Page 4, The Herald, Thursday, July 19, 1979 TERRACE/KITIMAT daily herald General Office - 635.4357 Clreutatlon - 635-6357 Published by Sterling Publishers GEN. MANAGER - Knox Couptand EDITOR - Greg Middleton CIRCULATION. TERRACE. 635-6357 . KITIMAT OFFICE - 632-2747 . . Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum Street, Terrace, B.C. A member of Verified Circulation. Authorized as second class mall. Registration number 201, Postage paid In cash, return postage guaranteed. NOTE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains full, complete and sole copyright in any advertisement produced and-or any aditorial or Photographic content pubiishad In the Herald. Reproduction is not permitted. ‘ _ Canadians enjoy one of the highest standards of _more ago. ATRILL THINKS by Thomas Atrill living in the world, Perhaps we don but perhaps we delude oursejyes to some exfent. . jConsider all the ‘better’, 'more efficient’, ‘longer lasting’ products that we have at our disposal. Televiglon commercials tell us that we have achieved the ‘Millenium’ and that all is perfect, or nearly so, Washes are cleaner, Nil-Smel makes. air fresher, Heapmobile is ‘perfecter’ than-last year, and Cloud- Nine has abolished ‘difficult days’. °° In spite of al} the ballyhoo, you have nagging doubts about the staté‘of our advanced Utdpia. The toaster goes on the fritz and is only fit to be discarded. Hand . tools bend arid ‘break and will not. hold and egg. Furniture cracks up. True, we paid much more, but where are those super products? =. . One product doesn't kill insects; it attracts ‘them, another eats the garments it is supposed to whiten. Tires shed their skins while skimming along at fifty- five miles per hour, We find ourselves saving the can and discarding the opener. Automobile gas mileage is poor compared with the performance of a decade or Pop bottles pop. The list of defective products is long, and shaws that, . in many ways we have discarded the old‘in favour of the inferior new. But, take heart, long-suffering consumer. All is not lost. The ‘running-board and the ‘stick shift’ are being rediscovered. And Krazy Gloo is coming to the rescue, to fasten all those products that have been coming apart. And President Carter is formulating a new and improved energy plan which will benefit Canada as well as the USAvis tat “Peanut Power?” nes oe { QUID. RIDES? with fae, fa 4 a. i ns vei a Pea : Tid Del ew See Greg Middleton I recently had occasion to spend some time with friends in a house on an island. In this hause were , children. A large number of children. That is one thing I have noticed about children, they seem to come only in largish groups. They run in packs, there is always a giggle of half a dozen or s0 young girls and a clamor of upwards of ten young boys all tumbling over one another. I never really did figure out how many children belonged in this house. I know there was two families, one resident, one visiting, but In the continuous tangle of arms and legs it was hard to get a proper head ‘count, ; ; At one point, when the cat made a break form the concerted effort being made to dismember it, and ran out of one room and across the hall, followed one by one by the children, I thought Iwas going to at least be able to do an enumeration, even though I would be unable to seperate out the neighborhood friends, but the cat ran out over the stairwell. I was monentarily distracted by the look of exasperation on the poor feline face when it realized it had avoided being tor- mented for the moment only to fling itself out into the wide open spaces. As the cat disappeared down the stairway, the children going bumpety bump down after it, I lost count. But not long after that, ope little girl took same. time out of torturing her brothers with demands that ail manner of things she had no interest in be shared, to climb up onto my lap and recite the relationship of everyone to everyone else, It was like a recitation of genesis. . co After she finished the family geneology, she in- terrogated me as to my reason for being, not just my reasons for being there. This little two or three-year old conducted an interview which would have made Dick Cavet or Patrick Watson proud, all while stan- ding precariously on one ieg of mine. At the end of the guestioning she summed up by saying she felt was a nice person and drem me a totally unidentifiable picture, possibly of myself. And you know, I have to admit I thought she was a rather nice person too, if short. . Letters welcome The Herald welcomes tts readers com- ments. All letters to the editor of general public interest wil| be printed. We do, however, retain the right to refuse to print jetters on grounds of possible libel or bad aste, Gulf’s diel crear a ‘ee oe ste wage Sates ges, rv et aed _INCALGARY _.-Manure producing fuels CALGARY (CP). — At- tention energy-hungry world! 