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One of the topics I care about is engineers making a real difference in the world. I lived in Singapore and Nigeria while I was growing up and traveled widely. My father was a professor of engineering (chemical, industrial), statistics and business. He was very interested in applying technology and human knowledge to help people have better lives, and I share that interest.
People like William Kamkwamba are the people that are worthy of respect. I wish the USA was more focused on people that are worthy of attention, instead of who the news media choose to show and people choose to read about. At least a few of you seem to like reading about those I do, based on the traffic this blog receives (well actually that would be a pretty poor metric, let say the attention popular science sites, magazines, podcasts, TV shows… receive).
Another video with William at TED. I posted about William previously: Make the World Better and Home Engineering: Windmill for Electricity.
Related: Appropriate Technology - posts tagged: engineers - What Kids can Learn - Water and Electricity for All
GE’s New Water Heater Could Kill 30 Coal Plants
This new design is more than 50% more efficient than previous water heaters. If every home in America had one right now, we would need 30 fewer coal-fired power plants! Every home that installs one will see their yearly power bills drop up to $250. Because the new device uses a heat exchanger, it will actually make your furnace work harder during the winter. But in the summer, and in warm climates, it will actually help cool your house!
The new water heater will be available in 2009. A great deal of savings are available from simple actions like using compact fluorescent light bulbs, better insulation and when buying new appliances buying energy efficient appliances. Tankless water heaters, for example, are available now: Bosch AquaStar Natural Gas Tankless Water Heater.
Related: Wind-Powered Water Heater - Unglamorous Electricity Savings - The Magnetic Fridge - Engineers Save Energy - posts on decreasing our impact on the environment
Related: Is Ethanol a Science Based Solution or Special Interest Payoff - Biofuels use Could Worsen Global Warming - Peak Soil - Converting Emissions to Biofuels - Geothermal Power in Alaska
An American Solar Opportunity Gets Shipped Abroad
They’ll be installed in Europe. In Asia. And maybe even in America too, one day. Why not now? Because AES wants to sow its solar seeds in only those countries that offer the most “attractive tariffs.” That eliminates the US from the list of potentials, immediately. And it gives countries like Germany, Spain, Italy and South Korea the clear advantage. They all have can’t-beat national incentives for solar developers.
It’s one of the sad facts of Washington’s incoherent clean energy policy these days. How can a country lure in clean energy projects when there are far more appealing offers elsewhere?
Government actions impact economic decisions. It will likely take more than 10 years to have good data on what government investments pay off in the energy sector. But I would say it is a pretty good bet to invest in technology such as: solar, geothermal, wind… Countries that create global centers of excellence in these areas are likely to benefit greatly. The only question I think is that many countries are smart enough to see the benefits and so likely many countries will try.
Any time many actors pursue the same economic strategy there is the risk that the payoff is diluted with so many others having done the same thing. Still the reason so many countries have adopted the strategy of developing centers of excellence in science, engineering and technology is that it is such a good idea. The USA has a problem in that we are spending more than we produce on luxuries today so there is much less available to invest compared to other countries (and compared to 40 years ago).
Related: Global Installed Capacity of Wind Power - Invest in Science for a Strong Economy - Science, Engineering and the Future of the American Economy - China challenges scientific research dominance of USA, Europe and Japan - Green Energy in Canada
Progressive Automotive X PRIZE
Related: Lunar Landers X-Prize - $10 Million for Science Solutions - Engineering More Sustainable Vehicles (Challenge X)
Similar efforts are also being made at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Optical Sciences, where a new spin-off called The Solar Venture aims to improve the economics of solar. “Ontario was a global leader in telecom, but now that has slowed down,” says Rafael Kleiman, professor of engineering physics and director of McMaster’s Centre for Emerging Device Technologies. “All the people, all this research (in telecom), is finding a new home. I really believe Ontario can make itself a global hub in solar photovoltaic technologies.”
…
A solar cell is just a big specialized chip, so everything we’ve learned about making chips applies,” Paul Saffo, an engineering professor at Stanford University, recently told the New York Times. There’s a reason why California’s Silicon Valley, the headquarters of data-networking king Cisco Systems and semiconductor goliath Intel, is positioning itself as Solar Valley.
All around the world people are aiming to create centers of excellence for solar power research and production.
Related: Economic Strength Through Technology Leadership - Large-Scale, Cheap Solar Electricity - Economic Impact of Educational Institutions - Solar Power Innovation - Nanotechnology Supports National Economic Policy - Entrepreneurial Engineers
The top five countries in terms of installed capacity are:
Global capacity was increase by 27% in 2007. Record installations in US, China and Spain:
“We’re on track to meeting our target of saving 1.5 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2020”, said Steve Sawyer, “but we need a strong, global signal from governments that they are serious about moving away from fossil fuels and protecting the climate.”
Meeting energy needs using wind power is growing very rapidly, which is a great thing. It is still a small contributor to our overall energy needs but every bit helps.
Related: USA Wind power capacity - Capture Wind Energy with a Tethered Turbine - Wind Power Technology Breakthrough
Jules Verne predicted cars would run on air. The Air Car is making that a reality. The car is powered by compressed air which certainly seems like an interesting idea. Air car ready for production:
The car is said to have a driving range of 125 miles so by my calculation it would cost about 1.6 cents per mile. A car that gets 31 mpg would use 4 gallons to go 124 miles. At $3 a gallon for gas, the cost is $12 for fuel or about 9.7 cents per mile. I didn’t notice anything about maintenance costs. I don’t see any reason why the Air Car would cost more to maintain than a normal car.
The air car was named one of Time magazine’s best inventions of the 2007.
