Stories tagged electricity
Proposed power grid for wind and solar: clipped from American Electric Power document
Courtesy U. S. Dept. of Energy
Is our power grid ready for wind and solar?
Renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal show promise for breaking our addiction to oil. One big problem, though, is moving this new energy to energy users. According to a recent New York Times article,
many transmission lines, and the connections between them, are simply too small for the amount of power companies would like to squeeze through them.
The grid today is a system conceived 100 years ago to let utilities prop each other up, reducing blackouts and sharing power in small regions. It resembles a network of streets, avenues and country roads.
“We need an interstate transmission superhighway system,” said Suedeen G. Kelly, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Upgrading our power grid faces multiple obstacles
Our power grid, with about 200,000 miles of power lines, is divided among about 500 owners. Upgrading transmission lines often involves multiple companies, many state governments and numerous permits. Property owners often fight new power lines saying "not in my back yard".
"Modernizing the electric infrastructure is an urgent national problem, and one we all share,” said Kevin M. Kolevar, assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability, in a speech last year.
Dept. of Energy recommendation
I recommend reading the Department of Energy report titled, "20% wind energy by 2030" (30 pg pdf). The United Sates plans to add 300 GW of wind power by 2030 (I figure that equals about 200,000 1.5 MW wind generators). They recommend an interstate power grid to carry electricity similar to how our interstate highway system carries cars and trucks.
American Electric Power also has recommendations
In an 8 page pdf document titled, "Interstate Transmission Vision for Wind Integration" American Electric Power, working at the request of, and in partnership with, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), presents a "high-level, conceptual interstate transmission plan that could provide a basis for discussion to expand industry infrastructure needs in the future".
Tags : Wind energy roundup
in The Water Cycle, Weather and Climate, Energy Transformations, Scientific Enterprise, and Forces of Nature
Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is building the world’s largest wind farm in Texas, hoping to produce enough energy to light 1.3 million homes.
If you ever wanted to live like a billionaire, now's your chance – technological advance are making home wind power much more common and affordable.
How do you power your home when the wind isn’t blowing? Through compressed air energy storage. The process is complicated and inefficient, but power companies are working on ways to improve it.
You'd be blue, too: Compact fluorescent light bulbs save energy, but come with a number of problems.
Courtesy Tiago Daniel
We’ve written before about compact fluorescent light bulbs – a new type of bulb you can buy for your home that uses a lot less electricity than standard bulbs, and thus reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. But are they all they’re cracked up to be?
Some environmental groups warn that the bulbs contain mercury, which can be toxic and difficult to clean up in the event of a broken bulb.
Researchers in England claim the bulbs can trigger migraines, epilepsy and lupus.
And a review panel assembled by the New York Times concluded that most CFL bulbs do not give off attractive light.
Though a step in the right direction, clearly there are still some bugs to work out of the bulbs.
Electric Lady: Look! She just had an idea!
Courtesy YanivGI initially began this post with a super-hero themed pun. Key phrases: great power, great Price.
Why, JGordon, did you change it?
I'll tell you why: because I respect you. You’re readers, computer literates, science-enthusiasts: you deserve better than punning.
So let’s get down to brass tax: Mavis Price, 60-year-old denizen of Shropshire, like Electro, can shoot electricity out of her body. Sure, it happens randomly, and it kills more electric kettles than it does super-heroes (way, way more electric kettles, actually), but it's still pretty cool.
According to Mavis and her family, a touch from the grandmother will often fatally short out electric appliances, from irons to computers, and that just standing next to her can result in an unpleasant shock (not unusual from grandmothers, in my experience.)
"I went on an IT course, but it was a nightmare because every time I touched the computer it would either freeze or shut down,” claimed Mavis in a British accent. "The technician had to constantly come over to my machine to see what was wrong and he was completely baffled."
Mighty Mavis even has an origin story of sorts: she first recollects her power manifesting more than 50 years ago, as she was plugging in a television set. The TV exploded, and little Mavis was sent “flying across the room.” It could be that she is simply unable to recollect anything at all before being caught in a TV explosion, but we’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.
Unlike scientists. That’s right, scientists, the uber-killjoys, insist that there must be a rational explanation for the Mavis phenomenon. They even suggest that it’s not actually a super power, but a—get this—coincidence! What? Just because it can’t be tested or replicated? Is that what science is supposed to be? Oh. Well, whatever.
Some experts propose that Mavis, or the Shropshire Zapster (as she will no doubt come to be known) is inadvertently perpetuating her condition by building up large amounts of static electricity by walking with a shuffling gate, or by wearing too much nylon like fabric. The friction between nylon clad legs, or old lady feet and carpet, causes a each element to take on a positive or a negative charge, resulting in the kind of zap we’re all familiar with.
But I ask you this: even if this is the answer, what should she do? 1)She’s an old lady—you’d take shuffling away from her? 2) Nylon? Please. What is she supposed to wear? What do you think Electro wears?