4 fuel. made from manure for about 28 cents a gallon is flowing in a con- ‘verted garage on the out- skirts of Calgary. The garage belongs to Wilbur Griffith and the product is methyl fuel, a substitute for heating oil, diesel fuel and, with refinements, , perhaps gasoline, - The fuel is being produced in the pilot plant from animal and huntan manure and barley straw. - Tt has been produced by many others before, but no one has done it as quickly or cheaply as the process now controlled by Griffith and partner D.M. Grant, Key tothe process is an en- zyme or catalyst which launches a cooking action that transforms the manure and waste into a clear, combustible liquid. The catalyst wag developed by two California scientists who have agreed fo provide the enzyme ‘to Griffith and Grant ona world-wide exlusive basis, “It's everything we hoped for,” said Grant after a sample of the liquid was analysed last week. Since the initlal story of the Griffith experiment three months ago, more than 350 individuals, corporations and governments have come to Griffith, “To date we have been ap- proached by people from all 10 Canadian provinces, 14 U.S. states, Italy, Austria, New Zealand, Israel, Tasmania, Switzerland, France, the U™ Japan, China, Indonesia, Horig Kong and Taiwan," he says... “They don’t challenge us. They believe us, They want the plants as soon as possible.” Griffith expects that construction of a two-ton production unit will begin next week, - “The first commercial unit will probably be sold in the Interior of British Columbia where interest has been intense since the start," Griffith said. . “Now that we have con- firmed the production viability of the process, I - would expect immediate contracts for between 75 and 150 planta from those indi- viduals who have been following our progress,”’ The plants will be fabricated in Calgary and assembled on site by representatives of the company now incorporated ag Global Organics Processors Ltd. The com- pany plans to sell the plants hrough franchises throughout the world. Griffith said a twa-ton plant will sell for about $30,000. It will turn out about 120 gallons of fuel and 1,600 pounds of organizer fer- tilizers daily from two tons of solid waste, . Assuming a value of only 50 cents a gallon of fuel to the owner and five cents a pound for the fertilizers, the plant IN NOVA SCOTIA would pay for itself in eight months, The production cost is based on the assumption that - plant owners have free access to the feedstock, namely manure and assorted gar- bage. ; A rancher could keep a twoton plant operating dally on mane from 160 head of catile. , ° “This, however, does not mean only animal and human waste will produce the fuel,” Griffith said, “We know there are a 4 multitude of combinations ranging from wood chips to weeds that will produce a similar product, but we have not yet had tlme to test these ourselves.”” Initially, the plants will be available with capacities of two, 10 and 20 tons. Even- tually, bigger plants will be designed to produce the fuel from the human waste in large cities. New crude oil sought POINT TUPPER, N.S, (CP) — The sprawling Gulf Canada Ltd. refinery in this Strait of Canso community is running out of crude oil anda huntis on to keep it supplied. The refinery, which serves Atlantic region market, may be forced ta halt production temporarily within two weeks unless its erude oil suppHes are replenished, company of- ficials said Wednesday. Almost every barrel of ught crude pumped into the refinéy from tankers since the plarit was completed at a cost $60 million in 1970 came from Iran until the supply was cut off by an ollfield strike and subssquent upheavals in that country earlier this year, Since then, acting refinery manager Gary Rose said, a “hodge podge’’ of crude sup- plies from about elght dif- ferent countries including Kuwait and Venezuela has kept the Point Tupper plant in production. To keep the plant Operating beyond early August, three things must happen quickly: —Gulf'a crude supply people in Toronto arrange to swap some oil elther within Guif's international struc- ture or with another ail company. ~The National Energy Board appraves the swap. —A tanker carrying the awapped all gets under way for Point Tupper in time to keep the refinery in production. Rose said the refinery has seen “its first glimmer of hape” in weeks in the last few ddys as Gulf crude supply people work on the details of a possible swap. But definite word is not expected until later in the week. If arrangements fall or if the NEB does not approve the deal, “we will just dry up,” Rose said. The refinery already [s operating at well below its 87,000-barrel a-day capacity, -tirning out about 45,000 barrels daily of such refined products ag gasoline and heating oil. . Crude supplies on hand, said Rose, ‘will probably keep us going until about the first of August,’ ‘ Then, unless new supplies are on hand, the refinery will be shut down for main- tenance. “You could call it ‘opportunity maintenance’ because we are running short of oil.” —— ten |. COMMENT ~ CONSUMER - CONSUMER AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS CANADA , ” dleeping under a warm, comfortable quilt, . or bedding. - Whether you're a summer camper or a winter. recreation snthusiest,. or evan. if you het have thought about owning down-filled clothing or bedding 4 value of down as an insulating - material is well known; in addition to its Hght-weight ‘and warmth, down’s many attractive qualities include its compressibility, resilience, and its ability _-“breathe". These features, and the fact that down is easy to care for, add up to comfort and convenience, . and that is something that almost all of us look for " when making a purchase . dimensional structure. Feathers provi Roday, the wide variety of downilled’ items available on the market gives the consumer the ad-' . vantages of choice, but also increases the need for an informed decision, So whether you're considering the... - purchase of sleeping bags or quilts, winter sports wear ~ or work wear, if it’s down-filled, here are a few things aaa a aa ecating of waterfowl, down