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

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.

Things we Americans should learn from Germany and Germans

One more thing we could learn from the German people:

Breaking news today:

Germany Rejects Fracking

Yet another great idea and movement from Germany since fracking is so polluting and causes people to get sick and also causes Earthquakes.

We should be so smart.

Other things we could and should learn from Germany:

--how to have workers--labor--and management cooperate for the benefit of labor, management, the companies themselves and so, the nation;

--killing nuclear power is a good idea since it has so many and much extra costs to it, due to the half-life of radioactive uranium and those storage costs and issues;

--working hard on solar energy, specifically photovoltaic cells, makes a lot of sense due to its many benefits not least of which is getting out of the Middle East, turning over so much national treasure for oil until we do thus weakening the nation further, polluting far less, putting less C02 in the air, etc.;

--killing "outsourcing" of manufacturing since it takes jobs out of the country which weakens us as citizens but also the nation, of course.

So much we could learn.

And that's just a short list.

If only we wanted to learn, huh?

Links: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-rejects-fracking-to-tap-natural-gas-a-831764.html; http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/07-2

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.

Missouri ranked one of the least energy-efficient states

This is discouraging. Missouri is ranked, as it says above, one of the least energy-efficient states, according to American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. We ranked number 44 out of 50. You can't get much lower than that now, can you? Doesn't being "conservative" translate to conserving energy as well as being for "small government"? Doesn't that make sense? We need to work on this. More bad news, too. Next-door neighbor Kansas was 48th. Geez, people. Another thing we need to work on. Links: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/23/top-energy-efficient-states_n_1025831.html#s425979&title=44__Missouri; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/23/top-energy-efficient-states_n_1025831.html#s424951&title=1_Massachusetts

A great idea from the president they'll want to shoot down

If President Obama comes up with it, there will be lines of people--mostly Conservative and/or Right-wing and/or Republican and/or Tea Party, etc.--that will be staunchly against it.  This is just one more:

Obama wants to curb U.S. oil imports by a third

By Alister Bull – Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will set an ambitious goal on Wednesday to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, focusing on energy security amid high gasoline prices that could stall the country's economic recovery.

Obama will outline his strategy in a speech after spending days explaining U.S.-led military action in Libya, where fighting, accompanied by popular unrest elsewhere in the Arab world, has helped push gasoline prices toward $4 a gallon.

Discussing the speech, the Democratic president said the country must increase its energy independence.

"What we were talking about was breaking the pattern of being shocked at high prices and then, as prices go down, being lulled into a trance, but instead let's actually have a plan," Obama told party activists in New York late on Tuesday.

"Let's, yes, increase domestic oil production, but let's also invest in solar and wind and geothermal and biofuels and let's make our buildings more efficient and our cars more efficient. Not all of that work is done yet, but I'm not finished yet. We've got more work to do," Obama said.

The White House says this is a deliberate turn toward energy security and will be followed by other events to highlight his strategy.

So come on, who could be against this?  We know we need to reduce our energy dependence, particularly that that comes out of the looney-filled Middle East, what with their dictators, insanity, 2000-year-old wars and terrorists.

Yet against it they will be, whoever they are.  

The oil companies will most assuredly be against this because they're making ga-zillions from the oil in the Middle East and they like what's coming in so naturally, they'll give money--probably in the range of $2000.00 to $5000.00--to their Senators who will, in turn, then, say it's a crazy idea and imprudent and we should go another way.

Man, I hope we've learned we need to do this.

And if we haven't learned already, I hope we do shortly.

Link to original story:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_obama_energy

Sent out earlier today

An open letter to all airline customers:

Last week, crude oil hit an all-time high of $146, and the skyrocketing cost of fuel is impacting our customers, our employees, the communities we serve, and the economy as a whole. United, and the majority of other major U.S. airlines, are asking our most loyal customers to join us in pushing for legislation to add more transparency and disclosure in the oil markets. The following is an open letter from the leaders of the U.S. airline industry.



Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now.

For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers. Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation.

Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem.

We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com.

Robert Fornaro Chairman, President and CEO AirTran Airways
Bill Ayer Chairman, President and CEO Alaska Airlines, Inc.
Gerard J. Arpey Chairman, President and CEO American Airlines, Inc.
Lawrence W. Kellner Chairman and CEO Continental Airlines, Inc.
Richard Anderson CEO Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Mark B. Dunkerley President and CEO Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.
Dave Barger CEO JetBlue Airways Corporation
Timothy E. Hoeksema Chairman, President and CEO Midwest Airlines
Douglas M. Steenland President and CEO Northwest Airlines, Inc.

Gary Kelly Chairman and CEO Southwest Airlines Co.
Glenn F. Tilton Chairman, President and CEO United Airlines, Inc.
Douglas Parker Chairman and CEO US Airways Group, Inc.
_________________________________________________

This, campers, follows what I wrote about a week ago, on the unlimited oil speculation that's now possible, because the American government took off regulation of oil speculation back in December, 2000, thanks to the brainiacs of Enron.

And have you seen the TV ad from, with and by T. Boone Pickens, the old, Texas oil multi-millionaire who--even he--says we should get off oil and into alternative energy sources like wind power, etc? That's pretty incredible. Think about it: for one, he's old and seemingly not likely to change. Second, he's from Texas, of all places and third and finally, he made all his money in the oil fields and even that old coot thinks it's time America got off our oil fix.

I tell you, there's hope for us yet.

(Special thanks to Tim Taylor for forwarding this letter from United Airlines to me!)
P.S. Since posting this, I've received the same email from 2 or 3 more friends. Let's hope people are contacting their Representatives!