Sustainable Practices and Technology's topics - tribe.net

How air conditioning ruined the world

c. — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:48:24 GMT

I live in the Southwest. A beautiful part of the country, it can be a little harsh, but with a little thought it can be quite livable. Unfortunately it seems the newer arrivals to the area are more prone to wanting to change the environment than learning to live in the environment. Most cultures that live or have developed in hot climates have learned to adapt to the climate. If it’s hot out between noon and 4, take a siesta, work when it’s cool out; wear loose cotton clothing and a hat. Build with materials that will keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. But nooooooooo not our entitled culture. It seems no amount of common sense can make this group see that working 9-5 is stupid in this climate, when air-conditioning makes everything better. That way they can wear a suit and tie made out of god knows what petroleum by product and not worry about ever breaking a sweat, It does not seem to matter that it takes a massive amount of energy to accomplish this…
There is a professor at our local university that is trying to promote passive cooling towers. Not getting a very good reception, only a couple around town. He is from the Egypt. It’s hot there; passive cooling towers are popular, as I remember they were everywhere. Not here, that would be way to efficient. A guy built a house here in town with a cooling tower and thermally efficient walls. His summer electric bills were around $65.00. (That was before he installed the solar panels, he now gets a check from the utility co.)
Depending on the temp the owner keeps their place, an energy efficient (not my term but the one used by the developers) stick built piece of crap will have bills in the $175-$225 range, depending on the temp the owner keeps their place.
I walked into my office this morning and the people I work with had the thermostat was set at 70. Good God if you want to work in 70-degree weather this is not the place to be!
Yup without air conditioning this city would have stayed the sleepy little town it was. The hidious sprawl of stucco covered sticks would not be crawling up the foothills and the sky would not be yellow with polution, and don't even get me started on the golf courses.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 1 reply

Hawaii REQUIRES Solar Water Heaters. . .

Lorenzo — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:02:30 GMT

On all new construction.

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1830/

The state of Hawaii has become the first in North America to require solar water heaters in new homes. The bill, signed into law by Republican Governor Linda Lingle this week, prohibits issuing building permits for single-family homes that do not have solar water heaters.

All new homes will be required to have the energy-saving systems installed starting in 2010. Exceptions will be made for houses in heavily forested areas. But the move to force solar heating is a big step for a state that relies heavily on imported fossil fuels for 90% of its supply.

Conventional water heaters are typically the largest electricity consumer in the average household, gobbling up nearly 40% of consumption. The measure was first introduced five years ago when a barrel of oil cost just $40. Since then, the price has more than tripled. Solar water heaters can be complex systems or simple cheap models. Here’s how you make one for $5. The government also has a good site on how solar water heaters work.

Not surprisingly, builders and developers were against the bill, saying it would add too much to the cost of new home constructions. But surprisingly, another opponent was the Hawaii Solar Energy Association. Last April, in a story in the Star Bulletin, Ron Richmond, with the association, said the new legislation would cost homebuyers about $2,100 more to have the solar water heaters installed. The average solar water heater, according to the article, currently costs about $5,250, before rebates.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 1 reply

Solar Tower Offers Promise. . .

Lorenzo — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:32:15 GMT

http://www.livescience.com/technology/080702-pf-solar-tower.html

By Michael Schirber, Special to LiveScience

A Solar Tower prototype operated from 1982 to 1989 in Manzanares, Spain. Credit: EnviroMission Ltd.

A new energy concept called a solar tower could generate enough electricity for 200,000 homes. Looking like a giant smokestack, it would release no noxious fumes — just sun-heated air.

Demonstrated more than 20 years ago, the basic design calls for solar collectors to warm the air near Earth's surface and then channel it up the tall central tower. Turbines placed at the bottom make electricity from the updraft.

"It's a combination chimney, windmill, greenhouse," said Kim Forté of EnviroMission Limited in South Melbourne, Australia.

EnviroMission has designed a kilometer-high solar tower (0.62 miles) and is now looking at possible sites in the southwestern United States.

Solar-stack

The solar tower is an updated version of a solar chimney — a centuries-old technique for providing ventilation to a home by creating a natural updraft from sun-heated air.

The physics is also similar to the atmospheric vortex engine, where a man-made tornado funnels warm air up into the sky. Even though this vortex could extend higher than a solid structure, only the solar tower has been demonstrated to work, Forté said.

In 1982, a small prototype was installed in Manzanares, Spain. Its tower was 195-meters-tall and was surrounded by a transparent canopy that covered an area of about 244 meters in diameter.

As it was primarily a test facility, the maximum power output was only 50 kilowatts. Inexpensive materials were purposefully used to minimize costs, but eventually a storm blew the tower over in 1989.

In comparison, EnviroMission’s design calls for a concrete tower that should last 50 years, Forté told LiveScience.

Up, up in the sky

The company's plan is not only to build stronger, but also taller. This allows for a greater temperature difference between the ground and the top of the tower, and this difference makes for more powerful suction up the chimney structure.

The optimum configuration is an 800- to 1,000-meter tower (twice the height of the Empire State Building) surrounded by a greenhouse canopy 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) in radius on the ground.

"It is a sizeable footprint [on the land], but with the rising cost of carbon fuels, it's becoming more commercial," Forté said.

On a sunny day, the air at the top of the tower would be 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), whereas the air in the greenhouse could reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius). As this hot air escapes up the tower at 34 mph (15 meters per second), it spins 32 turbines that generate up to 200 megawatts of electricity.

Even with all this power, the solar tower is less than one tenth as efficient as solar cells in converting the sun's energy into electricity.

The advantage for a solar tower is that its materials are much less expensive.

A 200-megawatt solar tower would cost upwards of a billion dollars to build. According to a 2005 industry report, this would imply about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is roughly a third of the cost of electricity from current solar cells.

However, a solar tower must be fairly big to be effective. EnviroMission has recently developed a slightly smaller design that has a maximum output of 50 megawatts that may be appropriate in some markets.

Lacking sufficient financial support in Australia, the company is now in negotiations with SolarMission Technology Inc., which owns the license to the technology in the United States. Waiting on a deal, EnviroMission is evaluating the weather patterns at four U.S. sites.

Although the solar tower has less output at night, Forté said that it does supply a more constant supply of power during the day than simple wind turbines. And compared to traditional technologies — such as coal, natural gas and nuclear — the solar tower is certain to have "fuel" in the future.

"We do know the sun will rise and set every day," Forté said.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Nevada Going Green? Solar!

Lorenzo — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:14:42 GMT

http://cleantechnica.com/2008/07/03/solar-energy-creating-economic-boom-for-nevada/

Sarah Lozanova
Published on July 3rd, 2008

The American Southwest has some of the best solar resources on the globe. Nevada, with abundant land and sunshine is becoming a hot bed for the solar industry. The result is green jobs and billions of investment dollars.

Solar Panel Manufacturing

The opening of Ausra’s solar thermal power factory earlier this week in Las Vegas is a prime example. As the largest plant of its kind in the world, it employs 50 factory workers. At full capacity, the plant can generate 700 MW of solar panels, which could produce enough power for 500,000 homes. This quantity of panels would create an estimated 1,400 solar plant construction jobs.

The factory will produce giant mirrors and absorber tubes that are used for solar power plants. This technology uses the sun to generate heat and spin turbines, thus creating electricity. The giant mirrors follow the sun and reflect it onto fixed absorber tubes that are mounted above.

“Nevada is poised to be a leader in the clean energy revolution,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). “This facility will help position our state as the premiere place to invest in these new technologies. As the factory expands operations and we continue to invest in clean energy, we’ll create thousands of good-paying jobs and keep our outdoors pristine for future generations.”

Solar Power Plants

Solar projects totaling more than 10,000 MW have land requests from the Bureau of Land Management in Southern Nevada. If constructed, these solar plants would bring over $40 billion of investment to Nevada.

Power plants benefit the economy in the short-term by creating large quantities of construction jobs. In the long-term, they create plant operations jobs, tax revenue, raise property values, and generate income through land leases. A recent example is Acciona’s Nevada Solar One, located in Boulder City, NV.

As the third largest solar concentrated plant in the world, its maximum output is 75 MW of electricity. It generates enough power for 15,000 homes annually and had a cost of $260 million. Operating since June, 2007, there are 300 acres of solar fields. The plant will produce peak power, with nearly zero carbon emissions and created approximately 28 operations related jobs.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

What do you guys think of the Green future Mega city idea?

Daenin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:52:52 GMT

Here is a link:

http://www.popsci.com/futurecity/home2.html

Curious to see what ideas this generates!

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 3 replies

good micro hydro systems

little lightening bolt — Sat, 17 May 2008 10:10:32 GMT

any one have any good mirco hydro sites or systems in mind for me?
my family lives on a tidal river, with a dock and river access. they also have a resivour for water from a stream that is used for grey water ( used to be drinking water until logging made it undrinkable) both the year round stream and the river could be worked with for micro hydro systems i figure. if any one has good sugestions on how to do so effectively let me know.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 5 replies

summer safety and child seat warning

Optimus — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:56:41 GMT

Safety Warning:

environmental responsibility, liability, and personal priorities...

During the summer energy crunch, gasoline prices in particular are taking a larger portion of our already thin budgets, so the best reward for being more responsible will be the extra cash in your pocket.

If you are not already protected, investing in safety equipment is the right thing to do..

Child safety is everyones responsibility....so please consider..

...DO NOT RECYCLE CHILD SAFETY SEATS.

They must be purchased new & installed and used correctly to be effective.

In fact, if you are aware that someone is transporting a child without proper safety measures, you have a responsibility to report the abuse to authorities...

So... take in some EnviroSponsibility.

http://fcs.tamu.edu/safety/passenger_safety/fact_sheets/bounty_program_guide.php

http://www.carseat.org/Resources/15_recycled_seats.pdf

http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/1-146.pdf

http://www.nhtsa.com/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Communication%20&%20Consumer%20Information/Studies%20&%20Reports/1996/tt133.pdf

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 2 replies

SKY CAR

marvindublin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:25:53 GMT

http://www.skycar.com/

Too expensive now. Like a million something? Supposedly eventually they will be like 65K. 350 mph flying? Taking off on your street? I could fly to LA to see Nina Hagen and fly back the same night. Fuck the Park Sunset Hotel and their inflated prices! lol

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 6 replies

PDX Post Apocalyse Prom July 11 for the Climate Convergence!

