Monday, May 4, 2009

Going Green While Saving Money

One of the biggest problems facing our planet is the loss of all fossil fuel reserves. One of the ways we are moving forward to combat this issue is through the use of hybrid cars. Hybrids not only help slow down the consumption of fossil fuels but also are cleaner and are better for the environment.

“Hybrid cars are the future, utilizing the newest technology,” said Toyota salesman Glenn Buehl. “It’s very sporty and fun to drive.”

Hybrid cars have 80% to 90% fewer emissions than the average vehicle, which means they release far fewer amounts of harmful carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the average vehicle on the road today. This is one of the ways customers can “go green” and help their environment, while saving money at the gas pumps.

According to Buehl, a hybrid car works by utilizing a regular gas engine along with an electric engine. The two engines work together to save on MPG (miles per gallon) and to power the hybrid just like a normal car.

Here is a video looking at the hybrid car model:



The most successful hybrid to date has been the Toyota Prius which owns almost 80% of the Hybrid market. The Prius has won numerous awards, including winning for 7 straight years Best Overall Value of the Year Award. The Prius also won Motor Trends 2004 Car of the Year. ofr more information on Toyota Prius, check out this site.

New Hybrid models are coming out every year and the newest to hit the market is the 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid. This model has just been released to the market within the last month. The Milan Hybrid has some special new features like BLIS (Blind Spot Info System) with Cross Traffic Alert.


(2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid)

The car uses radar sensors to warn the driver if there is a car in your blind spot, if you want to change lanes. A yellow light appears in the side mirrors to let the driver know that a car is there. This is just one of the many new features found in the Milan. For more information on the Milan Hybrid check out this website.

There are other ways to save money on alternative fuels then just hybrids. There are electric cars, cars that run on vegetable oil, cars that run on hydrogen, and natural gas vehicles. To learn about how each of these types work check out How Stuff Works, which gets into more detail about each one.

For more information on Alternative Fuels check out this website for more information.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

"Going Green with Grease"

This past summer when the gas prices got to be $5 a gallon many people started looking for different ways to save money on gas. One of the alternatives people found was to turn to vegetable oil.
“My mom has been running her car on vegetable oil for over two years now,” said Samantha Escobar, daughter of a “veggie” car owner.

History:
While in college Justin Carven, the owner and founder of Greasecar, and some college friends took an old diesel tractor and converted it to run on vegetable oil. They did this while still in school in 1996. However Carven had bigger plans, he wanted to be able to convert cars people use every day and have them run on vegetable oil.

In order to get vehicles to run on the vegetable oil, Carven had to design a way to get them to run in cooler temperatures, even on a warm spring day the system would not work. After plenty of tinkering and different plans, Carven came up with a design that worked.

“The first Greasecar fuel tank was a half-gallon steel rectangle with a copper coil soldered inside. Brass fittings on the outside allowed for connection to the coolant circuit.”

This allowed the vegetable oil to be heated before it entered the engine making it flow easily. Carven was not finished making his product better and added a purge system allowing the engine to shut down in only 30 seconds. Before this the engine had to run to clean out all the vegetable oil within the pipes. This process used to take ten minutes.

The reason why the vegetable oil craze never caught on until a few years ago was because pure vegetable oil was more expensive then gas. In 1999 diesel was $1 per gallon while fresh vegetable oil was $3 per gallon. The price was high because the government uses subsidies, to keep the prices high to protect American farmers. However that all changed when the gas prices started to rise.

Success:
Then the idea took off and the phones started ringing off the hook with people looking to buy the Greasecar kit. “People were looking for something green for their everyday lives,” said Lester Gasiewski an employee with Greasecar.

Demand was so high a few years ago that Greasecar has had to find a bigger building in order to have enough space to make all of their orders. They are currently in a 4000-square-foot building at the Paragon Arts and Industry Building in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Greasecar currently has 14 employees, which allows them to process orders quickly and with great customer service.

One of the cheapest ways to get the vegetable oil is to go to restaurants and ask them for their used grease oil that comes from their deep fryers. This is a waste product that restaurants have to pay to get ride of. So many restaurants are willing to give it away for free.

Even though the car is being run on used vegetable oil, Escobar says, “There is no smell.” The “going green” movement has picked up steam over the last couple years and Greasecar’s products fit right into that movement.

“They have less emissions (then a gas car), it is using a waste product (grease), and helps save money on fuel,” said Gasiewski, on some of the reasons why people buy their product. Here is a link to Greasecar.com.

How it works:
According to their website the Greasecar system works by utilizing a two tank fuel system. The vehicles existing diesel tank and filter will supply diesel fuel to the engine at start up and shut down. After start up radiator fluid will transfer heat from the engine to the heat exchangers in the Greasecar fuel system.

These heat exchangers will heat the vegetable oil in the fuel filter, lines and fuel tank. The heat will reduce the viscosity of vegetable oil so that it is similar to diesel and can be injected into the engine properly. When the vehicle is being shut down for a period long enough for the fuel to cool the vegetable oil must be purged from the fuel system and replaced with diesel for the next start up.

This may seem like it is really complicated and could cause problems with your car but Gasiewski says, “As long as it is used properly there should be no problems.”

Drawbacks:
There are some drawbacks to using vegetable oil and purchasing the kit. These kits only work with diesel engines, not regular gas engines. “You still have to buy some gas but it’s not as much as other people driving,” says Escobar. Some of the older kits that customers bought have a major problem in the winter, especially in New England.

“You cannot use vegetable oil in the winter because it freezes so you have to use diesel,” says Escobar about her mom’s car, which has been running on vegetable oil for two years now. The newest kits being provided by Greasecar have overcome this problem and now can work in the winter.
“The whole system is heated except for the valves witch can withstand very cold temperatures,” said Gasiewski.

