ReThink London: Biogas fueled buses

Click on the link and read how buses in Stockholm, Sweden, are running on biogas. One of the bus depots has a biogas filling station with a direct gas line from a sewage treatment plant producing the biogas fuel.

This is worth investigating.
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency: Biogas used in buses

Digesters in Ulsan, South Korea

As the Swedes learn more and more about making and using biogas, they are taking advantage of their unique knowledge and exporting what they have learned, for a fee, around the world. Scandinavian Biogas worked with the city of Ulsan, South Korea to improve its biogas production and increase its treatment of food waste at a city wastewater treatment plant.

Another new source of power for buses plying urban routes is the fuel cell. Sau Paulo, Brazil, is getting 25 Ballard fuel cell powered buses. There are 21 more going to Europe.
A Ballard fuel cell powered fleet of 20 buses in British Columbia is said to be the largest hydrogen fuel cell-powered bus fleet in operation anywhere since it went into service approximately 2-years ago. It is the first such fleet to hit (and surpass) one million miles (1.6 million kilometers) of revenue service.

The buses went into service in January, 2010 prior to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Read more here: Fuel cell bus fleets.

London experimented with natural gas powered buses but rushed into the purchase of the vehicles and then rushed out of the natural gas experiment just as quickly. They didn't do their homework and it showed. (I know as I covered the story for The London Free Press. Well, I shot the pictures.)

Are noise curfews really that rare?

The tweet by The Free Press reporter read: You know how you could make downtown #ldnont really great? Ban young people. And fun. This is a great first step: http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/06/19/19897556.html

And just what promised to kill all fun in downtown London and chase young people from the core? I followed the link and learned a civic committee responding to complaints from downtown residents voted to keep London's 11 p.m noise curfew for downtown festivals.

Now, there were some minor modifications. The committee agreed to allow the existing 90-decibel volume limit to be exceeded by 3 decibels for up to 10 seconds at a time to allow for musical crescendos. And there is now a 15 minutes grace period after the 11 p.m. curfew is passed. (This is actually rather generous.)

This will keep young people from going downtown? Have young people changed that much since I was young. Heck, I recall noise curfews and they were not game killers in the '60s. That said, I do have a great memory of the Amboy Dukes, with Ted Nugent leading the assault, loudly breaking the sound barrier while playing at a teen night club in Windsor, Ontario.

The Motor City Madman played well past curfew, the police were called but The Nuge wasn't intimidated. The music didn't stop until the wildman put his guitar through the wall at the back of the stage. Even that violent move didn't stop the music. Nugent continued loudly grinding his broken guitar against the jagged edges of the smashed drywall until he had broken every amplified string. Then, he strutted off the stage.

So, do any other cities or towns have noise curfews? I decided to do a Google search.

• The first hit told me in Vancouver, B.C., the PNE (Pacific National Exposition) will no longer book electronica concerts into the Forum. No concerts. No noise. No time period exempt.
• Next, I learned that Rock the Garden 2012 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN, was restricted by a 10PM noise curfew. The last group obeyed the curfew by not playing an encore. They played right up to 10PM and wound up their set.
• In Houston, TX, the city is considering revisions to its noise ordinance. Presently they bylaw allows up to 65 decibels during the day and 58 at night in residential areas. Non-residential areas are allowed 68 decibels at all times. Businesses or individuals with a permit are allowed 75 decibels from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday – and Friday till 11 p.m. Under the proposed revisions, critics warn someone could potentially end the music and dancing at the annual Greek Festival with a single phone call. A downtown resident could stop a world-touring music artist at International Festival despite the fact that they have a sound permit issued by the City. Historic venues that have hosted many touring musical acts could be a thing of the past. Local musicians would be left with few if any places to perform.
• Even Seattle, WA, the home of grunge, limits outdoor concerts to a decibel level of 95 dB, lasting up to one minute as measured fifty feet from the source. Seattle, a creative city, according to Richard Florida, a city to be emulated according to The London Free Press, seems almost in sync with London.

