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Transportation

Submission + - The end of Electric Conversion Cars?

Submitted by jeroen8
jeroen8 writes: More and more electric cars are coming to the market. We currently see two major trends: Converting existing cars into electric cars by replacing their combustion engine and fuel tank. And newly designed cars to be fully electric from the start. The advantage for conversion is time to marked and cost, you do not need to design and test the car from the ground-up. The dis-advantage for conversion cars is their relative lower energy efficiency. A good example is the small converted Citroen EV'ie, with a top speed of 60 mph and a range of 69 miles. This car has an average energy usage of 232 Wh/mile. Compare that with the Tesla Roadster, this car has a top speed of 125 mph, a range of 220 miles using only 176 Wh/mile or the Mitsubishi i-MiEV with only 160 Wh/mile. Does it make sense to invest in electric conversion cars? Or will they all be outclassed soon by new designed electrical cars?
Power

Submission + - N-American Energy Plan for 2030: Hydro-electricity (olino.org)

Submitted by jeroen8
jeroen8 writes: While their are no shortages of plans for the US to reduce its reliance on oil imported from overseas or replace fossil fuels with renewable resources, their is little consideration of a continental plan for future economic growth in a fossil fuel constrained world. Hydro electricity is presently the largest renewable electricity source in North America, with 94 GWa (35 GW in US, 50 GW in Canada and 9 GW in Mexico) generated in North America out of the 556 GWa electricity production (18%). In the US, only 35 GWa hydro production (85 GW capacity) of the estimated 300 GWa hydro potential has been developed according to a DOE study.
Power

Submission + - USA passed Germany in Wind Power, EU still leading (olino.org)

Submitted by jeroen8
jeroen8 writes: Wind energy, together with water and solar power is regarded as one of the most important renewable energy source for the near future. The USA is investing heavily in the new Wind Power. One example is the San Gorgonio Pass wind farm, which is one of the windiest places in Southern California, and is one of three major wind farms in California, along with the Altamont Pass Wind Farm and the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm. As of January 2008 the farm consists of 3,218 units with 615 MW (megawatt) of installed wind power capacity. It is the seventh largest wind farm in the USA. The USA passed Germany to become the number one market in wind power with a capacity of 25,170 MW. But when looking at the European Union as one market, the EU is by far the world leader in terms of installed wind power with a capacity of 65,085 MW. Asia is expected to be the fastest growing region in the world as of this year, driven mainly by China, which has been doubling its installed capacity every year for the past four years. Asia's cumulative wind capacity is expected to be up to 117.4 GW by 2013, on a par with the expected capacity of Europe by that time.
Power

Submission + - 50% of Electricity Generated by Wind Scenario (olino.org)

Submitted by jeroen8
jeroen8 writes: Would a "50% of electricity generated by wind scenario" work in North America by 2030? In the article A North American Wind Energy Scenario of Neil Howes, who has recently retired from his position as an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, a rough cut estimate of what might be required to make such a transition in about 20 years time can be found. Most proposals that are being made rely on a very big increase in carbon free energy, both to charge electric vehicles (EV's) and to replace oil and natural gas (NG) presently used for hot water and space heating. In this article, he lays out a path by which 50% of North American energy might come from wind by 2030, including replacement of a large share of oil and natural gas use by electricity.
Earth

Submission + - Biofuels are not climate neutral (olino.org)

Submitted by jeroen8
jeroen8 writes: Proponents of biofuels often call them 'climate neutral'. The idea behind climate neutrality is this: if one burns biofuels, CO2 is released that was recently sequestered by plants. The net result thereof on the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is therefore: zero. A substantial amount of research has been done about the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels. The research shows that such emissions are substantially at variance with climate neutrality. The reasons are explained in the article Biofuels, climate and natural resources by Prof.dr. Lucas Reijnders. Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Amsterdam.

Comment Re:Standardize battery pack (Score 1) 369

by jeroen8 (#27678531) Attached to: Developing Battery Replacement Infrastructure For Electric Cars

Which is why it probably won't happen. The auto companies have to protect their 500% markup on OEM parts, after all.

