1922 Detroit Electric Model 90
Electric cars are not a recent development. They were actually more popular that gasoline-powered cars in the industry’s early years because of the difficulty of hand crank starting gas engines. Electrics were particularly popular with women for that reason, and because of that, according to noted automotive historian and collector Jay Leno, they suffered an image problem with men, who didn’t want to be seen in them. Detroit Electric was the best-known and longest-lived American electric car maker, building cars from 1907 until 1942. Henry Ford’s wife, Clara, had an aversion to her husband’s cantankerous Model T, instead preferring a 1914 Detroit Electric for her own transportation, using it to visit friends and family, according to the Henry Ford Estate.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
1.5 million homes in foreclosure in '09
Homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments in record numbers during the first six months of 2009. The future doesn't look much better.
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: July 16, 2009: 2:31 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The foreclosure plague is not going away -- it's only getting worse.
A record 1.53 million properties were in the foreclosure process -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- during the first six months of 2009. That was 9% more than the previous six months and 15% more than the same period of 2008, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Some Chinese drywall may be radioactive, reports indicate
Some Chinese-made drywall imported into the United States contained radioactive material, news reports suggest, but state and federal tests so far haven’t detected it.
Copies of customs reports obtained by The Los Angeles Times show drywall made with a radioactive waste product was shipped to the states in 2006 by at least four Chinese manufacturers and trading firms.
The substance, called phosphogypsum, has been banned from use in nearly all products made in the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency since 1989.
The EPA says that phosphogypsum, a fertilizer byproduct, contains uranium and radium.
Radium decays to form radon, a cancer-causing, radioactive gas. A geoscientist interviewed by The Times said the material can cause corrosion.
Chinese drywall is being blamed for making newer homes smell like chemicals or sulfur, corroding air-conditioner coils, blackening jewelry and other metals and causing breathing problems, nosebleeds and headaches for residents.
But the limited number of tests performed on drywall so far don’t show that the product contains any radioactive material.
EPA tests done earlier this year show the imported material contained sulfur, unlike domestic drywall, and foreign-made gypsum board contained strontium at 10 times the rate of U.S. drywall.
The Florida Department of Health’s tests showed the Chinese product had three sulfur compounds that could create a noticeable odor.
The ‘’Florida Department of Health has not reviewed any data that suggests problems in homes suffering rapid copper corrosion are associated with the use of phosphogypsum in drywall,’’ spokeswoman Susan Smith said Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of homes in Florida and as many as 100,000 across the country are believed to have been built with imported drywall.
As of Tuesday, close to 500 complaints associated with drywall had been reported to the state Department of Health. The problems have triggered lawsuits against builders, installers, distributors and manufacturers.
Phosphogypsum is plentiful and cheap in China, the Times reported, and Chinese manufacturers have been using it for nearly a decade.
But imported drywall was uncommon in the United States until domestic manufacturers couldn’t keep up with the surge in demand during the housing boom and following active hurricane seasons.
Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin, a drywall manufacturer named in several lawsuits filed by South Floridians including Miami home builder Lennar, stopped using gypsum from one quarry after tests found the company’s drywall emitted sulfur-containing compounds at unnaturally high concentrations.
But Wednesday, spokeswoman Yeleny Suarez said the company has never used the radioactive material cited by The Times.
‘’KPT does not use and has never used phosphogypsum,’’ she said.
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