Chelsea — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:12:51 GMT

SURVIVORS OF ALL PERSUASIONS COME AND CELEBRATE
AT THE POST APOCALYPSE PROM
July 11,2008
Free but the hat will be passed.

@ THE WATERSHED (5040 SE Milwaukie Ave in SE Portland)

Pre-Convergence Meeting starts at 7pm. Adverting and rebuilding disaster takes planning, come and plug into the solutions.

Prom starts around 9 pm and goes as late as your curfew.
Come stag or scrounge under the debris for a date and bring them and your tattered cumber-bun to THE WATERSHED.
That's THE WATERSHED conveniently located near Trackers NW (for all your survival needs) at 5040 SE Milwaukie.

We will have DJ Yoloyuba and others busting out the tunes.
Don't worry someone is bound to spike the punch and you are welcome to bring anything you tried to hide from your mother. Invite your friends along, even the wall flowers.

Just make sure you find, reuse and make your perfect post apocalypse prom gear. If you are need of inspiration think Atomic Cafe, Mad Max, Found Object Flair or Cataclysmic Chic. Use what you have even if it's just caution tape and what's left of your grandmother's heels. We will crown the king and queen at 11:11 and dance our dust off till late into the night.

We encourage bikes, animal power or buses # 70, #19.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Climate Convergence Invitation JULY 28- Aug. 4 Near Eugene

Chelsea — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:10:07 GMT

Hello,
Come and participate, present a workshop or just camp out and learn more about sustainable living. Check out the Website to learn more about the week long low impact workshops on the farm in Coburg Or, just north of Eugene July 28- August 4. www.climateconvergence.org/west/
Workshops will include: sustainable living skills, lower-impact technologies, creative non-violent direct action, organizing skills, strategies to beat Liquefied Natural Gas, organic gardening, protecting small farms, building communities beyond cultural boundaries, and dozens more

For those well versed and ready to spread the good news please feel free to contact use and present your knowledge at the event. You may contact Chelsea at chelseaspeil@gmail.

Thank you and I hope you will continue connecting with community to create solutions!

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Greener on a Budget

Kaytee — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:49:54 GMT

Someone in another thread made a very valid point, and I think this will be a useful brainstorming topic. Going 'green' can be expensive, costly, and pretty much, well, out of reach for anyone without disposable income. I advocate that you can go greener if you really think about small ways and places to make changes in your lifestyle. Small things add up. Yes, it would be nice to be able to afford a hybrid with the plug-in conversion kit, build a green home, live off the grid and call myself green. However, the average person, myself included, probably can't afford to do that. So what are some ways to go greener on a budget? What are some changes that we can make today, without waiting for the next big technological advancement? I want to hear your ideas, large AND small.

~Kaytee

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 64 replies

Research underway on tiny bugs that excrete oil.

christiev — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:13:45 GMT

I'm usually extremely wary of fooling with genetics and all things genetically altered, but I came across this article in another tribe and think this could be something I'd approve of.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4133668.ece

The biggest problem would be how much space would be required to produce enough oil to make a difference in America's need for oil.

Still, it could end up being the way of the future.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 10 replies

Taxibus. This is the Public transportation I want to See

Shera — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:14:46 GMT

http://www.taxibus.org.uk/

The IGT system is composed of four main elements:

Taxibus Vehicles that travel the roads

Cellular Telephones & Networks to transmit data

GPS In-Car Satellite Navigation to guide taxibuses

Computer Systems to orchestrate the taxibus fleet
All these elements already exist and are already in place; they just need to be 'bolted together' to create the IGT system.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Here they come!

John — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:08:22 GMT

Electric cars for sale!

http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/105265/5-Electric-Cars-You-Can-Buy-Now

MP & BB
John
))0((

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 15 replies

aluminum wealth concentrated

Optimus — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:03:59 GMT

May 23, 2008
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nations_poorest_1_now_controls_two

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 5 replies

cell phone recycling

Optimus — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:15:41 GMT

mission: Help Our Troops Call Home

It's free and convenient to turn in your used cell.

Phones can be any condition or brand

and do not need to have batteries.

http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Ramping Up Solar. .

Lorenzo — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:54:38 GMT

http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/06/12/mitra-solar-power-tech-science-cx_sm_0613solar.html

Sramana Mitra 06.13.08, 6:00 AM ET

In India, the sun is worshiped as a god. It seems incredible then that the U.S. Senate has again failed to pass a bill that would extend solar tax credits to build new power plants and potentially create hundreds of thousands of renewable-energy jobs. Why do we turn down the sun's abundant blessings?

Currently in the U.S. there are four key segments that use solar energy: new residential homes, retrofit residential homes, retrofit commercial and utilities.

Perhaps the most interesting place where solar energy is making inroads is in utilities. Not only are they setting up solar power plants of their own, they are also buying solar energy from others. There are 4,500 megawatts of solar power plant projects in the works as we speak.

In certain states, utilities are required to have a certain percentage of their portfolio in renewables, so the incentive to invest in solar is clear and compelling. California has one of the most aggressive requirements: 20% of a utility's energy must come from renewable sources by 2010. Oregon, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico and Hawaii are close behind. Experts expect a federal renewable portfolio standard soon.

Tom Werner, chief executive of SunPower (nasdaq: SPWR - news - people ), a leading manufacturer of high-performance solar energy technology, predicts that solar will account for about 10% to 20% of all new power plants in the U.S. by 2015. (Read my interview with Tom Werner.)

And solar power is a global business. Germany and Japan were early adopters. Spain, which imports 80% of its power, is making aggressive inroads into solar energy adoption as well. "With its abundant sunlight and environmentally aware population, Spain is today one of our largest geographies," Werner says. Similar dynamics drive other Mediterranean nations such as Italy and Greece, although they are behind Germany and Spain in adoption rates. Other active geographies that are leading the solar movement are Australia, South Korea and Ontario Canada, according to SunPower.

Conspicuously absent from the discussion are two names that loom large in the world's energy crisis: China and India.

While India is ahead of China, that's not saying very much. India has about 200 clear, sunny days in a year, and that natural resource could, theoretically, produce 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours of power per year. But India's sun resource is grossly underutilized, mainly due to a total lack of policy initiatives but also to limitations in energy storage technologies. Meanwhile, a large number of villages in India remain without electricity. The story is not much different in China.

All this leads us to ask a simple question: What would it take? What would it take for the U.S. to move to a 50% renewable energy economy by 2020? What would it take for India to become a 100% solar economy by 2050?

The answer lies in aggressive innovation and entrepreneurship in all parts of the solar ecosystem coupled with resolute policy decisions. And please note that policy alone, without innovation and entrepreneurship, will not solve the problem.

Take the United States. Building a 100- to 300-megawatt solar power plant costs $750 million to $1.5 billion. To really move the needle, hundreds and thousands of such plants need to pop up all over the country and funnel clean energy into power grids.

The best outcome would be if technology obviates the need for solar subsidies. "Eventually, it is a technology race," says David Chen of Equilibrium Capital, a new sustainability fund and a long-term technology industry veteran. We've seen this for over 30 years in cycle after cycle, whether it is in integrated circuits or disk drives, LCDs or flat panels. Moore's Law, it is called. We will see it again in solar. But in the meantime, policy will need to intervene, and make it worthwhile for investors and entrepreneurs to play in the market.

In India and China, a distributed power strategy would be ideal. But batteries, which store solar energy captured during the day and release it at night, are still too expensive to be used on a mass scale.

Here's another question: What would it take to stimulate small businesses to build up solar farms and sell energy into utility grids? I suspect, again, both policy and entrepreneurship would need to go hand in hand.

According to recent polls, the vast majority of Americans agree that developing solar power is vital to the health and wealth of the nation. Over the next five months, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain should ask these questions. Manmohan Singh, the prime minister of India, should too. To find answers, they need to sit down with entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors, and understand through candid exchanges what sort of policy is needed to unlock the enormous entrepreneurial energy that sits boiling amid the ocean of human potential.

Sramana Mitra is a technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant in Silicon Valley . She has founded three companies and writes a business blog, Sramana Mitra on Strategy. She has a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 2 replies

Mexico City starts green roofs

bad-dawg — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:11:34 GMT

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20080605-1922-mexico-environment-.html

very "cool"...

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 6 replies

Weigh in... your opinion, that is

feiruz_al-bnefsagia — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:12:01 GMT

Discuss some interesting topics on CreateDebate like these:

http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/What_little_things_do_you_do_to_try_to_help_the_environment

http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/Is_Global_Warming_Happening

http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/Are_organic_foods_worth_spending_your_$_on

http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/In_the_battle_for_the_planet__have_we_already_lost

http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/Should_we_outlaw_cars_and_give_the_roads_to_the_bicyclists

http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/Are_you_buying_Organic_Food

http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/What_should_be_done_about_overpopulation_(if_anything)

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Black Light Power (hydrinos) $50M

Optimus — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:06:53 GMT

http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/30/blacklight-power-claims-nearly-free-energy-from-water-is-this-for-real/

Blacklight Power claims nearly-free energy from water — is this for real?
Chris Morrison | May 30th, 2008

Blacklight Power, a company founded by a Harvard medical doctor called Randell Mills, says it can push hydrogen atoms into a state that most scientists deny exists.

The company claims that energy this atomic push releases can create electricity for a single cent per kilowatt hour, less than any known process, including burning cheap, dirty coal. The company says it can do so with a non-polluting, self-perpetuating process that mostly feeds itself with common water.

Breakthrough of the century, or glorified scientific scam? I’m not sure, but most companies with claims this big are produced in a crazed inventor’s basement — and stay there.

Blacklight, by contrast, claims $60 million in funding, including about $10 million from electric utilities Conectiv and PacifiCorp, as well as amounts from unnamed hedge funds and members of its all-star board of directors, including Shelby Brewer, a Reagan-era US assistant secretary of nuclear energy, and Michael Jordan, CEO of Electronic Data Systems.

