder for the wheel mounts. The rail stations mounts directly on to the side bulkheads by the drivers bay area. The rail holds two pieces of machined aluminum with angles and eye bolts, which serves as the holder for the main bolt for the turning of the wheels. The axles for the front is made out of Hot Rolled Steel that has been lathed for precise fitting and to smooth out the “lumps” in the steel that can possibly increase the friction coefficient. The axles have been welded to a mounting plate using a MIG welder equipped with argon gas. The axles are mounted on the mounting rail with a ¾” bolt serving as the pivoting point.

“The rear of the car consists of a Hot Rolled Steel bar that bolts directly on to the rear bulkhead. That bar is the axle for the back wheel, which is also the drive wheel.

“Each wheel is equipped with both a machined lightweight aluminum hub and two bearings. The bearings are double sealed for oil containment. The bearings serves as the main friction-reducing component, the bearings are used so the engine does not have to work too hard in moving the vehicle. The bearings are made with a hardened stainless steel outer assembly and ceramic ball

Expansion chamber

bearings for a dramatic decrease in frictional forces. The bearing balls have a rating of an ABEC-5 (Annular Bearing Engineers Committee) that translates to an ultra high precise machined piece.

“HICE’s steering system is a lightweight aluminum rack and pinion system found in automobiles. The system is miniature sized because the force need to turn HICE is not very great. The steering wheel is an Italian made MOMO go-kart race-wheel.

“The car is equipped with one main two wheel braking system. The two brakes are both in the front wheels; each brake is foot-actuated with hydraulic fluid. They are disc brakes that have been modified to fit our application. The disc brakes are performance-approved brakes from Shimano. The future plans for HICE is to incorporate disc brake for he rear wheel, which will also be hydraulic.

“The hydrogen system of HICE is pressurized using a 33A hydrogen tank filled with 2000 psi of High-Purity Hydrogen Gas. The

Engine set up with starter motor

hydrogen goes through Swagelok made ½” NPT 304L Stainless Steel Hydrogen tubing. The hydrogen is always in its gaseous form; the hydrogen is regulated down from 2000 psi to a max of 7 psi. The hydrogen gas travels from the tank to the regulator, to the safety shut-off solenoid, to the flow meter, and then to the electronic hydrogen fuel injector. The injector is controlled by a parallax board programmed using BASIC STAMP.

“The hydrogen is injected into a machined aluminum intake manifold. The intake manifold combines the natural air with the injected hydrogen so they can be injected into the engine as a mixture. The mixture goes into the engine using the four-stroke cycle method. The first stroke is the intake stroke; the mixture is brought into the combustion chamber. The second stroke is the compression stroke; the piston goes upwards so the mixture can get under high pressure. The

Hydrogen piping to engine

third stoke is the power stroke; the spark plug fire a high voltage electrical spark that ignites the mixture and forces the piston downwards. The last stroke is the fourth stroke, which is the exhaust stroke; the burned mixture leaves the combustion chamber. The cycle is then repeated again.

“The engine uses the spinning piston on the crankshaft to spin a clutch with a drive shaft. The drive clutch engages when the engine reaches 2000 rpm so there will be enough power to move the wheel. The engine in this application spins approximately at about 5500 rpm in order to achieve optimum horsepower and torque. The current engine setup we have will give 0.9 horsepower.

Back To The Press Conference

Congresswoman Grace Napolitano attended the event in order to show her support of education and green technologies. The Congresswoman commented, “I commend these young men and women for their remarkable achievements. Too often the positive news about our students goes unnoticed and we do not realize how proud we should be. The clean energy research done by these young scientists and engineers is the kind of innovation that will keep our country competitive in the twenty-first century. It is critical that we continue to support science education locally and at the federal level – just look at what our kids can accomplish with the proper support.” She also provided contact information to individuals in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and even stated her intentions to put the program before President Obama.

Other historical and eye-widening projects were also displayed. Among them were: Solar Shadow, the only high school solar

Fuel injector

vehicle that raced across Australia in the World Solar Challenge; Infusion, the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle built by high school students, which won first place in the Shell Eco-marathon; Speed Racer, one of the first electric cars built by the program; and Project Zeus the school’s vehicle for the original DARPA Grand Challenge.

In addition to the various projects they have displayed, students also had a special unveiling of the new website, which they had hinted about prior to the event. Despite the already extensive website, students continued to strive for a more user-friendly and efficient site. In a design completely rebuilt from scratch, new features include an “at-a-glance” home page, historical timeline, reorganized press section, and blog updates.

