Everybody wants to lower gas prices. And everybody has an idea of how to do it.

Yesterday I wrote How Not to Lower Gas Prices.

Today…part 2.

A couple in Dartmouth decided they would beat the system by hoarding some gasoline in their apartment.

Fumes ignited from the gasoline that was stored in a utility closet and sent residents from eight units fleeing for their lives.

Firemen were on it, and the sprinklers worked well to extinguish the jugs of gasoline that had been covered with cloth rags.

Are we sure Obama wasn’t talking about people in MA, too?

The whole apartment came dangerously close to a vapor explosion.

It wouldn’t have lowered the gas prices overall, there would just be a few less people lining up at the gas pimps, er, pumps.

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My wife needs one of these things from Strapya and Tokyo Coil Engineering. The companies have come up with a plan to prevent missing phone calls. A solar-charged cell phone strap.

The strap weighs just 40g (1 oz) and is just 12.5cm (5 in) long. Yet it can store up to 40 minutes of call time once fully charged.

Just one problem … it takes 6-10 hours to charge in perfect weather conditions.

The solution…let the strap hang out of your pocket or bag and walk around outside all day. Or, you can just plug the dang thing in every night to keep it charged.

Price - Y1,995 ($20)

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I don’t like high gas prices any more than the next guy or gal. It’s $4.53/gal for the cheap stuff right down the street from my house.

There’s a goof ball lady up the street, relatively speaking, from me who has decided to protest the high gas prices here in California. Protesting is a hobby in these parts.

She decided she would make a statement by trying to set the restrooms of two gas stations on fire. The 64-year old woman told police, “I wanted to take a stand.”

The same woman was spotted at a McDonalds’ carrying eight logs. Presumably she was taking those logs to the restrooms, not bringing them out.

She did not cause damage to the gas stations; just caused a stink.

The grandma told police she woke up that morning and decided to do something about high gas prices.

That’ll do it. Deplete the supply. It lowers gas prices every time.

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DTE Energy left some 135,000 customers without power/service this morning.

That’s good business for the local retail stores.

That’s bad business for the local retail stores.

Home Depot, OSH, Frank & Johnny’s Hardware see a rush on generators when the power goes out.

But, a 90-day no questions asked policy at the biggies like Home Depot, sees customers returning the items after power comes back.

I know of a lot of international students who made annual treks to Wal-Mart to buy and return items because of that companies easy return policy.

So, who pays for these abuses?

Can you say “Honest you and me?”

Have you ever abused a company’s return policy?

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Toot toot!

That would be China blowing its own horn.

China’s agricultural minister is claiming that the Middle Kingdom is a major contributor to world food security for the simple reason that the big Panda feeds one-fourth of the global population.

Yeah, right. China takes care of her own.
Whoopdee doo!

What if every country was satisfied that it were able to just take care of itself? Good enough? I don’t think so.

“We are not causing anybody to care about feeding us” does not make a country a contributor. It just makes that country a non-burden. A contributor is an active participant, no?

Blessed are the peacemakers is what the Good Book says. Not the peace keepers.

Blessed are the contributors, not the well fed.

Are we to say, “Thanks, China. For taking care of yourself?”

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“Cool it!”

If somebody doesn’t tell the Japanese to “Cool it” they won’t.

The hardworking and diligent in the land of the rising sun will don a suit and tie, sweat bullets and otherwise maintain their appearance until the cows come home unless someone tells them it’s okay to do otherwise.

It’s okay!

Japan’s Environment Minister participated in a fashion show at Tokyo’s Midtown.

The emphasis - it’s okay to take your tie off. But keep those coats on, dang it!

It doesn’t matter what the temps go up to, you here!

Gotta love Japan. Gotta love the way they keep up appearances.

Gotta love those products they churn out even more, eh?

Leave it Honda to build an ultra efficient SUV-sized vehicle that can cover 1300 miles between fill ups. It carries 6-8 passengers - 8 Japanese but just 6, sometimes 5 or even 4 Americans.

But it doesn’t come cheaply.

The vehicle costs $1.5 million and the fuel costs are about 80 cents a mile. Comes to about $1000 per fill-up. (These figures may be a bit old…)

The vehicle is Honda’s Hondajet…a super efficient light jet that weighs about the same as an SUV.

And to think, so many people think of Honda as car and motorbike maker.

I wonder if my wife and kids remember this Sunday is Father’s Day.

On my wish list is a HondaJet. Oh, and flying lessons, too. Oh, and can I have a year’s worth of free fill ups, please?

Images by frenchrice

Osaka’s Sharp Corp has a new residential solar cell panel (polycrystaline) that Sharp says has the highest solar-to-electric conversion rate to date. The new environmentally friendly product is called SunVista and will be released on Jun 18th. The addition of a third main electrode instead of the conventional two is the difference.

Sharp’s conversion rate will be 14.4% compared to the until now best 13.7% of Kyocera.Panels will retail for about $460-990. And Sharp wants to sell 17,000 of them each month!

Let’s see, what’s 17,000 x $600-700?

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Not all countries think more biofuels are the answer. At least not yet.

There’s Japan, the United States, Brazil…the major biofuel-producing countries.

The beef, um, corn is that biofuel output is causing food prices to soar. Biofuels are made from corn, sugar cane and other food stuffs.

At the just closed U.N. Food summit Japan argued for promotion of second generation biofuels, those made from nonfood sources like grass. (But, then the cows, horses and such are likely to want some input.)

The final U.N. declaration called for supplying seeds, fertilizers and such to low-income food-deficit countries. The overall goal “to eliminating hunger and to securing food for all, today and tomorrow.”

Here! Here!

In the end, however, lots of doublespeak and vague wording. The importance of ”in-depth studies” and ”international dialogue.” To be sure, while everyone is talking, nothing is being solved.

The next round of hot air blowing (another cause of climate change?) the G-8 meeting in Hokkaido next month.

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A university research team in Japan has developed a new type of green LED that is equally as energy-efficient as the existing LEDs.

What’s different is these new LEDs can be made for one-fourth the cost.

Energy efficient, good for the world and cheap.

The LED uses:

1. cheaper material

2. a relatively simple process of thermal diffusion

3. involves a much lower initial investment in equipment.

Confusion starts here:

Green LEDS are made with gallium phosphide. This costs $500 per 25-gram ingot. The method is known as molecular beam epitaxy. The equipment costs about $3 million.

The new green LEDS use zinc telluride, costs $100/25-gram ingot and the diffusion causing equipment costs half that of MBE.

Simplicity returns.

The goal is to have a commercial version within 2-3 years.

The new green LED will be five to 10 time more energy-efficient as existing products.

The world will be a happier place, IF we are saving energy and money at the same time.

Let’s all say thank you to the Saga University research team in Japan.

“Thank you!!!”

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