Some history: Blacklight’s process was discovered in 1991 by Mills, who claimed that he’d found a way to produce a molecule called a hydrino, which is a theoretical form of the hydrogen atom in which the electron has entered a lower orbit — meaning the atom itself contains less energy. Mills decided that he could not only produce hydrinos, but also capture the energy released during the transition from hydrogen, using it to generate electricity.

When the hydrino is created through a reaction between hydrogen and a catalyst, according to Mills, it lets go of more than enough energy to fuel electrolysis in common water, thus producing more hydrogen. The excess energy — the majority — would go to producing electricity. The only outside ingredients needed are a catalyst, to turn the hydrogen to hydrinos, and heat (which would also be generated once the reaction had started). And the hydrinos created by the process? They’re non-reactive and can be released to float up into space, as they’re lighter than helium. Or, even better, they can be processed into unique chemicals with a range of useful applications.

Unfortunately, the resting state of hydrogen is the lowest energy state ever demonstrated, and quantum physics doesn’t accept that hydrogen could be pushed to a lower state; therefore, most quantum physicists declare the Blacklight process is nonsense. Most members of the scientific establishment aren’t even willing to look. Douglas Osheroff, a Nobel-winning physicist at Stanford, put it to me rather succinctly: “People understand the hydrogen atom probably better than anything else. We know the electron around the hydrogen atom is in a 1s [minimum] orbit. [Mills] can claim there’s a lower energy state, but I don’t think you’ll find anybody who’s willing to pursue it,” he said.

For fifteen years, the scientific controversy cropped up occasionally, until 2006, when VentureWire ran a lengthy story on Blacklight raising $50 million from private investors. Afterward, the company fell more or less silent, with the exception of scientific papers released by Mills and others, and an updated version of his book, The Grand Unified Theory of Classical Physics.

Earlier this week, the company suddenly broke its silence — this time with an announcement that it had not only mastered the hydrino, but had built a prototype reactor capable of generating 50 kilowatts of energy, for the outrageously low cost of one cent per kilowatt-hour. Coal, at its very cheapest, is more expensive than that; and, for comparison, the most efficient forms of solar generation are struggling to reach 10 cents per kWh.

Intrigued, I got on the phone with a company representative, who asked not to be directly quoted, but who confirmed the claims. In a separate email, Mills said that the breakthrough had come about a year ago, with his invention of the catalyst. Making an announcement today, he said, came from a “business decision to be more transparent to facilitate validation and business development.”

Blacklight’s claim, then, has shifted rather dramatically, from pushing science only a quantum physicist could argue against, to — at least according to their own accounts — showing off a physical process to electrical utilities and others. A prototype plant in New Jersey will be complete in 2009, and the technology will be licensed out, they say. Meanwhile, the company is scaling the process to plants larger than 50KW.

That all seems pretty farfetched, but the company reiterated to me that Blacklight has raised a very significant amount from hedge funds and private investors, and has a board full of notables. For confirmation, I was directed to Randy Booker, a physics professor at the University of North Carolina. Booker, who said Greenpeace had asked he and another faculty member to evaluate the technology in 2005, has been to the Blacklight lab in Cranbury, NJ several times to validate the process.

Booker told me over the phone: “They put in energy, and the yield is about 50% more than what they’re putting in. I’ve also validated their scientific methods, and it seems like they’re doing everything right, from the measurements to procedures.” He adds: It’s nothing small or miniscule, it’s very obvious.” What Mills has come up with is a “new, revolutionary theory” that can go beyond quantum physics, Booker concluded.

Conclusive? Not really, at least in my view. There’s little chance a journalist will unravel a scientific controversy in its second decade. However, what’s interesting is that it seems Blacklight has put itself on the path to final validation, or failure, within the next couple years. Theories are difficult to kill, but a power-generating process is fairly easy to prove — does it release energy, or not? Booker, for his part, says he hasn’t seen the 50KW reaction, but did see a smaller two kilowatt demonstration.

And while scams are common on the small-cap public stock exchanges, Blacklight isn’t publicly traded and doesn’t appear to be looking for money, which raises the question of why it would claim a nonexistent commercial process. On the other hand, if the process is real, only a public demonstration is likely to convince its opponents.

But, just in case any scientists want to dig in, the full list of Blacklight’s scientific studies is available here; the most recent is entitled Commercializable Power Source from Forming New States of Hydrogen. And although Mills has had trouble claiming patents in the past, two are listed as granted on the USPTO website: 7,188,033, on rendering the chemical bonds of hydrogen, and 6,024,935, on methods for releasing energy from hydrogen atoms. Readers are welcome to speculate.

http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/30/blacklight-power-claims-nearly-free-energy-from-water-is-this-for-real/

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 1 reply

Gas Jar

George — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:54:04 GMT

http://www.gasjar.com/

is anyone using this?

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 1 reply

STAND!

WabanakiWmn — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:05:19 GMT

We are so dependant on oil that the Tar Sands and Boreal Forest in Canada is at risk! 75% of the oil from the Alberts Tar Pits is bound for the USA!!!
Any serious effort to ease America's addiction to Middle East oil starts near this Alberta boomtown cut out of Canada's great boreal forest.

www.nrdc.org/naturesvoice/campaign1.asp

I was reading a news article that repeated a statement I see over and over again "the Persian Gulf is where the U.S. gets most of it's oil". So I decided to do a little research. The statistics I found where based on the year 2000 so they may be a bit outdated. But I found 2 things interesting. First, in 2000, the U.S. was the second largest producer of oil in the world. Secondly, these were the top 4 sources of oil:

1. Canada
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Venezuela
4. Mexico

The USA gets the most crude oil from Canada, Mexico and then South America, most domestic oil is used for manufacturing and plastics. Most of our imports come from Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Venezuela.
US exports of oil all go to Canada for refinement - most probably winding up back in the US.

www.gravmag.com/oil.html#imports

By conservative estimates, the underground deposits around Fort McMurray hold 1.6 trillion — with a capital "t" — barrels of oil, making them the largest lode of hydrocarbons on Earth. Up to 330 billion barrels of the crude here in Canada's oil sands region are recoverable, geologists say. Saudi Arabia, by contrast, possesses 262 billion barrels of proven reserves.

And the Bush administration has now set it's sights on the Alaskan rainforest! It starts with destruction of Alaskan tundra/rain forest through the lumber industry and eventually will end up with a drive for oil in one of Alaska's most pristine untouched wilderness areas! This will eventually end in destruction of the ecosystem there, as well as having an impact on weather patterns across the United States! Maybe "The Day After Tomorrow" eh?

The rape and destruction of the Amazon rain forest back in the 80's is the primary cause of some of the most destructive hurricanes, tsunamis, monsoons, cyclones, and other bizarre weather patterns that continue to develop. Killer weather!!

Global warming, hell no....don't fool yourself! It's modernization, technology, and government's never ending quest to CONSUME everything in it's path; not to mention the poisoning of the human race through pesticides, GMO's, aspartame, preservatives, fluoride, chlorine, chem trails, and the many other things that we are so blissfully unaware of? Or choose to be unaware of? Ever heard about the "dumbing of America" through the use of fluoride?

www.nrdc.org/naturesvoice/feature3.asp

Am I missing something?

Why are we, as a people putting up with this treachery, deceit, and obvious quest for power through oil? Why are we NOT standing up and boycotting this squeeze play on the American people via oil, food, and transportation prices?

Why are WE not doing more, like contacting our elected officials, organizing boycotts, and teaching ourselves about sustainable living and permaculture, before it's too late? We are now living in those "end times" everyone likes to talk about, and humanity MUST wake up before it is too late ...if it already isn't!

Speak out! Join lobbying organizations, such as these, organize local boycotts, support local agriculture and sustainable living. Grow your own...food not lawns! Shut off lights or use green lighting! Stop buying plastic products and styrofoam packaging...these are petroleum based products that only add to the dependence! There must be a thousand ways in which you can help reduce our dependence on oil and technology and learn to live off the grid, thus taking their power away for a change!

If you believe your voice doesn't matter, then you have already given up and they have won! It is our silence they count on! Our silence breeds apathy and our apathy is a breeding ground for the NWO global domination!! How much more are we going to take?

If you are interested in organizing a national boycott, perhaps international, please come sit by the fire and let's discuss how we might begin to take back our own lands and lives!

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Escape From Berkeley (by any non-petroleum means necessary)

rachaelb — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:22:13 GMT

October 10th – 13th 2008, a variety of vehicle entries will compete in a road rally from Berkeley, CA to Las Vegas, NV. The three day course will take contestants from the Pacific Coast, over the Sierra Mountains, down through Death Valley to the finish line across the Las Vegas strip.

Event rules allow the contestants to use any non-petroleum fuel or power source. However, all fuel must be scavenged along the route. Contestants cannot bring the fuel with them, nor buy it along the way. Rally organizers expect something like “Mad Max meets the DARPA Grand Challenge.” Cash prizes will be awarded to the rally time winner and for notable accomplishments in engineering and art.

Jim Mason, founder of Shipyard Labs, touts the event as an opportunity for, "NASA scientists to go head-to-head with junkyard fabricators in the perennial battle of engineering prowess vs. creative excess. This time, bragging rights for saving the world hang in the balance. Part engineering problem. Part artistic opportunity. All post-apocalyptic road trip adventure."

The rally will begin with an Energy Fair at Shipyard Labs in Berkeley, CA at which teams will discuss their vehicles with the public. Several checkpoints along the way, as well as overnight campsites will give the public a chance to interact with the teams and vehicles during the rally. The event will culminate with an awards ceremony in Las Vegas, NV at which a panel of industry leaders will grant awards to the rally winner and noteworthy vehicles.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 1 reply

New documentary on the environmental impacts of war

flaneuse — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:27:01 GMT

Speaking of UNsustainable practices and technologies....Last night I went to a screening of a very good documentary on the environmental impacts of war called Scarred Lands & Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War. With all the talk of peace and all the talk of environment, it's good that somone has pulled this info together in one place. It's not "light viewing" by any means, but it's not sensationalized either. I recommend it.

