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posted by
CoolHand
on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:27PM
from the if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-can-i-join-the-mile-high-club dept.
from the if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-can-i-join-the-mile-high-club dept.
Washington state-based Alaska Airlines today made history flying the first commercial flight using the world's first renewable, alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals, the limbs and branches that remain after the harvesting of managed forests.
The fuel used a 20 percent blend of sustainable aviation biofuel.
While 20% doesn't seem like much (it's still 80% aviation fuel), if the airline were able to replace 20 percent of its entire fuel supply at Sea-Tac Airport (from which it took off), it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 142,000 metric tons of CO2. This is equivalent to taking approximately 30,000 passenger vehicles off the road for one year.
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Alaska Airlines Makes History With Bio-Fuel Flight
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Moon, n.:
1. A celestial object whose phase is very important to hackers. See
PHASE OF THE MOON. 2. Dave Moon (MOON@MC).
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday November 16 2016, @09:33PM
I got the '78 brand new. First encountered ethanol mix (at least that's how it was labeled) I believe in 1979, and was immediately unhappy with it (ran hot, reduced economy, sharply reduced power). Truck would have had maybe 6,000 miles on it, mostly highway use. Unlikely to be carbon buildup at that point. Before it got rebuilt it was so twitchy about water in the gas that I could tell within half a block. Never a problem in MT but by the time I'd been in CA six months, I'd blacklisted about half the gas stations around. (Funny how those were all the ones that got dug up during an EPA crusade against leaking tanks.) Had also noted better fuel economy on Texaco, and markedly better on Chevron, but after a certain point not worth the price differential. Once EtOH was ubiquitous, well, it ran enough hotter that a dead thermostat was a necessary component (and greatly improved power on hills). I did use a lot of midgrade in it, and premium when towing. Never used any additive other than occasionally Heet or STP in winter. It always passed CA's now-ridiculous emissions standards, usually in the lower third of the range. (Protip: go somewhere that cleans the sensor between customers. Makes a huge difference.)
The '91 was rebuilt end-to-end not long before I got it, and runs like a new truck. It does sometimes have its own ideas, like if the engine is below-zero cold, it flat won't run any faster than it decrees proper and ignores the throttle, like it or not, until it warms up. The '78 was cold-blooded too; seems to be a Ford thing.
Only person I've talked to with a flex vehicle said it was going to be traded in soon as possible, cuz the thing has no torque and is useless if you get stuck in snow or ice, which here in MT is inevitable.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.