Energy

A Free Energy Future?

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Here’s a documentary that aired in 1995 that looks at the feasibility of free energy. Energy from water is brought up a few times. It is very optimistic about the idea of free energy and I’m hoping that one day we get free energy that doesn’t damage the environment.

Most people scoff at the idea of free energy but it wasn’t that long ago that people scoffed at the thought of using water to power machines (steam trains for example) and oil to power more machines (smog machines for example). That being said there is some questionable science in the vide, but we can dream can’t we?

From the movies description at Google Video:
“In the opening stages Arthur C. Clarke explained how there were four stages in the way scientists react to the development of anything of a revolutionary nature. “Free energy” was now working its way through these four stages of reaction, which were:

a: “It’s nonsense,” b: “It is not important,” c: “I always said it was a good idea,” and d: “I thought of it first.””

Microsoft Has Green Potential, Linux Currently Green

- Adam Clare

Over at the geek-news site Slashdot there recently was a post about how Microsoft can save energy by changing some minor code. Slashdot readers also had a neat discussion regarding power consumption and computers. The community (not surprisingly) concludes that Linux is just as good – if not better – than Windows at conserving energy.

“The author figures that the upgrade would affect 100 million computers and that the power cost savings could hit $7 billion per year. CO2 emissions would be cut by 45 million tons. But what about the impact on computing?”

Yoga Is AWESOME!

- Vanessa King

class_image.gifYoga practioners everywhere are finding amazing improvments in their health and happiness through their weekly yoga classes. More and more research is being done on yoga lovers and are showing that regular yoga classes can help such things as

HEART HEALTH, WEIGHT CONTROL, INSOMNIA, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION, STAMINA, DIGESTION, FLEXIBILITY and CIRCULATION.

To name a few.

Yoga is also much more than just a physical exercise practice. Yoga, meaning ‘yoke’ in Sanskrit, is a family of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. It is one of the six schools of Hindu Philosophy and has been called a ‘science’ or ‘technology’ of liberation. This is because, unlike purely theoretical philosophies, yoga seeks to provide the student with a practical path (or indeed many possible paths) towards the common goal of liberation.

Feel like getting a little liberated? Or at least a bit more flexible? Try some yoga! It’s good!

Salt Lake City to use Waste Power

- Adam Clare

Salt Lake City is going to start a small pilot project that will use sewage to heat and cool buildings. The idea uses the simple concept of heat transfer to transfer energy from one source to another.

“The system should sufficiently heat and cool Lear’s 8,000-square-foot building about 95 percent of the time. For the remainder, Lear will pool 1,800 gallons of water in the basement, also using the water to irrigate the building’s lawn.

It’s a bit expensive – the system costs $20,000 more than traditional systems – but if it works well, Lear hopes it could be eventually used by the masses.”

Ducks for Desalination

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

ducky thingWater is becoming more precious round the world, yet the oceans are filled with the wet. If someone found a way to turn salty water into potable water easily and cheaply there would be a lot less thirsty people out there.

Stephen Salter at Edinburgh University has found a way to use the power of waves to remove salt from water. Desalination takes a lot of energy and by using waves, the energy cost obviously is a lot lower. The system is shaped like a duck and works by popping in the water and using that force to steam water for clean, drinkable goodness.

THe inventor also invented the first system to use wave energy for electric power and he was inspired to make this system from a trip to India.
“I visited India just after they had missed two monsoons and water was becoming a worry,” Salter told New Scientist. “I thought that using wave power for desalination would be a neat idea.”

Scroll To Top