The LAAE at Los Altos High School is a joint program between the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District and La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program. Founded in 1989, the LAAE is one of the remaining career and technical education programs in California and is also the only engineering academy amongst public high schools. LAAE has many notable achievements building alternative energy vehicles. The Los Altos Academy of Engineering is a student-run program that offers high school students opportunities to explore career paths through education, training in vocational and business skills, hands-on experience, and exposure to engineering and technology.

I guess the thing that confuses me is the fact that this school, these students and HICE isn’t all over the news. With the state of our economy, our need to become less oil dependent and the oil spill in the gulf industry should be knocking the doors down to see how fast we can apply what these students have created.

Greg Sitek

Kerry-Lieberman Bill Needs To Do More To Protect Domestic Cement Industry

Published on May 17, 2010 in Daily Dirt and New England Construction. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

The energy and climate legislation released last week by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) addresses several issues important to maintaining a strong domestic manufacturing sector.  According to the Portland Cement Association (PCA), however, it does not go far enough to balance protecting the environment and with maintaining American jobs.

“We appreciate the Senators’ efforts to work with industry throughout the drafting of the bill, and will continue to express the concerns of the cement industry to Senators Kerry and Lieberman throughout this part of the legislative process,” said John Shaw, PCA’s senior vice president of government affairs.  “However, more needs to be done in key areas to maintain robust domestic cement production.”

According to a study released this spring by Southern Methodist University’s Maguire Energy Institute, in 2008 the industry employed more than 17,000 Americans and nearly $27.5 billion of the nation’s economic activity, or gross output, occurred in the cement manufacturing industry. Indirectly, the industry supported almost 153,000 jobs and $7.5 billion in wages and benefits.

Portland cement is the powder which acts as the glue that, when mixed with water, sand, gravel and other materials, forms concrete. Cement is an essential construction material for the development of the country’s infrastructure and economic investments.

The industry is concerned that the bill does not create a single national program for regulating greenhouse gases (GHGs), and only preempts U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation of GHGs under the Clean Air Act under certain circumstances.  Additionally, preliminary review of the legislation shows an ineffective distribution system for the pool of allowances, which may result in an arbitrary selection of beneficiaries and losers, creating imbalance between the U.S. and other countries.

“The Kerry-Lieberman legislative does not go far enough to prevent carbon “leakage” through the loss of domestic production and jobs to more carbon-intensive developing nations,” Brian McCarthy, PCA president and CEO said.  “Such a bill will not truly have an impact on global climate change and have a negative effect on the viability of American jobs. Domestic cement production is responsible for keeping America’s construction industry afloat, especially as the nation struggles to regain its economic footing.”

“We sincerely hope the concerns that affect our member companies and their employees can be addressed in any final legislative product that the Senate will consider and the President may ultimately sign into law,” Shaw said.

The cement industry’s commitment to reducing energy consumption is demonstrated by its improvement in efficiency of more 35 percent since the mid-1970s. Moreover, in 2001, the industry adopted a voluntary goal of reducing the amount of CO2 associated with cement manufacturing.

Additionally, concrete is an eco-efficient building material. The energy savings—and associated greenhouse gas emission reductions—from constructing buildings with concrete more than offset the emissions from cement manufacturing during the life of the structure. Moreover, concrete pavements increase vehicle gas mileage compared to soft paving surfaces.

Prof From Northwestern University Will Join MIT Team Working To Make A Greener Concrete

Published on May 5, 2010 in Daily Dirt. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Hamlin Jennings, who is known among academic and industry researchers for his influential work on the fundamental chemistry of cement, will be the inaugural executive director of the Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSH), a research center established last fall at MIT in collaboration with the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) Research & Education Foundation.

Jennings will leave a tenured faculty position at Northwestern University to lead the CSH, taking up his new responsibilities at MIT beginning July 1, where he will also hold the position of adjunct professor in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, administrative home of the CSH.

“Hamlin Jennings is widely recognized as a pre-eminent researcher and leader in the field of cement chemistry,” said Professor Andrew Whittle, head of the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “His research experience and intellectual stature, as well as his own passion for the goals of the Concrete Sustainability Hub make him the perfect person to take on leadership of this important new initiative. We are delighted he has agreed to join us at MIT.”

Jennings developed the first fully quantitative model of the nanostructure of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H), the major component of hydrated cement. This model formed a basis for quantitatively predicting the mechanical properties of the material and linking these properties to the design of new materials. He currently holds appointments in civil and environmental engineering and in materials science and engineering at Northwestern University (NU), and was head of NU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2002 to 2006.

“MIT has assembled an extraordinarily gifted team of scientists and engineers with the express objective of transforming our understanding of a complete materials science approach to cement and concrete,” said Jennings, who is a native Bostonian. “While this is complex and ambitious, it will lead to new strategies for addressing global issues, such as improving durability and other properties while reducing the carbon and energy footprints. My goals and those of the CSH are so well aligned that even though it means leaving the stimulating environment of Northwestern University, it is an opportunity and an honor that I cannot refuse.”

