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Transportation

Simple Device Claimed To Boost Fuel Efficiency By Up To 20% 674

Ponca City, We love you writes "Temple University physics professor Rongjia Tao has developed a simple device that could dramatically improve fuel efficiency in automobiles by as much as 20 percent. The device, attached to the fuel line of a car's engine near the fuel injector, creates an electric field that thins fuel, reducing its viscosity so that smaller droplets are injected into the engine. Because combustion starts at the droplet surface, smaller droplets lead to cleaner and more efficient combustion. Six months of road testing in a diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz automobile showed an increase from 32 miles per gallon to 38 mpg, a 20 percent boost, and a 12-15 percent gain in city driving. 'We expect the device will have wide applications on all types of internal combustion engines, present ones and future ones,' Tao wrote in the study published in Energy & Fuels. 'This discovery promises to significantly improve fuel efficiency in all types of internal combustion engine powered vehicles and at the same time will have far-reaching effects in reducing pollution of our environment,' says Larry F. Lemanski, Senior Vice President for Research and Strategic Initiatives at Temple."

Comment Easy workaround - one phone call (Score 1) 676

I have encountered the crapware Comast nightmare as well, but discovered there's an easy solution. Call Comcast, and tell them that you had it all installed and it was working, but now has suddenly stopped since you moved your computer room or something. They may need the MAC address off the cable modem, but they'll reset whatever they need to at their end and you can just connect using DHCP. I've done this a couple of times, and it's worked fine.
        For those who've had no problems, your local Comcast setup might be different. Around here (New Hampshire), when you just try to connect Comcast gives you a rewarding web page that says you need to install their software before you can connect, and blocks all other traffic.

Comment $1 per watt for devices run all year (Score 1) 369

Ok, so do the math ... let's assume (i.e. I calculated it before, but for argument) that electricity costs $0.11/KWh:

$0.11/KWh * 1 year = $0.11/KWh * 8766 H = $964/KW = $0.96/W

In other words, a 1-watt device run 24-hours a day for a whole year costs about $1. Thus, your 5-watt clock-radio in the guest bedroom is $5, the 22W stereo standby costs $22, the cell-phone charger, the battery chargers, the microwave clock, the standby on the TV, the UPS on the computer -- they all add up to a modest but avoidable cost.

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