International Nikola Tesla Day

Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian American[2][3][4] inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC)electricity supply system.

Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before immigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant. His work in the formative years of electric power development was also involved in the corporate struggle between making alternating current or direct current the power transmission standard, referred to as the war of currents. Tesla went on to pursue his ideas of wireless lighting and electricity distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs and made early (1893) pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. He tried to put these ideas to practical use in his ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission; his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project. In his lab he also conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillator/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He even built a wireless controlled boat which may have been the first such device ever exhibited.

Tesla was renowned for his achievements and showmanship, eventually earning him a reputation in popular culture as an archetypal "mad scientist." His patents earned him a considerable amount of money, much of which was used to finance his own projects with varying degrees of success. He lived most of his life in a series of New York hotels, through his retirement. He died on 7 January 1943.

Tesla's work fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in 1960 the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic field strength the tesla in his honour.Tesla has experienced a resurgence in interest in popular culture since the 1990s.

Links:  8 Things You Didn't Know About Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla Fell In Love With A Pigeon--And Six More Freaky Facts About the Iconic Inventor

Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived

An electric car and the differences it can make for you

A friend of mine on Facebook wrote a bit yesterday about his Chevrolet Volt electric car.  What he says was rather eye opening to me and I think it may well be to lots of Americans who may not be familiar with what's possible here:

When I first got my Chevy Volt at the end of 2013, Keith Reynolds asked if I could give a one month update. With how obviously it behaved differently in the cold than warmer temperatures, I decided to wait until I had more info on different conditions to give a review. I'd say after a 75 degree day I'm now due.

The first thing I should say is it is an absolute joy to drive. It's like a silent hovercraft with instant acceleration and good (not killer) cornering. And the low drive setting engine brakes really hard so I rarely touch the brake, and just absorb whatever speed I was doing back into battery storage as I slow into braking traffic or lights, or down hills. I can come to a stop just taking my foot off the accelerator even on a downhill upwards of 10%.

I've driven it a bit over 5500 miles in four months, just over half of it electric and the rest on long trips out to NY state (230 miles each way). In the depth of winter I was getting only about 32 miles on a 10+ kWh charge (which costs me around $1.20), and low 30s mpg on gas. Its biggest weakness is heating the inside without the engine running, so it was using gas partly for heat, partly for locomotion. Today I got over 49 miles on the same 10+ kWh charge. Around 40 mpg with the gas engine charging the battery, which drives the wheels. I've used almost 76 gallons of gas in almost 2600 miles on gas, and about 2960 on electricity from my outdoor outlet and free public parking charges, probably about $80-90 in electricity.

So under 7 cents a mile to drive, and way more fun than any car I've ever had or driven, stick shifts or not. I swore I would never drive an automatic, but this car has totally changed my thinking. I would never buy anything but an electric car again. It's effectively getting well over 120 mpg on days I drive under 50 miles locally, I can go wherever I want, and I look forward to zipping around in it every morning. Among the hadfull of best purchases I've ever made.

So think about it.

You save money.

You buy less gas.  A LOT less.

You pollute less.

Those are two HUGE wins.

Wins for you. Wins for all of us.

Let's et this party started.

Link:  Three Years Later, Most Consumers Don't Understand

Very cool thing coming out of Cape Girardeau this weekend

An electric car convention? In Cape Girardeau, Missouri?

Believe it:

Convention on electric cars set in Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — A convention designed to help people convert cars to run on electricity is scheduled this week in Cape Girardeau.

About 150 people are expected to attend the Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention, which runs Tuesday through Sunday. Organizers say educational sessions and hands-on work will be held at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. The Southeast Missourian reports (http://bit.ly/1en6Kwc ) nearly 45 electric vehicles will be on display for the public.

Co-organizer Jack Rickard says the convention is drawing people from across the country, as well as countries such as Canada and Australia. He says many attendees are coordinating electric car projects with people on other continents, and the convention gives them a chance to meet.

It gets even more unpredictable, too:

The convention also will offer electric-vehicle drag races and autocross Friday afternoon.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390759/convention-on-electric-cars-set.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390759/convention-on-electric-cars-set.html#storylink=cpy

This will put solar energy in warp speed

Recently, I wrote about the invention and development out of UCLA that allowed solar photovoltaic cells to be transparent. It would make the laying on of these clear cells as sheets, very likely, on existing glass and windows to create electricity quickly, far more clean and far less expensive.

Now, today, I found this and its prediction, mirroring mine but far more precisely:

Foster's Solar-Skinned Buildings Signal Market Tripling

From the article:

From stadiums in Brazil to a bank headquarters in Britain, architects led by Norman Foster are integrating solar cells into the skin of buildings, helping the market for the technology triple within two years.

