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My children were taking a botany course and convinced their teacher to demonstrate their plant family identification ability using interpretive dance. Seriously. Their teacher was cool about it and let them try. They took all the information they knew about these plant families (memorizing), decided on what was the mos... |
My husband teaches genetics and is frustrated at the lack of "creative and independent thought" the students portray. Students walk in the classroom lacking good reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. The scientists getting prizes don't spit out what they were taught. They dream, they doodle, they hum, they da... |
When it comes to boys and their toys, it doesn't get bigger than the Paris Air Show. The latest in attack helicopters and stealth fighters line the tarmac nose to tail with double-decker Airbus A380s, a Boeing Dreamliner and a solar-powered plane. Chattering Chinese military officers stroll past American antiaircraft b... |
For all the high-tech flights of fancy and firepower at the June event, the biggest thing to hit aviation in generations is a tiny brown seed on exhibit at one of the Costco-size pavilions at Le Bourget airport. It comes from an inedible weed called camelina, and it fueled the flight I took from Morristown, N.J. to Par... |
The journey marked the first transatlantic flight powered by biofuel--in this case, Honeywell's Green Jet Fuel. Two weeks later international aviation regulators approved commercial use of renewable fuel. The green jet age has begun. |
Unlike ethanol's divisive political battles and the economic uncertainties surrounding other biofuels for ground transportation, renewable jet fuel has a welcoming market. A military-industrial complex backed by the world's biggest airlines has emerged in support of aviation biofuels at a time of spiking petroleum pric... |
The transition will be tricky and years in the making as supplies increase and prices fall. But aviation, the most carbon-intensive form of transportation, could be the first global industry to kick its fossil-fuel addiction. In the U.S. a small number of airports account for the majority of the nation's air traffic, a... |
"We as airlines have made global commitments to reduce our carbon footprint between now and 2020 and to carbon-neutral growth between 2020 and 2050," Robert Sturtz, United Airlines' managing director of strategic sourcing for fuel, says at the air show's Biofuels Pavilion as he inspects a vial of camelina jet fuel refi... |
Airline emissions account for only 2% of the global carbon spew but are rising rapidly as the growing middle class in China, India and other Asian nations take to the skies. At the Paris Air Show aircraft orders more than doubled over the previous year, with Airbus' new fuel-efficient A320 neo the biggest seller. |
In January the European Union will require airlines that land and take off from member countries to buy emissions permits above a set limit. Point Carbon, a consulting firm, estimates those permits will cost the industry $1.4 billion a year. Australia is also set to impose a carbon tax on domestic jet emissions. |
The U.S. Navy has vowed to get half of its fuel from renewable sources by 2020. Virgin America CEO David Cush wants his airline to be running on 10% biofuels by 2020 as a hedge against sudden petroleum price spikes. Says Cush: "The biggest obstacle we'll have to achieving that is simply supply." |
Honeywell's chief pilot, Captain Ron Weight, skips the fasten-your-seatbelts-and-put-up-your-tray-tables preflight spiel and gets to the point as we prepare to depart Morristown Municipal Airport for Paris on a stormy June evening. As the Gulfstream's Rolls-Royce engines rev for takeoff, one of them begins to burn the ... |
There have been many shorter test flights by U.S. military and commercial jets using biofuels made from algae, camelina, tallow or cooking oil. Last year on Earth Day a Navy F/A-18, dubbed the Green Hornet, broke the sound barrier powered by camelina biofuel produced by Honeywell UOP. With this being the first transatl... |
"We're ready to go to commercial scale and move into commercial use of these fuels," says Jim Rekoske, Honeywell UOP's vice president for renewable energy and chemicals, sitting at the G4's dining table. "Now we're left with economic hurdles. Can I source enough feedstock in a sustainable manner at the right price? Can... |
As we reach our 41,000-foot cruising altitude the two engines are burning the same amount of carbon. But the right engine is essentially recycling the CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere by the camelina plants before they were harvested in Montana. A Seattle company called Sustainable Oils supplied the seeds, which Honeyw... |
