DebateGate

I'm going to be in the Milwaukee area for business Monday, but I'm flying in Sunday evening. Anyone in the area want to get together?

http://www.pelgranepress.com/Birds/

By Chuck Squatriglia

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Sandia researcher Rich Diver checks out the solar furnace which will be the initial source of concentrated solar heat for converting carbon dioxide to fuel. Eventually parabolic dishes will provide the thermal energy.
Photo: Randy Montoya / Sandia National Laboratories

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Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico have found a way of using sunlight to recycle carbon dioxide and produce fuels like methanol or gasoline.

The Sunlight to Petrol, or S2P, project essentially reverses the combustion process, recovering the building blocks of hydrocarbons. They can then be used to synthesize liquid fuels like methanol or gasoline. Researchers said the technology already works and could help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, although large-scale implementation could be a decade or more away.

"This is about closing the cycle," said Ellen Stechel, manager of Sandia's Fuels and Energy Transitions department. "Right now our fossil fuels are emitting CO2. This would help us manage and reduce our emissions and put us on the path to a carbon-neutral energy system."

The idea of recycling carbon dioxide is not new, but has generally been considered too difficult and expensive to be worth the effort. But with oil prices exceeding $100 per barrel and concerns about global warming mounting, researchers are increasingly motivated to investigate carbon recycling. Los Alamos Renewable Energy, for example, has developed a method of using CO2 to generate electricity and fuel.

S2P uses a solar reactor called the Counter-Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator, or CR5, to divide carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen.

"It's a heat engine," Stechel said. "But instead of doing mechanical work, it does chemical work."

Lab experiments have shown that the process works, Stechel said. The researchers hope to finish a prototype by April.

The prototype will be about the size and shape of a beer keg. It will contain 14 cobalt ferrite rings, each about one foot in diameter and turning at one revolution per minute. An 88-square meter solar furnace will blast sunlight into the unit, heating the rings to about 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, cobalt ferrite releases oxygen. When the rings cool to about 2,000 degrees, they're exposed to CO2.

Since the cobalt ferrite is now missing oxygen, it snatches some from the CO2, leaving behind just carbon monoxide -- a building block for making hydrocarbons -- that can then be used to make methanol or gasoline. And with the cobalt ferrite restored to its original state, the device is ready for another cycle.

Fuels like methanol and gasoline are combinations of hydrogen and carbon that are relatively easy to synthesize, Stechel said. Methanol is the easiest, and that's where they will start, but gasoline could also be made.

However, creating a powerful and efficient solar power system to get the cobalt ferrite hot enough remains a major hurdle in implementing the technology on a large scale, said Aldo Steinfeld, head of the Solar Technology Laboratory at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland, in an e-mail.

He and Stechel said the technology could be 15 to 20 years from viability on an industrial scale.

The Sandia team originally developed the CR5 to generate hydrogen for use in fuel cells. If the device's rings are exposed to steam instead of carbon dioxide, they generate hydrogen. But the scientists switched to carbon monoxide, so the fuels they produce would be compatible with existing infrastructure.

The Sandia team envisions a day when CR5s are installed in large numbers at coal-fired power plants. Each of them could reclaim 45 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air daily and produce enough carbon monoxide to make 2.5 gallons of fuel. Coupling the CR5 with CO2 reclamation and sequestration technology, which several scientists already are pursuing, could make liquid hydrocarbons a renewable fuel, Stechel said.

"It's certainly technology that can be developed," she said. "It's not that it's challenging, it's that the ideas aren't economically viable yet."

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http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/S2P

Another report from a racist southern city. Note especially the quote in bold below.

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The five allege racial discrimination and a hostile work environment, especially under Tim Dolan. Two of the high-ranking officers named in the suit were demoted.

By David Chanen and Terry Collins, Star Tribune

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Five high-ranking black officers sued the Minneapolis Police Department and its chief Monday over allegations of systemic racial discrimination and a hostile working environment.

Within the past year, two of the officers, Lt. Don Harris and Lt. Lee Edwards, were demoted by Chief Tim Dolan. Harris had been one of the department's three deputy chiefs, and Edwards was in charge of the city's Fourth Precinct, which encompasses north Minneapolis. A third black lieutenant not named in the suit has also been demoted by Dolan.

The lawsuit caps a contentious week in which Sgt. Charles Adams was transferred out of the homicide unit, according to Dolan, for a series of insubordination incidents. That included contradicting his supervisor in a Star Tribune article about the motive surrounding the death of bicyclist Mark Loesch. Adams is one of the officers suing the department.

He has never been disciplined in his career, and the Minneapolis Police Federation is in the process of filing a grievance on Adams' behalf.

The federal suit alleges that Minneapolis has a long history of discriminatory conduct against black officers and that these actions have become more institutionalized since Dolan became chief.