Sun-powered systems will top the stadia hosting 2014 FIFA World Cup football in Brazil. In Manchester, northern England, the Co-operative Group Ltd. office has cells from Solar Century Holdings Ltd. clad into its vertical surfaces.

The projects mark an effort by designers to adopt building-integrated photovoltaics, or BIPV, where the power-generating features are planned from the start instead of tacked on as an afterthought. Foster and his customers are seeking to produce eye-catching works while meeting a European Union directive that new buildings should produce next to zero emissions after 2020.

“Building integrated solar in office buildings and factories which generate energy consistently during daylight hours, whilst not requiring additional expensive land space or unsightly installations, is seen as the most obvious energy solution,” said Gavin Rezos, principal of Viaticus Capital Ltd., an Australian corporate advisory company that’s one of the private equityfunds putting money into the technology.
Growing Market

The market for solar laid onto buildings and into building materials is expected to grow to $7.5 billion by 2015 from about $2.1 billion, according to Accenture Plc, citing research from NanoMarkets. Sales of solar glass are expected to reach as much as $4.2 billion by 2015, with walls integrating solar cellsat $830 million. About $1.5 billion is expected to be generated from solar tiles and shingles.

The technology provides a respite for solar manufacturers, opening the way for them to charge a premium for products. Traditional solar panel prices have fallen 90 percent since 2008 due to oversupply, cutting margins and pushing more than 30 companies including Q-Cells SE and a unit of Suntech Power Holdings Co. into bankruptcy.

We are truly, I think, clearly on the verge of an energy revolution that will take the world and rather quickly. A great deal of good will come from this, too, like far less expensive electricity for all and made far cleaner. Energy to our homes could nearly become like water, it seems. Possibly even less expensive than that. 

Imagine how quickly the owners of the businesses in the nation will want to buy up this technology, so they can create their own electricity so they cut their energy bill drastically.  Look at the Kansas City skyline alone:

And it's these businesses and corporations and buildings, doing this first--and likely very rapidly, since they'll save so much money so quickly--that will expedite this transition across the nation and world. Then, once that's forthcoming, it will be available for homes as well.

What's unfortunate is that all the governments across the world should respond to this a bit ahead of time by creating a necessary transition from our coal- and nuclear-based plants, generating power now, the way we're set up, to their being a "back up", which is what we'll need them for.

But governments, by and large, likely won't do that.

Here's hoping we get smart first, before this all takes place.

Solar panels will, very, very shortly, be a thing of the past, an energy dinosaur, as will coal and nuclear power.

Thank goodness and good riddance.

Electricity--what Tesla said nearly a century ago

 

‎"Dennis Siegel, a student at the University of the Arts in Bremen, Germany has built what he calls an electromagnetic harvester—it converts electromagnetic fie...lds in the immediate environment into electricity to recharge a common AA battery. He's won a 2nd place award in the HfK Bremen Hochschulpreis 2013 competition for Digitale Medien, for his efforts."

 

"Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe. This idea is not novel. Men have been led to it long ago by instinct or reason; it has been expressed in many ways, and in many places, in the history of old and new. We find it in the delightful myth of Antheus, who derives power from the earth; we find it among the subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians and in many hints and statements of thinkers of the present time. Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic! If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic — and this we know it is, for certain — then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature."

 

--Nikola Tesla, "Experiments With Alternate Currents Of High Potential And High Frequency" (February 1892)

 

We likely don't need big, expensive, very-polluting electrical power plants, folks.

 

Link: Student builds electromagnetic harvester that can recharge AA battery

On American energy independence

"There is enough wind West of the Mississippi to supply three times the amount of power you currently use." --Dr. Helen Caldicott on American electrical power and possible energy independence. Link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAKZGse5SCw&feature=relmfu; Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Helen_Caldicott

The future?

The best thing about this possible future? That we'd have photovoltaic cells all over our homes, commercial buildings and even our cars so we'd create our own, clean electricity and hopefully either shrink tremendously or do away with commerical power plants and the mining and burning of coal, among other things. The worst thing about it? We'll have an attention span of the tsetse fly.

I hope the Star has a reporter to spare for this story...

