sterlingda - Slashdot User

Submission + - Toshiba Builds Household Nuclear Reactor (peswiki.com)

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sterlingda

on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @03:36AM

sterlingda writes: "Toshiba has developed a new class of nuclear reactor 100 times smaller than a standard reactor. These micro sized nuclear reactors could be used to power large houses, apartment blocks or some city blocks. The new 200 kilowatt reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat. The new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction, but uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy. Toshiba expects to install the first reactor in Japan in 2008 and to begin marketing the new system in Europe and America in 2009."

Submission + - Continuous Light Doesn't Need to be Plugged In (peswiki.com)

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sterlingda

on Sunday December 09, 2007 @02:24PM

sterlingda writes: "First announced publicly at NASA Tech Briefs on Oct. 5, 2007, GlowPaint glow-in-the-dark paint company, MPK Co., has come up with self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres(TM) which they say are inexpensive, non-toxic, and will stay on for 12+ years (half-life point) continuously — without having to be plugged into any power source. The Litrospheres(TM) are not effected by heat or cold, and are 5,000-pound crush resistant. They can be injection molded or added to paint. The fill rate of Litroenergy micro particles in plastic injection molding material or paint is about 20%. The constant light gives off no U.V. rays, and can be designed to emit almost any color of light desired. The company seeks to mass produce this mateiral and supply OEMs."

Submission + - 3000 km on Water and Waste Oil (pesn.com)

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sterlingda

on Wednesday November 07, 2007 @01:48PM

sterlingda writes: "Bios Fuel Corporation of New Zealand drove a Toyota Landcruiser across the Australian Desert from Darwin to Adelaide, running a virtually unmodified diesel engine on 40% Water and 60% Waste Mineral oil as part of the Greenfleet Class of the Panasonic World Solar Challenge. Bios Fuel claims to have developed a water-based fuel technology that allows hydrogen to be housed safely in water and released on demand for numerous applications. A proprietary catalyst allows water to be suspended in waste oil as an emulsion. The fuel is designed for power generation. It is one of several blends that Bios Fuel has certified to American ASTM standards."

Submission + - New brushless generator for wind turbines (physorg.com)

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sterlingda

on Tuesday October 30, 2007 @01:00AM

sterlingda writes: "A research team from the University of Cambridge have developed a new generator technology for the wind turbine industry to the point of commercial exploitation, for application in a wide spectrum of wind turbines ranging from multi-megawatt systems for wind farms down to domestic micro turbines."

Submission + - Thermal Paint that Generates Electricity (pesn.com)

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sterlingda

on Tuesday October 02, 2007 @01:42AM

sterlingda writes: "Industrial Nanotech, Inc. an emerging global leader in nanotechnology, has announced that the Company is now in the development stage of a thermal insulation material that will generate electricity. The company presently produces a Nansulate coating, which, when applied to industrial piping prevents corrosion and is said to lower energy use by 10-20%. "After almost three years of research on producing thin sheets of thermal insulation which use the temperature differential that insulation inherently creates as a source for generating electricity, we are moving to the development stage and designing the first prototype material and filing the patents necessary to protect this valuable intellectual property," states Stuart Burchill, CEO of Industrial Nanotech, Inc."

Submission + - Inflatable, Affordable Electric Car (pesn.com) 3

Submitted by

Sterling Allan

on Saturday September 15, 2007 @01:46AM

Sterling Allan writes: "XP Vehicles(TM) announced on Thursday that it's Whisper(TM) electric car is being developed for online direct ship distribution at sub $5000.00 price-points. This would be the world's first crash-proof, long range, flat-pack vehicle. A baffled pressure tube system provides the supporting and protective structure of the vehicle, making it so safe that the engineers for the Whisper are confident you can drive it off a 25-foot cliff without serious injury to its passengers."

Submission + - Cold Fusion's Commercialization Begs Funding (wired.com)

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Sterling Allan

on Friday August 24, 2007 @01:44AM

Sterling Allan writes: "A recent conference on Cold Fusion at MIT concludes that with 3,000+ published studies from around the world describing excess energy from tabletop fusion devices, the question of whether Cold Fusion is real is not the issue. According to Wired's report on the conference, now the question is whether or not it can be made commercially viable, and to answer that, some serious funding is needed."

Submission + - Electrostatic Magnet Motor Made from Kitchen Stuff (peswiki.com)

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Sterling Allan

on Thursday August 02, 2007 @05:19PM

Sterling Allan writes: "Scott F. Hall, an associate professor of art at the University of Central Florida, was tinkering around with stuff in his kitchen and came up with a continuously rotating mechanism that appears to harness electrostatic energy from the atmosphere — or something. The gizmo spins at around 80 revolutions per minute, and is constructed from a can of dog food, tooth picks, refrigerator magnets, a pencil, spring clips, and a small corner cut out of a box. Three toothpics are formed into an inverted tripod and spin atop the fourth toothpick held vertical by a spring clip that has magnets situated around the base. A graphite pencil is held over the the point of the inverted tripod via another spring clip sitting atop the can of dog food. Hall (suitable last name) posted a video at YouTube showing the gizmo running. The next day, he posted another video showing a round paperweight spinning (though not continuously) via magnets placed on its perimeter, with magnets on two adjoining dog food cans."