Several black officers met with the director of the city's civil rights department in September to voice their concerns, but the director dismissed the allegations and later publicly said these were "disgruntled cops near the end of their careers," the suit said.

The other officers named in the suit are Lt. Medaria Arradondo and Sgt. Dennis Hamilton. Each of the officers in the suit has an average of about 20 years with the department.

In a statement, Dolan said that it would be inappropriate to comment on the suit but that he is committed to building and retaining a diverse police force reflecting the city's population.

Impact on city, police foreseen

News of the suit swept through City Hall.

"This is huge. These are officers who are saying they do not have confidence in the Police Department," said Council Member Ralph Remington, who was the only council member to vote against Dolan becoming chief. "That should be a big red flag to every City Council member and the mayor. We're mandated to get to the bottom of this."

Council Member Don Samuels, chair of the City Council's Public Safety Committee, said in response, "I cannot afford to have a knee-jerk reaction in favor of the complaint, nor a defensive posture in defense of it."

Remington said the police department needs ''unifying and healing leadership instead of one that is divisive and inflicts pain."

Lt. John Delmonico, head of the Police Federation, said he agreed with Remington's view on leadership but said it's too early to tell how the suit is playing out among the rank-and-file police officers.

"Whenever there are lawsuits involving the Police Department, it can affect policing," Delmonico said. "These are serious allegations going back a long period of time, and it puts into question the way things are getting done."

Mayor R.T. Rybak and City Council President Barbara Johnson said they take discrimination charges very seriously but "are confident in Chief Dolan's ability to lead the Police Department and his efforts to diversify."

Members of the Police Community Relations Council held a news conference Monday to discuss the 38-page suit.

Council co-chairman Clyde Bellecourt said the group, a federally mandated panel that has successfully brought officers and minority group leaders together on many police issues, will meet Wednesday to talk about any action it might take in response.

Spike Moss, a member of the Community Relations Council, said the group should call for the department to be placed in receivership, meaning another agency would be in charge. He called Minneapolis the most racist city in America.

"We can't take any more of this nonsense," he said.

Relations Council co-chairman Ron Edwards said officers who met with civil rights director Michael Jordan in September have faced retaliation in the department. The suit said Dolan wouldn't consider Arradondo for promotion after he filed a complaint.

'It's high time for change'

The officers' attorney, John Klassen of Minneapolis, said Monday that his clients would not comment.

However, Klassen, who is representing them with attorney Andrew Mueller, added: "This lawsuit will change the landscape of the Police Department and the city of Minneapolis. And it's high time for change."

It's not the first time Klassen has represented city workers who have sued Minneapolis. He represented three of four firefighters who sued the city and former Fire Chief Bonnie Bleskachek, whom they accused of hindering their careers, last year. All of the suits were settled.

Klassen is also representing Minneapolis police Sgt. Giovanni Veliz, who is suing the city on similar discrimination allegations.

The only black officer with a rank higher than lieutenant is Deputy Chief Valerie Wurster, who was appointed by Bill McManus, Dolan's predecessor. About 18 percent of the department are officers of color.

The suit claims that black officers received fewer training, detail and overtime opportunities as well as fewer appointments to key units than white officers. It also claims that the department has failed in several areas of diversity required by a mediation agreement brokered with the help of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The suit details patterns of alleged discrimination involving each of the five officers. Arradondo, head of the Fourth Precinct's community response team, was refused overtime pay for the key role he played with critical incidents, the suit alleges. Harris, a Fourth Precinct investigator, was passed over for appointments in favor of white officers, the suit said.

While several white homicide officers received more than 150 hours of overtime during the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, Adams was never informed of the overtime opportunities until the last days of the detail, the suit said. Hamilton was fired for misconduct that for some white officers resulted in a lower level of discipline, the suit said.

Lee Edwards, former head of the homicide unit and an inspector, was demoted after he was accused of driving a department vehicle while intoxicated and making offensive comments to subordinates, the suit said. A white lieutenant with a lengthy history of civil rights violations replaced Edwards temporarily when he was demoted, the suit said.

Remington said he has heard complaints from black officers since he took office nearly two years ago. It appears the officers had no other recourse, he said.

"I was fearful of precisely this type of action occurring," Remington said. "I tried to make my colleagues and the mayor aware of these concerns through the public hearing and confirmation process."

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http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/12081986.html

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The USS Hampton appears in an undated photograph.

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(CNN) -- The commander of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Hampton has been relieved of his command amid an inquiry into misconduct by crew members, the U.S. Navy said Friday.

Cmdr. Michael B. Portland lost his post "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the Navy said in a statement. Cmdr. William J. Houston will replace Portland.

The crew neither maintained inspection records nor conducted the required inspection of chemical levels associated with the cooling system of the ship's nuclear reactor, Navy officials said. The crew then went back and falsified existing records to make it appear the work had been done.

