Category: General Article

GM’s Bare Necessity Truck Concept – The Future of Trucks? Fuel Economy Trends in the Truck Industry

There may be a new “green” truck hitting the market in the future – albeit not the immediate future – and it’s got a new twist to the economical initiatives we’ve been seeing from the auto industry. GM’s Bare Necessity Truck concept is a pickup truck with the idea of stripping out all of the unnecessary features that make trucks inefficient for many uses, but still providing all the features that truck owners need. Here’s the general idea: It’s a smaller truck, with a hybrid gas electric engine (not unlike many other vehicles out there). The real difference come in the bed length vs. cab room debate – this truck will have a reversible bulkhead that flips 180 degrees, allowing a shift of 2 feet of space either to the cab or to the bed, depending on the need at the time.

The initial response about this truck has been mostly positive, as most people want to get behind an idea that will be more efficient, economical and environmentally friendly. But is this the right truck for enough people to make a difference? Some of the questions: What if you need bed space and cab space at the same time? Will it have enough hauling and towing capacity? How much will it cost? How do I fit a tonneau cover on it?

Nationwide, gas prices have increased an average of $0.16 a gallon over the last two weeks, to $2.77 for midgrade gas. While this is still considerably lower than the $3.97 average at this time last year, it has spurred a renewed interest in gas savings opportunities, particularly among truck and SUV owners.

One popular option for increased fuel economy has been purchasing a hybrid gas/electric vehicle – and while small hybrid vehicles, and even SUVs, have been around for years now, auto manufacturers are now finally producing full-sized hybrid trucks. Available from GM is the Chevy Silverado Hybrid and the GMC Sierra Hybrid, and in 2010 the Dodge Ram Hybrid will hit the market, so GM’s Bare Necessity concept isn’t breaking new ground in that area. The trouble with hybrid vehicles is that they while improving fuel economy up to 25%, the cost of these vehicles can be he neighborhood $10,000 or more greater than the price of a non-hybrid model. This price premium generally more than offsets any savings from decreased fuel costs for many years of owning the vehicle.

So where do we turn for some fuel savings, if we need a truck and don’t want to shell out $10,000 extra for a hybrid? Well, a simple answer is to get a performance tuner. Your truck’s own engine can see increased performance and gas savings at the same time, just by programming it to perform in whatever way suits your driving needs rather than the default factory programming. Brands like Hypertech have models, such as the Max Energy E-Con, …

Storing Your Pressure Washer With Regular Shamrock Gas For Winter

Winter storage for all of your gasoline or diesel engine equipment is the focus of this article. I don’t know about everyone else, but I personally have more equipment with small engines than I first realized. After thinking about it a little I soon realized there was more stuff around here than meets the Eye. Lets see here now. Well there’s the emergency generator, the compressor, the pressure washer, the tiller, the push lawn mower, the riding mower, the four wheeler,and the chain saw.

These items, or pieces of equipment are all going to need some attention. Nothing serious but, important, never the less. The problem with all these small engine equipped life savers is the fact that you didn’t realize how many you really owned and now you’ve got to weatherize all of them.

Not to fear its nothing complicated. Nothing you can’t handle. Anyone with a little common sense can handle the task at hand. A little common sense, and 30 or 40 minutes and you will be prepared for mother natures worst case scenario.

To explain this in the most simplest terms. The reason we must prepare the equipment for winter is because the fuel will go bad, and when it goes bad it is going bad in the carburetor or throttle body, fuel tank, fuel lines, fuel filter, fuel pump and all through the fuel system. This gasoline turns to a thick varnish smelling residue, if left too long.

The way most manufactures are recommending, is to put in an additive. This additive is made especially for winter storage of small engine equipped Items. There are numerous makers of these additives but, one is probably good as the others.