Other, less sciencey types, suggest that Mavis’ condition may be similar to the SLI anomaly. SLI, or Street Light Interference, is a similarly less-sciencey phenomenon, which causes street lights to go off as afflicted people (known as SLIders—seriously) walk beneath them. Skeptics point out that this is very probably the result of paranoia combined with a lot of old street lights (dying sodium lights require more voltage, and will shut off sporadically, in such a way that is not to be taken personally). SLIders counter that street light interference occurs with all types of street lights, not just sodium lights. Unfortunately, the SLIders also have no control over their power, and so can’t do it on cue, for, say, a scientific test. Nurts.
But, you know, some people, like Mavis and the SLIders, insist on the reality of their conditions. Anyone here some kind of SLIder, or electro-kid? Check out the Association for the Scientific Study of Paranormal Phenomena website. They might be able to help you out. Somehow.
Chain reactions: WCCO-TV will be attempting to power up its newscasts from the Minnesota State Fair from electricity generated by people riding stationary bikes at its fairgrounds studio. Can it be done? Stay tuned to channel 4.Have you ever wanted to “make the news?”
WCCO-TV will be giving its viewers that chance, literally, this year at the Minnesota State Fair. The station is planning to power up several of its evening newscasts from the fairgrounds on the power generated through the legs of fairgoers riding stationary bikes.
You might have seen the ads on TV. Information on the WCCO-TV website is still sketchy as to what days and times the pedal-powered newscasts will be aired and how to get involved. The Minnesota State Fair opens Thursday and runs through Labor Day.
But any one who’s been to the Science Museum’s Experiment Gallery knows that a good amount of electrical energy can be generated from some quick pedal strokes on a bike. A stationary bike there generates enough power, usually in quick bursts of pedaling, to run a radio, light up light bulbs and even ring a doorbell.
Of course, I suppose if you’re pedaling to power the news and you don’t like the anchorperson or reporter coming on the screen, you can suddenly stop and put them off the air. I think I’m coming to like this concept more and more!
Here’s my question: how many cyclists do you think it would take to power up the equipment of a newscast? I have no idea, but I’d love to hear your predictions. Do you think this is even possible to accomplish? I’m sure WCCO is very interested, as well.
A wild tornado searches for prey: If only we could tame them! (image courtesy of the NOAA photo library)Techno-magician Louis Michaud believes that he can summon a tornado, “tame” it, and use the entity to generate electricity. And he intends not to simply summon a miniature steam vortex, such as can be seen in the Science Museum of Magisota’s Experiment Gallery, but a full-sized wind monster, as featured in the documentary “Twister.”
As bizarre as the idea might seem, councils of air and wind magicians at learning institutions across the country say the theory is sound. It would simply require a sorcerer of the most audacious kind. Perhaps the wizard Michaud is just that person.
The idea is based on the simple and well-known principle that tornado beasts feed and grow off of warm air. Michaud proposes summoning the tornado into a “vortex engine” using a source of hot air such as the waste heat from a nearby nuclear generator (or even, depending on geography, heat from warm tropical water). The hot air would be directed up from the vortex engine’s base in a spinning motion, and would gather momentum as it rose, eventually becoming a tornado several kilometers high. The air sucked into the tornado would spin turbines and generate electricity. The normally chaotic and destructive tornado beast would be content to stay above the vortex engine, feeding off the hot air provided. The wizard Michaud also claims that the stationary, summoned tornados could have the added benefit of combating, in some small way, the powers of That-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named (Global Warming, as it likes to be called). The vortex engines would propel hot air high into the atmosphere, where it could more easily radiate energy back into space – an interesting idea, although it seems like there would have to be countless such tornado summoning stations to have any measurable effect. Who’s to say?
However, there is a price to pay for all this, as is always the case with magic. While universities have been experimenting with the summoning spell on a small scale – luring tornados not larger that a meter or two into this realm – the facilities for commercial-scale summoning would cost somewhere on the order of $60 million. This price would be offset somewhat if the generator were built in conjunction with a nuclear power station, as the station would no longer need a $20 million cooling tower. Michaud has formed the corporation AVEtec to seek investor funding. High wizards from Oxford, Cambridge, and MIT have joined AVEtec’s advisory board.
Those of you less experienced in the magical arts might be well served by this article, or this one, both of which offer a more scientific perspective.
Power Point
courtesy Design21
Design 21's design challenge winners, announced a few weeks ago, are delightfully innovative on the theme of design for social change.
My favorites:
From the "Heated issue" category, Jon Ardern's Power Point is a little wall plug-in that measures the amount of power being used and passing it to a database. "Over time," reads the description, "the product is intended to change patterns of power use by creating awareness of how much power individual appliance draws. Leading users to re-evaluate how they consume power."
From the "Child's Play" category, the Baendy, by Dejan Vukadinovic, is a snake-like music maker with series of nodes/notes, reminiscent of some of the activities in the recent Wild Music exhibit. When you bend it to mimic the shape of musical notes on a staff, it plays those tones in a loop, making a hands-on aural experience.