"There is not, and never was, any danger to the crew or the public," the Navy said.

Portland's demotion brings to 10 the number of people relieved of duty on the submarine in the wake of the misconduct probe.

Six personnel have been punished for forging inspection records for the cooling system, the Navy officials said Monday. Those six -- one officer and five enlisted personnel -- received a "nonjudicial punishment" after other Navy personnel discovered their actions, the officials said.

The Navy said Friday that one officer and two enlisted crew members have been temporarily reassigned to Submarine Squadron 11. Portland also will be temporarily reassigned to that squadron.

The misconduct was discovered September 17 but not made public until after completion of an initial inquiry.

A fact-finding investigation is under way, and further action against Navy crew members is possible, a Navy official said.

The Hampton remains in port in San Diego, California. In all, the $900 million vessel's crew includes 13 officers and 116 enlisted personnel.

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/26/sub.misconduct/index.html

   I had a dream. A dream of a wood, old beyond imagining, rich with life, thick with deep, heavy fertility, laden with the smells of eternity. The trees were tall; the trees were strong. And they beckoned, though they did not need to move. Their proud straightness alone was a magnetic force. And their silence was a pregnant moment waiting for a voice. And I was drawn toward them.

   How many other travellers had heard this call? How many had become lost in this wood or found a home here? But the silence pressed in tight, and the wood closed around me. And where I had expected to hear the distant conversing of birds and the careless accompaniment of splashing water, there was only the soughing of a dry wind. The soughing of a dry wind through brambles, thick, black, and wicked, clinging closely to the bases of trees, sinking thorns deep into aged bark. And what had been the rich, sticky-sweet smell of life swelling deep in the earth became the cloying scent of decay, of death bursting through the soil in repellent, fungous growths.

   The wood cringed about me, as if each creature in every nest and burrow and cocoon were recoiling from the smell that I had caught. And although the motion subsided quickly, the vision remained with me, like bright flashes in darkness. The wood was steeped with life, saturated with creatures, each cowed, as I was, by the unexpected intimation of doom.

   But the trees were tall and proud. The brambles, though twining vine-like through the limbs, were nothing to the ancient strength of the trees.

   A soft groan touched my ears, the sound of weight shifting, settling. It came from a tree, like many of the others around me, heavy with sigils and signs, carved deep with coats of arms and patents of rectitude. With a dull pop, it sagged against its neighbor, a younger tree, uncarved and unmarked, but no less tall or broad. The young tree bowed, trying to roll with the weight of its older neighbor, but the groan of its bending ascended to the shriek of living wood splintering. The two trees crashed to the forest floor, leaving the final shriek hanging in the air. But while the young tree crashed and splintered bitterly and violently, leaving a quivering stump and savage echoes, the older tree landed with a dull thud, and disintegrated to reveal an interior seething with insects and pungent with dead ichor. Where it had entered the ground, the trunk had pulled free, leaving a shallow, musty wound, where all its roots had long since dissolved in the grey leprous soil that remained.

   And suddenly I saw how many of the dead but still erect trees there were, each sagging against the living one beside them, hanging like a sword above the healthy trees of the forest. These standing dead were holding the living hostage against their pride, their will to outlast their lives. It was then that the silence found a voice, and it was singing a song of death.

   How could no one have seen that the wood had been dying for so long? How many young trees could shrug their way through the dead weight entangling them?

   A shadow passed near me, a force shrouded in blackness, which left a bright flickering behind as it fled. A flickering of fire. Before I could move, the fire leaped to the fallen tree, consuming the crumbling, dry wood, and destroying the insects with pops that merged into a steady sizzle.

   The wood came alive again, with creatures mindlessly fleeing the blaze, but not quickly enough, for the fire leaped ahead of them, tree to tree, bramble to bush, cutting them off, mercilessly devouring them. Leaves ignited on branches in the searing air, and trunks exploded as the sap inside them flashed to steam. Somehow, above the infernal roar, arose another sound, a shrill keening, the combined cries from the throats of a million million incinerated creatures, and the creaking of a million million falling trees.

   After a time, which was forever, or might only have been an instant, the fire was over. Smoke and steam concealed everything, and the sounds were of fading hissing and crackling, and the exhausted groan of great weights shifting one last time to their last resting places. And a wind stirred, but not a dry wind - a fresh wind, which stripped the smoke from the smoldering wreckage and carried away the sounds of ruin.

   The trees that remained stood battered and blistered, but untangled in the sunlight. The brambles were seared away, and the standing dead were ashes. The creatures that returned were the strong and vigorous, the song that they took up was the song beyond the song of death: It was a song of defiance, of renewal. The voice had found the song of life.

   Some things can only be cleansed with fire.

   I had a dream. A dream of fire.

David Nilsen, Survival Margin