Youngstown State’s Josh Tanner


If you want all the data, starting lineups, stats, returning starters, etc. I recommend reading this entry from Bucknuts. For the sake of not repeating the excellent work there, I’ll just provide my opinion of what to expect on Saturday.

Everything I’ve read about this game leads me to conclude that everyone thinks Ohio State will win this game in a cake walk. I say “not so fast my friend…” Youngstown State is in a lower division of college football, the Football Championship Section (FCS or, to those of us who haven’t adopted the new terminology, Division I-AA.) But, YSU is coming off consecutive conference championships and a deep run into the playoffs last year. The Penguins are coached by Jon Heacock, the successor to current Buckeye head coach Jim Tressel and younger brother of OSU’s Defensive Coordinator Jim Heacock.

The Bucks are going to face a disciplined, jacked up team ready to rumble and with nothing to lose. You might remember some 8 months ago the Bucks took the field against a team that everyone presumed they would beat too – that didn’t turn out so well. Now, do I think the Buckeyes have more talent than the Penguins? Yes. Do I think that the Bucks will look sharp in the opener? Nope. That being said, I see a much closer and tougher game than many are predicting.

The main difference in the Division I schools like OSU and I-AA like YSU is depth. Over the course of the game, this will be the difference. How it will go, I believe that YSU will score 4 times, likely 3 field goals and one touchdown. That yields a score of 16 for the Penguins assuming they kick the PAT rather than attempt a 2pt conversion. So it could be 15 or 17 points with that decision. I expect the first half to be pretty darned close and will cause Buckeye fans a little heartburn.

On the Buckeye front, I see 7 scores, I’ll say 3 field goals and 4 touchdowns. One of those touchdowns will be defense or special teams related. Why do I think this? It’s going to take some time for the offense to get synchronized, the defense will play well, but not perfectly as the defensive line learns on the job. Let’s call the Buckeye point total 37, but I expect most of that scoring to occur in the second half. Now, I would love to be wrong and have both the team show up sharp and ready to go, but I just don’t believe they’ll be ready (not for lack of preparation or effort – it’s just experience.)

Given that the Bucks are installed as 31 point favorites right now, I’d take the underdog and expect a 37-16 Buckeye win that feels closer than the final score might indicate. We’ll check back after the game to see how wrong this prediction was!

Given the popularity of yesterday’s entry on compact fluorescent light bulbs and their impact, I though I would share this. It was a co-winner in the Good 50 x 70 environmental poster contest recently. I thought it was very clever.

Credit: Samantha Kocking

Click image to enlarge


This graph is a combination of multiple polls from November, 2004 to July, 2007. If you’re curious why so many people are dropping out of the Bush Administration now, you’ve got your answer. The ship is sinking and fast. The September report on “the surge” should just about do it. What the heck is Congress waiting for? The time to act is now…

Originally published at Montara Energy Ventures.

Olkaria II Plant


Electricity generator KenGen yesterday signed a contract with Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the construction of a 35 megawatts geothermal power plant at Olkaria II. Installation of a third machine at the power station, which was commissioned four year ago, will boost the country’s geothermal production from 130 MW to 165 MW.

Kenya’s current geothermal capacity comprises KenGen Olkaria I (45MW), Olkaria II (70MW , Orpower (13MW), Oserian Development Company (2MW). However potential exists for up to 2,000 MW of geothermal energy in the Kenyan Rift Valley. Two months ago KenGen and Great Wall Drilling Company (GWDC) of China began drilling geothermal wells, setting the stage for development of another 70 MW at Olkaria IV.

The Olkaria II plant will be funded by KenGen (Sh2.9 billion), the International Development Association (Sh1.5 billion) and the French arm for international development (Sh1.7 billion). As a clean energy, the geothermal expansion project has qualified for carbon credits of about Sh800 million under the World Bank sponsored Clean Development Mechanism programme. The plant is scheduled to go online in 2009.

Kenya is grappling with the challenge of providing power to a resurgent economy that saw peak demand in the first six months of this year jump from 980 megawatts (MW) to 1,082 MW against a national electricity generation capacity of 1,045 MW. This peak demand exceeds capacity by about 4% and could serve as a governor to future economic development.

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I just picked up a cool $500, $516 to be exact. Here’s the best part, I expect I’ll get that same $516 each year until 2013 or $3612. What did I have to do to earn this money? I invested $332 and 3 hours of my time doing something that nearly anyone can do, no special knowledge skills or abilities required. Too good to be true you say? Check it out:

Behold the compact fluorescent light bulb! In June, I took an inventory of the lighting in our household. I was shocked to discover that we had 95 individual light bulbs. 95! Of those 95 bulbs, 83 were candidates for replacement of incandescent with compact fluorescent. When the inventory was taken, not only did I note the type of bulb but also the wattage. A quick trip to Costco later, I set about replacing those 83 bulbs in the course of an hour. Total time invested (including travel and shopping time at Costco) – three hours.

I was able to look at my utility bill and compare it with the same time period last year and with the period this year prior to replacement and the difference was dramatic in electricity billing: August 2006 my electricity bill was $176 and in August 2007 it was $132, a difference of $43 per month. If the last complete billing period without the CFLs is compared to August 2006, it’s a little more. My May 2007 bill was $178 (I replaced the bulbs in June and got some benefit in the month, but I don’t remember the exact date – so May is the first apples to apples comparison and we were on vacation in July, so that’s not a great comparator either.)

I’ve seen many claims about CFLs, but here is cold, hard data. I think it’s understated because it’s summer time and we’re not using the lights as much as we do in the winter months, I’ll keep an eye on that comparison for December through March and will report back. But there are some other benefits I expect as well.

CFLs last 13 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. If that is the case (and we won’t know for some time) then I expect that I’ll realize another $475 on light bulb purchases over the next 7 years, meaning the total benefit is now over $4,000.

And, since we’re using less power, I expect there is an environmental benefit too. Based on actual consumption differences, we’re saving around 200 kwh/month which equates to 16.8 megawatt hours over the next seven years. That means we’ll reduce our carbon dioxide footprint by about 8 tons and our NOX/SOX emissions by about 100 pounds.

Will you get the same benefits I’m seeing? Well your mileage will vary. From what I can uncover, the average US household has 53 light bulbs. If you replace 45 of them, you’ll get a pretty good benefit. Where else can you save big hunks of money and have a positive impact on the environment so easily and cheaply?

Small update: if you’re thinking about mercury issues, please read the comment trail. Also, please feel free to comment, I do moderate (but to control spam, not content.)

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