[Guest]

Actually, the home of tree-huggers in Canada (that's BC unless you live near King City in Ontario.... GD&R) had an interesting news item that was floating around in the Sympatico website.

Apparently, after years and years of ahving to have their used cooking oils disposed of, the same fast-fry joints are now getting PAID for their old cooking oil.

Very simple filtering process, the addition of some not-so-toxic ingredients and you have biodiesel ready to go into the tanks of buses and transport trucks all over the lower mainland.

Before everyone starts moaning, here's a factoid on diesel fuels from personal experience. Three summers ago, I wound up getting a major upgrade on my rental car in England (car requeqested was returned over-mileage for the lease, so got a double-upgrade -- paid for sub-compact drove around in a brand new SAAB 95 for two weeks).

Downside of the car was that I got a diesel. "So what if it rattles in the morning..." was my comment before I got the lecture on making sure that I didn't fuel it with gasoline or farm-grade fuels, "City Diesel".

First fill-up had me smiling (even at 85 pence a litre at $2.50 for a pound) -- trip computer flipped up to 1000 kilometers on a 48-litre filleup with the same engine size as my 2001 Volvo V40 (2.2L Turbo).

Lessee, that makes my weekly commute (100km round trip at 10L/100KM) price out to $32 per week rather than the $60+ that I'm shelling out.

THat's a annual saving of $1600 based on $1.32 a litre, That almost pays for the conversion of my Volvo to using a Volkswagon Jetta diesel.

I'm saving gas, carbon footprint, amd have more money to put into my hobby.


WQhat could be better than that.

Oh yes, I also got my new (as if I wanted it) web-enabled power meter. NOw to get the power company to cough up the connection so I can see when and where my basic power-slurps occur. Does make comparing power consumption with my next-door neighbour a breeze -- digital meters have these nice big digits. After one month, I've used twice as much power as she has.

Must be all that running my computer for downloading anime torrents, working from home, buying and selling on eBay and making snappy rejoinders on RC Canada....

[truman]

how about we be friends and I will give you a good tow to altitude with my gasser then you can glide all day. kind of like carpooling two flights for the price of one.

[Ken Currell]

Maybe fly a HOT AIR balloon.

There's lots of it.

Originally Posted by homme de fer

I'll second that!

That was great.

Marc

P.S. Unless Fledge has been living under a rock, he should know that EVERYTHING causes cancer these days. Ironically, our lifespan continues to lengthen despite that.

ah! I third that,,,what a classic

its amazing how i can post one short sentence and get 36 replies of nothing but grumbling ,,lol us glider pilots are eazily amused or so i have been told ...lol fledge

[marcfern]

Great topic, I'd like to see more on this topic, being in the environmental field myself and enjoying the hobby - electric planes and gliders (guess which came first!)....I think that we should use the auspices of our R/C clubs to better the hobby's potentially negative environmental impacts considering that it is a luxury not unlike golf.

So far I have tried to reuse all my scraps, etc to build with (minimize waste), use RC forums to sell or give away unneeded items (reuse), and locate E-waste depots in my town to bring non-functioning electronic components and batteries (recycle), also buying a good charger to maximize battery life (notice a trend here...somethings that are good for the environment are also good for the pocket book!). Finally, to minimize use of my car, I have always tried to fly locally with small electrics or gliders in a nearby park, being observent never to fly over people (I like to get up early to avoid crowds and winds!).

Jokes about environmentalism, etc are NOT really that funny guys...we've all heard them, taking this subject seriously doesn't mean that our hobby will be banned, we may just have to make some minor improvements in how we do things and change some old bad habits.

[benjhind]

For what its worth, I work in the environmental field too, ride my bike to work, and try to do my part for the environment.

I take jokes about the environment all the time from friends and family. I honestly couldn't care less. The day society loses its sense of humour is the day I run off and live in the woods, like my family and friends think I will

Just my two cents. Maybe one and a half