The way I recommend is to go ahead and put the fuel additive in. They usually recommend to a full tank. Now like I said this is the way I do It. I Install the additive, turn the fuel off, coming out of the fuel tank. now start and run the machine till it dies from lack of fuel. Now the carburetor is dry and you can put it up for the winter.

With most of these additives all that is actually absolutely necessary is to put the additive in and run the engine a few minutes to insure the additive has reached all the components.

One very good additive is called Red line.…

Understanding Warehouse Software

If you own or work in a warehouse, you know the importance of categorizing and maintaining a proper inventory of all your stored items. Implementing an efficient system for correctly itemizing the products can be an extremely difficult task, especially if you are using the traditional pencil and paper method. But over the years, modern computer inventory and categorization software systems have been developed to help you organize your inventory and keep accurate records. These warehouse software systems can be tremendously beneficial to the smallest of storage facilities to the largest warehouse distribution centers.

There are two major warehouse management software systems that are prominent in today’s storage facilities. One is a program that is installed on your typical Microsoft Windows computer operating system and runs along side Microsoft Access. The other is a database software system that runs as a standalone program that can easily integrate with your computer systems.

Using bar codes on your inventory is the most efficient way to keep accurate records of what you have in storage. Scanners can read the bar codes and display all the pertinent and related information about what is contained inside the box. A software system can display all the important information contained in the bar code and let you know where the item is located and how many are in stock. This is particularly beneficial for reverse look-ups, when you want to know the contents of the container without having to locate the box and open it up so you can look inside.

Depending on the size of your warehouse, you may need an exceptionally powerful warehouse management software system. There are software systems that can easily handle the smallest of warehouses to the hundreds of thousands of square feet of a large warehouse (or multiple warehouses) and accurately account for the entire inventory stored within.

Using warehouse management software will allow you to cut costs, especially in labor, because you won’t need a large staff to keep track of your inventory. You can replace your pencil and paper with a sophisticated computer software program. Be sure to employ the help of a software technician incase the software needs upgrades or maintenance.

A warehouse management software program will enable you to quickly find your stored goods and get them distributed efficiently, cutting the risk of mistakes that a person may make. Your warehouse business can prosper and your workforce will be satisfied because they will be able to quickly retrieve inventory and have a pinpoint accurate database of information about the products in storage.

If you are looking to cut down on costly and time-consuming mistakes, save money, increase productivity and raise efficiency in your storage and distribution business, look into implementing a warehouse management software system.…

Gas Saving Tips – How to Save on the Pump

Fuel price has been dramatically fluctuating over the past months. Any driver would want to save up on gas to be able to save money. There are several ways on saving gas. It may involve proper maintenance of the vehicle but it mostly requires changes in behavior.

• You should not drive like a maniac. Sometimes, it will be necessary to make changes on the way you drive and handle the vehicle. This could certainly reduce the amount of fuel that your car will consume. This will involve gradual acceleration, driving smoothly and with care.

• You need to avoid sudden braking. This can be done if you make it a habit to anticipate stops. You will be able to do this when you will pay attention on the road ahead.

• It is also necessary to observe posted speed limits.

• You need to avoid excessive idling. Idling definitely uses mre fuel compared to turning off the engine and restarting it again. It is necessary that you just turn off the engine of your car instead of waiting for a long time with the engine turned on.

• The air conditioner of the car uses fuel so it will be save it if you turn it off when you are in a traffic jam. You may also put it to a low setting when travelling to save some more on gas.

• If you have a lot of places that needs to be visited then you should plan trips ahead of time. In this way, you will save on gas if you drive to these places in a day than going there on different days. You have to plan stops so that you will not have a long route to take.

• Make sure your vehicle has proper maintenance. This will be necessary because an inefficient engine will not be able to make optimal use of the fuel.

• You also need to get rid of things in your trunk that you will not need. A heavy trunk will add weight to your vehicle. This extra unnecessary weight will decrease gas mileage because this will increase the demand on your engine.