Five-seat concept car runs on air
Related: The History of Compressed Air Vehicles - Car Elevator (for parking) - Electric Automobiles - VW Phaeton manufacturing plant
Here are the Grand Challenges for engineering as determined by a committee of the National Academy of Engineering:
* Make solar energy economical
* Provide energy from fusion
* Develop carbon sequestration methods
* Manage the nitrogen cycle
* Provide access to clean water
* Restore and improve urban infrastructure
* Advance health informatics
* Engineer better medicines
* Reverse-engineer the brain
* Prevent nuclear terror
* Secure cyberspace
* Enhance virtual reality
* Advance personalized learning
* Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
Committee members included: J. Craig Venter, President, The J. Craig Venter Institute; Dean Kamen, Founder and President, DEKA Research and Development Corp; Raymond Kurzweil, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kurzweil Technologies, Inc and Larry Page, Co-Founder and President of Products, Google, Inc.
The web site (which by the way fails to even display the text on many pages without javascript - phb design) goes into more details on each challenge and will chronicle the ideas the public shares based on the challenges.
Related: Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability - Civil Engineering Challenges - Water and Electricity for All - Extreme Engineering
The Soap-free Green Laundry Revolution by Tania Rabesandratana:
Right. Let’s go back to washing basics. Our machine works by combining three actions. First comes chemical action. Here, detergents act as surfactants: they lower the water’s surface tension, making it more likely to mix with oil, so that yucky grease and grime can be removed during rinsing. Second comes the mechanical action from the spinning of the washing machine drum. And finally, there is heat action, which consists of dunking your laundry in hot water.
The eco balls mostly increase the mechanical action so that you can do without the chemical action, thereby saving money and avoiding the use of evil pollutants. The increase of mechanical action also does away with the need for heat action, which in turn conserves electricity and water, which is good for your wallet and your planet.
Pretty cool, if they actually work. I think I might have to try these out. For the next stage of the process, DryerMax Dryer Balls claim to cut the drying time by 25% and soften the fabric. Some other cool gadgets and gizmos.
Related: Eco-balls - the big “wash off” - Ventless Clothes Dryers - Sarah, aged 3, Learns About Soap
Biofuels use could worsen warming
One of the studies released Thursday by the journal Science estimated that ethanol would nearly double the greenhouse emissions over a 30-year period if the impact of land conversion is taken into account.
Related: Ethanol: Science Based Solution or Special Interest Welfare - Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat - Peak Soil
Geothermal Power in Alaska Holds Hidden Model for Clean Energy, how it works:
Related: Google Investing Huge Sums in Renewable Energy and is Hiring - New York Steam Pipes
Kite-powered ship sets sail for greener future
From the Sky Sails site:
Go Engineering!
Related: USA Wind Power Capacity - Capture Wind Energy with a Tethered Turbine - Electricity Savings
Super Soaker Inventor Aims to Cut Solar Costs in Half
Here’s how it works: One MEA stack is coupled to a high- temperature heat source (such as solar heat concentrated by mirrors), and the other to a low-temperature heat sink (ambient air). The low-temperature stack acts as the compressor stage while the high-temperature stack functions as the power stage. Once the cycle is started by the electrical jolt, the resulting pressure differential produces voltage across each of the MEA stacks. The higher voltage at the high-temperature stack forces the low-temperature stack to pump hydrogen from low pressure to high pressure, maintaining the pressure differential. Meanwhile hydrogen passing through the high-temperature stack generates power.
“It’s like a conventional heat engine,” explains Paul Werbos, program director at the National Science Foundation, which has provided funding for JTEC. “It still uses temperature differences to create pressure gradients. Only instead of using those pressure gradients to move an axle or wheel, he’s using them to force ions through a membrane. It’s a totally new way of generating electricity from heat.”
Very cool and yet another example of the benefits of educated engineers. The positive externalities are large for engineering education.
Related: Engineering Innovation in Manufacturing and the Economy - S&P 500 CEOs, Again Engineering Graduates Lead - Engineering the Future Economy - 2007 Solar Decathlon of Homes - The Future is Engineering - Engine on a Chip, the Future Battery
They have a goal to begin production in 2008 and initially the Aptera will be available only in California. It is classified as a motorcycle but they are planning to aim for passenger car safety standards. The Electric only version will have a range of 120 miles and the hybrid version is estimated at 300 mpg. More interesting details from the Aptera web site:
via: Aptera Test Drive A Success!
Related: Launch video - NSF Cafe Scientifique meeting on Electric Cars - Toyota iUnit
This is a pretty counter-intuitive statement, I believe:
But some simple math shows it is true. If you drive 10,000 miles you would use: 667 gallons, 556 gallons, 200 gallons and 100 gallons. Amazing. I must admit, when I first read the quote I thought that it must be an wrong. But there is the math. You save 111 gallons improving from 15 mpg to 18 mpg and just 100 improving from 50 to 100 mpg. Other than those of you who automatically guess that whatever seems wrong must be the answer when you see a title like this I can’t believe anyone thinks 15 to 18 mpg is the change that has the bigger impact. It is great how a little understanding of math can help you see the errors in your initial beliefs. Via: 18 Is Enough.
It also illustrates that the way the data is presented makes a difference. You can also view 100 mpg as 1/100 gallon per mile, 2/100 gallons per mile, 5.6/100 gpm and 6.7 gpm. That way most everyone sees that the 6.7 to 5.6 gpm saves more fuel than 2 to 1 gpm does. Mathematics and scientific thinking are great - if you are willing to think you can learn to better understand the world we live in every day.
Related: Statistics Don’t Lie, But People Can be Fooled - Understanding Data - Seeing Patterns Where None Exists - Optical Illusions and Other Illusions - 1=2: A Proof
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