I read an interesting conference paper proposing the concept of a Data Furnace. The idea is that instead of placing servers in large server farms that must use significant power for cooling, smaller clusters of servers can be be distributed to locations that can use the additional heat, such as homes and apartment buildings. While [...]
There is a new email circulating claiming that if we’d just drill for oil in the Bakken Formation, we could have inexpensive gas and could free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. I was asked for my take on the email, so here is my evaluation. As always with this type email, the conclusion turns [...]
I’ve been following Craig Vetter’s motorcycle fuel economy projects for a couple years, and just noticed that he posted impressive new results. His goal is to create a vehicle that can safely and comfortably carry four bags of groceries on the highway on a windy day, and still get over 100 miles per gallon. In [...]
I saw this book on the featured shelf at the local library and it looked interesting. I only read this book quickly, so here is a nano-review: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Renewable Energy for Your Home is a very basic intro to the different categories of home energy production and conservation for people who [...]
Since the price of gasoline in the US is increasing again, the talk making ridiculous claims about gas prices are too. For example, I recently received a chain email titled “Buy AMERICAN Gasoline”. This particular email (which I won’t help spread by posting a link) claims that we should buy “AMERICAN” gasoline or we will [...]
Here are four articles to read this weekend: ‘The Tyranny of Defense Inc.’ from The Atlantic about the insight of two of Eisenhower’s speeches. ‘Light Out, Huck, They Still Want to Sivilize You’ from the New York Times is about the latest edited edition of Huckleberry Finn. The original is public domain (as it should [...]
Categories: climate, energy, politics
Also tagged Bosnia, climate, Eisenhower, Huckleberry Finn, Koch, military-industrial complex, politics, public domain, Tea Party
Today I saw an interesting chart: This is a useful illustration because it clearly shows the main energy sources and users in the US, as well as separating the total energy used and wasted. The original is from LLNL, I saw the link at Ars Technica.
Categories: energy
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I ran across the paper ‘Public perceptions of energy consumption and savings’. The authors conducted a survey to study how perceptions of energy use compares to the actual use of various appliances and transportation methods. For the appliances, they had people compare energy used to the power a 100 W lightbulb consumes in one hour. [...]
Which half of the US trade deficit is easier to shrink? Probably petroleum. I don’t see much of a chance of major changes in the deficit in goods, but it is easy to significantly reduce the amount of oil consumed.
Since they are in the business of selling gasoline-powered automobiles, the manufacturers understandably are reluctant to come out and publicly announce the obvious solution to air-poisoning by the gasoline engine: Get rid of the gasoline engine. On the other hand, every member of the industry is actively engaged in trying to do just that. –W.E. [...]