Posts Tagged ‘dimethyl ether’

This site is a huge fan of dimethyl ether, or DME, and with all the fuss over solar, wind, and even algae, DME is one option often overlooked.  It's clean burning and has applications from cooking fuel to running buses and trucks.  Renewable energy advocates often overlook DME, a by-product of natural gas production, coal extraction, and biomass production.  While the feedstocks necessary are ubiquitous, DME often is not, except in China.  One company in British Columbia, however, has ambitious plans to market DME, and will be a company to watch for the next several years. (more...)

I’ve already discussed DME (dimethyl ether), as a huge potential fuel source.  Most renewable energy advocates have never heard of it, but there’s vast potential for it.  DME burns cleanly, gives off no particulates, and is readily available since it is a byproduct of coal extraction, natural gas production, and can be poached from biomass.  Some greenies may scorn DME’s source, but realistically, we are using fossil fuels now:  so why not leech what we can from our energy portfolio, maximizing the efficiency of fossil fuels? (more...)

Uruguay is one of my favorite destinations, a country through which I've traveled three times and which I fantasize about visiting again and again.  Many tourists, and Argentines especially, complain about Uruguay and its capital, Montevideo:  it is "boring," with "nothing to do," and to some, even "sad."  I personally love the bohemian feel of its capital, its streets adorned with mighty buildings that surely impressed the many immigrants who arrived 80 years ago.  Many of these buildings, unfortunately, have not been indulged with a coat of paint for decades.  Once buoyed by beef and produce exports, Uruguay has suffered economically and psychologically.  Uruguayans suffered from a brutal dictatorship that from the late 1960s to mid-1980s that turned this once progressive nation into a cruel joke:  at one point, Uruguay had the highest per capital rate of political prisoners in the world.  Democracy eventually returned in the 1990s, with a return to progressive values:  Montevideo has a park celebrating sexual diversity, grants civil unions to gays and lesbians, and its Broad Front keeps reactionary impulses within the country in check.  By the way, Uruguay was the first nation in the world to recognize the Armenian Genocide.  And in sports, Uruguay has won two World Cup championships. (more...)

I have great memories of Sweden.  Well, I’ve only been there once, in 1997, but memories of the long summer nights, beautiful, friendly—and tall—locals, and trains that make Amtrak look like a donkey cart have stuck with me.  Now I have even more reasons for my fascination of Sweden.

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