“You still have to buy some gas,” said Escobar, “but it’s not as much as other people driving.”

Another problem with vegetable oil as a viable fuel source is that there is no infrastructure in place. Meaning there are not gas stations set up that give out vegetable oil. The people who get the grease from restaurants go out and do it on their own. Here is a link to an article that discusses this problem.

Customers:
Other small business’s have purchased the Greasecar kits and installed them in their vehicles. One example is Chunky’s Cinema Pub which converted their 2002 Dodge Ram into a vegetable vehicle. One side of the truck shows customers watching a movie at Chunky's while french fries are blowing from a guest’s plate into the gas tank.

The company has grown significantly over the years, from a school project into a successful business. “Last year was the best year because of high gas prices and solid customer base,” said Gasiewski. Even with gas prices coming back down Greasecar has not seen a big drop in sales. “A little, it’s defiantly not a problem,” continues Gasiewski. “People are saving (money) after the initial investment.”

With the growing fuel problem that is facing our planet Greasecar is offering an alternative fuel that helps reduce carbon emissions and saves on fuel consumption. However by adding this system it does not change the performance of the car.

“I would love to own a car like my mom’s,” said Escobar. “It’s really reasonable and it doesn't drive differently it’s just like a regular car but it runs on vegetable oil.”

Here is a video done by Mythbusters looking at the use of vegetable oil.

Monday, March 16, 2009

How to find a new movie?

Step 1: Go to this website to look at the different movie genres and movies in those categories. This will help you to decide what movie genre you would like to watch.
Adventure Crime/Gangster Musicals
Step 2: Then go to one of the numerous websites that shows movie trailers to look at them and see what movies look interesting to you. Check out IMBD for high definition trailers of movies that are in the theaters and upcoming releases.


Step 3: Once you have found a movie that you would like to see and would like to see what critics think of the movie check out one of these sites: metacritic.com or rottentomatoes.com


Step 4: Then after you have found a movie that interests you and it is in theaters then go online and find the closest movie theater to you. a good site to use is yellowbook or mapquest which will also give you directions.


Step 5: Once you have found a movie theater then either call for show times or check it out at the theaters home page online.


Step 6: While on the website or while calling the theater look to see if they have any bargain days in order to save some money.









Step 7: Pick a day and time during the week when you are available and ask some friends or family if they would be interested in joining you on your trip to the movies.


Step 8: Now go to the movies and get your ticket and possibly some popcorn and soda so you can enjoy the movie experience.
Step 9: It is good to get to the theaters early so that you can see the movie previews before the feature in case you see something that catches your eye. This way you can have an idea of what movie you would like to see next time.


Step 10: Lastly and most importantly sit back and relax and enjoy the show.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

2009 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournment


So the selection process is over and 65 teams in college basketball have the opportunity to become the Nation's Best. It was very surprising that the Big East Conference got three of the four #1 seeds in the tournament. Louisville, Pittsburgh, and UConn along with North Carolina all got the top spots. With no clear cut best team this tournament may be one of the more interesting and exciting ever. Over the next two and a half weeks 64 teams will be eliminated and one team will stand above the rest, to cut down the net in victory. Here is a link to a full recap of the teams selected to this years tournament.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Box Office Results: February 27–March 1, 2009


Over the weekend the top seller at the box office was "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail," which made $16.5 million. This was a bit of a surprise since it beat out the "Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience" which opened this weekend at #2 and made $12.7 million. After winning numerous awards, including Best Picture, at the Oscars last weekend "Slumdog Millionaire" jumped from 5th to 3rd, and made $12.1 million. The film has been out for 16 weeks and is has made $115 million total. The movie "Taken" was #4 and made a little under $10 million. Also opening this week was "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" which made $4.6 million. Here is a link to the full results.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Books into Movies


One method that movie producers use to help them make a successful movie is to take a book and turn it into a movie. By doing this a movie that is an adaptation of a book has a built in audiance because sometimes someone who read the book might want to see the movie version. In the next few months there are several movies like Angles and Demons and Harry Potter are coming out that are film adaptations of novels. The films do not always do better then the novel version but sometimes they can come very close like Jaws, Godfather, and Charlotte’s Web. Here is a link to a site that ranks the best film adaptations.
There is one author whose novels should be turned into a moive and that is James Rollins. All of his books have the potential to be made into very successful films and there is even the possibility of a series, since some of the books are linked. Link to his site. The first novel that should be turned into a movie is Amazonia. This would be a great action adventure story with a touch of fantasy. It would make an extremely interesting movie, if done correctly. Here is the synopsis on the back of the book:
“The Rand scientific expedition entered the lush wilderness of the Amazon and never returned. Years later, one of its members has stumbled out of the world’s most inhospitable rainforest a former Special Forces soldier, scarred, mutilated, terrified, and mere hours from death, who went in with one arm missing and came out with both intact. Unable to comprehend this inexplicable event, the government sends Nathan Rand into this impenetrable secret world of undreamed-of perils, to follow the trail of his vanished father . . . toward mysteries that must be solved at any cost. But the nightmare that is awaiting Nate and his team of scientists and seasoned U.S. Rangers dwarfs any danger they anticipated; an ancient, unspoken terror, a power beyond human imagining, that can forever alter the world.”

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Seth Rogen's New Movie


Seth Rogen has become extremely successful over the last couple of years starring in and writing movies like Knocked Up, Superbad, Pineapple Express, and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. He also provided a voice for the upcoming animated film Monsters vs Aliens. Now he is going to star in an movie called Observe and Report. Rogen plays a bi-polar mall security cop who takes his job very seriously, ruling the mall with an iron fist. The movie is set for release in April, 2009. For more information check out the movie's homepage.