A trailer for the film can be viewed here:

http://www.ecology.com/tv/vidpages/scarredlandswoundedlives.html

I think a lot these days about how to cope with all this, to be excited at the possibility of real large-scale change (now that humanity's hand is increasingly being forced) or just depressed that it's unlikely we'll get it together in time to avert large(er)-scale disaster.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 1 reply

Space Based Solar Power?

illusiongirl — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:54:15 GMT

A friend gave me this quarter's Ad Astra magazine to read, all about SBSP. It looks pretty awesome to me, but I'd love to hear what other people think of it. I'm easy to excite, and slow to think of the hidden downsides. The only obvious one I could think of - using it as a weapon - is explained to be impossible. The accuracy thing worries me a bit, too, but overall it looks like it has the potential to be pretty amazing:

http://www.nss.org/adastra/AdAstra-SBSP-2008.pdf

Thanks for your insights!

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

turbocharger & power2weight ratio

Optimus — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:53:10 GMT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbocharger

http://sustainability.tribe.net/photos/1192822b-9005-4745-b799-fe4d726b0cbe

In internal combustion engines a turbocharger is a turbine-driven, forced-induction compressor powered by the engine's exhaust gas. This is in contrast to a supercharger, which is mechanically driven by the engine's crankshaft via a belt.

Working principle
A turbocharger consists of a turbine and a compressor linked by a shared axle. The turbine inlet receives exhaust gases from the engine causing the turbine wheel to rotate. This rotation drives the compressor, compressing ambient air and delivering it to the air intake manifold of the engine at higher pressure, resulting in a greater amount of the air entering the cylinder. In some instances, compressed air is routed through an intercooler which cools the air before introduction to the intake manifold, as the reduced density of hot air will cause a loss in power gained through turbocharging.

The objective of a turbocharger is the same as a supercharger; to improve upon the size-to-output efficiency of an engine by solving one of its cardinal limitations. A naturally aspirated automobile engine uses only the downward stroke of a piston to create an area of low pressure in order to draw air into the cylinder through the intake valves. Because the pressure in the cylinder cannot go below 0 psi (vacuum), and because of the relatively constant pressure of the atmosphere (about 15 psi), there ultimately will be a limit to the pressure difference across the intake valves and thus the amount of airflow entering the combustion chamber. This ability to fill the cylinder with air is its volumetric efficiency. Because the turbocharger increases the pressure at the point where air is entering the cylinder, and the amount of air brought into the cylinder is largely a function of time and pressure difference, more air will be forced in as the inlet manifold pressure increases. The additional air makes it possible to add more fuel (if a turbo is attached without any other engine enhancements it most likely will cause the engine to run lean -- too much air, not enough fuel), increasing the power and torque output of the engine to about 15 to 40 percent, particularly at high engine rotation speeds.

Because the pressure in the cylinder must not go too high to avoid pre-ignition and physical damage, the intake pressure must be controlled and this is done by a wastegate, which controls boost by routing some of the exhaust flow, away from the exhaust side turbine. This controls shaft speed and regulates boost pressure in the inlet tract.

The application of a compressor to increase pressure at the point of cylinder air intake is often referred to as forced induction. Centrifugal superchargers operate in the same fashion as a turbo; however, the energy to spin the compressor is taken from the rotating output energy of the engine's crankshaft as opposed to normally exhausted gas from the motor. Superchargers and turbochargers use output energy from an engine to achieve a net gain, which must be provided from some of the engine's total output. In the case of superchargers, either directly or from a separate smaller engine, perhaps electrically driven from the main engine's generator.

History
The turbocharger was invented by Swiss engineer Alfred Büchi. His patent for a turbo charger was applied for use in 1905.[1] Diesel ships and locomotives with turbochargers began appearing in the 1920s.

Aviation
One of the first applications of a turbocharger to a non-Diesel engine came when General Electric engineer Sanford Moss attached a turbo to a V12 Liberty aircraft engine. The engine was tested at Pikes Peak in Colorado at 14,000 feet (4,300 m) to demonstrate that it could eliminate the power losses usually experienced in internal combustion engines as a result of reduced air pressure and density at high altitude.

Turbochargers were first used in production aircraft engines in the 1930s before World War II. The primary purpose behind most aircraft-based applications was to increase the altitude at which the airplane can fly, by compensating for the lower atmospheric pressure present at high altitude. Aircraft such as the Lockheed P-38, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Republic P-47 all used exhaust driven "turbo-superchargers" to increase high altitude engine power. It is important to note that the majority of turbosupercharged aircraft engines used both a gear-driven second stage centrifugal type supercharger and a first stage turbocharger.

Automobile
The first Turbo-Diesel truck was produced by the "Schweizer Maschinenfabrik Saurer" (Swiss Machine Works Saurer) 1938 [1]. The turbocharger hit the automobile world in 1952 when Fred Agabashian qualified for pole position at the Indianapolis 500 and led for 100 miles (160 km) before tire shards disabled the blower.

The Corvair's innovative turbocharged flat-6 engine. The turbo, located at top right, feeds pressurized air into the engine through the chrome T-tube visible spanning the engine from left to right.The first production turbocharged automobile engines came from General Motors in 1962. The A-body Oldsmobile Cutlass Jetfire and Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder were both fitted with turbochargers. The Oldsmobile is often recognized as the first, since it came out a few months earlier than the Corvair. Its Turbo Jetfire was a 215 in³ (3.5 L) V8, while the Corvair engine was either a 145 in³ (2.3 L)(1962-63) or a 164 in³ (2.7 L) (1964-66) flat-6. Both of these engines were abandoned within a few years, and GM's next turbo engine came more than ten years later.

Offenhauser's turbocharged engines returned to Indianapolis in 1966, with victories coming in 1968. The Offy turbo peaked at over 1,000 hp (750 kW) in 1973, while Porsche dominated the Can-Am series with a 1,100 hp (820 kW) 917/30. Turbocharged cars dominated the Le Mans between 1976 and 1988, and then from 2000-2007.

BMW led the resurgence of the automobile turbo with the 1973 2002 Turbo, with Porsche following with the 911 Turbo, introduced at the 1974 Paris Motor Show. Buick was the first GM division to bring back the turbo, in the 1978 Buick Regal, followed by the Mercedes-Benz 300SD and Saab 99 in 1978. Japanese manufacturers and Ford followed suit, with Mitsubishi Lancer in 1978, Ford Mustang in 1979, Audi Quattro in 1980, Toyota Supra in 1980, Nissan 280ZX in 1982 and Mazda RX-7 in 1987.

The world's first production turbodiesel automobile was also introduced in 1978 by Mercedes-Benz with the launch of the 300SD turbodiesel. Today, nearly all automotive diesels are turbocharged.

Alfa Romeo introduced the first mass-produced Italian turbocharged car, the Alfetta GTV 2000 Turbodelta in 1979. Pontiac also introduced a turbo in 1980 and Volvo Cars followed in 1981. Maserati in 1980 was the first to introduce twin or bi-turbo Maserati Biturbo. Renault however gave another step and installed a turbocharger to the smallest and lightest car they had, the R5, making it the first Supermini automobile with a turbocharger in year 1980. This gave the car about 160 bhp (120 kW) in street form and up to 300+ in race setup, which was extraordinary output for a 1400 cc motor. The R5's powerful motor was complemented by an incredible lightweight chassis, and as a consequence it was possible for an R5 to nip at the heels of the quick Italian sports car Ferrari 308.

Competition cars
In Formula One, in the so called "Turbo Era" of 1977 until 1989, engines with a capacity of 1500 cc could achieve anywhere from 1000 to 1500 hp (746 to 1119 kW) (Renault, Honda, BMW, Ferrari). Renault was the first manufacturer to apply turbo technology in the F1 field, in 1977. The project's high cost was compensated for by its performance, and led to other engine manufacturers following suit. The Turbo-charged engines took over the F1 field and ended the Ford Cosworth DFV era in the mid 1980s. However, the FIA decided that turbos were making the sport too dangerous and expensive, and from 1987 onwards, the maximum boost pressure was reduced before the technology was banned completely for 1989.

In Rallying, turbocharged engines of up to 2000 cc have long been the preferred motive power for the Group A/NWorld Rally Car (top level) competitors, due to the exceptional power-to-weight ratios (and enormous torque) attainable. This combines with the use of vehicles with relatively small bodyshells for manoeuvreability and handling. As turbo outputs rose to similar levels as the F1 category (see above), the FIA, rather than banning the technology, enforced a restricted turbo inlet diameter (currently 34 mm), effectively "starving" the turbo of compressible air and making high boost pressures unfeasible.

The success of small, turbocharged, four-wheel-drive vehicles in rally competition began with Audi Quattro. In 1981 Audi entered the FIA championship with 4 podium finishes that year, and a manufacturers title in 1982 (2nd and 3rd for driver championship). The advantages of turbochargers combined with all wheel drive were clear, and led to the production of many other similar rally cars including the; Peugeot 205 T16, the Renault 5 Turbo, the Lancia Delta S4 and the Mazda 323GTX, has led to exceptional road cars in the modern era such as the Lancia Delta Integrale, Toyota Celica GT-Four, Subaru Impreza WRX and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

In the late 1970s, Ford and GM looked to the turbocharger to gain power, without sacrificing fuel consumption, during not only the emissions crunch of the federal government but also a gas shortage. GM released turbo versions of the Pontiac Firebird, Buick Regal, and Chevy Monte Carlo. Ford responded with a turbocharged Mustang in the form of the 2.3L from the Pinto. The engine design was dated, but it worked well. The bullet-proof 2.3L Turbo was used in early carburated trim as well as fuel injected and intercooled versions in the Mustang SVO and the Thunderbird Turbo Coupe until 1988. GM also liked the idea enough to evolve the 3.8L V6 used in early turbo Buicks into late '80s muscle in the form of the Buick Grand National and its pinnacle (and final) form, the GNX.

