edit & updated by Saudi Ali, Wednesday 11.11.2009
Too often in Congress, and in our political debate, people stake out a position and, in the course of defending that position, refuse to credit anything their opponent is saying. We’ve all seen that.
When it comes to passing a clean energy plan for the United States, we need to take a broader, longer look at all of the tools we have at our disposal to accomplish two very important goals: Enhancing national security and reducing our dependency on foreign oil.
Far from being mutually exclusive, these two crucial goals are complementary and should be understood as goals that are beyond partisan politics. They really are crucial for our country’s future, along with the pressing need we also have to spur job growth and get our economy fueled up.
In spite of all the talk about energy independence since the first “energy crisis” in 1973, we are still importing nearly two-thirds of the oil we use in the United States. Why is this a national security problem? Because we are dependent on that oil from many countries and regions that are unstable or unfriendly to the United States.
Month after month, we are spending about $25 billion to buy foreign oil. Over the course of a year, that may add up to $300 billion. That is money that should be circulating through the economy of the United States, instead of the economies of Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela.
To show just how dangerous this situation is becoming, earlier this month CNBC reported that Russia has surpassed Saudi Arabia as “the top crude oil producer in the world, pumping a record 10.01 million barrels of output in September.”
Russia is the largest single supplier of natural gas to much of Europe. Last year, in the dead of winter, in a price dispute with Ukraine, Russia simply turned a valve and shut off supplies to Europe to force the affected countries to bring pressure on Ukraine to settle.
This is where using all the tools in our toolbox comes into play.
One bill making its way through the Senate and the House is the NAT GAS (S.1408) Act, which will help provide tax incentives to change cars and trucks running on imported gasoline and diesel to natural gas.
With recent improvements in the techniques and technology to recover natural gas from the enormous shale deposits under the continental United States, studies indicate we could have natural gas deposits that would last for more than 100 years. This is a sea-change from what we thought our natural gas reserves were prior to being able to utilize these so-called “shale plays.”
Going to domestic natural gas as a principal transportation fuel will also have significant, if not almost immediate, impacts on the U.S. economy. Along with jobs being created in other alternative energy areas, we can produce and/or save thousands of jobs in the supply chain of natural gas vehicles, from the well-head to the manufacturing floor and from sales and distribution to fueling and maintenance.
Seventy percent of the oil we import is used as transportation fuel. We can’t run 18-wheelers on batteries and, while we can and should do more with renewable energy sources like wind and solar, putting fuel in the gas tank is a special challenge. There are over 10 million natural gas vehicles in the world, but only about 130,000 in the United States. Natural gas can be used in virtually any vehicle running on our streets and highways.
Natural gas is cleaner than either oil or coal. In fact, natural gas emits almost 30 percent less carbon dioxide than oil, and just under 45 percent less carbon dioxide than coal. And natural gas produces almost no particulate emissions.
Natural gas can and must be developed in an environmentally responsible way that includes involvement from local communities. But properly developed, it can play a significant role in our energy future.
It is a bridge fuel that can get us to the next era of clean fuels. Natural gas will not last forever, and we will not need to use it forever. But, as a transition fuel, it can help us do our part in cleaning up the planet, it can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and it can provide a real boost for jobs and the economy.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Most commonly traded vehicle
Stats released on Cash for Clunkers program

(11/05/2009) By Saudi Ali - We now know how many vehicles were traded in to Nebraska car dealers under the highly successful Cash for Clunkers program. The U.S. Department of Transportation said 5,100 cars were traded in here in the Cornhusker State.
It totals nearly $21.6 million in rebates.
The most commonly traded in vehicle? The Ford F–150 pickup.
Also, more new Ford F-150s were bought here than any other vehicle in the state.

