Alternative Fueled Vehicles
I received a new 2007 Mercedes-Benz C230 sedan today to put into the loaner car fleet. Among the paperwork that comes with new vehicles was a sheet that state that this was a “Alternative Fueled Vehicle” and further described how the car could run on a type of fuel known as “E85” (a type of fuel that consists of 85% Ethanol). I thought this was pretty cool. I keep hearing about how these “flex fuels” are so much cheaper at the pump and how it could save Americans billions of dollars over the next several years.
Then I took a look a the numbers that were listed on the same sheet and I was a little confused. The sheet shows the “Manufacturer’s Estimated Cruising Range” on one tank of fuel. The mileage range when using “alternative fuel” is 230-295. The range on one tank exclusively on gasoline is 312-410. Well, I’m no math geek but it stands to reason that the fuel may be cheaper per gallon, but if it doesn’t go as far is it really a good deal?
I dusted off the calculator and did some simple math. I made some basic assumptions so that everything was equal. I assumed a tank size of 13 gallons. There are 2 places to get E85 gasoline in my area and I used the cheapest number of $2.50 per gallon. The average cost of regular unleaded gasoline around here is $3.00 per gallon. It looks like this:
13 gallons x $3.00 = $39.00 (cost of one tank of regular unleaded)
13 gallons x $2.50 = $32.50 (cost of one tank of E85 fuel)
From this you can see that it is indeed cheaper to fill your tank with E85.
Using the highest average mileage for each fuel type, you can figure the MPG:
410 miles / 13 gallons = 31.54 MPG (gasoline)
295 miles / 13 gallons = 22.69 MPG (E85)
This was no surprise as the label already shows this.
Figuring the average cost per mile of fuel:
$39.00 / 410 miles = $0.10 per mile (gasoline)
$32.50 / 295 miles = $0.11 per mile (E85)
This is the part that was a bit surprising. Contrary to what the people pushing this new fuel type are saying, the reality is that it may actually be
more expensive to use alternative fuels. If you are interested in actual costs, don’t be duped by the prices at the pump. Do the math for yourself.
Gas: Pricing and Demand
I have spoken to several people over the past few years that really want people to change their habits when it comes to gasoline and their ‘gas guzzling’ vehicles. I’m not sure where the doctrine came from but a common item that came out of several of these discussions was that, in order force people to consider other forms of energy, you have to make it hurt where it counts – in the wallet.
Well, here is an interesting phenomenon. Gas prices are way up, as everyone knows, but what about the overall sales volume of gasoline? Have the increased prices caused people to stop buying gasoline? Nope. In fact, from this time last year, sales of gasoline are up almost 2 percent according to the Department of Energy. Another interesting twist to this is that in the same period, low fuel consumption vehicles and alternative fuel vehicle sales have gone up as well. This means that the sales of gasoline had to overcome the reduction of demand. When you factor this in the 2 percent figure is actually a little low. How very interesting.
Accidentally picking on someone their own size?
The MPAA has filed another lawsuit against a downloader, but things might be a little more interesting this time around. Instead of picking on people they know can’t possibly mount a defense against their deep pockets, the MPAA has brought suit against Shawn Hogan – the former CEO of Digital Point Solutions and a multimillionaire.
Apparently Hogan was “baffled” when a lawyer representing Universal Pictures called him and accused him of downloading “Meet the Fockers” over BitTorrent. He told the lawyer that he owned a copy of the movie on DVD and had no reason to download it. When the lawyer offered a “settlement” of $2500 to make this all go away, Hogan declined.
Further remarks from Hogan indicate that he fully expects to pay at least $100,000 in legal fees but is willing to spend “into the millions” for this fight.
This looks like it is going to be a fun one to watch. Win or lose, the strategy is going to cost the MPAA more than they intended and they may well be engulfed in a tidal wave of negative sentiment from the ‘customers’ they are suing. Time will tell.
Geek Keyboard
So I’m surfing around the internet and I come across a gadget that has to be one of the biggest geek magnets I’ve seen in a while, at least for computer geeks. Like something out of a
James Bond movie, you set this matchbook size BlueTooth compatible device on the desk and hit the button. It uses a laser to extend a full size virtual keyboard onto the surface of the desk in front of it – and you can type on it – upto 400 characters per minute!!! It’ll connect directly to your PDA or other BlueTooth device as an input device. Too cool!!
Check it out here:
Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard
My Quest for a Notebook PC
Almost as soon as I posted the last blog article, I received a phone call from a friend that wanted to know more about the PC I just ordered. The discussion went down the path that I had researched prior to purchase and he said I should put it up for everyone to see. Uh, well – Ok.
I started out witnessing the awesome game play on an Alienware notebook computer. I was blown away by the power and performance in a portable package. The benchmarks defeated all but the most robust gaming desktop systems and I was sold. This was about 18 months ago.