Although late to use turbocharging, Chrysler Corporation, after some joint development with Maserati (Chrysler TC), turned to turbochargers in 1984 and quickly churned out more turbocharged engines than any other manufacturer, using turbocharged, fuel-injected 2.2 and 2.5 litre four-cylinder engines in minivans, sedans, convertibles, and coupes. Their 2.2 litre turbocharged engines ranged from 142 hp (106 kW) to 225 hp (168 kW), a substantial gain over the normally aspirated ratings of 86 to 93 horsepower (69 kW); the 2.5 litre engines had about 150 horsepower (110 kW) and had no intercooler. They also pioneered variable geometry turbocharging,(an industry first) with the introduction of the Dodge based 1989 Shelby CSX, a system that completely eliminated "turbo lag".Though the company stopped using turbochargers in 1993,they returned to turbocharged engines in 2002 with their 2.4 litre engines, boosting output by 70 horsepower.[2]

Design details

Components
On the left, the brass oil drain connection. On the right are the braided oil supply line and water coolant line connections.
Compressor impeller side with the cover removed
Turbine side housing removed.
A wastegate installed next to the turbocharger.The turbocharger has four main components. The turbine and impeller/compressor wheels are each contained within their own folded conical housing on opposite sides of the third component, the center housing/hub rotating assembly (CHRA).

The housings fitted around the compressor impeller and turbine collect and direct the gas flow through the wheels as they spin. The size and shape can dictate some performance characteristics of the overall turbocharger. The area of the cone to radius from center hub is expressed as a ratio (AR, A/R, or A:R). Often the same basic turbocharger assembly will be available from the manufacturer with multiple AR choices for the turbine housing and sometimes the compressor cover as well. This allows the designer of the engine system to tailor the compromises between performance, response, and efficiency to application or preference. Both housings resemble snail shells, and thus turbochargers are sometimes referred to in slang as snails.

Split-Inlet Exhaust Housings known as "Twin Scroll" permit the exhaust pulses to be grouped (or separated) by cylinder all the way to the turbine. The reason for doing this in keeping the individual package of energy, an exhaust pulse, intact and undisturbed by other pulses, all the way to the turbine. This in turn can give the turbine a better kick to get it moving. This is specifically useful in four-cylinder engines. Because a four-cylinder only sees one pulse every 180 degrees of crank rotation, it needs all the energy it can get from each pulse. Keeping them separate and undisturbed will therefore pay back some dividends. 5* (Information from "Maximum Boost" by Corky Bell).

The turbine and impeller wheel sizes also dictate the amount of air or exhaust that can be flowed through the system, and the relative efficiency at which they operate. Generally, the larger the turbine wheel and compressor wheel, the larger the flow capacity. Measurements and shapes can vary, as well as curvature and number of blades on the wheels.

The center hub rotating assembly houses the shaft which connects the compressor impeller and turbine. It also must contain a bearing system to suspend the shaft, allowing it to rotate at very high speed with minimal friction. For instance, in automotive applications the CHRA typically uses a thrust bearing or ball bearing lubricated by a constant supply of pressurized engine oil. The CHRA may also be considered "water cooled" by having an entry and exit point for engine coolant to be cycled. Water cooled models allow engine coolant to be used to keep the lubricating oil cooler, avoiding possible oil coking from the extreme heat found in the turbine.

Boost
Boost refers to the increase in manifold pressure that is generated by the turbocharger in the intake path or specifically intake manifold that exceeds normal atmospheric pressure. This is also the level of boost as shown on a pressure gauge, usually in bar, psi or possibly kPa. This is representative of the extra air pressure that is achieved over what would be achieved without the forced induction. Manifold pressure should not be confused with the volume of air that a turbo can flow.

Boost pressure is limited to keep the entire engine system, including the turbo, inside its thermal and mechanical design operating range by controlling the wastegate which shunts the exhaust gases away from the exhaust side turbine.

The maximum possible boost depends on the fuel's octane rating and the inherent tendency of any particular engine towards preignition. With appropriate calibration and efficient charge cooling, relatively high boost pressures can safely be attained[citation needed]. Ethanol, methanol, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and diesel fuels allow higher boost than gasoline, because of these fuels' combustion characteristics.

Wastegate
By spinning at a relatively high speed the compressor turbine draws in a large volume of air and forces it into the engine. As the turbocharger's output flow volume exceeds the engine's volumetric flow, air pressure in the intake system begins to build. The speed at which the assembly spins is proportional to the pressure of the compressed air and total mass of air flow being moved. Since a turbo can spin to RPMs far beyond what is needed, or of what it is safely capable of, the speed must be controlled. A wastegate is the most common mechanical speed control system, and is often further augmented by an electronic or manual boost controller. The main function of a wastegate is to allow some of the exhaust to bypass the turbine when the set intake pressure is achieved. Most passenger cars have wastegates that are integral to the turbocharger.

Anti-Surge/Dump/Blow Off Valves
Turbo charged engines operating at wide open throttle and high rpm require a large volume of air to flow between the turbo and the inlet of the engine. When the throttle is closed compressed air will flow to the throttle valve without an exit (i.e. the air has nowhere to go).

This causes a surge which can raise the pressure of the air to a level which can be destructive to the engine e.g. damage may occur to the throttle plate, induction pipes may burst. The surge will also decompress back across the turbo as this is the only path that the air can take. This sudden flow of air will often cause turbulence and a subsequent whistling noise as the air passes past the compressor wheel.

The reverse flow back across the turbo acts on the compressor wheel and causes the turbine shaft to reduce in speed quicker than it would naturally. When the throttle is opened again, the turbo will have to make up for lost momentum and will take longer to achieve the required speed, as turbo speed is proportional to boost/volume flow. (This is known as Turbo Lag) In order to prevent this from happening, a valve is fitted between the turbo and inlet which vents off the excess air pressure. These are known as an anti-surge, bypass, blow-off (BOV) or dump valve. They are normally operated by engine vacuum.

The primary use of this valve is to maintain the turbo spinning at a high speed. The air is usually recycled back into the turbo inlet but can also be vented to the atmosphere. Recycling back into the turbo causes the venting sound to be reduced and is required on an engine that uses a mass-airflow fuel injection system (as opposed to a speed-density system). The reason for this is that the airflow sensor is normally located before the turbo and the ECU will inject enough fuel for the amount of air that flows through it. If some of the air that has gone through the sensor is dumped into the atmosphere, the engine will be over fueled until the BOV closes again. The benefits of venting to the atmosphere are simply the ease of installation (because there is no need to run an extra hose to plumb the charge back into the system) and that it makes a sound considered desirable by some. A dump valve will shorten the time needed to respool the turbo after sudden engine deceleration.

Since a turbocharger increases the specific horsepower output of an engine, the engine will also produce increased amounts of heat. This can sometimes be a problem when fitting a turbocharger to a motor that was not designed to cope with high heat loads.

It is another form of cooling that has the largest impact on fuel efficiency: charge cooling. Even with the benefits of intercooling, the total compression in the combustion chamber is greater than that in a naturally-aspirated engine. To avoid knock while still extracting maximum power from the engine, it is common practice to introduce extra fuel into the charge for the sole purpose of cooling. While this seems counterintuitive, this fuel is not burned. Instead, it absorbs and carries away heat when it changes phase from liquid mist to gas vapor. Also, because it is more dense than the other inert substance in the combustion chamber, nitrogen, it has a higher specific heat and more heat capacitance. It "holds" this heat until it is released in the exhaust stream, preventing destructive knock. This thermodynamic property allows manufacturers to achieve good power output with common pump fuel at the expense of fuel economy and emissions. The stoichiometric Air-to-Fuel ratio (A/F) for combustion of gasoline is 14.7:1. A common A/F in a turbocharged engine while under full design boost is approximately 12:1. Richer mixtures are sometimes run when the design of the system has flaws in it such as a catalytic converter which has limited endurance of high exhaust temperatures or the engine has a compression ratio that is too high for efficient operation with the fuel given. An engine that requires an overly rich fuel mixture is an indication of a poorly engineered turbo system.

Turbochargers also provide more direct fuel savings when compared to a supercharger. The volume, speed and pressure of exhaust gases flowing out of the engine are not only related to engine speed, but also to engine load. An engine under a heavy load has higher internal pressures and temperatures than an engine running under a light load at the same speed. This effect is found on all internal combustion engines, but is especially true for diesel engines. Because the turbocharger is connected to the engine's fuel system, which regulates the supply of fuel in relation to the boost being generated, extra fuel is only delivered when the engine is under load and boost pressures are high. A vehicle with a turbocharged engine travelling at a constant speed on a flat road is placing a relatively small load on its engine- exhaust pressure, boost and fuel delivery is therefore low, and fuel consumption will be close to that of a naturally-aspirated vehicle. The same vehicle maintaining the same speed up a hill will place the engine under a greater load, generating a greater exhaust pressure, raising turbocharger speed, increasing boost pressure and thus causing more fuel to be delivered and more power to be produced. Because boost is related to engine load, the turbocharger only runs at full capacity when the engine is under load. A supercharger, directly geared to the engine, has boost relating solely to engine speed, resulting in higher fuel consumption.

Lastly, the efficiency of the turbocharger itself can have an impact on fuel efficiency. Using a small turbocharger will give quick response and low lag at low to mid RPMs, but can choke the engine on the exhaust side and generate huge amounts of pumping-related heat on the intake side as RPMs rise. A large turbocharger will be very efficient at high RPMs, but is not a realistic application for a street driven automobile. Variable vane and ball bearing technologies can make a turbo more efficient across a wider operating range, however, other problems have prevented this technology from appearing in more road cars (see Variable geometry turbocharger). Currently, the Porsche 911 (997) Turbo is the only gasoline car in production with this kind of turbocharger, although in Europe turbos of this type are rapidly becoming standard-fitment on turbodiesel cars, vans and other commercial vehicles, because they can greatly enhance the diesel engine's characteristic low-speed torque. One way to take advantage of the different operating regimes of the two types of supercharger is sequential turbocharging, which uses a small turbocharger at low RPMs and a larger one at high RPMs.

The engine management systems of most modern vehicles can control boost and fuel delivery according to charge temperature, fuel quality, and altitude, among other factors. Some systems are more sophisticated and aim to deliver fuel even more precisely based on combustion quality. For example, the Trionic-7 system from Saab Automobile provides immediate feedback on the combustion while it is occurring by using the spark plug to measure the cylinder pressure via the ionization voltage over the spark plug gap.