An interesting thing about the Houston ordinance is that no initial complaint or evidence (decibel meter reading) is required before a ticket may be written. It is a judgment call left to an officer's discretion.

With over 53 million hits, I read a few more, and came to the conclusion that the London noise restrictions are not all that unusual.

What I don't understand is the hostility shown to those who have lived in the core area for years and are complaining about the noise pollution. The core is their home. They have a right to complain about a real threat to their enjoyment of their home. And rock music played at a level to rattle one's windows at midnight, many would agree, is a problem. These people spend 365 days, and nights, living in the core.

When I lived on Wilson Avenue, right across the river from Harris Park, my attitude would have been, "Hey, I live here. You don't. You, Mr. Drummer, are a guest in my neighbourhood. If you don't like the rules, take your music and go. Maybe you can find a park in your neighbourhood. Go and hold the concert there. Say, isn't Weldon Park in Arva?"

Please, allow me to answer Joe Fontana's EMD questions

I checked out Mayor Joe Fontana's website today. I discovered a post titled: Statement regarding EMD – February 3, 2012.

Screen grab from Mayor Joe Fontana's website.

In his post Mayor Fontana tells us:

• I cannot understand why Caterpillar has chosen to announce the permanent closure of the EDM facility . . .
• I cannot understand why Caterpillar would not return to the table and negotiate . . .
• I cannot understand why Caterpillar has not stepped up and acted in good faith and demonstrated respect for its employees.

Please don't take this wrong, Mr. Fontana, but the answers are as close as the Internet. Since you and your staff seem to have a problem using Google, let me be so bold as to supply you with the answers and some links.

When Caterpillar bought EMD the closure of the London assembly plant was already well into the planning stage.

Electro-Motive Diesel president and chief executive officer John S. Hamilton appeared before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Hearing, on April 20, 2010. At that time, he bragged a great deal but he never got around to mentioning London. [Note: Caterpillar and Progress Rail signed the agreement to purchase EMD on June 1, 2010. This is months after CEO Hamilton made his appearance.]

Concerning high speed rail, Hamilton said if given the chance EMD "would make most all of the critical technologies [in La Grange, Indiana]. We have the equipment. We have 1,600 American workers ready to do this work and we would recall workers currently on lay-off to meet the additional workload. In accordance with Buy America, we announced last week a search for a facility in which to perform final assembly. [This would be the Muncie plant that is now in limited operation.]

With these words the death knell was sounded for the London operation.

Caterpillar did not return to the table because there was nothing to negotiate. Keeping the London plant open while the U.S. operation was being brought up to speed was appealing ---  but only if it could be done at a bargain basement price.

When the London workers didn't go along with the hefty cuts proposed by Caterpillar, the plant closed. No one should feign surprise or claim to not understand what just happened and why. It wasn't hard to fathom. I blogged on the eventual shut-down almost a full month before the closure was officially announced.

If you'd like to have links to my relevant EMD posts, here are a couple:

• Are London EMD workers facing a Hobson's choice?
• EMD CEO's talk fails to mention London

You wonder why Caterpillar acted as it did. You ask, why didn't it "demonstrate respect for its employees?"

Mayor Fonatana claims ignorance.

Companies like Progress Rail and its parent, Caterpillar, are bringing third world employment to North America. David Olive, of The Toronto Star, looked at this development in an article: America, the world's sweatshop. Why would you expect London workers to be treated any differently than their American counterparts?

As I suggested in early January, the locked out workers in London were given a Hobson's choice. No matter what decision they made, in the end they were going to find themselves out of jobs.

I believe it is important that you understand what went down at EMD. Your ability to turn around the economy in London may well depend on it. I do hope I have been able to help and that you no longer are puzzled by the EMD closure.

ReThink London: BRT is so last century

BRT, bus rapid transit, goes back, I believe, all the way to the early '70s. It has been around a long time. It was good then and over the years it has proven itself in many communities. It is still good today and I am sure it will have its place in the transit mix of the future. But, if one wants to rethink public transit, BRT may not be the whole answer.