Now, these are some of the many gas saving tips. If you want to save on gas, be an efficient driver and drive safely.…

An Overview On Inventory Software

An Inventory software, also referred to as inventory management software, refers to a business application designed to manage and keep track of material purchases, production processes, product delivery reports and product sales. It goes a long way in helping businesses acquire the materials required to produce finished products required by customers. These programs utilize tracking systems and bar codes to completely account for the storage and shipping segments during the process of production.

Uses

The programs can also be utilized in manufacturing industries to create material bills, documents related to production and work orders. Companies utilize these soft wares to do away with product outages and over stock. They are tools utilized in the organization of inventory data which was initially stored using spreadsheet programs.

The tracking program gives a company the opportunity to see the arrival time of shipped materials, the duration of each production stage, the speeds at which products leave warehouses and the final destination. The term used to define the program is a general term. This is precisely because it refers to the particular program owned by a specific warehouse.

It may similarly refer to the program that carries out the monitoring process in the whole sales side and the supply chain of the company. A large number of businesses use this program in a bid to minimize the effort used during basic tracking. This further helps in creating more time to improve and analyze overall processes.

In the event that the business owned by a person is associated with commodity supplies and stocks, the person in question has to count the stocks and make an inventory. Without the utilization of modern computing technologies, record keeping would be extremely difficult. The same applies to lack of knowledge on the information regarding the stock. Nowadays, several organizations which specialize in application development offer customers business optimization applications which help in the efficient management of stocks and in the drawing up of inventories.

A professional application development organization can develop specific applications used in maintaining and making inventories. This helps a great deal in reducing the workforce and doing away with the huge piles of papers. Through the use of such applications, users are capable of entering items into inventory record systems, sell them, write them off and even relocate them to other branches or warehouses.

Basic operation

Each item transferred is automatically fixed during the registration period. Professional application developers have the ability to develop and implement application programs used in maintaining stored items. This allows stock takers to analyze all the activities carried out specifically by the company and separately by warehouses.

Conclusion

The development of a record keeping program can greatly benefit a person or organization. This is vital because of the highly competitive environment we live in. Some program development organizations have great experience as far as record keeping is concerned. Therefore, utilizing program development ideas and solutions offered only by program developers help a lot in saving time …

Should You Invest in a Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL?

If you are contemplating this decision, you probably do more riding than the average person. You probably already own a mountain bike and perhaps not your first. Now you’ve reached a point with your riding that it’s time to take the experience up a notch. Maybe you are looking for better handling, braking, shifting, suspension, geometrics or likely a combination of these. You’ve eyed the Trek 9.9 and wondering if this is the right bike for you.

The Trek 9.9 is a racing cross country bike. Or an XC for short, meaning cross country. One of it’s most outstanding features is the sheer amount of carbon making up the bike. From rims, to seatpost, frame, to handlebars, this bike is all about carbon. Trek has created their own blend of carbon known as OCLV Mountain. Trek’s carbon allows the frame to take hits from debris without cracking or denting, resulting in a longer lasting frame. Carbon is also much lighter compared to many alloy based frames.

A lighter frame means better acceleration. This is also true on uphills. Even from very little momentum, you are able to rocket uphill. This is mainly due to lightweight carbon components. It is also due to the bike’s high quality linkage (chainstay/seatstay attachment to frame), suspension and overall geometric design. These components provide an unparalleled level of handling in the bike. In addition to great acceleration, this also results in corners being taken very fast and with much control.

The Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL has 100mm of travel in its front suspension. This adds to the bike’s agility and ability to accelerate uphill from a low momentum position. The Bontrager XRO Team issued tires are also an important component of overall acceleration. Knobbies on these tires aren’t large allowing for fast rolling. Yet the tire is able to get enough bite for fast, controlled cornering and uphill climbing.