As I started my research on purchasing one of these little beasties, I came across some interesting information in one of the geek forums I frequent. They were talking about how there are literally a handful of manufacturers in the world that actually make notebook computers; the rest of them are just re-branded.
I was skeptical (big surprise) but I pursued. I thought surely that names like Sony and Toshiba would be manufacturing their own equipment, right? Not necessarily, as I found out. Here is a sort of run down of manufacturers (ODM) and brand names (OEM):
- The primary ODM (Original Design Manufacturers) consist of Quanta, Compal, Clevo, Mitac, Asus, Aopen, Uniwill, and TwinHead.
- Toshiba notebooks are largely produced by Compal, Clevo, and Mitac although they do actually build very few themselves.
- HP (Compaq) is largely supplied by Mitac but also have contracts with TwinHead
- IBM buys from Quanta and Arima, but recent news states that IBM will be getting out of the notebook and PC market altogether.
- Dell buys most of their systems from Aopen (Acer), Compal and Quanta.
- Sony and Sharp have/had contracts with TwinHead.
- Sager, Hypersonic PC, Alienware, Hollywood PC and other high-end gaming companies use Clevo machines.
Some of these little jewels of information really made me laugh, such as some of the Dell PCs being re-branded Acers. What did all of this info mean to me? Well, I traced the computer I wanted from Alienware down to the Clevo ODM. From there, I found that Sager was the best brand name alternative for the same equipment and ultimately chose a company called discountlaptops.com as the vendor that got my business. Why, you ask? Read on.
I did a head-to-head comparison between the Sager 9750 and the Alienware Aurora m7700 from their individual web sites. I was shocked to find a price difference of more than $500!! I would encourage you to also do comparisons if you are in the market. The amazing part of all of this is that the machine is identical, with the only differences being in the painted panels of the finished product and the ‘bloatware’ that seems to come standard on several of the Alienware systems.
Ultimately, I located another forum that discussed another issue regarding my purchase – customer service. Apparently, buying direct from Sager doesn’t afford you the greatest customer service experience in the world. They rely heavily on their resellers for service issues and extended warranties. One of the resellers of choice for Sager is discountlaptops.com. To my surprise, when I configured the same system as before, my savings increased by another $120 – and the shipping was cheaper! The order process was a breeze I had a tracking number within a day of the initial order. So long as the machine comes to my door in tact, my experience with this company so far has been stellar.
The moral of the story is: You can save hundreds of dollars buying the identical equipment in brand name systems if you do your homework. There are resellers out there for nearly every brand name laptop on the market for much less.
Relative Links:
Alienware PC: www.alienware.com
Sager Notebooks: www.sagernotebook.com
Discount Laptops: www.discountlaptops.com
Still here. Really!
My good friend
Terry reminded me that I have been slacking on my blog for a while so I thought I had better post something and bring him up to date.
Truth be told, I have been blogging steadily but not here. I have another blog that is updated at least once each week regarding my training in
Chinese Kenpo. (
Follow this link if interested). I’m now an Orange belt working toward my Purple belt under a very traditional and highly meticulous instructor, to whom I refer to as
Sifu in the blog. My classmates and several others in the martial arts community frequent the site and I have had a lot of feedback, mostly from outside the comments area of the blog. Check it out.
My life is way too busy to recount everything that has happened since the last post. I’ll try to summarize things in a tidy fashion here in the next few paragraphs.
First and foremost – The Family Report. - My son turns 7 in three days and my wife and I will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary next month.
- We took Duncan to Disney in Florida over spring break this year; he loved the roller coasters but could do without Mickey Mouse. Next year: Cedar Point?
- Duncan will be soon testing for his Red belt in Taekwondo.
- We have established the Ravenwood Academy as our official home school entity for Duncan. He is now working through the 3rd grade curriculum and reading well into 4th grade level and above. Want to hear something funny? I’m the principle! Hehee…
.
The Hobby Report
- I just ordered a new computer. It’s a real screamin’ meme of a machine! Technically it’s a notebook computer but only in the sense that it is ‘portable’. The sucker weighs in at 15 lbs. with an additional 6 lb. power supply. It’s a beauty though and I have been waiting a long time to get this. It has the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ processor under the hood with several other goodies to boot (pardon the pun). It should be here on Friday
- Still brewin’! I have a batch of mead that has been bottled since the last report and have started a batch of strawberry wine. The strawberry is clearing nicely now and is about ready to rack. I’ll keep you posted.
- I’ve been drawn into a web site project through an associate at work for a local metal band here in NC. This has been an experience, to say the least, but it has been a lot of fun. The site isn’t finished yet but it can be seen at www.sorrowvalley.com.
- Kenpo on the web! Since the beginning of my training, I have been keeping notes and tracking thoughts regarding my experience with Kenpo and other martial arts. I have produced a sub-section of the Media Dragon website that highlights this information as part of an ongoing project. Check it out here.