As dawn breaks over the Atlantic, I pop into the G4's cockpit to see how the biofuel-powered engine has been running. "It appears to be burning a little less fuel than the other engine," says copilot Rob Odgers. Which, of course, is a good thing. Other than that, Captain Weight says, "we don't notice a thing. The perfo... |
Honeywell plans to license its technology to refiners. So far the company has processed a mere 700,000 gallons, only enough for 20 round-trips from Los Angeles to London. To provide a meaningful share of the 60 billion gallons the industry uses each year, producers are going to need a lot more acreage under camelina. "... |
The aviation industry appears to have learned from the debacles over ethanol, when government subsidies encouraged farmers to grow corn for fuel rather than food. No one eats camelina, a weed native to northern Europe (though it can be processed into vegetable oil), and it is grown on fallow land in rotation with wheat... |
Still, just how much camelina can be grown to meet the airlines' appetite for clean jet fuel? Rekoske does some back-of-the-envelope calculations and comes up with a figure of 15 million to 20 million acres of fallow land available to grow camelina in the U.S. Five million acres would produce about 1.4 million gallons ... |
That's assuming, of course, farmers will want to bet the farm on another biofuel crop. "I grew up in a rural community, and I know farmers aren't the easiest to deal with or the first to jump into new things," says Rekoske, 44, a native of the potato- growing town of Plover, Wis. |
Bryan Sherbacow, a principal at Seattle's AltAir Fuels (which refines and sells biofuel) and its sister company, Sustainable Oils (which sources camelina seeds), notes that it takes about three years for his company to develop a relationship with a farmer. Sustainable Oils hopes to harvest 40,000 acres in the coming ye... |
"To really ramp up volume, we need more density and production per acre to get the cost down," says Sherbacow. "There's blood to be bled on the path to working it out." |
Rekoske predicts Honeywell's technology will produce between 5 million and 10 million gallons of Green Jet Fuel in 2012, with rapid growth to follow. The price will have to drop, too: Given the small initial production, camelina jet fuel will start selling at between two and three times conventional jet fuel prices. Bu... |
Algae is the great green hope for jet fuels. "Theoretically, algae has incredible production capacity," says Suzanne Hunt, senior advisor to the Carbon War Room, a group cofounded by Virgin's Richard Branson that is working with airlines and biofuel producers to jump-start the industry. "Camelina plants and all the oth... |
On display at the Paris Air Show is a beaker filled with algal jet fuel made by Sapphire Energy, a San Diego startup backed with more than $100 million from Bill Gates' Cascade Investment, ARCH Venture Partners, the Wellcome Trust, Venrock and Monsanto. Called phototrophic algae (phototrophic means it draws energy from... |
"If we're going to change the energy mix in a meaningful way, we need to produce 1 million barrels a day [equivalent to 42 million gallons]," Jason Pyle, Sapphire's CEO, tells a crowd of biofuel and airline execs in Paris. "If you have to use existing farmland or you have to use existing potable water, then you will qu... |
Earlier this year Sapphire broke ground on a full-scale biorefinery in New Mexico, financed in part with a $104 million U.S. government grant. Sapphire aims to begin production next June, harvesting 4,200 gallons of green crude a day by 2018. |
While industry observers believe full-scale production of this type of algal jet fuel is five to eight years off, Pyle insists Sapphire's technology is for real. "This is not a science project," says Pyle, a physician and Ph.D. in molecular and cellular physiology. "It definitely can be done at the scale we want at the... |
Solazyme, another California algae startup, inked an agreement with Qantas to consider producing its SolaJet fuel in Australia. Solazyme grows heterotrophic algae in the dark, inside containers where the organisms eat sugarcane and spit out oil. Solazyme, which counts Branson and Chevron as investors, also has a deal w... |
Chief Executive Jonathan Wolfson claims that once Solazyme begins commercial production, it should be able to make green jet fuel for around $3.30 a gallon. (Petroleum jet fuel in July was selling for $3 a gallon, up 51% from a year earlier.) "For Solazyme we're taking about a multibillion- dollar opportunity for aviat... |
Unlike the auto industry, which for decades resisted making vehicles more fuel-efficient, the airline industry appears united in its embrace of biofuels, signaling to investors that if they finance multibillion-dollar renewable fuel refineries, carriers will pay up at the pump. In June six U.S. airlines--American, Unit... |