Some full suspension bikes come with locking suspension. This allows you to lock the suspension into its full travel position. Locking suspension is great for climbing, especially when having to stand up. Suspension engaged (not locked) while climbing can zap the power you’re applying to the pedals. However, having to stop and lock rear and front suspensions can be a drag. Then you must stop again at some point to unlock.

The Trek 9.9 has remote locking right on the handle bars. Right before you hit that uphill, flip the locking levers down with your thumbs. When you’re ready to unlock, just flick your wrist inward against the wide unlock lever.

If you simply need the best in cross country mountain biking and want to have no doubt about quality of components, the Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL may be the right bike for you.…

How Alternative Energy Sources Work

Alternative Energy Forms Successfully Developed

The traditional fossil fuels involve their burning for the production of energy. Alternative modes of energy are gaining substantial attention and popularity all across the globe for a variety of reasons. The alternative energy types are usually renewable, easy to use, cost-effective, and friendly to the environment. There are several types of alternative power available these days. Each mode has its peculiar advantages and disadvantages. However, sufficient development has been made in certain types of alternative energy — notably hydroelectricity, nuclear energy and solar power — to warrant the conclusion that the sovereignty of fossil fuels as the mainstay of humanity’s energy needs has little reason to continue indefinitely. This is all the more so because oil prices have maintained ca steady upward climb, and the consumption of fossil fuels is under the scanner for its believed detrimental effects on the environment.

Abundant Water: Excellent Energy Source

Hydroelectricity accounts for about 90 percent of the global energy produced from renewable sources, as well as nearly 20 percent of the overall electricity produced worldwide. Hydel power stems from the force with which water falls. Dams are constructed to store water, which is directed to fall down from an enormous height to move turbines that generate electricity. This mode of alternative energy is among the most ancient, widely used and popular forms available. It has proven effective in meeting the energy requirements of huge populations at cheap rates.

Each With Its Own Paraphernalia

Alternative Energy forms are a motley category and include several different modes that vary markedly from one another. Hence, to discuss how these energy sources work, no general pattern can be outlines. Each energy source mandates its own set of principles and mode of functioning. However, we may well briefly study a few of these sources of power as follows.

Solar energy is a ubiquitous alternative energy form that can be tapped with the means of solar panels, solar calculators and photovoltaic cells. Solar energy finds applications in warming homes and in generating electricity. The solar technologies are categorized into active solar and passive solar, based on the mode adopted for the capture, conversion and distribution of sunlight. Active solar methods use photovoltaic panels and other mechanical gadgets to transform the sun’s rays into more productive forms. Passive solar modes pertain to orienting a building towards the sun or choosing substances with better properties of dispersing light.

Wind energy employs the force of the moving winds to move turbines that lead to the generation of electricity. This alternative energy form is best located in places that are characterized by gusty winds. Windmills are built for the purpose of exploiting the power of the winds. The technology involved is simple and can be replicated anywhere windy with success.

Nuclear energy may be either nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. The former involves splitting of the atom, while the latter deals with the merger of atoms. Nuclear fission has been plagued by …

Are Our Nuclear Waste Sites Safe in the United States – Where Should I Live?

Nuclear disposal is a serious issue indeed, but luckily new future technology appears to be ready to go which will allow those spent fuel rods to be used down to under 5%, that mean we will have a lot less waste to deal with, and it means that old plants can sell their spent fuel rods to new plants which can then use that material even more, almost like getting free fuel, perhaps the ultimate in recycling schemes. Still, there have been some unfortunate stories of ground water contamination from runoff of nuclear storage facilities in the past, and so it might be worthy to discuss this.

Not long ago, I was discussing the challenges of all this and what it meant for those who wished to live near or downstream from such facilities. Yes, it is a concern for many. So, where is the safest place in the US to live? Well, I’d always considered the coast line mountain range where the redwood trees grow somewhere between Humboldt County CA and Mid Oregon, but what about the radiation fallout from Japan, it has blown across the Pacific Ocean. Well, sure but due to precipitation most falls back into the ocean along the way. Okay what about the ocean debris and radiated water in that normal ocean current? Yes, something to watch, and I perhaps would go around collecting Japanese debris which has floated over here, you never know.

