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Tyler has a great heads-up on switchgrass pellets and briquettes. I’ve been following switchgrass stories and really like it as a future energy source. This article involves Cornell’s David Pimentel, a widely known and controversial ethanol critic. But I think we all agree that drying and pressing a plant into pellets is a simpler process than creating and separating ethanol.

One bit of Tyler’s commentary I would answer is this:

I have no doubt it takes less energy to simply compress switchgrass into briquettes and throw them in an oven to heat your house, but it doesn’t do much for the transportation market. Besides, does a bioheat market really have to take away from an ethanol market? If cellulose ethanol, for example, relies on agricultural residues such as cereal straw and corn stover, then this form of biofuel could still be produced for the transportation market alongside other bioheat-type fuels for heating.

If you reallocate your resources it would do a great deal for the transportation market. The Honda GX, a natural gas powered car, is considered by some to be the “greenest car” out there. Many cities in California now run their busses on natural gas. Unfortunately the biggest problem for those green cars and busses is the rising price and looming shortage of natural gas. So, if you can get this biomass working to heat homes, you try to get natural gas users to switch first, and reallocate what would have been their home heating fuel.

The opportunity is to match each fuel with its best use. If natural gas is the second best transportation fuel (after liquids) it’s kind of a shame to use it in so many stationary applications.

(I would have posted this as a comment there, but I think you have to create a user/password …)

Just playing with my camera. Click the image for a larger (800×600) version.

The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

- more here (The article is oddly structured, page 2 has more meat than page 1.)

I see discussions of relative fuel costs “hybrid vs nearest-equivalent” around the web again. One datum that I haven’t addressed in a while is the assumed miles-per-year driven. Maybe I’m thinking about it now because 12,000 is thrown around so often as typical … and I think I’m running at a 20,000 mile-per-year clip, with really just a few road trips. Reading:

EIA Home > Transportation Home Page > Chapter 3. Vehicle-Miles Traveled

I see that there is (of course) a graduation, and the newest cars on the road are driven the most. In 1994, the average new car was driven 14,300 miles. So there’s something that should be changed right off in the new car spreadsheets. Beyond that though, it makes more sense to think about getting one’s house in order … and looking at the impact of fuel economy and gas prices on an entire household. I played with some numbers a few months ago, but I see now:

People in the average U.S. household in 1994 drove their vehicles 21,100 miles, far enough to travel from New York City(3) to San Francisco seven times. That number, however, represents the average of about 85 million U.S. households with vehicles in 1994, and the average masks significant variation. For example, typical householder A, an older person whose children had left home, drove only 8,600 miles in 1994. That same year, people in typical household B, which included teenagers of driving age, drove 29,900 miles. And people in household C, which also included teenagers of driving age and which had an income of $50,000 or more, drove 40,200 miles.

What fun, maybe I can do a table showing gas costs for each household, at various MPGs, and $2.50 a gallon gas price.

I know some families with teens that have all SUVs (the parents have new ones and the kids have hand-me-downs). I wonder if they know what they are spending?

Other than that … I’ll walk to Trader Joe’s today, as I try to get my (supposedly environmental) use pattern back in line with everyone else’s new cars.

Here’s another reason to work at that moderation:

Partisan defenders of irrational positions get rewarded by their brains in the same way drug addicts get rewarded by addictive drugs.

As I was driving east one morning through the town of Junction (after grabbing breakfast at Mingos’ Burritos in Ozona), I noticed smoke trailing from a barbecue pit. I made a note that there was real barbecue to be had here on the way back.

It was pretty good. You can’t quite see in the picture, but they have some outdoor pits and big stacks of firewood. I had brisket and sweet tea one last time before heading back to the land of tofu (not really, California has some great food. The mini-locale near me is best for Vietnamese and Central American food. And there’s much more to find.)

It turns out (as I do a web search now) that Cooper’s is ranked as a Central Texas BBQ Dynasty by my now-favorite guide, the Austin Chronicle.

I’d say try it, if you are hungry and say within 50 or 100 miles of Junction ;-). If I recall correctly, the I-10 exit number is 456.

Cooper’s Pit Bar-B-Q
2423 N. Main,
Junction, TX
(915) 446-8664

I’m going to take the pizza book (Pizza – A Slice of Heaven) back to the library, but before I do I’ll post a public reminder to myself. Three places up in LA:

Antica Pizzeria – owner Pepp Miele is founding father of the VPN movement in America. The VPN is sort of approves pizzas made in the classic Neapolitan manner. They have “rules” ;-), and apperently the rules make pretty good pizza.

Angelini Osteria – Classic pizzas at lunchtime.

Caioti Pizza Cafe – Ed LaDou is the pizza guru who worked at Wolfgang Puck’s and designed the pizzas that were mass-marketed by California Pizza Kitchen. Apparently his Cafe is the real deal, and rises above the mass-produced simulations.