The new 2.0L TFSI turbo engine from Volkswagen/Audi incorporates lean burn and direct injection technology to conserve fuel under low load conditions. It is a very complex system that involves many moving parts and sensors in order to manage airflow characteristics inside the chamber itself, allowing it to use a stratified charge with excellent atomization. The direct injection also has a tremendous charge cooling effect enabling engines to use higher compression ratios and boost pressures than a typical port-injection turbo engine.

Automotive design details
The ideal gas law states that when all other variables are held constant, if pressure is increased in a system so will temperature. Here exists one of the negative consequences of turbocharging, the increase in the temperature of air entering the engine due to compression.

A turbo spins very fast; most peak between 20,000 and 100,000 RPM (using low inertia turbos, 150,000-250,000 RPM) depending on size, weight of the rotating parts, boost pressure developed and compressor design. Such high rotation speeds would cause problems for standard ball bearings leading to failure so most turbo-chargers use fluid bearings. These feature a flowing layer of oil that suspends and cools the moving parts. The oil is usually taken from the engine-oil circuit. Some turbochargers use incredibly precise ball bearings that offer less friction than a fluid bearing but these are also suspended in fluid-dampened cavities. Lower friction means the turbo shaft can be made of lighter materials, reducing so-called turbo lag or boost lag. Some car makers use water cooled turbochargers for added bearing life. This can also account for why many tuners upgrade their standard journal bearing turbos (such as a T25) which use a 270 degree thrust bearing and a brass journal bearing which has only 3 oil passages, to a 360 degree bearing which has a beefier thrust bearing and washer having 6 oil passages to enable better flow, response and cooling efficiency. Turbochargers with foil bearings are in development which eliminates the need for bearing cooling or oil delivery systems, thereby eliminating the most common cause of failure, while also significantly reducing turbo lag.

To manage the upper-deck air pressure, the turbocharger's exhaust gas flow is regulated with a wastegate that bypasses excess exhaust gas entering the turbocharger's turbine. This regulates the rotational speed of the turbine and the output of the compressor. The wastegate is opened and closed by the compressed air from turbo (the upper-deck pressure) and can be raised by using a solenoid to regulate the pressure fed to the wastegate membrane. This solenoid can be controlled by Automatic Performance Control, the engine's electronic control unit or an after market boost control computer. Another method of raising the boost pressure is through the use of check and bleed valves to keep the pressure at the membrane lower than the pressure within the system.

Some turbochargers, called Variable-Geometry or Variable-Nozzle turbos, use a set of vanes in the exhaust housing to maintain a constant gas velocity across the turbine, the same kind of control as used on power plant turbines. Other designations for this type of turbo include Variable Area Turbine Nozzle, Variable Turbine Geometry, and Variable Vane Turbine. Such turbochargers have minimal lag like a small conventional turbocharger and can achieve full boost as low as 1,500 engine rpm, yet remain efficient as a large conventional turbocharger at higher engine speeds; they are also used in diesel engines.[3] In many setups these turbos do not use a wastegate[citation needed]; the vanes are controlled by a membrane identical to the one on a wastegate but the mechanism is different[vague].

The first production car to use a variable-nozzle turbos was the limited-production 1989 Shelby CSX-VNT equipped with a 2.2L petrol engine[citation needed]. The Shelby CSX-VNT uses a Garrett turbo designated VNT-25, a variable-geometry version of Garrett's T-25. This type of turbine is called a Variable Nozzle Turbine (VNT). A number of other Chrysler Corporation vehicles used this turbocharger in 1990, including the Dodge Daytona and Dodge Shadow. These engines produced 174 horsepower (130 kW) and 225 foot-pounds force (305 N·m) of torque, the same horsepower as the standard intercooled 2.2 liter engines but with 25 more pound-feet of torque and greatly reduced turbo lag.

The 2006 Porsche 911 Turbo has a twin turbocharged 3.6-litre flat six, and the turbos used are BorgWarner's Variable Geometry Turbos (VGTs). This is the third time the technology has been implemented on a production petrol car, after the 1989-90 Chrysler Corporation vehicles and the 1992 Peugeot 405 T16.

Volkswagen has used Garrett's VNT turbos on the TDI engines of the Mark III and Mark IV series Golf (or Bora) and Jetta (or Vento). The VNT turbos allow the characteristic low-end torque of the diesel engine to be enhanced utilized while also providing extra horsepower often lacking on diesel engines.

Motorcycles
Using turbochargers to gain performance without a large gain in weight was very appealing to the Japanese factories in the 1980s. The first example of a turbocharged bike is the 1978 Kawasaki Z1R TC. It used a Rayjay ATP turbo kit to build 5 lb (2.3 kg) of boost, bringing power up from ~90 hp to ~105 hp. However, it was only marginally faster than the standard model (11 lb and 145 hp (108 kW) with a modified wastegate). A US Kawasaki importer came up with the idea of modifying the Z1-R with a turbocharging kit as a solution to the Z1-R being a low selling bike. In 1982 Honda released the CX500T featuring a carefully developed turbo (as oppose to the Z1-R's bolt on approach). The development of the CX500T was riddled with problems; due to being a V-twin engine the intake periods in the engine rotation are staggered leading to periods of high intake and long periods of no intake at all. Designing around these problems increased the price of the bike, and the performance still was not as good as the cheaper CX900, making turbocharging motorcycles from factory an educational experience; as of 2007 no factories offer turbocharged motorcycles (although the Suzuki B-King prototype featured a supercharged Hayabusa engine).

Properties and applications

Reliability
Turbochargers can be damaged by dirty or ineffective oil, and most manufacturers recommend more frequent oil changes for turbocharged engines. Many owners and some companies recommend using synthetic oils, which tend to flow more readily when cold and do not break down as quickly as conventional oils. Because the turbocharger will heat when running, many recommend letting the engine idle for one to three minutes before shutting off the engine if the turbocharger was used shortly before stopping (most manufacturers specify a 10-second period of idling before switching off to ensure the turbocharger is running at its idle speed to prevent damage to the bearings when the oil supply is cut off). This lets the turbo rotating assembly cool from the lower exhaust gas temperatures, and ensures that oil is supplied to the turbocharger while the turbine housing and exhaust manifold are still very hot; otherwise coking of the lubricating oil trapped in the unit may occur when the heat soaks into the bearings, causing rapid bearing wear and failure when the car is restarted. Even small particles of burnt oil will accumulate and lead to choking the oil supply and failure. This problem is less pronounced in diesel engines, due to the lower exhaust temperatures and generally slower engine speeds.

A turbo timer can keep an engine running for a pre-specified period of time, to automatically provide this cool-down period. Oil coking is also eliminated by foil bearings. A more complex and problematic protective barrier against oil coking is the use of watercooled bearing cartridges. The water boils in the cartridge when the engine is shut off and forms a natural recirculation to drain away the heat. Nevertheless, it is not a good idea to shut the engine off while the turbo and manifold are still glowing.

In custom applications utilizing tubular headers rather than cast iron manifolds, the need for a cooldown period is reduced because the lighter headers store much less heat than heavy cast iron manifolds.

Lag
A pair of turbochargers mounted to an Inline 6 engine (2JZ-GTE from a MkIV Toyota Supra) in a dragster.A lag is sometimes felt by the driver of a turbocharged vehicle as a delay between pushing on the accelerator pedal and feeling the turbo kick-in. This is symptomatic of the time taken for the exhaust system driving the turbine to come to high pressure and for the turbine rotor to overcome its rotational inertia and reach the speed necessary to supply boost pressure. The directly-driven compressor in a supercharger does not suffer this problem. (Centrifugal superchargers do not build boost at low RPMs like a positive displacement supercharger will). Conversely on light loads or at low RPM a turbocharger supplies less boost and the engine is less efficient than a supercharged engine.

Lag can be reduced by lowering the rotational inertia of the turbine, for example by using lighter parts to allow the spool-up to happen more quickly. Ceramic turbines are a big help in this direction. Unfortunately, their relative fragility limits the maximum boost they can supply. Another way to reduce lag is to change the aspect ratio of the turbine by reducing the diameter and increasing the gas-flow path-length. Increasing the upper-deck air pressure and improving the wastegate response helps but there are cost increases and reliability disadvantages that car manufacturers are not happy about. Lag is also reduced by using a foil bearing rather than a conventional oil bearing. This reduces friction and contributes to faster acceleration of the turbo's rotating assembly. Variable-nozzle turbochargers (discussed above) eliminate lag.

Another common method of equalizing turbo lag is to have the turbine wheel "clipped", or to reduce the surface area of the turbine wheel's rotating blades. By clipping a minute portion off the tip of each blade of the turbine wheel, less restriction is imposed upon the escaping exhaust gases. This imparts less impedance onto the flow of exhaust gases at low RPM, allowing the vehicle to retain more of its low-end torque, but also pushes the effective boost RPM to a slightly higher level. The amount of turbine wheel clipping is highly application-specific. Turbine clipping is measured and specified in degrees.

Other setups, most notably in V-type engines, utilize two identically-sized but smaller turbos, each fed by a separate set of exhaust streams from the engine. The two smaller turbos produce the same (or more) aggregate amount of boost as a larger single turbo, but since they are smaller they reach their optimal RPM, and thus optimal boost delivery, faster. Such an arrangement of turbos is typically referred to as a parallel twin-turbo system.

Some car makers combat lag by using two small turbos (such as Nissan, Toyota, Subaru, Maserati, Mazda, and Audi). A typical arrangement for this is to have one turbo active across the entire rev range of the engine and one coming on-line at higher RPM. Early designs would have one turbocharger active up to a certain RPM, after which both turbochargers are active. Below this RPM, both exhaust and air inlet of the secondary turbo are closed. Being individually smaller they do not suffer from excessive lag and having the second turbo operating at a higher RPM range allows it to get to full rotational speed before it is required. Such combinations are referred to as a sequential twin-turbo. Sequential twin-turbos are usually much more complicated than a single or parallel twin-turbo systems because they require what amounts to three sets of pipes-intake and wastegate pipes for the two turbochargers as well as valves to control the direction of the exhaust gases. An example of this is the current BMW E60 5-Series 535d. Another well-known example is the 1993-2002 Mazda RX-7. Many new diesel engines use this technology to not only eliminate lag but also to reduce fuel consumption and reduce emissions.