...because this is, I think, a rather significant one for us to all know about: Power Woes Shut Down Wolf Creek Nuke Plant And what's the power company's and government's first response to us, the public? Wait for it: Low-Level Emergency Didn't Threaten Public Safety No, they never do, do they? Just ask the people in Japan after the Fukushima disaster--not that this is remotely like that. It's just that the first thing you always hear in these things is that "all is well." Right. A bit of the story: BURLINGTON, Kan. -- The operators of the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant said a loss of off-site power prompted an automatic shutdown at the northeast Kansas facility. The shutdown happened Friday afternoon. Wolf Creek officials say the plant's two emergency diesel generators automatically started, supplying power to all safety-related equipment. Plant officials declared a "notification of unusual event," which is the lowest of four emergency classifications defined by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I just hope the Star can, as I said, spare a reporter for this. I hope we can know what's going and that it really is inconsequential. There was the initial report, last year, about the flooding near the nuclear reactor in Nebraska but the Star didn't give that any additional coverage after that, I don't believe. Link: http://www.kmbc.com/news/30211372/detail.html

New Greenhouse Gas Public Data available from the EPA

There's an interesting, rather revealing new website from the EPA that shows the sources of large amounts of greenhouse gases in the nation. You can zoom in on your own state and area. You can find it here: http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ghgdata/. Just go to the map on the lower right hand side and click on it. Then enter the area you wish to see.

Power outage impromptu entertainment at KCI Tuesday

They seem quite professional. I wonder who they are. What a great idea.

Airports don't have backup generators?

What is that about? And guess what midwestern, international airport is just about to get them? Need a clue? Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/25/3227923/power-out-at-kcis-terminal-b-delta.html

Missouri 16th worst for air pollution

The National Resources Defense Council (www.nrdc.org) and Physicians for Social Responsiblity (www.psr.org) came out today with their rankings for the nation, by state, telling of the "most toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants" ranks Missouri in the top 20 at number 16. Yeehaw, eh? The report is titled “Toxic Power: How Power Plants Contaminate Our Air and States.” Additionally, "Nearly half of all toxic air pollution reported from industrial sources nationwide comes from coal- and oil-fired power plants, the largest industrial source of toxic air pollution in 28 states and the District of Columbia" and Missouri is one of those 28. Ohio, for what it's worth, is ranked worst at number 1 while neighboring Illinois is at 17 and Iowa holds the 20 spot. Interestingly, California, who has done so much with legislation and requirements, wisely, is ranked low at number 42. See? Government can work. Then, simultaneously today, with this report comes word that the Sierra Club is likely to get $50 million from Michael Bloomberg's foundation to help them fight new coal-fired power plants so we get into clean, renewable energy, instead. Good on you and thanks, Mr. Bloomberg! We'll get to that "green economy" yet. Links: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/07/the-most-toxic-air-pollution-from-coal-and-oil-fired-power-plants-can-be-found-in-ohio-pennsylvania-and-florida-according.html; http://www.npr.org/2011/07/21/138568843/mayor-bloomberg-donates-50-million-to-sierra-club

The end of the world as we know it

From the headlines today:

Head of Saudi Electric Company Says "Oil Runs Out in 2030 if Current Consumption Maintained"

2030 is just not that far out there.

The good news out of that if you ignore the collapse of international commerce (civilization?)?

At least we'd get out of the Middle East.

If that happens, kiss Israel goodbye.

The Arizona fire and our national economy

This huge "Wallow" wildfire, raging across Arizona will now also likely impact the national economy, at least some, negatively:

Arizona Wildfire Threatens Multistate Electrical Grid

If key power lines are hit, thousands of people in New Mexico and Texas could see rolling blackouts.

• And they are expected to be hit by Friday.
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• Photo Gallery: Arizona Wildfires

It was the best of air, it was the worst of air: State of the Air 2011

Who knew?

There is an annual ranking of the air quality of cities and states around the US, done by the American Lung Association.

Makes sense.  I should have known but wasn't aware of it.

To get right to it, there are some interesting developments in it for us, locally.

Topeka, KS is on the list of "Cleanest Cities for Ozone Air Pollution".

Congratulations, Topeka.  (I still don't want to live there but at least it's got good, clean air).

Lincoln, NE ranked 11 on the same list.  Kudos.

But wait!  Our neighbor to the North, St. Joseph, MO-KS (my hometown), ranked 7th (7th!) on the "Cleanest US Cities for short-term particle pollution" while Lincoln, NE showed up 21st on that list, too.


Good on you, St. Joe!


Now for the bad news.


St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL is on the list of "Most polluted cities by year 'round particle pollution at number 17.


Poor ol' St. Lou.  It sucks to be you.  One of the most violent and now, as it turns out, one of the most polluted, too.  Yikes.  The Chamber of Commerce either scrambles on this or just lets it go, unable to do or say anything about it.  (Btw, Detroit, coincidentally, beat them out, too, at the number 16 spot.  Two of the most violent cities are both also have some of the dirtiest air.  Wow.)


