Industrialized Cyclist Notepad

“Oil shale” is not oil. It’s more like coal. And oil shale is not shale oil. It’s more like snake oil.

In order to commercially convert the oil shale into oil, a more energy efficient method of producing it must be found (or, one would have to have extremely cheap energy and abundant water supplies to drive the process). I have heard from multiple industry sources that the energy return for producing oil from oil shale is around 4 to 1 (lower than for oil sands production), and that is before refining the oil to finished products. At this sort of energy return, oil sands will continue to be a more economical heavy oil option.

Thus, my prediction is that despite having an oil shale resource that may indeed be far greater than the oil resources of Saudi Arabia (I don’t think I have seen an estimate of Saudi’s total oil resources), the reserve will continue to be close to zero for the foreseeable future because there are still many technical hurdles to overcome to realize a scalable, commercially viable process.

Finally, I would say that if a commercially viable process for shale oil production from the Green River formation is developed, the environmental blowback will be enormous. The production of shale oil is more energy intensive (i.e., has higher carbon emissions) than for the oil sands, it has a high water requirement in a dry climate, and it is potentially a huge new source of carbon dioxide emissions.  …

via The Oil Drum | Does the U.S. Really Have More Oil than Saudi Arabia?.

Has classic potential.. Golden – Boulder – Ned – Lyons – Lee Hill – Boulder – Flagstaff. Might be worth turnin’ on the ol’ telly there for the final five miles.

…After the sprint points have been awarded, the route will head up Boulder Canyon along CO 119 towards Nederland and the day’s first King of the Mountains (KOM) competition. Joining the cycling fans in this small mountain town will be the 14th Annual Nedfest, a music, arts and microbrew festival. Riders will continue climbing as they are faced with ascents exceeding 9,300 ft. on the incredible Peak to Peak Highway before a long and fast descent into the town of Lyons, where they will encounter another sprint line.

Classic local climbs up Lefthand Canyon and Lee Hill Rd. present the next set of challenges for the riders before they return for one final pass through downtown Boulder. In a dramatic race to the finish, the riders will head up “The Hill” to Flagstaff Mountain where a 3.5-mile vertical race to the finish line at Sunrise Amphitheater will commence.

via USA Pro Cycling Challenge Reveals Stage 6 Route | USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

God I love this. I hereby coopter the name Tacocopter for the band that I now have to start just to call it Tacocopter.

Indeed, the concept behind Tacocopter is very simple, and very American: You order tacos on your smartphone and also beam in your GPS location information. Your order — and your location — are transmitted to an unmanned drone helicopter (grounded, near the kitchen where the tacos are made), and the tacocopter is then sent out with your food to find you and deliver your tacos to wherever you’re standing.

via Tacocopter Aims To Deliver Tacos Using Unmanned Drone Helicopters.

And these drones can’t carry much weight if any, so tacos will be delivered one ingredient at a time until further notice.