What is the Cooperstown Holstein Corp? And What Does It Have to Do With Fracking?

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A lot of people have been talking about the Cooperstown Holsteins Court of Appeals oral arguments today.

From the article:

"Half way through Cooperstown Holsteins’ five-year mineral rights lease, mining — and in particular hydrofracking — became a hot topic. Local residents opposed to fracking have taken up strong opposition to anyone leasing their mineral rights."

"Ironically, the land Cooperstown Holsteins has leased is unsuitable for fracking because the layer of Marcellus shale is too shallow to drill. The next layer is sandstone, which could support conventional drilling, something that has been done for the past 60 years without incident in western New York state. Below the sandstone is the Utica shale, which is unproven."

Cheaper Chinese solar panels are not due to low-cost labor

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the-7-reasons-why-the-solar-revolution-took-offCheaper Chinese solar panels are not due to low-cost labor

"A study of the photovoltaic industries in the US and China shows that China's dominance in solar panel manufacturing is not driven solely by cheaper labor and government support, but by larger-scale manufacturing and resulting supply-chain benefits."

I think in a few years, as solar prices continue to decline, and so does the solid state equipment that ties you into grid, solar panels will eventually become standard equipment on most buildings, just like electrical lights are right now.

Good Morning! Happy Tuesday.

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Tuesday has come back around again. You can already feel the humidity building this morning, and I am sure by afternoon it will be downright oppressive outdoors, at least between the rain storms. Maybe there is an upside to having to be stuck in an office during the summer months.

Already a bit sticky outside and some haze. The forecast suggests by the afternoon, we will have some pretty strong thunderstorms and rain. Always kind of fun watching thunderstorms in the high-rise that I work in downtown.

Not totally sure what my plans for the weekend are, but if it’s warm and sunny, I definitely want to go north. I wouldn’t mind going to Piseco-Powley Road, if I can make it work with my work schedule and being on call all weekend — which is challenge with the poor cellphone service up there.

Other than that, stay cool and enjoy the rest of your day.

Really Not Missing The Morning Route 719 That Much

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For many years now, I’ve ridden the Route 18 bus downtown to work. It’s not a bad experience, although I didn’t care for the service reduction in 2012, that reduced the frequency of buses from every 15 minutes in the morning to every 20 minutes.

Typically I will my apartment at 8:45 AM, and head to catch the bus around 8:52 AM. I actually don’t need that much time going to the bus stop, but I like to be early, as I’m normally running late. The bus then takes about 25 minutes to get downtown, reaching it around 9:15 AM. I usually open up my laptop and blog on the bus most mornings, which makes the time go by fast.

Starting this past February, CDTA started offering later Route 719 service in the morning. It was quite nice being able to catch an “express” bus to work. Not that it actually saved much time — it got my to work at 9:10 AM, and usually was at the bus stop sometime between 8:50 – 8:55 AM.

The thing was, I didn’t really need to get to work earlier. I usually work late and miss my lunch as things get busy, so I really don’t need the extra five minutes at work to make my hours for the day. The earlier bus was also much more inconsistent time wise — sometimes it ran very early, and sometimes very late, due to coming all the way from Altamont.

Theoretically, the bus was calmer and nicer, being almost empty and going for a smooth ride on the freeway. Maybe the Delmar Bypass is more scenic than Delaware Avenue. But if I’m blogging on the bus, do I really look out the window much? Not really.

And the fact is, the later Route 719 almost had no passengers. Many mornings, coming from Altamont, there was nobody on the bus — but it still ran, consuming a gallon of diesel every 4-5 miles, and using an expensive driver and bus that could be better used on a higher traffic route.

So while I somewhat miss the later Route 719 bus in the morning, I’ve kind of made peace with taking the local again. It’s silly for them to run a bus all the way out to Altamont at this late hour, if on many days nobody rides it, and I’m the first passenger.

CDTA_Gillig_Hybrid

Sure, taking the express bus to work is somewhat nicer than riding the local, but running a bus when there are few people on it is pretty wasteful.