Yet, London is preparing to spend about $340 million according to Harold Usher as quoted in today's Free Press. This does not seem out of line but it is interesting that there is no mention of any other approach to solving our public transit challenges. And it could take up to eight years to implement the BRT approach the paper tells us.

Allow me to suggest something that seems to be on the, as they say, cutting edge: Avego Real-time Ridesharing. Watch the video to get an idea what Avego is all about.



Avego had a pilot project underway in Seattle late last summer. You know Seattle, if you don't The London Free Press reporter Randy Richmond can fill you in. Seattle, in northwest Washington state, is number five on Richard Florida's list of the the top creative cities.

But Avego was busy in other places as well. They had RTD pilots in Cork, Ireland; Bergen, Norway; Houston, TX; Arlington, VA; along with the Seattle, WA one mentioned.

It's hot but there's no reason to panic.

It's hot! The Middlesex-London Health Unit has issued the region’s second Extreme Heat Alert for the year. More at http://bit.ly/LxbSl7

The health unit is telling people to drink plenty of water. Consume the stuff throughout the day. Do it even "if you don't feel very thirsty."

Huh? Why guzzle water if you're not thirsty? Studies have shown consuming water, and other liquids, when you are not thirsty is poor advice. For a few people such a suggestion actually puts them at additional health risk.

"The vast majority of healthy people adequately meet their daily hydration needs by letting thirst be their guide."

Source: Food and Nutrition Board

The health unit is also warning people to lay off the "coffee and cola." Why? Studies have shown that "cola and coffee drinks hydrate you as well as water does." This is, of course, contrary to popular mythology; a mythology now promoted by the health unit.

In truth, coffee and cola consumed during a heat wave keep dehydration at bay. Don't believe me? Here is a link: Caffeine: Is it dehydrating or not? And another: European Hydration Institute.

A lot of the health unit's suggestions are good. Why does the unit weaken our confidence in its advice by repeating old myths?
_________________________________________________
This is an add from July 2016. The New York Times is reporting:

"Surprisingly, drinks containing moderate amounts of caffeine and alcohol or high levels of sugar had hydration indexes no different from water. In other words, coffee and beer are not dehydrating, despite common beliefs to the contrary, and regular soda can hydrate you just as well as water."

It's funny but when I tried to interest The London Free Press in my take on the hydration story, I got a lot of resistance. It was me who was spreading myths, I was told. One person at the paper, a runner, was downright angry that I would tell people not to be concerned if they drank a coffee or enjoyed a cold beer on a hot day. I don't believe anyone at the paper checked my sources. They knew the truth. They did not have to check anything. I was left shaking my head.

Pickles: Not made in Ontario

Ontario made pickles under attack.

I'm angry. I don't always think coherently when I am angry and this morning I am angry.

Some time ago I wrote a piece on made in India pickles. It is my third most popular post the number of hits slowly closing in on 10,000. I have learned people all over North America have noticed the changes occurring in the pickle business.

Small producers have been swallowed by food industry giants. This may be the main theme running through this story. The outsourcing to India may, in the end, be but a small aside to the bigger story.

If you are a 60 or older and living in Ontario, let me ask you: "What was your favorite pickle?" Ontario made Bick's? If it was, it isn't anymore. At least, it won't be a made in Ontario Bick's pickle. All of Bick's pickle production in Ontario was halted by its American owner, J.W. Smucker, and moved to the States. For more info on this see: Locomotives, pickles and coffee: all share one story.

Maybe you answered Strubs. I did. I've been a Strubs fan since I was a young boy. When I moved out of the home and got my first job at a newspaper in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, my friend Jim and I stocked Strubs in our bachelor pad. We may have been poor but we had standards.

Today I heard from one of my blog readers. I was sent a link to an article in The Toronto Star. Strubs is on the ropes and may be about to hit the mat for the full count. Read: Strubs Food insolvency could mean end of locally made dill pickle.