Lag is not to be confused with the boost threshold; however, many publications still make this basic mistake. The boost threshold of a turbo system describes the minimum engine RPM at which there is sufficient exhaust flow to the turbo to allow it to generate significant amounts of boost[citation needed]. Newer turbocharger and engine developments have caused boost thresholds to steadily decline to where day-to-day use feels perfectly natural. Putting your foot down at 1200 engine RPM and having no boost until 2000 engine RPM is an example of boost threshold and not lag. If lag was experienced in this situation, the RPM would either not start to rise for a short period of time after the throttle was increased, or increase slowly for a few seconds and then suddenly build up at a greater rate as the turbo become effective. However, the term lag is used erroneously for boost threshold by many manufacturers themselves.

Electrical boosting ("E-boosting") is a new technology under development; it uses a high speed electrical motor to drive the turbocharger to speed before exhaust gases are available, e.g. from a stop-light. The electric motor is about an inch long.[3]

Race cars often utilize an Anti-Lag System to completely eliminate lag at the cost of reduced turbocharger life.

On modern diesel engines, this problem is virtually eliminated by utilizing a variable geometry turbocharger.

Boost Threshold
Turbochargers start producing boost only above a certain rpm (depending on the size of the turbo) because they are powered by the movement of exhaust gases; without an appropriate exhaust gas velocity, they logically cannot force air into the engine. The point at which the airflow in the exhaust is strong enough to force air into the engine is known as the boost threshold rpm. Engineers have, in some cases, been able to reduce the boost threshold rpm to idle speed to allow for instant response.

Both Lag and Threshold characteristics can be acquired through the use of a compressor map using compressor map and a mathematical equation. Performance shops have the maps on hand and/or can walk you through the process of mapping a turbo for your particular vehicle and the type of racing you wish to do.

Twin turbochargers
Main article: Twin-turbo
To minimise the effects of turbo-lag some high end vehicles use two turbochargers in series, one is somewhat smaller and spins up more quickly and thus cuts in at relatively low engine speed and improves low end torque whereas the other cuts in at high engine speeds. This creates a smoother and higher torque curve and thus makes the vehicle faster and easier to control. Bugatti's Veyron uses four turbos.

Automotive Applications
Turbocharging is very common on diesel engines in conventional automobiles, in trucks, locomotives, for marine and heavy machinery applications. In fact, for current automotive applications, non-turbocharged diesel engines are becoming increasingly rare. Diesels are particularly suitable for turbocharging for several reasons:

Naturally-aspirated diesels will develop less power than a gasoline engine of the same size, and will weigh significantly more because diesel engines require heavier, stronger components. This gives such engines a poor power-to-weight ratio; turbocharging can dramatically improve this P:W ratio, with large power gains for a very small increase in weight.
Diesel engines require more robust construction because they already run at very high compression ratio and at high temperatures so they generally require little additional reinforcement to be able to cope with the addition of the turbocharger. Gasoline engines often require extensive modification for turbocharging.
Diesel engines have a narrower band of engine speeds at which they operate, thus making the operating characteristics of the turbocharger over that "rev range" less of a compromise than on a gasoline-powered engine.
Diesel engines blow nothing but air into the cylinders during cylinder charging, squirting fuel into the cylinder only after the intake valve has closed and compression is almost complete. The fuel burns at the same rate it is injected so there is no chance of detonation. Gasoline/petrol engines differ from this in that both fuel and air are introduced during the intake cycle and both are compressed during the compression cycle. The higher intake charge temperatures of forced-induction engines reduces the amount of compression that is possible with a gasoline/petrol engine, whereas diesel engines are far less sensitive to this. They are sensitive to high intake temperatures only to the extent that it will increase the exhaust temperature damaging valves and the exhaust side of the turbo.
Today, turbocharging is most commonly used on two types of engines: Gasoline engines in high-performance automobiles and diesel engines in transportation and other industrial equipment. Small cars in particular benefit from this technology, as there is often little room to fit a larger-output (and physically larger) engine. Saab is a leader in production car turbochargers, starting with the 1978 Saab 99; all current Saab models are turbocharged with the exception of the 9-7X. The Porsche 944 utilized a turbo unit in the 944 Turbo (Porsche internal model number 951), to great advantage, bringing its 0-100 km/h (0-60 mph) times very close to its contemporary non-turbo "big brother", the Porsche 928.

In the 1980s, when turbocharged production cars became common, they gained a reputation for being difficult to handle. The tuned engines fitted to the cars, and the often primitive turbocharger technology meant that power delivery was unpredictable and the engine often suddenly delivered a huge boost in power at certain speeds. Some drivers said this made cars such as the BMW 2002 and the Porsche 911 exciting to drive, requiring high levels of skill. Others said the cars were difficult and often dangerous. As turbocharger technology improved, it became possible to produce turbocharged engines with a smoother, more predictable but just as effective power delivery.

Chrysler Corporation was an innovator of turbocharger use in the 1980s. Many of their production vehicles, for example the Chrysler LeBaron, Dodge Daytona, Dodge Shadow/Plymouth Sundance twins, and the Dodge Spirit/Plymouth Acclaim twins were available with turbochargers, and they proved very popular with the public. They are still considered competitive vehicles today, and the experience Chrysler obtained in observing turbochargers in real-world conditions has allowed them to further turbocharger technology with the PT Cruiser Turbo, the Dodge SRT-4 and the Dodge Caliber SRT-4.

Aircraft Applications
Turbochargers are used in reciprocating aircraft engines which are designed for high altitude use. As an aircraft climbs in altitude, the density of the air surrounding it decreases. As the density of the air decreases, so does the drag on the airframe and the power of the engine. With this in mind, turbochargers were developed for aircraft to keep the pressure of the air entering the engine equivalent to a normally aspirated engine at sea level. In this case the system is called a turbo-normalizer. Other systems use the turbocharger to boost the engine manifold pressure to much higher than sea level pressures; in the area of 35 to 45 inches of mercury; and this is called turbo-boosting. In either case, an automatic or manually-controlled wastegate is used to vary the turbocharger output according to operating conditions.

Relationship to Gas Turbine Engines
Prior to World War II, Sir Frank Whittle started his experiments on early turbojet engines. Due to a lack of sufficient materials as well as funding, initial progress was slow. However, turbochargers were used extensively in military aircraft during World War II to enable them to fly very fast at very high altitudes. The demands of the war led to constant advances in turbocharger technology, particularly in the area of materials. This area of study eventually crossed over in to the development of early gas turbine engines. Those early turbine engines were little more than a very large turbocharger with the compressor and turbine connected by a number of combustion chambers. The cross over between the two has been shown in an episode of the TV show Scrapheap Challenge where contestants were able to build a functioning Jet Engine using an ex-automotive turbocharger as a compressor.

Consider also, for example, that General Electric manufactured turbochargers for military aircraft and held several patents on their electric turbo controls during the war, then used that expertise to very quickly carve out a dominant share of the gas turbine market which they have held ever since.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages
More specific power over naturally aspirated engine. This means a turbocharged engine can achieve more power from same engine volume.
Better thermal efficiency over both naturally aspirated and supercharged engine when under full load (i.e. on boost). This is because the excess exhaust heat and pressure, which would normally be wasted, contributes some of the work required to compress the air.
Weight/Packaging. Smaller and lighter than alternative forced induction systems and may be more easily fitted in an engine bay.
Fuel Economy. Although adding a turbocharger itself does not save fuel, it will allow a vehicle to use a smaller engine while achieving power levels of a much larger engine, while attaining near normal fuel economy while off boost/cruising. This is because without boost, only the normal amount of fuel and air are combusted.

Disadvantages
Lack of responsiveness if an incorrectly sized turbocharger is used. If a turbocharger that is too large is used it reduces throttle response as it builds up boost slowly. However, doing this may result in more peak power.
Boost threshold. Turbocharger starts producing boost only above a certain rpm due to a lack of exhaust gas volume to overcome inertia of rest of turbo propeller. This results in a rapid and nonlinear rise in torque, and will reduce the usable power band of the engine. The sudden surge of power could overwhelm the tires and result in loss of grip, which could lead to understeer/oversteer, depending on the drivetrain and suspension setup of the vehicle. Lag can be disadvantageous in racing. If throttle is applied in a turn, power may unexpectedly increase when the turbo winds up, which can induce wheelspin.
Cost. Turbocharger parts are costly to add to naturally aspirated engines. Heavily modifying OEM turbocharger systems also require extensive upgrades that in most cases requires most (if not all) of the original components to be replaced.
Complexity. Further to cost, turbochargers require numerous additional systems if they are not to damage an engine. Even an engine under only light boost requires a system for properly routing (and sometimes cooling) the lubricating oil, turbo-specific exhaust manifold, application specific downpipe, boost regulation, and proper gauges (not intrinsically necessary, but very highly recommended). In addition inter-cooled turbo engines require additional plumbing, while highly tuned turbocharged engines will require extensive upgrades to their lubrication, cooling, and breathing systems; while reinforcing internal engine and transmission parts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbocharger

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Encouraging Landlords to allow us to live greener

Alyssum — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:09:09 GMT

Anyone ever been in an apartment building and wanted to live greener? Here are some of my ideas, and I'm wondering if anyone has ever requested these sorts of things from a landlord, and how successful it was. Any tips for good wording, etc?

I ride my bike to work, but I'm on the 3rd story and so moving my bike up and down the stairs is a drag. It doesn't stop me from using my bike, but I know that it stops some of the other tenants. I would love if the landlord installed a small shed of some sort to keep the bikes locked up in down by the car-park.

I LONG to grow my own food, even just a little bit! We're on the main thoroughfare in a strange part of town, so I've never tried planting anything in the past for fear of some drunkard destroying my little garden one night.

