Diesel Truck Tanks

Vikas offers some strategies on how to play the cleantech sector and discusses in detail several clean-technology companies ready to flourish.

Cleantech is the development of the whole range of technology that will enable humankind to basically conduct life in ways that are more eco-friendly and sustainable. It's a fairly broad term. For example, alternative-energy generation companies (i.e., wind, solar and geothermal companies) all fall into the cleantech category.

Yes, absolutely. A couple of years ago when you talked about cleantech, the discussion mostly centered on alternative energy with a focus on wind, solar and, to a certain extent, geothermal companies. But in the last three years or so, there's been an acknowledgment that cleantech is much more than renewable power generation. This move toward a broader classification is a really big change.

Another big change would be the growth of a whole set of companies that focus on very basic problems, for example, methods of providing clean drinking water to the vast majority of the global population, and more efficient technologies for waste management, especially in developing countries.

Finding Sustainable Models in Cleantech - Vikas Ranjan - Seeking Alpha (blog)

According to the Utah Highway Patrol, driver 29-year-old R. Adam Warnock and passenger Krystal Warnock, 27, of Spanish Fork ran the stop sign at the intersection of U.S. 50, S.R. 125 and S.R. 136 broadsiding a semi carrying ammunition and electronic detonators. Troopers said the Warnocks were not wearing seatbelts and both were ejected from the vehicle.

UHP troopers and Millard County Sheriff?s deputies cleared the area closing the roads for a distance of one mile in every direction from the scene of the crash.

The pickup appears to have struck the fuel tank on the semi near the rear drive wheels. There was a large diesel spill on the highway. Flames erupted at the scene and were extinguished by one of the occupants of the semi. The two occupants of the semi were taken to the Delta hospital with minor injuries.

The wreck occurred at approximately 1:00 p.m. on Thurs., April 15. Traffic was re-directed along alternate routes for all travelers including school buses. The roads were opened to traffic at about 6:00 p.m. and were fully operational after the sun set.

Spanish Fork couple die in crash east of Delta - Millard County Chronicle Progress

If you're much of a gearhead, you've probably heard the name Randy Grubb. Randy is half of the "Blastolene Brothers," a demented duo of metal artists and custom coachbuilders who love to do things differently, and by "differently" we mean "gigantically." Randy and his fellow craftsman and hot-rod zealot Michael Leeds have teamed up for a handful of high-profile and large-scale projects, including the Blastolene Special and Big Bertha, both gloriously oversized roadsters with monstrous V-12 engines pulled from a Seagraves fire truck and a Patton tank, respectively. While each vehicle was built in separate states, Randy's in Grant's Pass, Oregon, and Michael's in Santa Cruz, California, the two builders shared their talents and techniques to create vehicles that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.

With Randy's V-12 affliction and his propensity for building overscaled customs, it's no wonder he ended up choosing a Peterbilt. Of course, looking at the finished product it makes perfect sense, but it takes someone with the right eye to spot the potential in a gargantuan truck cab. Taking a look at the truck it's easy to see the resemblance to an early '30s coupe, but it took Randy 3,000 hours of work over an 18 month period to get it that way. Randy chopped the Peterbilt's aluminum cab five inches in the rear and eight in the front for the right rake before new aluminum was formed and riveted in place, just like the original, but much cooler. Additional metal work was necessary to align the chop, including leaning the center post of the windshield back and contouring the bottom of the windshield opening to match the cowl. Up front, the Peterbilt 351 grille already had the nice, narrow width Randy was looking for, it just needed to be sectioned by 10 1/2 inches.

The majority of the truck's interior is Spartan bare aluminum, but the hand-tooled leather-wrapped bomber seats and saddle bags mounted on each door from GR Leather Products in Rogue River, Oregon, add a dose of color and texture. The only other adornment you'll find in the cab is a full set of Stewart Warner gauges in a Hollywood dash. Even the steering wheel and shifter knob for the four-speed Allison transmission are bare aluminum.

If you've ever seen the chassis of one of these Peterbilts, you'd quickly realize it doesn't have the aesthetics or the geometry for a custom, chopped-top hot-rod. To solve the problem, Randy built a custom chassis for the Pete' using 3x6-inch, 1/4-inch-wall tubing. The frame had to hold up the abuse of the massive, 4,500-pound engine Randy had in store for it, so it is beefy in all the right places. For example, the front crossmember is solid 1 1/8-inch plate, not tubing. The front suspension is made up of a GMC I-beam, a 7,000-pound-rated GMC leaf spring mounted transversely, and a set of radius rods. Randy couldn't find a chrome shop that would smooth his narrowed front axle, so he spent hours prepping them for the nickel plating that gives the metal a characteristic glow. Randy worked with Baer brakes to get enough stopping power and to assure that everything would fit with his drag racer-inspired 20-inch spindle-mount 12-spoke wheels that he had custom machined from two 375-pound blocks of billet aluminum. The rear is just as sturdy, with a narrowed, centered, nickel-plated Rockwell axle filled with 2.67:1 gears. The axle rides on 1/4 elliptical leaf springs that slide on bushings on the axle, and a triangulated four-link. Since the rear axle was a little more common, off-the-shelf semi Bendix brakes were used.

Peterbilt Hot Rod Truck - Piss'd Off Pete' Randy Grubb's Bare-Metal Bruiser - Truckin Magazine

An 18-wheeler hauling a load of coffee wrecked on northern Nevada's busiest highway interchange Wednesday morning causing a two-and-half hour road closure and scattering cans of java all over the scene.

At about 6:30 a.m. the commercial truck hauling a 53-foot trailer filled with 3-pound cans of coffee veered and rolled onto its side while taking the freeway ramp that transitions traffic from eastbound Interstate 80 to northbound US 395, according to Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen.

Investigators believe excessive speed was a contributing factor in the accident. NHP shut that section of the "Spaghetti Bowl" down until about 9 a.m., Allen said.

The driver, Manpreet Singh, 24, of Fremont, California, was not injured in the incident, and was cited for failing to use due care, Allen said.

Big rig spills coffee on Reno Spaghetti Bowl - MyNews4

OVERTURNED TRUCK ON ROUTE 440  Three people were treated for injuries after the Bayonne Fire Department responded to the southbound loop of Route 440 on Aug. 17. Police had pulled the driver out, but fire fighters had to deal with diesel fuel leaking from side tanks and concentrated soap from ruptured containers.

Coinciding with a visit to Bayonne on Aug. 19, Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey should begin work to raise the Bayonne Bridge, calling it the common-sense solution to protecting jobs and keeping the states ports relevant as container ships grow in size.

Since June, the Port Authority has been undertaking a study of how best to accommodate the larger sea traffic that would be expected to pass under the bridge once a widening of the Panama Canal is completed within the next five years. Last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presented a report that showed raising the bridge to 215 feet above sea level  60 feet above its current height  would be the fastest and most cost-effective means of solving the problem.

Besides raising the entire structure, other options being investigated by the Post Authority in its own study include building a lift-gate into the current span or potentially tunneling under the bridge.

BAYONNE BRIEFS - The Hudson Reporter