DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

The Union of Concerned Scientists is a non-partisan advocacy group dedicated to creating a “cleaner, healthier environment and a safer world.” In a February report entitled Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policy Making, 62 reputable scientists “charged the Bush administration with widespread and unprecedented ‘manipulation of the process through which science enters into its decisions.’”

Here’s one timely example, copied from a brochure they mailed me. (See a longer version here: Information on Power Plant Mercury Emissions Censored)

Mercury is a neurotoxin that can cause brain damage and harm reproduction in humans and wildlife. Coal-fired power plants are the nation’s largest source of mercury air emissions. Faced with congressional proposals to strongly regulate these mercury emissions, Bush officials suppressed and sought to manipulate government information about merucry contained in an EPA report on children’s health and the environment. After nine months, a frustrated EPA official leaked the draft report to the Wall Street Journal, which revealed one of the report’s findings that eight percent of women between the ages of 16 and 49 have mercury levels in the blood that could lead to reduced IQ and motor skills in their offspring. The finding provides strong evidence in direct contradiction to the administration’s desired policy of reducing regulation on coal-fired power plants… Perhaps most troubling about this incident is that the report may never have surfaced at all had it not been leaked to the press.

There is a pattern here; in August 2003, the Bush administration lied to New Yorkers about the presence of dangerous asbestos due to the WTC attack.

“I’m from the government; I’m here to help” really shouldn’t be the punchline to a joke.

The flu vaccinations your children receive may be exposing them to toxic levels of mercury. But numerous government agencies urge parents to continue having the vaccines administered. Insert your favorite conspiracy theory here.

The original report I read — or tried to read — runs for 11,000 words, or about 10,500 more than I have time for at the moment. It’s here: The Truth behind the Vaccine Coverup

Instead, I read the first half of this ~900-word article, by former US Congressman Dan Hamburg: The Thimerosal Controversy: An Overview

Here’s a summary of the overview:

• Thimerosal, which is approximately 50% mercury by weight, was a common vaccine preservative from the 1930s until recently.
• Due to reports of ethylmercury toxicity, thimerosal has been reduced or removed from nearly all childhood vaccines, except flu shots.
• Parents of young children should request mercury-free flu shots (or skip the vaccination altogether?).

More good info at the FDA site: Thimerosal in Vaccines

And even more at SafeMinds, “Sensible Action for Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders.”

Our photovoltaic array has five racks of solar panels. Due to the presence of nearby trees, the chimney and exhaust fans on the roof, and even more importantly to the fact that the most open roof space faces east rather than southwest, the panels were difficult to fit, given the design goal of maximizing exposure to the south/southwest sun.

There’s a problem: production is below projections. I think the core problem is that the projections are incorrect, but I’m eager to increase production if possible. The more power we generate, the sooner my PV system pays for itself. (This is a purely virtual goal — my out-of-pocket costs for energy are going to be very low for the next 30 years, regardless of when we cross the breakeven point.)

We had the panels inspected. They passed; the technician found no evidence that any of the panels were failing. Kudos to our installer for providing this check-up for free.

But a more sinister problem apparently exists: by mid- to late afternoon, our panels are creating their own shade. We knew we’d lose some afternoon sun due to tree cover, but this picture shows a much worse problem — really, a design flaw.

Photovoltaic arrays in California should be designed to maximize production during peak periods: 12:00PM - 6:00PM. The picture here was taken shortly after 5:00PM, indicating that we’re losing generation capacity during peak hours. Of course the amount of shadow depends on the height of the sun in the sky; still, any shadow during peak hours is a bad thing.

Research indicates that even a small shadow can cause a huge drop in generation performance:

Even partial shading of crystalline solar panels will result in dramatic reduction of solar panel output. One completely shaded cell can reduce a solar panel’s output by as much as 75%. Three cells shaded can decrease 93% of the panel’s output.

I think there’s a relatively easy way to move the last rack of panels out of shadow, by raising its standoffs. But the larger rack in the foreground of the picture will be harder to reposition. I’m hoping my installer has some suggestions.

What’s surprising about all this is that our PV installer ran numerous “shade studies” to illustrate the shadow of the chimney and the other panels throughout the year. They designed the racks to prevent exactly this problem.

The new ~8 m.p.g. International CXT monster-pickup is an insult to anybody with lungs. You have to figure that people needing to tow 40' trailers should own the tractor already; seen in this light it becomes clear that the typical CXT customer won’t have utility in mind. The only enormous load he’ll have to tow is his own ego.

Fortunately, I thought, I’ll never actually see one on the road in California. CA has adopted stricter vehicle-emissions standards than are mandated by the feds. (Five states in all have adopted these “CARB” standards: CA, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine.)

Finding a concise statement of the actual regulation has proven impossible, but I can say for certain what one result is: I cannot buy a new diesel Volkswagon in California until 2006. I can’t buy one out of state and bring it here, either (although there might be a workaround).

What’s magic about the year 2006? Cleaner diesel fuels will be universally available then. New low-sulfur formulations will allow auto makers to equip diesel vehicles with better emissions-control devices, but until such fuels are widely available, current diesel vehicles don’t meet the 2004 emission standards — using standard pump diesel, anyway.

But I can burn cleaner diesel today. In fact, that was my plan: put a biodiesel tank in the yard and have the fuel delivered monthly (because it’s not otherwise available locally). Biodiesel is one of the cleanest-burning liquid fuels on the market and is significantly cleaner than either regular diesel or gasoline. And, as a non-petroleum fuel, it’s renewable. We needn’t drill through wildlife refuges for it. We needn’t risk spilling it from ocean-bound tankers. We needn’t export billions of dollars per day to the Middle East to secure supplies of it. We can grow it ourselves.

The ARB, understandably, doesn’t care if a few green individuals might take personal responsibility for their own vehicles. Managing such exceptions would be impossible.

But you’d think that if a ~40 m.p.g. VW can’t pass CARB rules, a monster truck wouldn’t have a prayer. As it turns out, it doesn’t need to. The CXT is exempt.

Let’s recap:

If I’m understanding this correctly, this is the ultimate stupidity of the current regulations: exceptions for ultra-heavy vehicles have to be made so that over-the-road trucks and construction vehicles can stay in operation. But this loophole essentially rewards vehicle makers for marketing huge trucks as passenger vehicles. The bigger the truck, the fewer emissions rules apply.

The FTC is considering a reward program to help turn spammers’ business associates into snitches: FTC Assesses Reward System for Catching Spammers

The text of the report is here: A CAN-SPAM Informant Reward System [PDF]

I envisioned rewarding revenge-minded spam victims, but the report states that such “cybersleuths” would be much less likely to generate admissible evidence than insiders. But I bet there are some enterprising spam victims out there who would be more than willing to take a few risks for such a reward.

In any case, the great thing about this idea is that (unlike CAN-SPAM) it might actually work.