I also wish there were a compost pile somewhere. I've been saving my compost and bringing it to my mom's....but that's really not sustainable (I mean the effort on this one is WAY overboard. okay for a month or so...but getting ridiculous)

putting energy efficient lightbulbs in the hallways

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 16 replies

new tribe

matt — Sat, 24 May 2008 09:58:47 GMT

Hey everyone.

i decided to make a new tribe today. maybe it will take off. maybe it won't.
i am just ready for some more input that is positive. it seems to be getting
rather scarce lately. this is not just some kind of hippy dippy feel good tribe.
it is a feel good tribe, but not in the form of lazy self satisfaction- inaction. no no
it is more like the kind of tribe for us to share accomplishments and insights
from around the globe and become EMPOWERED ourselves to either start
making a difference, or to know that there are many more of us out there.
it is also a place for networking with like minded people that are into other
kinds of cool stuff. like the kind of stuff that you hear about and say, "whoa...
that's cool"

share what you like. i would really like to see this work.

i check tribe a lot during lunch. it would be great to get some inspiration to marinate on while i finish out the day.

peace
m

http://tribes.tribe.net/positivehappenings

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

A Call for a Massive Build-up of Wind Farms. . .

Lorenzo — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:33:31 GMT

The technology is available now. . .the wind is waiting to be used and the windmills can be made rapidly because they are not complex.

Huge windparks should be constructed all over the windy areas of the country, using American companies and American workers to build these machines. We need to replace the coal burners, fuel oil burnres, and nukes and create the infrastructure for re-charging electric cars.

I don't believe in putting all our eggs in one basket and strongly support other forms of green energy development such as solar thermal and solar hydrogen.

But this can be done now for the benefit of everyone, with few problems. .

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 38 replies

Solar, Wind, or . . . ?

jschwierking — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:57:34 GMT

Hi! I decided I would post a new thread along the same vien as my ealier one, but this one focused more on energy sources. Hope you do not mind :-)

Any idea or recommendations for energy in a windy, high desert setting?

Which would be better, more effective and, all in all, more awesome?

Solar or Wind?

Or do you have a prefered alternative which is even more awesome?

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 14 replies

Tidal Turbine Installed in Northern Ireland. . .

Lorenzo — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:05:24 GMT

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/34319

World’s Largest Tidal Turbine Successfully Installed

The world’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy, when it begins operation later this year.

The turbine has twin rotors measuring 16 meters in diameter. The rotors will operate for up to 18-20 hours per day to produce enough clean, green electricity.

The turbine will be positioned 400 meters off of shoreline in Strangford Lough, which is know for its fast tidal current, and protection from severe weather. The rotors on the SeaGen turbine turn slowly: about 10 to 20 revolutions per minute. A ship’s propellers, by comparison, typically run 10 times as fast. The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 9 replies

Energy Tommorrow

marvindublin — Fri, 23 May 2008 02:42:28 GMT

http://www.energytomorrow.org/

I saw a commercial for this site last night. I don't know anything about it. Anyone else here know much about it? I'm going to check it out and see what is on the site. I wonder if it's funded by oil companies? : ) Like R.J. Reynolds and their anti smoking campaign. Or those commercials on tv about Chevron caring so much and doing so much for the environment. They care? lol They care about 45 billion in profits. Up from 12 billion annually in the last five years. And the first quarter or 2008 was record profits. I missed the figure when they said it though. ( Yes. I was touching myself and distracted as usual. )

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 2 replies

spooky tooth pimp my bike!

little lightening bolt — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:51:58 GMT

Hokay SO....
Spooky tooth has an amazing selection of both electric bikes, gas bikes, parts and kits... a gas powered bike will get 180MPG and go a max speed of 30MPH not bad if you dont need to take the highway for any thing. These are great vehicular!
they have trike conversion kits and examples of people who have put side cars on their bikes as well...
you cant burn biodesiel in them lol... but i bet some one could figure out how to do an ethenol mix lol
http://www.spookytoothcycles.com/content/view/105/161/
any way this guys rock!
and these bikes are fun as hell and very functional for getting around....

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 6 replies

Gavin Newsom GREEN

marvindublin — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:53:08 GMT

http://tribes.tribe.net/wikipediatribe/thread/f53730cd-c759-441a-821b-88f415aa6c6d

4th link down.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 0 replies

Make your car into a hybrid

Armando — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:05:39 GMT

http://www.hydro4000.com/

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 3 replies

are large populations sustainable

little lightening bolt — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:42:54 GMT

economy of scale:
any one remember a book by this title...
the author talked about how that the maximum number of people in a single population can only be over 5000. i am curious about this... any one heard of this? or this book? i am curious about sustainable populations and the sustainability of urban areas... can cities be sustainable? are large populations able of being sustainable, when put into large areas?

i allways hear about how cities are more sustainable and how building up is the way to go ect ect... but ive never heard any good evidence to back this up...
i doubt the sustainablity of large populations in one area...

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 3 replies

veg oil glassblowing furnace

vitrius — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:21:13 GMT

i'm a glassblower in louisville kentucky. unfortunately our field of fire arts uses waaaaay too much fuel.
i would like to execute a commision for a portable glass melting furnace that utilizes as much waste veg oil/solar/wind/etc as possible. i'm mostly done building the nozzle mix burner for the glory hole forge. it will start up on conventional fuels, getting the furnace up to 300 degrees fahrenheit, then we'll switch to veg oil for the long haul. our furnace will be running for 4 days, three of which will use recycled/green energy.
does anyone have experience with veg oil burners? if so, let's talk!
if you're interested, check out my pics, there are some preliminary pics of the burner block i'm using for the glory hole.

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 1 reply

Global Warming Study released

Optimus — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:15:05 GMT

Study reveals growing evidence of global warming

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=326fe156-c93e-4623-a268-e2d71dcfe7c9

Margaret Munro , Canwest News Service
Published: 5 hours ago
A vast array of physical and biological systems - from polar bears in the Arctic to tiny krill in the Southern Ocean - are showing the effect of the world's rising temperature, say scientists who analyzed more than 30,000 sets of data stretching back to 1970.

Shrinking glaciers, melting permafrost, earlier spring river runoff, and warmer water bodies point to pervasive physical changes, they say.

And earlier spring blossoms, bird migrations and altered distribution - salmon showing up in the Arctic, the mountain pine beetle expanding into vast tracks of Western Canada's forests - point to the many biological impacts.

"Significant changes in physical and biological systems are occurring on all continents and in most oceans," the international team reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The study builds on the work of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year concluded that human-induced climate warming is "likely" - within 66 to 90 per cent probability - having a "discernible" effect on physical and biological systems.

The new study mined even more data and concludes human-influenced climate change is the main driver of the changes being observed, outstripping the more modest effects of deforestation and other land-use changes.

"Anthropogenic climate change is having a significant impact on physical and biological systems globally," says the team, led by Cynthia Rosenzweig of The Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York.

The team analyzed data from of hundreds of studies published in peer-reviewed journals since 1970 and is the first to "formally" link observed global changes in physical and biological systems to human-induced climate change and greenhouse, says Francis Zwiers, director of climate research at Environment Canada.

more...@

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=326fe156-c93e-4623-a268-e2d71dcfe7c9

posted in Sustainable Practices and Technology - 1 reply

Solar Lily Pads to Power City. . .

Lorenzo — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:17:50 GMT

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/05/12/solar-lily-pads-planned-for-glasgows-clyde-river/

In a stunning example of biomimicry, Scottish architecture firm ZM Architecture have come up with a brilliant scheme to provide solar power to the city of Glasgow - and do so in a way that is provocative, creative, and aesthetically appealing. The proposal? To design Solar Lily Pads which will float in Glasgow’s River Clyde and soak up the sun’s rays, sending electricity to Glasgow’s grid while also stimulating urban riverfront activity.

Taking 1st Place in the International Design Awards ‘Land and Sea’ competition, the Solar Lily Pad proposal by Peter Richardson impressed Glasgow’s City Council so much the city is now considering testing a small pilot project in conjunction with the Glasgow Science Centre.

SOLAR LILY PADS Planned for Glasgow’s Clyde River, Glasgow Solar Lily Pads, Floating Solar panels, Clyde River Solar, Lily Pad Solar, Zm Architecture, Peter Richardson, Solar power, solar energy, renewable energy, photovoltaic

What we love about this project is the innovative thinking in a proposal for urban energy generation. Whereas most urban design schemes to generate more renewable electricity would usually focus on rooftop photovoltaics or wind turbines on public buildings, it takes a creative leap to envision Solar Lily Pads. But of course, the idea is perfectly natural, and makes good sense when you consider that the intrinsic design of the lily pad is all about maximizing access to the sun’s rays. We hope this great idea takes off and inspires both city governments and other designers to get creative with the design of photovoltaics.

Sustainable Practices and Technology's topics - tribe.net

How air conditioning ruined the world

Hawaii REQUIRES Solar Water Heaters. . .

Solar Tower Offers Promise. . .

Nevada Going Green? Solar!

What do you guys think of the Green future Mega city idea?

good micro hydro systems

summer safety and child seat warning

SKY CAR

PDX Post Apocalyse Prom July 11 for the Climate Convergence!

Climate Convergence Invitation JULY 28- Aug. 4 Near Eugene

Recommended Readings?

Greener on a Budget

Research underway on tiny bugs that excrete oil.

Taxibus. This is the Public transportation I want to See

Here they come!

aluminum wealth concentrated

cell phone recycling

Ramping Up Solar. .

Mexico City starts green roofs

Weigh in... your opinion, that is

Black Light Power (hydrinos) $50M

Gas Jar

STAND!

Escape From Berkeley (by any non-petroleum means necessary)

New documentary on the environmental impacts of war

Space Based Solar Power?

turbocharger & power2weight ratio

Encouraging Landlords to allow us to live greener

new tribe

A Call for a Massive Build-up of Wind Farms. . .

Solar, Wind, or . . . ?

Tidal Turbine Installed in Northern Ireland. . .

Energy Tommorrow

spooky tooth pimp my bike!

Gavin Newsom GREEN

Make your car into a hybrid

are large populations sustainable

veg oil glassblowing furnace

Global Warming Study released

Solar Lily Pads to Power City. . .

slightly OT: kids' and maternity clothing swap tribe with a conscience