Energy:
One thing about hospitals, is that they use an awful lot of electricity. We already know about some of the challenges that will occur in health care in the post-peak-oil era; I wrote about that in October 2007. ...Petroleum...
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Posted on May 8, 2008 7:50 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Apparently, it is not only possible to run a household with a battery, but to run 25,000 with a battery: a battery that uses uranium hydride. The device is being developed from technology from Los Alamos National Laboratory, by a...
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Posted on November 23, 2007 8:29 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Sun Microsystems is planning to put a data center in an old coal mine. The idea is to save on energy costs. In fact, they expect nine million dollars per year on electricity. This is because much of the electrical...
Posted on November 18, 2007 10:57 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
People who advocate alternative energy (i.e. not oil or natural gas) often fail to appreciate the true cost of developing the necessary technology. Courtesy of Cryptogon, I now present a chart that illustrates these true costs, in proper perspective. As...
Posted on November 10, 2007 8:24 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This is a pico-projector from Texas Instruments. The idea is to have a device that can project an image onto a screen, using a very small device such as a PDA. Right now the usable image size is about 15...
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Posted on October 31, 2007 12:33 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Traditionally, the oil industry has tried to paint a rosy picture when it comes to Peak Oil. That is changing, according to industry insiders: New findings on peak oil timing and impacts to be presented at Houston Conference by: OilOnline...
Posted on October 16, 2007 11:03 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
We all had some laughs when the two-bladed razor was improved with the addition of a third blade. Late-night comedians joked about razors coming with four or even five blades. Then, we all had a few more chuckles when the...
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Posted on October 2, 2007 9:15 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The government, finally getting wise, has installed 100 stations to measure wind velocity in 32 areas. The idea tis to get a map of available resources for the generation of wind power, specifically with the intention of reducing dependence on...
Posted on September 26, 2007 12:12 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
IBM is launching Project Big Green. Part of the initiative is to consolidate operations in the world's largest data centers. They will replace nearly 4,000 servers with 30 refrigerator-sized System Z mainframes, running Linux, using virtualization technology. This will reduce...
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Posted on September 4, 2007 8:04 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Someone (Jim) at Motley Fool linked to the last LED lighting post. Apparently he tracks the Cree Inc. stock. Anyway, he linked to a site that has more information on the Ann Arbor LED street light project. Part of their...
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Posted on July 21, 2007 7:47 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It is not taking off very quickly, but it could have a big impact. Raleigh, NC agreed to the "LED City" initiative, joining with a company located nearby, Cree Inc. The initiative is to replace all civic lighting with light-emitting...
Posted on July 19, 2007 9:24 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
We are most accustomed to seeing power generation windmills on dry land, here in the USA. In Europe, some are on land and some are offshore. They generally are considered eyesores. Myself, I think they are beautiful. I love to...
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Posted on July 9, 2007 12:02 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Sustainable living could use more inventions like this. Eye on Research: Researchers develop low-cost, low-energy desalination process Sun News Report Article Launched: 05/27/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT...
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Posted on May 28, 2007 7:29 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Who are these people, and what are they doing? They are Democratic congresspersons, sheepishly "caving in". Not only did they cave on the timeline for withdrawal of military and mercenary forces in Iraq, they failed to heed this warning:...
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Posted on May 27, 2007 9:29 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Southwest BioEnergy has announced a plan to build a biomasss electrical generation facility in Vado, New Mexico. Vado is rather close to the middle of nowhere, but it also happens to be very close to a whole lotta cattle and...
Posted on May 12, 2007 11:13 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
IEEE Spectrum (free registration required) has a nice little article about devices that generate heat and electricity for the home. This is a good idea, except for two problems: one, it is more efficient, and two, it is more reliable...
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Posted on April 30, 2007 10:11 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Add this to the list of environmental worries: The generation of electricity is a highly water-intensive process. It takes three times as much water to produce the electricity needed for a home, than the water used in that home....
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Posted on April 18, 2007 12:07 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Everyone's heard of blue lasers by now. Some people have them in their homes. The reason they are important, is that blue light has a shorter wavelength than the red lasers that were used in the first CD and DVD...
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Posted on March 15, 2007 9:04 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Remember geothermal energy? It was a popular topic back in the 1960's, particularly among those who were stridently opposed to the massive investments in nuclear power. Somehow, though, it was never pursued very aggressively. Now, there is a massive report...
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Posted on January 25, 2007 9:24 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Spectrolab, Inc. has announced that they have developed a way to nearly double the efficiency of solar cells. They've done it by creating semiconductor Dagwood sandwiches, with over 20 layers. The basic idea is to have different layers that respond...
Posted on December 12, 2006 7:46 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Rehabilitation of disused industrial sites has been a costly and contentious issue in urban planning. Sites that are mildly or moderately contaminated are called brownfields. Research is underway to see if some brownfields can be used to grow crops, specifically...
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Posted on November 18, 2006 6:58 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I've long been a fan of LED lighting, thinking that it holds a lot of promise for reducing electricity demands. Early on in the development of light emitting diodes, it became apparent that they produced a lot of light and...
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Posted on November 5, 2006 9:24 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Jonah and Kevin have already chipping in on this topic. Bob Lutz, the VP of General Motors, turned a few heads. Not with an eye-catching new auto design, but with a comment in the Wall Street Journal: "I'd say the...
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Posted on October 2, 2006 9:22 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Washington Post today has an article on Brazil's milestone achievement: this year, their oil exports will equal or exceed their imports. This is significant for a few reasons. For one, it shows that it can be done, at least...
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Posted on August 20, 2006 11:39 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A friend and colleague of mine drives around in a cute little VW bug powered by biodiesel. There's a peace sign on the front of it, which helps it get better mileage. But peace sign or not, there has been...
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Posted on July 14, 2006 12:00 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The ask-a-scienceblogger question for this week was submitted by a reader, Jake Bryan, who comments on Science Blogs as "chezjake." "Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you...
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Posted on June 9, 2006 10:16 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
