Tweening Around the Tworld!

Top Row (L to R): Marc Gold, Mark Moeckel, Terry Harris, Jeb Boyt, Tom Myer
Bottom Row (L to R): Darren Keefe, Jackie O’Keefe, Nada Lulic, Hope Doty

Sarah Eckhardt has agreed to participate in our first Geek Salon. I will invite technologists when we have an agenda. Sarah has left it up to me to pick a theme. Here are some candidates:

• Criteria for choosing electronic voting machines.
• Criteria for supporting telecommuting.
• Criteria for choosing alternative energy technologies.
• Criteria for growing the technology community in Central Texas.

I’ll be calling you for both your opinion and whether you’ll attend a Salon.

Below is my letter opposing the City of Austin’s investment of $2.3 billion in a biomass power plant in Nacogdoches, Texas.

The Austin-American Statesman’s Editorial of Sunday, August 17th provides some context.

__________

Mayor Wynn,

As a former Resource Management Commissioner, I wish to register my objection to our City signing a power purchase agreement to build a biomass plant in Nacogdoches, Texas before the end of August, 2008.

There are two issues that need to be considered before approving this power purchase agreement.

First, it does not appear that competing bids were solicited to build or operate this plant. Other builders of these plants offer lower cost per MWh or lower construction costs. For example, without too much effort on my part, I have found one vendor, American Biorefining and Energy, Inc., who gave me a budgetary quote of $80/MWh. This is significantly below the $131/MWh ($2.3B / (20 yr * 8,760 h/yr * 100 MW)) cost of the proposed power purchase agreement. While many factors go into calculating the cost of a power plant, the $131/MWh price gives me pause. This price exceeds the cost of solar power as determined by Austin Energy’s 2006 Value of Solar Study of $104/MWh. This price was seen as too high in 2006. Yet it is less than the biomass plant’s power prices. While Mr. Duncan justifiably claims that a biomass plant allows Austin Energy to dispatch power to control its costs and improve system reliability, is that feature really worth a $27/MWh premium over the price of solar power and an even higher premium over the price of wind power? I have been told that engineering studies claim that an energy generation system can be reliably operated with less than 30% of non-dispatchable, renewable power. The other generators can provide enough flexibility for reliable operation of the system. Perhaps, because we have less than 30% of our power from non-dispatchable sources, it is too early in our energy mix to pay a $27/MWh premium for a biomass generating plant?

I have found a second vendor, Energy Products of Idaho, who gave me a budgetary quote of $170 M to build 3 33 MW plants or about $1,700 per kW of generation capacity. They expressed to me that the $131/MWh operating expense seemed high to them.

Since no competitive bidding was performed, I am justifiably concerned that we are significantly over paying for this plant. Of course, if we can get a price closer to $80/MWh, most of my objections except the below point are withdrawn.

Second, it is not clear from what I have seen whether we are locking in the price of fuel in this power purchase agreement. Considering the volatility in all fuel prices and the dramatic increase in the price of corn-derived ethanol over the last 2 years, I am concerned that we are exposed to an increase in the cost of fuel. Frankly, as a businessman, I would be very surprised if Nacogdoches Power would provide a 20 year fixed price without a fuel price escape clause. Since our staff believes that a biomass plant is a good idea, will every other power generator in the country jump on this bandwagon too? This would bid up the price of fuel thus driving up the price of our generated power. Since I cannot see the economics behind our purchase agreement, I cannot assess how vulnerable we are to fuel price increases.

Finally, if Council chooses to delay this agreement, I, as a former Resource Management Commissioner, would like to join a task force to examine our biomass and other energy generation options in more detail.

After my “Unity Through BBQ” party for my precinct, Travis County Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt wants to follow up on the idea of creating a “Geek Salon”. She learned that I had brought a group together to try and advise Tim Mahoney, an ACC Trustee. She wants to expand this effort into something more formal. For example, she has a voting machine problem in our county. How and what would unbiased technologists advise Ms. Eckhardt to do?

Geek Salon Principles:

1) These are social gatherings hosted at a citizen’s house addressing issues of community interest. The invited politician is a guest. This is not, as defined by statute, an official public meeting.

2) Participants must not have a direct business interest in the subject of discussion. These are technical discussions. Exploring how technical choices affect policy is a major goal. (This should be a similar process to how technical issues are decided in the Linux community.)

3) There will be one major topic of discussion. This will be published in the email invitation. Only RSVP as attending if you are prepared to discuss this issue.

4) Even though this is not a public meeting, minutes will be taken and published. This ensures the Salon’s independence from financial bias.

5) Attendees are welcome to suggest new topics and participants for future Salons.

It helps if you like BBQ. (For you vegetarians, I make a great smoked portobello mushroom.)

Opera Goers Tailgate Too!
But have cooler cars.
The Santa Fe Opera,
August 12, 2008,
Adrianna Mater.

Breakfast

The old blind dog
with the bad gall bladder
and the diabetes and stones,
who is losing his hearing
and his teeth
thunks the bone
of his tail on the linoluem,
reminding me not to forget him,
reminding me he still
would like the last sweet taste
of my oatmeal and milk,
reminding me that hope
should be the last thing
to go

-Nancy R Wrocklage

Thanks to Cheryl Silver for bringing this poem to our neighborhood’s attention.

More pieces are getting installed. The mid-line of the HDTV is at my eye level. The vertical distance between the camera and the eye mid-line is a problem. To look directly at the person, you need to look at the camera. It feels very unnatural to be looking up while your peer is looking at your throat. Though she is looking at the camera too. Of course, if you look at the screen you aren’t meeting the eye of your peer. I once tried to file a patent on a screen with a hole drilled in the middle to solve this problem. But AT&T already held patents in this area.

Isn’t the Wii cute in its little cubby?