The CSH was established in October 2009 with an initial grant of $10 million from industrial sponsors, with the goal of accelerating emerging breakthroughs in concrete science and swiftly transferring those research advances into industry. (The hub’s acronym is a play on the calcium silicate hydrate of cement’s nanostructure.) As executive director of the CSH, Jennings will provide intellectual leadership for the research center and seek to expand the center’s funding base.

“We are confident that the CSH researchers will advance scientific breakthroughs to make the manufacture of concrete and cement even more sustainable into the future, but the real key will be to translate that into industry practice,” said Julia Garbini, executive director of the RMC Research & Education Foundation. “Hamlin Jennings’ unique experience of working with academic researchers and the cement and concrete industries makes him an ideal choice to help us bring those research advances into practical application.”

Concrete is the most widely used building material on Earth. But the production of cement — its basic building block at the nanoscale — accounts for about 5 percent of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions, prompting industry leaders to seek ways to reduce that carbon footprint. Under the CSH umbrella, researchers from three of MIT’s schools, the School of Engineering, School of Architecture and Planning and Sloan School of Management, will engage in research activities to do just that.

“The cement and concrete industries have long been committed to not only producing our products in sustainable ways, but to see those products used in the most sustainable manner. The research undertaken by CSH will position our industries as leaders in the sustainable development movement,” said Brian McCarthy, CEO and president of PCA.

Research projects in the Concrete Sustainability Hub will fall under three areas: concrete materials science, building technology, and the econometrics of sustainable development. Projects in two of those areas are already in progress.

Work on the materials science of concrete is being performed by a research team called the Liquid Stone Team, which includes researchers from the departments of civil and environmental engineering, materials science and engineering, and nuclear science and engineering. The Liquid Stone Team is studying the basic molecular structure of cement in order to manipulate that structure to produce a “greener” concrete, possibly by swapping one chemical element for another to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during manufacturing or by designing a stronger concrete that would require less material for construction projects.

In the building technology area, researchers involved with a project called the Edge of Concrete are developing a rigorous basis for quantifying the ecological and economic performance of concrete over the lifetime of structures and pavements built with this material, so that methods for improving concrete’s performance can be identified. The team includes researchers from the departments of architecture, civil and environmental engineering, and mechanical engineering.

The Portland Cement Association, based in Skokie, Ill., represents cement companies in the United States and Canada. It conducts market development, engineering, research, education, and public affairs programs. For additional information, visit http://www.cement.org.

The mission of the RMC Research and Education Foundation, based in Silver Spring, Md., is to support research and educational programs that will increase quality, professionalism and environmental stewardship in the ready mixed concrete industry for the benefit of the citizens of the United States. For additional information, visit http://www.rmc-foundation.org.

ICUEE 2011 Exhibit Space Sales Open June 1 -
New Exhibit Pavilions Set for Fleet Management and Renewable Energy

Published on May 4, 2010 in Industry Activities. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Exhibit space sales open June 1, 2010 for the next International Construction and Utility Equipment Exposition (ICUEE), to be held October 4-6, 2011 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

ICUEE is geared to the utility/construction industry, with a focus on the electric, phone/cable, sewer/water, gas, general construction, landscaping and public works sectors. The show is known for extensive hands-on equipment demonstrations of underground, at ground and aerial equipment in job-like conditions.

Deadline is August 15, 2010 to be included in the first round of exhibit space assignments. After that date, exhibit space will be assigned on a first come, first served basis.

To help promote their show participation to customers and prospects, exhibitors have access, at no charge, to a variety of print and electronic marketing tools. They can also take advantage of show sponsorship and other marketing opportunities, including customized programs, to extend their brand awareness.

New for the 2011 ICUEE are a Fleet Management exhibit pavilion and a Renewable Energy exhibit pavilion. The New Product & Technology Program returns, spotlighting companies with products new to market since the last show was held. Robust industry educational programs will complement ICUEE exhibits. ICUEE 2011 will again feature co-location of the H2O-XPO show of the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) and the Incident Prevention (iP) Safety Conference and Expo.

Some 96 percent of attendees at the last ICUEE said they were likely to extremely likely to attend ICUEE 2011, according to an attendee survey from the last show, which was held in 2009 and was the second- largest in show history.  Nearly 80 percent of survey respondents said they participate in company purchasing decisions.

“ICUEE attracts quality decision-makers and leading companies, and these buyers and sellers understand the invaluable face-to-face interaction and one-stop convenience of a trade show,” stated Show Director Melissa Magestro.

For more information click here.