(11/05/2009) By Saudi Ali - We now know how many vehicles were traded in to Nebraska car dealers under the highly successful Cash for Clunkers program. The U.S. Department of Transportation said 5,100 cars were traded in here in the Cornhusker State.
It totals nearly $21.6 million in rebates.
The most commonly traded in vehicle? The Ford F–150 pickup.
Also, more new Ford F-150s were bought here than any other vehicle in the state.
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Thursday, November 5, 2009
New system allows vehicle GPS to track location while in flight
edited by Saudi Ali, Thursday 5.11.2009
FORT BRAGG, NC: Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 27th Field Artillery (HIMARS), drove their High Mobility Artillery Rocket System out the rear of an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., Oct. 22, with a new advancement that will get them into the fight faster.
The 'Hot Panel' program allows the HIMARS to link into an aircraft's GPS and track itself in the air, anywhere in the world. The advancement will allow Soldiers to switch between a land mode and an air mode so the vehicle tracking system can find its location and its targets rapidly when it exits an airplane.
"It allows you to start up the launcher in flight and roll off the airplane ready to shoot," said Steve Coventry, system and test engineer with Lockheed Martin.
Engineers from Lockheed Martin and Redstone Arsenal, Ala., who are working together on the project, came to Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base to gather data through flight tests using the HIMARS vehicles and a C-17.
Scott Kalfus, Lockheed Martin, missiles and fire control, system and test engineer said all the vibrations from the flight will be recorded on specialized equipment and used to develop the right programming for the HIMARS.
"The tests will allow us to correlate the maneuvers to the data the machines are collecting," Kalfus said.
The flight plan included take off, ground fire avoidance measures, approach and landing. They engineers working on the project also implemented a program that will sense movement and switch the navigational unit between air mode and land mode.
The flights were used to verify the data from previous flights and to confirm the changes already implemented were working correctly.
"We had to make changes in the position navigation unit," Coventry said. "It's designed for ground vehicles. We had to make several changes to the software to handle the greatly increased speeds of a C-17 and make allowances for avoidance maneuvers. It's very stressful on the navigation unit to maintain accuracy during flight."
"We did flight tests before and collected data," he continued. "We made changes to the software. Now we're going to test those changes. The fire control system had to tell the navigation unit to go into air mode. The computer had to tell it there are no odometer inputs. It has to go strictly off the inertial movement unit and the GPS."
According to James Cyr, precision fires project office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., the data collected from this round of test flights will be computed and used to develop the final version of the software due out in 2011.
The plan is to make the system as simple as possible for Soldiers to allow them to get into the fight quicker.
"We want this to be as user friendly as possible, so we want to make it as automatic as we can," Coventry added. "We have to provide a link between the GPS in the aircraft and the launcher. Right now it is a physical connection. In the future it will be a wireless connection. GPS will broadcast inside the aircraft. "
(Staff Sgt. Jacob A. McDonald serves with 18th Fires Brigade Public Affairs.)
FORT BRAGG, NC: Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 27th Field Artillery (HIMARS), drove their High Mobility Artillery Rocket System out the rear of an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., Oct. 22, with a new advancement that will get them into the fight faster.
The 'Hot Panel' program allows the HIMARS to link into an aircraft's GPS and track itself in the air, anywhere in the world. The advancement will allow Soldiers to switch between a land mode and an air mode so the vehicle tracking system can find its location and its targets rapidly when it exits an airplane.
"It allows you to start up the launcher in flight and roll off the airplane ready to shoot," said Steve Coventry, system and test engineer with Lockheed Martin.
Engineers from Lockheed Martin and Redstone Arsenal, Ala., who are working together on the project, came to Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base to gather data through flight tests using the HIMARS vehicles and a C-17.
Scott Kalfus, Lockheed Martin, missiles and fire control, system and test engineer said all the vibrations from the flight will be recorded on specialized equipment and used to develop the right programming for the HIMARS.
"The tests will allow us to correlate the maneuvers to the data the machines are collecting," Kalfus said.
The flight plan included take off, ground fire avoidance measures, approach and landing. They engineers working on the project also implemented a program that will sense movement and switch the navigational unit between air mode and land mode.
The flights were used to verify the data from previous flights and to confirm the changes already implemented were working correctly.
"We had to make changes in the position navigation unit," Coventry said. "It's designed for ground vehicles. We had to make several changes to the software to handle the greatly increased speeds of a C-17 and make allowances for avoidance maneuvers. It's very stressful on the navigation unit to maintain accuracy during flight."
"We did flight tests before and collected data," he continued. "We made changes to the software. Now we're going to test those changes. The fire control system had to tell the navigation unit to go into air mode. The computer had to tell it there are no odometer inputs. It has to go strictly off the inertial movement unit and the GPS."
According to James Cyr, precision fires project office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., the data collected from this round of test flights will be computed and used to develop the final version of the software due out in 2011.
The plan is to make the system as simple as possible for Soldiers to allow them to get into the fight quicker.
"We want this to be as user friendly as possible, so we want to make it as automatic as we can," Coventry added. "We have to provide a link between the GPS in the aircraft and the launcher. Right now it is a physical connection. In the future it will be a wireless connection. GPS will broadcast inside the aircraft. "
(Staff Sgt. Jacob A. McDonald serves with 18th Fires Brigade Public Affairs.)
More from American Forces Press Service
- US-Indian Armies Wrap Up Historic Exercise - October 28th, 2009
- Agencies Work to Field, Support M-ATVs - October 20th, 2009
- Solar Array Saves Air Force Energy, Money - October 13th, 2009
More in Defense Technology News
- Radar Still a Lucrative Market, Despite Economic Woes - November 5th, 2009
- Army Develops ‘Ghost’ Imaging to Aid on Battlefield - November 5th, 2009
- China's military making strides in space - November 4th, 2009
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Japanese world of motoring design
Top 10: most reliable Japanese cars
edited by Saudi Ali 3.11.2009

© Mazda
Japanese manufacturers have for decades exerted considerable clout with their ability to bolt together a good, reliable car that won't leave you stranded on the hard shoulder; with Warranty Direct's help we've established 10 of the most dependable motors produced by this powerhouse manufacturing nation - the best of the best in the reliability stakes.
We've access to Warranty Direct's database of over 150,000 vehicles, and by using its Reliability Index (RI) calculation, which applies a formula to measure overall reliability by studying a car's rate of failure, average mileage, age and repair cost, pinpointing the best performers, we've established the top 10 most reliable Japanese cars.
Europe's best-selling cars
Get a car warranty from £15 a month
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