I’m sorry but I haven’t been on here in a bit (as you can see).

Where did I stick that broken link? I don’t see it in this post….

Well it looks like I may have even written that article. Anything you can do to stop the heat loss at night is best (anything is the key word here, little is better than nothing).

North facing windows are a total loss and need to be covered during the winter months (other months they may provide some nice natural lighting without the heat). East and West facing windows give morning and evening relief but would need thermal shutters on timers or light senors for best results. Configured properly, South facing windows will yield solar heat gain during daylight hours on sunny days. A black mass behind them with thermal shutter connected to a light sensor would be a nice solution.

And, yes, I think beaver pelts would work nicely but alas i fear PETA may burn your apartment- a temporary source of energy anyway.

Best regards,

John

I’m trying to convince my female house-mate that we are losing a lot of heat through a large square-footage of windows in relation to the size of our small apartment, and need all the info I can get. Not that I have much chance, for she is blithely unaware of the scientific principle *g*.

But how can she argue with a simple math calculation? (She can, and she will, but I must give it a try.) All I need to do is get the windows sqft., and determine in $$ how much more we’re paying for gas heating to keep a reasonable temp inside for a given temp outside without any barrier at all, and how much we’d save if we covered the windows with brown paper bags. (Or beaver pelts — or ANYTHING AT ALL) *G*.

The plane in this article, Klaus Savier’s airplane, is a modified VariEze. The VariEze is a very old but extraordinarily designed aircraft. The famous aerospace engineer, Burt Rutan, designed the first VariEze in 1975. After about four months of construction time, he created the prototype (the Model 31), registered it with the FAA (number N7EZ) and made its first flight on May 21, 1975 using an old converted Volkswagen engine. Three months later the plane would break a new world record for distance flown in a light aircraft (1638 miles). The pilot of this record breaking flight was Dick Rutan, Burt’s brother, who would later go on to fly another more spectacular world record breaking flight in the Voyager (another Burt Rutan design). In December 1986, the Voyager became the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling.

An improved version of the aircraft, the Rutan Model 61 Long-EZ was created in 1979. Plans for both of the planes were sold from 1976 to 1985. Plans can still be found on E-bay but there are a quite a few “knock-off” designs out there like the Velocity and Cozy that carry on Burt’s design legacy of the original VariEze. Hundreds (if not thousands) of these planes are flying today and many can be bought used or as kits (or partially assembled kits).

More about Burt…
In 2004, Burt went on to design the sub-orbital space-plane SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004. To win the prize, the design had to be the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space and return back to Earth twice within a two week period.

I was lucky enough to meet Burt once at the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) convention at Oshkosh, Wisconsin many years ago. It was a moment in time that I’ll never forget.

John

Suzanne
Stay up-to-date on FAA Regulations

I am so happy for you. I am hopeful that our new President Obama will fund public transportation and new energy sources instead of spending our tax dollars on wars. The new economic stimulus package is supposed to include both light rail transit and high speed rail.

Currently, we have very few trains running passenger service in United States. There’s only one train that runs from Milwaukee to Chicago. It runs on ancient tracks that are probably over 100 years old. The train station in Milwaukee, however, was updated about 35 years ago and is still very nice for its age. I think it would be too much to hope for if they would have little “mini stations” scattered about so that passengers awaiting the next train or connection could attain some level of comfort instead of our current shabby bus stop style “half shelters”. Avoiding hypo or hyperthermia is always nice.

I know what you mean about temperature. Here in Wisconsin we have similar concerns regarding temperature and the weather here can be brutal regardless of the season. Last night it got down to a bone chilling minus 30°Fahrenheit. I have no idea what the wind chill was calculated to be but it felt like it was tearing away at my face.
I am assuming that they will be building the GTA system in phases so I will have to come and visit soon to see how things are going. It is gratifying to see the world moving forward with great rail systems but at the same time it is sad to see that the United States has become a follower and not a leader.

JCE

The concern in Toronto is not grueling summer heat (although we do have that for short periods, with 99% humidity adding a “humidex” to the temperature) but with the kind of hell-frozen-over cold that we have this week. The GTA temperature has plummeted to below zero Fahrenheit range, that is -19 to -25 degrees Celsius, daily since 11 January. Those temperatures negatively affect all types of urban transit.

The GTA also has massive urban sprawl and low urban density, that has stalled subway development: apparently the exact situation that light-rail transit can improve.

I’ll be keeping an eye on Phoenix for reports of the positives and negatives of the LRT there.

Thanks for the comment. TDI’s rule! Yes, I am in the Madison TDI club because I split my time between Madison and Milwaukee about 50/50. I’m running a couple of mods but the rest is pretty stock. A couple of my friends were actually up in Fond Du Lac at that GTG.

I used to get together regularly over at Toppel’s in Lake Mills and the International TDI Club TDI Fest was in Lakes Mills in 2005 (very cool). I haven’t been too active over the past several years due to lots of crap going on (ha-ha). I checked the boards on the TDI club forum once in a while and I post stuff fairly regularly. I’ll get in touch and we’ll have a toast over at the next Drinking Liberally event.

Regards,

JCE

There is no error in my blog. I did not state that aircraft engines could not use ethanol as a fuel, I said that aircraft engines should not use ethanol as a fuel. And, in fact, the engine in your Cessna 172 is prohibited from using ethanol blended fuel if you have either the EAA or Petersen STC. The links that you provided about airplanes using ethanol blended fuel are homebuilt aircraft, they are not commercial Type Certificated aircraft. Homebuilt aircraft do not have a Type Certificate. The owner can specify the type of fuel to be used at the time of building since he is the manufacturer. If he specifies that his airplane can burn ethanol blended fuel, he is free to do so, but he must accept the consequences.