And another from the kid's category: The Yo'play by Barro de Gast. Check out these little creatures made from yogurt cups.
Yo' Play
courtesy Design21
Think Global: photo: KnutBry/TinAgent/Think TechnologyThink an electric car has a chance in todays market? In the 1990s General Motors spent nearly $1 billion on their EV1. Ford pumped about $150 million into an electric car known as "Think" but sold it 5 years later. As Think was in bankruptcy, Norwegian entrepreneur, Willums, picked up Think, its factory, and Ford's nearly completed design for a new-model "City" for the fire-sale price of about $15 million. His company, Think Global, has raised $60 million in funding to roll out a new and improved version of the City this fall.
$43 million battery deal with Tesla Motors
Willums, whos experience is in solar panels, went to a brainstorming session at the Googlplex in California. Google billionaires, Sergy Brin and Larry Page, had test driven earlier versions of the Think. They are also major investors of another electric car, the Tesla. Tesla will sell customized batteries to Think Global. The group also came up with these radical ideas:
- Sell the car on the internet.
- Never build a car before it's paid for.
- No car showrooms or sales force.
- Sell the car but lease the batteries.
- Every car will be Internet and Wi-Fi enabled.
- Components will be open sourced modules.
- Assemble cars locally (no exporting).
- Use the car's batteries to feed the electric grid during power shortages.
- Car sharing companies like Zipcar and Flexcar allow trying before buying.
Batteries are separate.
By taking out the cost of the battery ($34,000) the "City" car will only cost from $15,000 - $17,000 in the United States. A "mobility fee" of $100 to $200 a month that might also include services like insurance and wireless Internet access seems to be part of the business plan. Managing a two way exchange of electricity with the electric grid is another possibility. Thousands of cars plugged into the electric grid could be tapped during energy demand spikes. PG&E plans to buy batteries that have outlived their usefulness for transportation but still retain capacity. The utility will install them in the basements of office towers and at electrical substations to store green energy produced by wind farms and solar arrays.
"Open source" modular assembly.
Willums car assembly plan resembles how Dell builds computers.
"He points to the black steel chassis of a City standing on a nearby pallet; it's shipped preassembled from Thailand. At one station, workers attach the car's aluminum frame -- made in Denmark -- and drop in a French motor. At another station, prefabricated rust-and dent-resistant polymer-plastic body panels produced in Turkey are hung on the frame of a nearly completed car."
Parts will be shipped for assembly near purchase points (like New York or California). The "Think" will do 70 mph and will have a range of 110 miles.
Update: "TH!NK GLOBAL" forum website link.
Source: CNNmoney.
A solar powered telephone: And you thought the Death Star was sinister? Well that never destroyed our planet, so no. (photo by redjar on flickr.com)According to Dr. Jesse Aubusel, the Director of the Program for the Human Environment at The Rockefeller University, renewable energy isn’t a super good idea. That is to say, he thinks it’s a pretty bad idea.
Using math and numbers, Dr. Aubusel figures that the amount of land necessary for “green” energy sources makes them extremely impractical, especially when compared to nuclear energy. According to Aubusel, were we to flood all of Ontario (900,000 square km), it would only provide 80% of the energy that Canada’s 25 nuclear power stations could produce. I guess that’s the end of my plans to flood Ontario. Or, to provide enough electricity for New York City, all of Connecticut would have to be turned into a wind farm (although, who’s to say that Connecticut would mind). Also, to grow a single pot of basil, it would take more dirt than there is in my whole room. So no basil.
Aubusel, in this article, always brings the issue back to the matter physical space required for renewable energy, and the number of watts produced per square meter. “Nuclear energy is green,” he states. He’s not referring to its radioactivity, I think, so much as to its relatively small physical footprint, and the potential to use already existing infrastructure.
It might seem to some that this is a pretty simplistic way of looking at things, but we should all make sure that we’re doctors before we disagree.
When asked if he could imagine technology that uses and creates energy more efficiently than those he based his research on, Doctor Aubusel states, “No.” When asked if he could possibly try, he replied, “That’s not really my style.”
White roofs reflect heat, leaving the structures below cooler: Photo by gadfly pro from Flickr.com
Looking for an easy way to reduce global warming, and save yourself a few bucks in the process? Paint your roof white! Most rooftops in America are black or some other dark color. These absorb heat, making the building hotter and less comfortable. People in the building run fans and air conditioners to cool off. Not only do they spend more on energy, but the power companies have to burn coal and oil to produce the electricity.
But a white roof reflects heat. The building stays cooler, and needs less electricity.
For maximum effect, you should use special heat-reflective materials. And keep the roof clean – dust and dirt darken the roof, reducing its reflective properties.
It’s been estimated that if every roof in the world were white, it would counteract all the global warming of the last 30 years! Now, the authors of this study admit that they used a very simple model – climate is much more complicated than their equations allow – but still, like changing your lightbulbs, this seems like an easy way to start having an impact now. In California, the government is giving rebates to building owners who install cool roofs.
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