Did I only hit three of the big names while I was in Austin? It seemed like more. I guess my barbecue capacity (even with the mountain biking) was not that high … wait a minute, where’s Southside Market & Bar-B-Cue? It looks like I forgot to take a picture there. I must have been too satiated.

I’ll give some reactions below, but for a much better review, see the Austin Chronicle.

Meyer’s Elgin Smokehouse
188 U.S.290 E., Elgin, 281-3331

The first full day I was in Austin I went for a morning mountain bike ride and then (cleaned up and) went off to Elgin, a little town east of Austin. Elgin has a cluster of famous barbecue joints. Both were bigger and more organized than Opies. They (especially Southside) were built for crowds, but they were a little slow in January. At meyers I had brisket and sausage. The Austin Chronicle says they are famous for their sausage, but the lean brisket here was my favorite overall.

Southside Market & Bar-B-Cue
1212 U.S. 290 E., Elgin, 281-4650

At Southside I just had room for a few pork ribs and crackers … and more sweet tea. I was getting used to the presweetened ice tea in Texas. Out here in California people think tea should be made “tropical” (whatever that means) and with artificial sweeteners. I’m not a good food writer, but what I was getting was an experience of good barbecue – something to shoot for on my Big Green Egg. I’d say after eating ribs at Opies and Southside that my ribs have been getting too much direct heat.

Kreuz Market
619 N. Colorado, Lockhart, 512/398-2361

After another mountain bike ride (and shower) I headed southeast to Lockhart, another barbecue mecca. Kreuz Market is big. They had tables for hundreds, but again January is a nice time to visit. I had their brisket and their barbecued pork chop. At first shot “barbecued pork shop” sounds all wrong. Barbecue is cooked at low temperatures for a longer time, and chops are grilled at a higher temperature. Well, the trick is that they barbecue the whole loin, with ribs on. They don’t cut off a chop until you ask for it. I gotta do that at home. Kreuz is the place where they serve no sauce. They must be tired of telling customers “no sauce, taste the meat” because I heard it quite a few times in the near-empty house. The brisket was less lean than the one at Meyer’s. I think maybe, if I only had time for one meal in the Austin area, this place would be it. Or Meyer’s. Kreuz or Meyer’s …

Black’s Barbecue
215 North Main, Lockhart, 512/398-2712

I was too full to really try out Black’s. I tried reading my book for a while, and walking around town (nice courthouse) … but in the end only tried their sausage and a barbecue turkey sandwich. Both were good … but they deserve a better test.

Ah well, that’s it. My quick review of the Austin Barbecue Meccas I’ve enjoyed. It was all great food, something we can’t get in California given our smog laws (imagine, burning actual wood to cook a meal in a restaurant!) … but rather than something I can describe, it is something to shoot for.

I just found that the EPA has (or is building) a database of real-world mileages for many late-model cars:

Shared MPG Estimates

For the 2005 Prius their results are:

Number of Vehicles: 77
Average User MPG: 47.6
Range: 32 – 61 MPG
Updated On: 01/17/2006

Again, in line with my own mileage.

Interesting that the variation is the key, and not the average. I mean, if someone wanted to make an easy (lazy, dishonest) anti-Prius argument, they’d just cherry-pick from the low end and go with that, right? Kinda like those CBS Jerks (original source the Weekly Standard) did a day or two ago.

Update:

It’s important to remember that hybrid foes often claim that the Prius has a small increase in mileage (real world) over the Toyota Camry. Using this new EPA source, we see that the (2005, 4cyl, auto) Camry gets:

Number of Vehicles: 14
Average User MPG: 27.8
Range: 21 – 35 MPG
Updated On: 01/17/200

Far from being a minor improvement, the average Prius is scoring a 71% increase in mileage over the Camry!

I rode my mountain bike in the Barton Creek Greenbelt on two of the mornings I was in Austin (PDF map available here at the excellent TxInfo site). It’s a little different than California mountain biking. It doesn’t have the real long (or high) climbs, but it is a bit of work up and down along the creek. I was fighting for traction as I sank into river pebbles and fighting for balance through rocky limestone sections.

I left my car in Zilker Park and rode up to the “Hill of Life” for a 14 or 15 mile trip. It’s kind of “out and back” but with enough parallel trails that you make it into more of a loop. Man – some spots at the bottom are rocky. Limestone rocks shaped like fist sized bicuspids point up out of the trail. I beat myself up riding that section a little fast the first day (and I put a ding in my rear rim – I hope to pick up my repaired bike today). I learned as I rode that the trail works its way out to some softer dirt sections. Sometimes when there are parallel trails there are less rocky ones.

A lot of people must damage hardware though, the picture above shows the scrapes on one rock, with my tire for scale.

The second day I did more or less the same ride, but maybe only 12 miles or so. The two trips gave my legs a stretch and got me in the mood for a shower and some more barbecue.

More Barton Creek Photos: One, Two, Three.

There were some nice single-track sections under the trees, but I guess I was having too much fun riding those to stop and take a picture.