Why is that? The current (single) battery in any car is already standardized (form factor and voltage) and can be switched easily, why not introduce these standards for full battery packs?
Google

Submission + - Google Labs Adds News Timeline (oreilly.com)

Submitted by
blackbearnh
blackbearnh writes: "Google Labs has released a new way to do news searches, by viewing them on a timeline. Just put in a date, or a topic and date, and you can see the news stories for that time period, laid out on a horizontal timeline with the stories under the day, month, year or decade. O'Reilly has an interview with Andy Hertzfeld, the Googler (and one of the fathers of the Mac) who created the News Timeline, talking about how it works and what you can do with it."
Businesses

Submission + - SPAM: Job Search

Submitted by
boydeadhungry
boydeadhungry writes: "How To Survive Interview Day Be early Make a winning impression by showing you are reliable and organized. Get directions in advance and take a test drive if you are unfamiliar with the area. Also, check out the parking situation or public transportation schedules. Allow enough time for traffic and unexpected delays. It's all about you Review your resume thoroughly, but don't memorize it word for word. When talking, focus on your skills and accomplishments and how they correlate to the position you want. Hone in on how your experience has prepared you for this job and what you can bring to the table. Dress to impress Follow this simple rule of thumb: "It's better to be over-dressed than under-dressed." Even if the work environment is casual, your appearance still must be neat, clean and professional. Unless the interviewer specifically tells you to dress casually, a classic suit is always your best bet. Also, limit your use of jewelry, makeup and cologne or perfume. The name game Make sure you know the correct name and pronunciation of the interviewer. Listen carefully when the interviewer states his or her name and repeat it back when you say hello. Before you leave, ask for a business card from each person you met. This gives you the necessary information to write thank-you letters. Hand it over A firm handshake is a sign of confidence, but avoid the bone crushing vice grip. Weak and clammy handshakes typically make a bad impression. Don't forget to look the interviewer directly in the eye when initiating contact. Body language Appear confident by sitting up straight and maintaining good eye contact throughout the interview. Poor posture may translate to low self-esteem. Refrain from fidgeting or chewing gum or candy. Be nice You never know who you'll meet in the parking lot, elevator or lobby, so be polite to everyone from the receptionist to the CEO. After all, they could have an influence in the hiring process. Short and sweet Avoid long-winded answers. Practice in advance and you will sound more focused and polished. The sounds of silence While it may be golden, silence can be uncomfortable. However, jumping in with irrelevant comments just to fill up airtime will only make you look nervous. If you are experiencing trouble forming an answer to a question, wait a few seconds before responding. The use of "um, uh, like, well, err ..." sounds well, um ... stupid. Take your time and think before you speak. Cold hard cash Although salary is an important factor in your job search, don't let it be the driving force behind your choice. In interviews, it's more important to talk about why you're the right person for the job. Do not bring up salary unless the interviewer asks. Practice makes perfect Rehearsing is not just for actors. Take time to review what you want to say by asking a friend to play "the interviewer." By practicing your responses to typical interviewing questions, you will significantly reduce your stress level and improve your chances of making a winning impression on the interviewer."
Link to Original Source
Portables

Submission + - Microsoft still harming netbook markets

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The netbook has emerged as a huge success in spite of, not thanks to, Microsoft. The limitations they have imposed, conjectures the article, is holding back the market and limiting what people can get out of their hardware. From the article, "Companies like Intel have created the Atom N280 processor which delivers more performance clock-per-clock than previous Desktop Pentium 4s, and with their GN40 chipset and enhanced 3D graphics abilities have produced a powerful DirectX 10 compliant netbook-capable device with DXVA 2.0 (DirectX Video Acceleration 2.0), features which are only enabled in Windows Vista. Other companies, like Nvidia with their Ion platform, which have even more superior graphics abilities in addition to Intel's Atom CPU, are also not being served. While the hardware is more than capable, the software is not. Seem odd? It is, but it's part of Microsoft's doing as they are imposing limitations on what hardware can run what operating system."
Windows

Submission + - Windows Live Mail covering up email deletions?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A number of Windows Live Mail/Hotmail users have fallen victim to the unsolicited deletion of email dated from the 14th-20th of April, 2009, as evidenced by the plethora of like postings on the blog style support site http://windowslivehelp.com/. On one such thread, http://windowslivehelp.com/community/t/42864.aspx, it seems that the Windows Live team are adopting an approach of blame the user.

The story goes that users are falling victim to an archiving *feature* of the Windows Live Mail email client. Nevermind that the feature would seemingly attempt to archive email of age of less than a week, one would think a serious bug in their own software. And ignoring the fact that many of the affected users are adamant that they have only used the Windows Live Hotmail web interface.

Worse still, there is seemingly nothing that can be done to recover the lost emails. This Anonymous Coward suggests that the loss of user emails in an unsolicited and unexpected way is a very serious fault that would require urgent attention (and a much more apologetic tone).

Given the seriousness of the problem, one wonders if the seemingly apathetic response is borne out of denial or the deliberate cover up of a serious fault in the Windows Live Mail system?

Comment Standardize battery pack (Score 5, Insightful) 369

by jeroen8 (#27674875) Attached to: Developing Battery Replacement Infrastructure For Electric Cars
If electric car manufacturers standardize their battery pack on dimmensions and voltage output this will create huge benefits:
  • Swapping batteries either automatic or manual is easy
  • A new market will be created for companies providing improved batteries which can be used in any electric car
  • Cost down by mass producing the battery packs

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