The fact is, the list shows that, without doubt, some of the worst, filthiest and most polluted air is, without exception, is in California.  No wonder those people want clean air regulation.  Good for them.  Good for all of us.

The best air in the country?

Honolulu, Hawai'i.

There's a shock, huh?

As for our hometown digs here in KCMO?

Good news, really, overall.

We don't rank on any list of the "cleanest air"...

but we sure aren't on any of the "worst air" lists, either.

Cause for celebration.


Links:  http://www.stateoftheair.org/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110427/hl_nm/us_air

And now for something completely similar...

(With apologies to Monty Python's creators for appropriating their line).

Now, the latest energy news:

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A natural gas pipeline exploded in north Texas on Monday afternoon, CNN reported.

The blast was originally thought to be an oil well explosion.

An electrical crew was digging a hole when it struck the gas pipeline, an emergency services spokesman in Hood County, Texas, said.

WFAA-TV, the Dallas/Fort Worth station, reported three people were dead and 10 were unaccounted for after the blast.

People dying in large numbers in China, in coal mine explosions and collapses.

People dying in record numbers here, in the US, in the same.

An oil well explosion and leak in the Gulf of Mexico, creating the biggest natural disaster ever.

And now this.

Mind you, this last one is small (unless you're one of the 3 dead or one of their family or friends) but what is it going to take to point us all, as a nation--if not as a world--that we need to invest heavily in the far safer, cleaner and so, smarter solar power, particularly with photovoltaic cells?

If we all have these on our businesses and homes, along with new and better battery technology which, from what I understand is coming along pretty well, all things considered, we would need far less energy companies since we could create a lot of our own power through a calendar year.

Our air would be far cleaner. We would pollute far less, having gotten rid of coal, the transportation of coal and the burning of fossil fuels.

We could also, then, switch the jobs from out of coal mines with their requisite coal dust and health problems for the miners, to much better, cleaner jobs, perhaps installing the solar cells or some other, better, cleaner work.

Is it easy?

Certainly not.

Can we do it overnight?

Again, no way.

But do we need to do it?

I think we all know the answer to that is a resounding "yes".

And it would be "something completely different..."

Link to original post:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100607/us_nm/us_natgas_blast_texas

Some good news--and a warning

Word is out today, in The New York Times, that a large semiconductor company in Taiwan, China--Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing--is exploring the possibility of switching--gradually, I'm sure--from making semiconductors to solar cells.

It makes some sense, it would seem.

The semiconductor market is older and more of a "mature" market, whereas solar cells would be a much newer, possible growth market they could grow into.

If successful, it would certainly help the company but China and Taiwan, too, of course.

Frankly, it could help us all, worldwide, to get lower costs for these cells so we could have far cleaner energy--almost completely clean energy, once the cells are created.

Think of it.

No burning coal. No carbon dioxide and dirt from that burning.

Once we can reduce the cost of photovoltaic cells to create energy, we could realistically at least shrink the power companies, if not, one day, do away with them.

That could free up people and economies all over the world.

So it's good news, really, but it's also a bit of a "shot across the bow" for the United States and US manufacturing.

We'd better get busy.

Link to story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/business/energy-environment/13chip.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1244934234-1WcPF2mUpImvmO9ps2Q+nA

Energy and power

Energy and the sources for energy and electricity in the United States--and the world, really--need to change.

Our old power structures used to work but they don't any longer.

The whole idea of having an electric company that creates the power, only to dole it out to all of us is extremely outdated, particularly here in America, where corporations own and run the power-generating facilities and they exploit their customers with whatever charges and price increases they want to put forward, just because they want it and because they have the government officials in their own financial pockets.

That's one reason it no longer works.

The other reason the old way doesn't work is because the way of creating the electricity--having turbines moved by water, usually--is so damaging and polluting to the environment.

Added to that the global warming, it's just a recipe for needing replacement.

And the thing is, we have a solution for this.

The fact is, we need to have photovoltaic cells on our commercial and residential buildings so each facility can create its own energy.

There's no reason this can't happen, technically.

It would solve the problems of people not being able to afford energy for heating and cooling, along with the environmental and global warming problems.

But the fact is, we have the power structures in existence now, in our governments and society, that want and need--for their own existence--to keep things just the way they are.

In Missouri, right now, for instance, the Kansas City Star reported that, even if you wanted to put solar panels on your home, you legally can't get insurance to cover it, thus making it virtually impossible to do.

Corporations are aligned against this advance in technology for our society.

It's probably much more possilbe in Europe, where they don't let corporations have a stranglehold on the citizen's actions and lives.

This is why I've said here that, with this new President, we have work ahead of us--a great deal of work--and we have to keep pushing and take our country and society back from the corporations.