appears - The undercoating of wa ' : ‘ much like the puffball of a dandelion, having fluffy — filaments rising from a central quill point, Jts in- : ults from air being trapped in its $ ~ sulating value results from air being ae ingulation - _ too, but because they are flat and 2 dimensional, they - - cannot trap as much air as down, and so the degree of « insulation that they provide is much less. ; - Most ‘down that is used in consumer products . comes from ducks or geese, and it must be carefully - washed and sorted to seperate it from the feathers. Sill, even the purest down contains some feathers. . Under new regulations to the Textile Labelling Act, Consumer and Corporate Affaira Canada permits an - article to be labelled ‘down’ if it contains'75 per cent actual down, with the remaining 25 per cent a mixture, which may include small feathers, down and feather fibre, and residual matter in precentages as specified ini the regulations. The article cannot, however, be labelled “pure”, “‘all’’ or ‘100 per cent” down. Any article containing less than 75 per cent down must | bear a label showing the amount of feather or fibre, . which has been added. : “oft? or by. its “filling - The quality of down is measured by its ability to power”. This refers to the - : Mumber of cubicinches that one of down will fill ea Foal 28-cent-a-gallon. + atroom temperature. Prime quality down will fill at — least 500 cubic inches while one of the best goose. down will fill 600 cubie inches. It is the bird's age that largely determines the quality of its down: the older . the bird, the better the quality. the colour of the down. - does not affect its quality, however, products filled ; with white down may be more expensive due to Its ~ rarity and its advantage in not showing through light coloured fabrics. - When purchasing down-filled products, the quality. | of constructidn and materials is an important con- sideration, as are the features of construction which. can determine the article’s suitability to particular -*: individual. needs: For. example, if you require maxitiwi warmth in a ski jacket’ you should loo® for" . one having cuffs, a zipper guard, a hood with a drawstring, a close-fitting neck and wrist, and made of a down-proof fabric which doesn’t absorb too much body heat. If seams are stitched to hold the down in place, there may be “cold spots” in the garment, therefore, articles designed with warmth in mind will have the down inserted into a separate casing between the cuter fabric and the inner lining. When purchasing quilts or sleeping bags, ask about various types of | construction which prevent or minimize cold spots. - Most down-filled products have care labels at-, tached or printed care ifistructions supplied at the time of purchase. If no information is given, or if you - are unsure of ‘something, ask the salesperson. Generally, if the other parts of the article.can be washed, then the whole article ig washable. = So, if you’re planning the purchase of a down-filied article, remember that while down prices may be up these days, the comfort and convenience offered by down products is stil a bargain when the cold weather seta in. . : Nuclear power gets reprieve — By JOHN WARD NEW YORK (CP) — The US. nuclear industry, still smarting from the Three Mile Island accident, has been givena reprievefroma threatened moratorium on new construction and may be looking to better days. After the incident at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pa., last spring, the industry found Itself under heavy criticism and was forced onto the defen- sive. Recently, however, a serlea of new developments have occurred, that may provide a welcome shot in the arm for the harassed proponents of nuclear power. - This week, for Instance, the U.S. Senate rejected a proposal that would have nstituted a sixmonth moratorium on sew con- struction. Although the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has imposed its ‘own shortterm halt to new permits, the Senate's refusal ‘to put the moratorium inte. legislation is an encouraging signal to the industry The senators did tighten some of the regulations concerning nuclear er plants, but took no drastic action. The industry is ajso taki heart from President Can ter’s energy program. president's energy message,” sald the Atomic Industrial Forum, an in- dustry ‘organization, following Carter's televised speech on en Sunday night. eney One key plank in Carter's platform Is a reduction in U.S. dependence on costly -imported ail, He challenged utilities to reduce their oil consumption by 50 cent: over the next decade, Coal will certainly take up some of the slack, but the nuclear industry feels confident that it will be vital in hel meet the president's goal. Now, nuclear planta produce the —_—ener'gy equivalen of about 1.5 million barrels of ofl a day. If planned expansion Is per- mitted, ‘the: industry says, nuclear generating capacity will represent the equivalent of about 4.5 million barrels of oll a day by 1990. Last month, at the Tokyo summit, leadera of the in- dustrialised non-Commiunist countries agreed — that development of atomic : wer must go on; ite the possible hazards, ad ‘Carter has long been a Proponent of nuclear ene: and his latest statements, coupled with the stark economics of the in- ternational energy situation, r’ seem to indicate that nuclear The absolute need for a power will remain a viable strong nuclear program ia alternative in the years implicit throughout the ahead,