Qantas has also signed a deal with Solena. "We're pretty confident that algae and waste-based biofuels are the ones we should focus on," John Valastro, Qantas' environmental chief, says from Sydney. "We're one of largest users of fuel in Australia, so there's a golden opportunity here when you're talking about technolo... |
The speed of the green transition will still come down to price. "We're not in a position to pay a lot more for fuel--when we have profits, they're very thin profits," says United's Sturtz, noting that his airline consumes some 4 billion gallons of jet fuel a year at a cost of more than $12 billion. "What we're trying ... |
"But what did you pay for your first cellphone?" he adds. "That's where we are with biofuels. The costs are going to be driven down, the technology will improve, and the deals that we've already done have been the ones on which we've been able to get competitive pricing." |
As supply slowly grows expect some airlines to take a Prius approach, offering eco-conscious passengers the option of paying a premium to travel on select flights powered by green jet fuel. Just don't expect the flight to be totally carbon-neutral--regulators limit the use of biofuels to a 50-50 blend with conventional... |
Honeywell's Rekoske also thinks there's a market for biofuels among owners of luxury private jets like the one we flew to Paris, as their small passenger lists mean they'll pay a higher CO2 penalty per person. "So you can see that a NetJets might want to offer its clients the opportunity to fly green." |
The fuel from our maiden flight was grown on a farm. Oil from pond scum will soon work, too. How an inedible weed is transformed into Green Jet Fuel. |
We look at a few storylines and spotlight athletes to watch at this week's District 30-5A and District 31-4A track and field meets. |
The Corpus Christi-area's two largest districts will both hold their district track meets on Wednesday and Thursday. |
Gregory-Portland's Ray Akins Wildcat Stadium will host the 11 members of District 30-5A in the large district's last hurrah. |
The district will feature a handful of returning state qualifiers and state medalists in Ace Castillo of Tuloso-Midway (distance) and April Polansky of Flour Bluff (hurdles). |
District 31-4A heads to Rockport where the Pirates fill the role as hosts. |
Ingleside's girls rolled to the district title last season and return Jordan Blanton while the boys, led by Bobby Solsberry and David Jordan, were edged by Rockport-Fulton. |
The top four finishers in each event advance to the area meet. The 29-5A/30-5A area meet is scheduled for April 20 in Floresville. The 31-4A/32-4A area meet will take place in Rockport on April 18. |
Criselda Cruz, sr., Alice — A 2017 state qualifier in the 300 hurdles, Cruz is also among the favorites in the long jump and high jump. |
Riley Floerke, jr., Gregory-Portland — Floerke medaled as a freshman in her signature event, the pole vault, and has continued to improve in her jumping events as well. |
Angela Wilder, sr., Moody — One of the fastest girls in the area, Wilder is a threat to double in the 100 and 200. |
Brooke Barrington, sr., Calallen — Barrington has qualified for the state meet in each of the last two seasons and was on the podium in the 400, 800 and 1,600 last week at the Chatter Allen Relays. |
Cassandra Salazar, sr., Veterans Memorial — A Huston-Tillotson commit, the versatile Salazar has some of the district’s best times in the 100, 200 and 400. |
Brailon Sanders, sr., Moody — Like his fellow Trojan Wilder, Sanders is a threat to double in the 100 and 200. |
Taylor McCormick, sr., Gregory-Portland — The area’s best boys pole vaulter is also a key component of the Wildcats’ sprint relays. |
Dominique Vaughn, jr., Carroll — Vaughn will look to challenge Sanders in the 200 and will be one to watch in the 400. |
Reed Brunkenhoffer, sr., Calallen — The Wildcats senior owns the best triple jump in the district by a healthy margin and will challenge for the long jump gold also. |
Patrick Garza, jr., Veterans Memorial — Garza is one of any number of Eagle distance runners (Austin Vasquez, Matthew Smith, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Borchard) that could challenge the podium. |
Chance Guidry, sr., Rockport-Fulton — The senior competing at his home track will be a force in the sprint events, and the long jump. |
The girls hurdle events again look to be like a battle to get to the area meet. Last year all four competitors in the girls 100 hurdles from 30-5A made the finals at the Region IV meet. It could be just as competitive in 2018. Defending state champion April Polansky of Flour Bluff joins a talented field including Alice... |
Taylor McCormick and Riley Floerke have each set new personal records in the pole vault this season competing for Gregory-Portland. With the district meet at Ray Akins, the Wildcats duo will look to top 15-3 (McCormick) and 13-0 (Floerke) a week after competing at the Texas Relays, providing the weather cooperates. |
