Author: Adam Clare

Aluminum Amperage

The CBC Radio show Quirks & Quarks has an excellent podcast on using aluminum to power mobile electronic devices (mp3 link).

“Instead of pumping gasoline, for example, you get a shoe-box of aluminum powder…”

More detail can be found in the podcast or on the Quirks & Quarks archive page.

In related battery news, Panasonic has created a new technology called Oxyride that is supposed to be just as big as the use of alkaline in batteries. The new batteries are supposed to have 1.5 times the life of an alkaline battery and cost the same as a regular set of batteries according to BetaNews.

Wind Power Potential!

Map of Wind Power PotentialAccording to a Stanford University study there is enough wind to generate five times more energy than the world currently needs. The total output of power is predicted to be 72-terrawatts – and that’s a conservative number.

The researches placed 8,199 wind monitoring devices around the globe to reach their conclusion. Wind monitoring devices used in the study were located primarily in the developed world, as a result they had to generalize in the majority world.

Cancer Man Dies

How is a person dying a good thing? I’ve suggested before that when someone ceases to exist on our planet Earth that we use that time to celebrate the person’s live.

A British man, Sir Richard Doll, whose research linked smoking to cancer in the 1940s died on July 24th. His research into smoking and lung cancer seem obvious to us now, but back then the idea wasn’t widely accepted.

I think it is worth remembering that research that might seem “a little out there” can actually be true. For instance, genetically modified foods are still under-tested in the majority of the world and as a result we may be eating many carcinogens. It takes hard work and research done by people like Doll to challenge the status-quo and provide inertia for change.

Smog is another example; lots of research has proven that smog kills and kills and kills. It unfortunately takes time for governments – and people – to react, but we need to remember that life is short (shorter if you smoke) and we need to collectively take action to make the world a healthier, and happier, place to live.