Sunday Silliness - Beauty :o)

Japan Nuclear Update

March 12, 2011 UPDATE 2, 9:30 EST:

The Tokyo Electric Power Company says it has successfully vented the
containment of unit 1 at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in
northern Japan, according to several industry sources.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano, told a news conference that
there was an explosion at Fukushima-Daiichi at 15:36 local time, but he
said it has not affected the reactor’s primary system or its containment,
the news service NucNet reported this morning.

Edano said there was hydrogen explosion in the space between the concrete
containment and the reactor’s primary system, but the explosion did not
damage the containment function or the reactor system, the report said. A
portion of the fuel in the reactor was uncovered and TEPCO is using borated
seawater to cover the fuel. Radiation measurements at the site boundary of
Fukushima Daiichi were measured at 11 millrem per hour, but were reduced to
7 millirem per hour a few hours after the explosion.

TEPCO also is preparing to vent the containment structures at Fukushima
Daiichi 2 and 3, as of Saturday morning.

Edano said, "We've confirmed that the reactor container was not damaged.
The explosion didn't occur inside the reactor container. As such there was
no large amount of radiation leakage outside.,"

The Japanese government expanded the evacuation zone around the facility to
20 kilometers, or about 12 miles.

Backup diesel generators and backup batteries have arrived at the Fukushima
Daiichi reactors.

U.S. support to Japan for the nuclear plant events and earthquake includes
assistance from the industry and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

TEPCO also is working to maintain safe condition of Fukushima Daini units
1, 2 and 3, which have lost reactor pressure suppression function.

The Other White Meat?

After more than two decades of being known as "The Other White Meat," the old pork motto is headed for the proverbial smokehouse. The National Pork Board unveiled a new slogan -- "Pork: Be Inspired" -- and a new $11 million ad campaign that will launch this spring.

The new campaign will launch in March and April with print, TV and social media ads. But no further details were released.


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Science Scene - Wind Bridge

A new bridge concept incorporates wind and solar energy into its design, generating 40 million kilowatt-hours per year — and looking pretty slick to boot.


The Solar Wind concept would use the space between an existing viaduct in southern Italy to install 26 wind turbines, which designers Francesco Colarossi, Giovanna Saracino and Luisa Saracino say could provide 36 million kilowatt hours of electricity every year.

The design team conceived the Solar Wind project for a contest that aims to repurpose some old, unused viaducts near Calabria, a region in the toe of Italy. It would cost about $55 million to demolish the viaducts, so town officials held a contest for proposals that would re-use them in an environmentally friendly way. The wind turbine bridge took second place.


The proposal also includes a solar-paneled roadway to provide another 11.2 million kilowatt hours, Colarossi and colleagues say. It turns the entire viaduct into a park, with spaces to pull over and take in the view off the Italian coast. Travelers could stop and buy fresh produce grown in solar-powered greenhouses located along the bridge. The whole roadway would be covered in a dense grid of solar cells coated in a thin, transparent plastic, the designers say.


All in all, the system would be capable of generating 40 million kWh each year, enough to power 15,000 homes.

Source

Science Scene - Plastic Bag Fuel

What most of us see as the ubiquitous blight of modern convenience consumerism, i.e., littered plastic shopping bags, Japanese inventor Akinori Ito sees as the “fuel of the future”. Like most sensible inventions, Ito’s began with the simple realization that plastic bags are made from oil. Thus, it should be possible, he theorized, to revert these same items back to their original form.

His invention is actually a non-polluting, fully contained process that heats up the plastic, traps the vapors and channels them through an intricate system of pipes and water chambers. These, in turn, cool the vapors and condense them back into crude oil. This crude oil can be used in generators and even some stoves.  An additional refinement step converts the crude oil into gasoline.

The carbon-negative system — now offered by Ito’s Blest Corporation, founded in early 2010 — is a highly-efficient technology, converting 1 kilogram (about 2 lbs.) of plastic into 1 liter (about a quart) of oil using just 1 kilowatt of power (cost: about .20 cents). However, the current cost of this system is just under 10,000 USD. Ito hopes to bring this price down through ramping up the production process as the word gets out and demand increases.


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Wildcat March Madness

Check out my sidebar and link to WildCat for his annual March Madness antics.  Just click on the picture to go to laughterville :o)

Or Click Here

Sunday Silliness - Bailout :o)

Rough Road Ahead!

So, things have been a little rocky lately, so I apologize for my recent lack of visits, and in the future as well.  I normally do not talk about personal things here, but since this could be going on for many months, I felt the need to provide some insight.

My Step-Dad has been having a rough road the last year or so, and was recently diagnosed with Stage III lung cancer.  My folks do not have a local support network, and his son lives out of state.  So we are pretty much it.  My normal routine is to stop and visit on Monday and Friday nights, and I have recently included Wednesdays.

On top of that, I have my normal work activities and project management professional organization activities.  This is not a pity request post, just a shout out to let you know that why I am scarce and sporadic.

On a positive note, spring is around the corner, and summer follows.

Science Scene - Better Photovoltaics

What if solar cells could soak up even more energy?  Amonix recently unveiled the 7700 Concentrated Photovotaic (CPV), which aims to do just that.  




The technology, originally developed in the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, our tax dollars at work), puts space-grade solar cells under an earth-bound lens.  The CPV Generator is said to be the least land-intensive form of solar power.

By using gallium-based, triple junction technology, the CPV solar cells are more heat resistant than traditional silicon-based cells.  This is because CPV solar cells have been used in space for their robustness for quite some time now.  Since these new cells are practically unaffected by high temperatures, efficiency is drastically improved because more sunlight can be concentrated on them.  What's more, the price to produce CPV cells is competitive with the natural gas prices.

How does the new technology compare to traditional photovoltaic cells?  A traditional silicon wafer used in photovoltaic panels produces approximately 2.5 watts of electricity.  The same sized wafer use in a CPV cell produces more than 1,500 watts of electricity.   

Although the generator is the size of an IMAX screen, it's much cheaper than comparable generators.  This is in-part due to the higher efficiency of the cells, delivering more "energy per acre" than anything of its kind.  This exciting new technology is probably what won the CPV cells the "2010 Research and Development 100 award" at what is commonly known as the "Oscars of Invention."

Chalk another one up for engineering and science :o)

Source

Raunchy, Oh My :o)

Nice On One Side, Naughty On The Other: Raunchy Wrapping Paper.  I could not resist when I saw this at www.inventorspot.com.

Go to SUCK UK to order yours :o)