Early forecasts for Wednesday show possible 20-to-30 mile per hour wind gusts with a chance of thunderstorms on Thursday during the District 30-5A and 31-4A track meets. Competitors at the UIL State Track & Field Championships are no stranger to dodging inclement weather in Austin in mid-May and both district meets may... |
Is it Veterans Memorial’s time to shine? |
The Eagles girls team has won three meets this season and finished second at the Chatter Allen against most of their District 30-5A competition, although some athletes participated in the Texas Relays. The Eagles boys have dominated cross country over the last two seasons and their depth in the mid-distance and distanc... |
Can Blanton turn in a MarLee Serrano-esque performance? |
Ingleside's Jordan Blanton is one of the best all-around athletes in District 31-4A and she enters the district meet as the favorite in her three individual events (pole vault, long jump and 300 hurdles) and is one leg of all three of the Mustangs' relays which could also contend for gold. Sinton's Serrano qualified fo... |
The Federal Security Service will be given a detachment of agents to be assigned to permanent duty in foreign states. Their task will not be to protect Russian diplomats from spies but to work with local intelligence agencies in the "struggle against international crime." |
According to the explanatory memorandum to the bill that President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the State Duma, FSB operatives are now being dispatched to foreign states for up to six months "to provide advice and guidance to their intelligence and law enforcement agencies in conducting operational, search and other... |
In 2007, a presidential decree granted the Interior Ministry the right to include 41 of its representatives in Russia's diplomatic missions abroad. In 2009, it was decided that such officials would serve for three years at a time with the possibility of extending their stay by an additional year. At present, however, o... |
But the FSB initiative differs fundamentally from the practice of the Interior Ministry and seems to be an attempt to revive the Soviet custom of posting its secret police to the intelligence agencies of Eastern Europe. These advisers were sent to friendly countries from 1949 through 1991. The advisers could number up ... |
It is also obvious that the FSB contingents in those countries are charged with preserving the ruling regimes and not with fighting, for example, terrorism and the international trafficking of drugs and illicit arms. It is also obvious that FSB officers stationed in Sukhumi, Tskhinvali and Osh will have a better chance... |
It might initially seem surprising that the Kremlin sees the FSB in that role rather than the Foreign Intelligence Service. But back in the mid-2000s, the FSB was given its own intelligence agencies for working in the former Soviet republics, and so the decision is wholly in keeping with that logic. |
It is widely known that the FSB performed much worse than the Investigative Committee during the peak of the 2011-12 protests. Putin complained that the FSB was not providing enough information about opposition forces and changes in the political situation. |
When this happens, the FSB usually counters by complaining that its powers are too limited and requests broader authority. Not surprising, a new law broadening the definition of treason was signed by Putin last year in what many view as a nod to the FSB. The law also made it much easier for the FSB to conduct surveilla... |
The current initiative to send permanent detachments of security officers to help the intelligence services of friendly regimes apparently falls under the same category. Apparently, it is better to let the FSB fight hostile forces in distant lands than in Russia. |
Andrei Soldatov is an intelligence analyst at Agentura.ru and co-author of "The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB." |
No matter what commodity prices do in 2017, these energy stocks should thrive. |
Because of uncertainty around oil prices, investors should seek out energy stocks that will thrive even when oil declines. Here are five stocks that are in a great position for 2017: EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG), Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP), Enbridge (NYSE:ENB), Core Labs (NYSE:CLB), and Brookfield Infrastruct... |
The management team of leading U.S. oil producer EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) spent much of the past two years putting the company in the position to thrive at lower oil prices. Thanks to efficiency gains, advances in technology, and innovation, the company now controls a vast inventory of wells that can achieve at least a... |