Generally, I don't swear. Not out loud. But, internally I can curse a blue streak at times. As I read the article by reporter Jennifer Wells, I could not stop myself from cursing quietly, internally, in great anger:

The family-run Strubs company was sold to the newly named Strubs Food Corp. in late 2008. The owners of Strubs Food were not the Strubs clan, but rather the principals behind Foodfest International 2000 Inc., a food processor. . . . The Strubs pickle line, including the inimitable pickled eggs, became part of the Foodfest product offering, with a buffet of non-pickled items — smoked salmon, hummus — now bearing the Strubs name.

Smoked salmon did not just bear the Strubs name, it tarnished it. Last fall, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Foodfest International 2000 Inc. warned the public not to consume Strubs ready-to-eat Danish Style Smoked Grav-Lox Atlantic Salmon because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella.

I thought the Strub Brothers brand might be in trouble when I spotted a fancy gift package of Strub's pickles labeled 'Product of India.'

Monday the whole problem goes to court in Toronto. Will a solution be found? Will the Strubs name be saved? Maybe. Whyte’s Food Corp., a Quebec-based family firm, is the preferred acquirer.
The Whyte’s and Mrs. Whyte’s labels are largely unknown in Ontario, even though the firm has roots going back to 1892. The fermented, fresh-packed kosher dill is at the heart of the family-owned operation. Whyte's and Strubs appear be a perfect match.

The Strubs name may live on. The non-Strubs processed products — the hummus, the salmon — will disappear. (Yesterday, February 6th, 2013, I saw some Strubs pickles on the grocery shelf; They were made by Whyte's out of Quebec.)

ReThink London: ReThinking our almost unlimited water supply from The Great Lakes

I saw this posted by another blogger but it was unclear what the largest drop of water actually represented. Many believed the large drop represented all of the world's fresh water, and no more. They were wrong.

The largest blue marble, the one over the American West, represents all the world's water: Period! Fresh water, salt water, water trapped in ice.

Here is the image that so grabbed my attention and the accompanying info from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

If the big bubble burst: If you put a (big) pin to the larger bubble showing total water, the resulting flow would cover the contiguous United States (lower 48 states) to a depth of about 107 miles.

The drawings below show various blue spheres representing relative amounts of Earth's water in comparison to the size of the Earth. Are you surprised that these water spheres look so small? They are only small in relation to the size of the Earth. These images attempt to show three dimensions, so each sphere represents "volume." Overall, it shows that in comparison to the volume of the globe the amount of water on the planet is very small - and the oceans are only a "thin film" of water on the surface.

Spheres representing all of Earth's water, Earth's liquid fresh water, and water in lakes and rivers

The largest sphere represents all of Earth's water, and its diameter is about 860 miles (the distance from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Topeka, Kansas). It would have a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (mi³) (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers (km³)). The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, ice caps, lakes, and rivers, as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant.

Liquid fresh water

How much of the total water is fresh water, which people and many other life forms need to survive? The blue sphere over Kentucky represents the world's liquid fresh water (groundwater, lakes, swamp water, and rivers). The volume comes to about 2,551,100 mi³ (10,633,450 km³), of which 99 percent is groundwater, much of which is not accessible to humans. The diameter of this sphere is about 169.5 miles (272.8 kilometers).

Water in lakes and rivers

Do you notice that "tiny" bubble over Atlanta, Georgia? That one represents fresh water in all the lakes and rivers on the planet, and most of the water people and life of earth need every day comes from these surface-water sources. The volume of this sphere is about 22,339 mi³ (93,113 km³). The diameter of this sphere is about 34.9 miles (56.2 kilometers). Yes, Lake Michigan looks way bigger than this sphere, but you have to try to imagine a bubble almost 35 miles high—whereas the average depth of Lake Michigan is less than 300 feet (91 meters).
The data used on this page comes from Igor Shiklomanov's estimate of global water distribution, shown in a table below.

Credit: Howard Perlman, USGS; globe illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (©); Adam Nieman.

Data source: Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World fresh water resources" in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources (Oxford University Press, New York).