How about the Hanford WA site? What about fires potentially making it all airborne? Well, I seriously wouldn’t worry about the coastline area where I noted was the safest, as the wind patterns flow either South or East depending on the season, so the coastline between Eureka CA and Mid Oregon at an elevation of 350 feet or higher, perhaps at the top of the range between I-5 and the coast where there is a lake would be best. It should be fine even if the Hanford WA site had a major leakage becoming airborne.

There have been reports of radiation leaking into the upper Colorado River from Moab UT, also ground water leakage in Kentucky. Some are worried about underground ground water outside of Yucca Mountain NV, the proverbial 100-year flood and saturated ground water. Should we all be alarmed? Well, remember our government is somewhat anal when it comes to nuclear waste and the conspiracy theorist environmental crowd goes overboard such as in Moab UT, Yucca Mountain NV and Kentucky.

That’s not to say that they aren’t terrorist targets or they don’t have folks going out of their way to prove a point as that is always an issue. Still, the public should also realize that with all the environmental groups out there causing a stink, and the regulatory agencies watching like hawks, that things are not as dangerous as they’ve been made out to be. Please consider all this and think on it.…

Car Envy, Bentley Turning Green by Switching to Bio-Fuel

One of the pinnacles of the luxury car market sees one of the most evocative and “?�ber-chic” car marques’ turning green for the sake of the environment and global pressure, with a view to reducing its carbon foot print (or tyre tracks), thus improving Bentley Motor Cars environmentally green credentials.

The move by Bentley to head down a greener road was brought about in by the motor company’s announcement made in February 2008 as an initiative to address the ever-increasing demand for fuel efficient, lower emission vehicles which has been mounted around ever-fluctuating oil prices and publicly increased concerns about the impact of climate change on the environment we live in.

The Crewe-based Volkswagen-owned company are using this initiative strategy which is currently being progressively implemented throughout the Bentley motor company’s range which are now producing a new range of engines which will offer a 40 per cent improvement in fuel economy and due to be fully implemented by 2012. The new engine-technology or ‘flex-fuel’ system as it’s known as, will allow vehicles to be able to run on the plant-derived fuels, but this will also allow the vehicles to run on conventional petrol as well.

An adoption of alternative fuels (like Bio-ethanol) and new technologies are nothing new, although Bentley state that they want to be consciously and responsibly producing car’s with an aim in helping to reduce CO2 emissions and whilst focusing efforts of global dependency on fossil fuels. All with a purpose of using sustainably produced bio-fuel options for the running environmentally sympathetic luxury cars in the modern age of motoring.

Even both of the HRH the Queen’s car’s have now been converted by Bentley to run on bio-fuels in an attempt to reduce the impact of fossil fuel consumption and obviously it looks good in the public eye too, if we are all having to address the matter of environmental sustainable motoring.

Running on Bio-fuels is not the only “Green method” employed at the Bentley factory in Crewe, as many parts and materials used in the car’s production are manufactured from and use recycled materials throughout the current range of luxury vehicles. For example, the use of shredded re-cycled fabrics being used in the manufacture of the seats and door insulation also recycled aluminium in parts of the dashboard. Bentley motor company also claims that their cars are up to 85% recyclable.

Don’t think for one minute that a bio-fuel powered Bentley has anymore less performance, as to prove the point and put the historic Bentley racing brand firmly back on the map, this year Bentley commissioned the help of four-time world rally champion Juha Kankkunen to attempt to break the World Speed Record on “Ice” on the frozen waters of the Baltic Sea off of the coast of Finland. He recorded speed of 205.48mph, whilst driving a Bentley Continental Supersports GTC, so it’s no slouch!…