While solar stocks are often hot commodities in the market, they have a tendency to scorch investors by taking on too much debt to grow. That is why investors looking for some clean energy exposure should turn their attention to Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP), which is one of the largest pure-play renewable p... |
Speaking of growth and income, Canadian energy infrastructure giant Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) has the most clearly visible future in the energy sector. The pipeline giant has already promised investors a 15% dividend increase next year, fueled by recent acquisitions and growth projects. That boost, however, is just the begin... |
The oil-field service business is a tough one for investors because these companies earn low margins thanks to intense competition and have high capital costs due to the equipment needed to service wells. However, that is not the case for Core Labs (NYSE:CLB), which offers proprietary services that help oil and gas com... |
Most utility companies are low-growth enterprises that are often weighed down by debt. Not so with Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP), which offers investors the risk profile of a utility due to the regulated or contract frameworks supporting its assets, enabling the company to generate stable cash flow to p... |
There's plenty of uncertainty as we head into 2017, which could be a volatile year for energy stocks. That's why the best energy stocks to own in what could be an uncertain year are those with a clearly visible path to grow no matter what happens. That is exactly what's in the forecast for these five stocks, all of whi... |
Before investing in stocks, here's some information to help beginners choose the right ones. |
This poster for Troy Nixey’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark first appeared in the New York Times a few weeks ago, but has now ended up online in a tidy, official version. A nice complement to the also rather appealing trailer. Because, yes, I think creepy is appealing. |
Just behind ooky, which is downright seductive. |
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - On Wednesday, East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome honored a local middle school for its role in recycling in the parish. |
Southeast Middle School won a competition among other schools in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System to collect the most recyclable goods. Southeast collected more than 7,000 pounds of recyclable material in just four weeks. |
In all, EBR schools collected 15,000 pounds of recyclables. |
The oldest man to have raced in any grand prix in the world will have to sit out this weekend's New Zealand Grand Prix because he can't get a car. |
Aucklander Kenny Smith was aiming to clock up his 48th consecutive appearance at this weekend's Grand Prix in Manfeild. |
The 72-year-old won the event in 1976, 1990, and 2004, and was an early mentor to motor sport drivers Scott Dixon and Brendon Hartley. |
Smith says a car was promised to him but the owner's had a change of heart so it will sit in a garage instead. |
Despite the setback Smith says it hasn't put him off his goal of reaching 50 appearances at the event. |
This is what I call the dreaded bio. What do I say? Where do I begin? |
It's funny, I write on a daily basis yet when it comes to writing about me I'm never sure what to say. |
The simple stuff is I was born in Wisconsin, graduated from the University of Wisconsin, I'm married and I've been a reporter now for more than 15 years. I worked at WGBA-TV in Green Bay, WI and WITI-TV in Milwaukee before moving south. |
My hobbies include running, traveling and I'm attempting to better my skills in the kitchen. But honestly, that's not going so well. |
I am a big sports fan. I love the Packers, Badgers, USF Bulls and #17 in NASCAR. Yeah, my friends kid me about my interest in NASCAR but a few years ago I watched a race and I've been hooked ever since. |
If I hosted a dinner party of people I'd like to meet, the guest list would include: Lance Armstrong, Johnny Depp, Selma Hayak, Brett Favre, Pete Sampras, Bo Ryan, Melissa Lee, Steve Kerr, David Gergen, Padma Lakshmi, Chili Pamler, Bill O'Reilly, Jean Kirkpatrick and Ron Burgundy. I'd also ask Bobby Flay to prepare the... |
Since joining 10 News I have been fortunate to win a number of awards, thanks in part to the wonderful photojournalists I work with. I've been honored with 17 Emmy awards, more than 30 Emmy nominations, I've received 3 Edward R. Murrow awards, a host of Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists awards, p... |
If you have a second, here are a few of my favorite stories from my time at 10 News. I hope you enjoy them. |
Finally if you'd like to reach me you can email me at prudie@wtsp.com. |
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