Submission + - Fire from Salt Water

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sterlingda

on Saturday May 26, 2007 @05:09PM

sterlingda writes: "John Kanzius and his associate Charlie Rutkowski have found a way to create energy by burning salt water with the same radio wave machine they are using to kill cancer cells. Kanzius and Rutkowski were testing their external radio-wave generator to see if it could desalinate salt water, and it ignited. A university chemist determined that the process is generating hydrogen. While the phenomenon is interesting, it is not yet practical for energy generation inasmuch as more energy is consumed by the radio frequency device than is produced for burning. [memo do be deleted: the wiki server should be able to handle slashdotted bandwidth]"

Submission + - New Form of Matter Melds Lasers, Superconductors

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sterlingda

on Friday May 18, 2007 @09:31PM

sterlingda writes: ""Physicists at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated a new form of matter that melds the characteristics of lasers with those of the world's best electrical conductors — superconductors. The work introduces a new method of moving energy from one point to another as well as a low-energy means of producing a light beam like that from a laser. The new state is a solid filled with a collection of energy particles known as polaritons that have been trapped and slowed." The work is published in the May 18 issue of Science."

Submission + - PV Silicon breakthrough wins MIT prize

Submitted by

Sterling D. Allan

on Wednesday May 02, 2007 @09:19PM

Sterling D. Allan writes: "Silicon shortages have logjammed the solar industry, causing otherwise feasible plants to shut down or lay off workers, even though the demand has been skyrocketing. Silicon production worldwide is at around 40,000 tons per year, while the present demand is approaching 75,000 tons/year. Tuesday, a new silicon producer came out of stealth mode, winning MIT's Ignite Clean Energy '07 Business Presentation Competition. Reaction Sciences, Inc (RSI) Silicon would cut production cost to a third, plant costs to 1/10 and plant build time by 1/2. "Most Silicon plants make electronic grade '8 Nines' (99.999999%) purity needed for semiconductors, using the Siemens process. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory study found that solar Silicon purity only needs to be six nines (99.9999% pure), with emphasis on Boron, Phosphorus, and select metals. RSI has created a new proprietary process that makes only solar-grade silicon of six nines purity, without needing all the costly equipment and tri-chlorosilane gases used with metallurgical Silicon feedstock.""

Submission + - The Sun, not Man, is Causing Global Warming

Submitted by

Sterling D. Allan

on Monday March 19, 2007 @05:33PM

Sterling D. Allan writes: "There are plenty good reasons to go green. Global warming isn't one of them. A 76-minute documentary produced in England and published on YouTube destroys the arguments put forward by Al Gore and other activists who lay the primary blame for Global Warming at the feet of mankind. According to the documentary, CO2 historically lags earth mean temperatures by several hundred years. The lock-step relationship is between solar activity and earth temperatures. Man's contribution is puny in comparison. The earth has seen temperatures much warmer than today in previous cyclical periods."

Submission + - Continuous Rotation about a Magnetic Ring

Submitted by

Sterling D. Allan

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @08:38PM

Sterling D. Allan writes: "The Searl International Space Research Consortium has published two videos at YouTube demonstrating a key proof of concept of a technology John Searl produced in the 1960's, but for which he was jailed, and his devices and papers pilfered by the government. The completion of this mock-up marks the first time since 1968 that a roller has rotated about a ring continuously. According to Searl, the purpose of the mock-up was to find out why the rollers spin, why they stay on the plate, and to see what input power is necessary for operation — to see what kind of rare earth material will be able to provide the input power in the place of the small electrical excitation. The next task will be to build a full Searl Effect Generator (SEG) capable of cheaply and safely producing electricity (15 kW) without fuel, pollution, friction, or noise. Anti-gravity applications will be pursued after that."

Submission + - Continuous Rotation about a Magnetic Ring

Submitted by

Sterling D. Allan

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @06:42PM

Sterling D. Allan writes: "The Searl International Space Research Consortium has published two videos at YouTube demonstrating a key proof of concept of a technology John Searl produced in the 1960's, but for which he was jailed. The completion of this mock-up marks the first time since 1963 that a roller has rotated about a ring continuously. The input excitation energy is far exceeded by the output energy, even in this mock-up, which is not engineered for optimal energy production. The next task will be to build a full Searl Effect Generator (SEG) capable of cheaply and safely producing electricity (15 kW) without fuel, pollution, friction, or noise. Anti-gravity applications will be pursued after that."

Submission + - Net Zero Fuel Infrastructure Solution

Submitted by

Sterling D. Allan

on Saturday February 03, 2007 @11:35AM

Sterling D. Allan writes: "By injecting a water-ethanol mixture called Aquahol that can be used on most any vehicle, and by producing ethanol from the prolific and multi-use sweet sorghum plant, Tectane's net result is no added emissions to the environment, at a cost savings. This past Wednesday they had a press conference in which they showed a 30-minute short version of a documentary film about their company, being produced by Nicholas Klein, best known for such Hollywood hits as The Million Dollar Hotel starring Mel Gibson and The Venice Project starring Dennis Hopper and Lauren Bacall. A vehicle running on this technology requires only a slight addition to the engine compartment to house the injection apparatus, which is said to increases mileage by between 20 and 40 percent, cutting emissions by 20 to 60 percent, while increasing horse power by 10 to 15 percent, and increasing the lifetime of the engine by 50 percent. It also removes the need for the catalytic converter, as well as environmentally destructive chemical additives to the fuel like MBTE. The modification enables almost all cars to run on any fuel, including low (75) octane gasoline, which is cheaper, requiring less refinement. The second part of the equation is in the ethanol production method that they promote, using sweet sorghum. The plant can grow without pesticides or expensive fertilizers, grows prolifically, with little water, producing two crops per season; and the entire plant can be used, not just a portion. The stalk fibers can be used as a substitute for wood composites, eliminating the need for deforestation for buildings. The grainy top can be used for animal feed. The pulp can be used for paper production, and has been by the paper company, Cascade, since 2003. The leftover biomass can be used in energy generation plants, being an ideal fuel since it is neither too dry nor too wet."

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