.
Everything Else…
- My sister informed me last night that she is getting married next July. Duncan will be part of the ceremony as a ring bearer. This means I’ll be up in the area of Grand Rapids, MI around the week of the 4th of July, 2007. Congratulations, Sis!
- Nannies, Inc. has slowed down a bit in the last few months. Hopefully things will rebound again soon.
- I’ve “discovered” a form of conditioning known as ‘High Intensity Interval Training’ or HIIT for short. Using it has really been kicking my butt! I’m starting to see some result though and it’s way cool for Kenpo, particularly sparring.
- I’m still taking pictures whenever I can. I’ve logged almost 10,000 pictures on my digi-cam since I got it about a year ago.
- I will be dragged to Carolina Beach for a week in August for some forced family fun with the in-laws. Wish me luck.
I think that’s about it for now. It’s sort of slow at work today so I might post something more later. Bye for now!
Better Gas Mileage
I had heard this rumor about acetone increasing fuel efficiency but didn’t give it much thought. For the most part, I heard this from some less-than-trustworthy source – not in the sense that they are lying to me, but they really have no clue about what they are talking about.
Along comes an
article on the topic from a seemingly reliable source. Interesting, indeed, but the article is written from a chemist’s perspective based on typical scientific tests. I understand such testing has its place but I also understand that the real world is rarely experienced through the glass in a laboratory. I took the article to a group of Mercedes-Benz Master Technicians that I work with and asked them their opinion on the subject. They overwhelmingly approved of the concept of acetone as an additive. So, I tried it in my truck.
As it turns out, the
article that I mentioned above does a good job with what a general person really needs to know to make use of this information, based on conversations with the techs and corroboration with other sources. It is very simple – simply add 1-3 ounces of 100% acetone to a tank of 10 gallons of fuel. For best results, use higher quality fuels. Average fuel efficiency increase is measured between 25-35%. Considering a 16 oz. bottle of acetone in my area runs about $3.00 or so, that's definitely worth my time to check it out.
How does it work? It just allows a more complete evaporation of the gasoline by reducing the fluid surface tension. That’s it. Better atomization, better burn, better efficiency.
So why isn’t this a regular additive in gasoline? Good question. There seems to be a negative response to this question from the petroleum industry and they are the ones trying really hard to make this sound like a bad idea. So far, none of their issues have been able to hold up to testing. Think about it logically: Why in the world would the petroleum industry want to put something in the gas that is going to cause you to come to the gas station a third less often? As usual, follow the money… or the greed.
What are the negative side effects? Acetone is one of the more mild volatile solvents, but it is definitely a solvent. It will eat up cheap plastics and it will also do a number on vinyl. The petrol industry uses this as a reason not to use it as an additive but think about it – gasoline also eats cheap plastic and doesn’t like vinyl. Hm… The other harmful side effect? Acetone is flammable. Duh.
Check out the
article for all the science facts and draw your own conclusions. If you do decide to add acetone to your fuel tank as I have, you are doing so
AT YOUR OWN RISK. I’m not advocating that this be done, I’m just experimenting. I’ll let you know what I find out in later posts.
SOURCE
Plasma Killer?
Like many others out there, I have been watching and waiting for flat panel TV/monitor technology to come down in price to a point where it makes some sense to take the plunge into the world of “high definition” viewing pleasure. I understand there are MANY other issues besides picture quality to consider, but when it comes to picture quality, there is going to be a new player in town very soon.
Toshiba has announced a cool technology they refer to as “Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display” or “SED” for short. So what, right? Another technology that will confuse everyone again? Well, maybe, but I sort of doubt it this time.
Ok, I’m going to get a little technical here but I’ll try to keep it light. Current plasma technology is probably the best when it comes to “contrast ratio”. Contrast ratio is a measurement on how ‘black’ the ‘black’ really is. Why is this important? This is what allows for those deep and vivid picture differences and helps some images appear to just leap off the screen. Plasma currently runs at roughly 3000:1. The prototype monitors for the new Toshiba SEDs were measured at 10,000:1 and the final production monitors will have a value of 100,000:1! Whoa!
With the exception of a current Sony TV, most plasma & LCD monitors have a resolution of 720p, which is a measurement of how clear and precise the picture is. The SED TV/monitors will ship with a standard resolution of 1080p. With such high contrast and resolution, the visuals should be stunning!
The entry size of this awesome technology will be a 55” screen. Woohoo!!! When asked about the cost of this new technology, the Toshiba reps were mum on a consumer price. Other areas reporting on this emerging technology have speculated that “it can be mass produced on a cheaper scale than competing plasma or LCD televisions”. Based on information available to date, you can expect these TVs to hit the shelves sometime late 2006. I can hardly wait!
Source
