EleBlog

07 Feb, 2010

Yes, this is Off The Pathen Beat, alright -- but you need to see the Colossus Tesla Coil in Action, a 3 1/2-min. video (on the site of the Canadian magazine). 

07 Feb, 2010

With all of the stuff you hear about Lighting, and about Water, and about a lot of other "green" things (or things-that-need-to-be-greened) . . . including windows . . . I believe a Doggone Big Baby has been thrown out with the bathwater.

It's motors.

This is from the NH ute web site:

Motors frequently drive variable loads such as pumps, hydraulic systems and fans. In these applications, motor efficiency is often poor due to operation at low loads.

The operating cost of a motor over its lifetime is many times its purchase price. For example, a 100 horsepower AC induction motor costs approximately $5,000, yet will use as much as $35,000 worth of electricity in a year. Small improvements in efficiency can therefore generate significant savings in energy costs.

I'm not saying water isn't important, or that windows now in place do not waste energy (they do). And lighting retrofits are not the low-hanging fruit; as I heard Energy Secretary Chu say in person once (to laughter from his audience) -- this is the fruit that's already fallen from the tree, and is lying on the ground; all you have to do is bend over to pick it up!

But ignoring something that accounts for 64% of the power use is just plain dumb. Especially when . . . well, read the 3rd paragraph quoted above!

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07 Feb, 2010

There's a blogger on the Engineering News-Record site, name of Don L. Short. I don't know him.

But, unfortunately for both of us, I can read.

Here's the headline on a short blog he posted: "Florida Rate Hike Denied, or Another Case Of Politics Costing Us Big Time."

Go and read the thing. The "us" he's talking about here is THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. In other words, whatever happens in Florida among the ratepayers, the regulators, and the utilities, they all exist to give "us" work.

I actually think the Florida regulators DID make a mistake. But I also think the what Short wrote is damaging -- to "us" -- in the short run, the long run, and all of the time in between. Thing is, WE exist to serve THEM. They do NOT exist to provide us with revenue.

That's the right thing, the way it is, right? So Shot's got it ass backwards, ain't he?


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07 Feb, 2010

Back in December, the EleBlog ran a ditty about LEDs and traffic lights (see it here).

That was 12/28. Ten days later, LEDs Magazine ran a piece -- in response to the flood of negative stuff, NOT the EleBlog! -- with the headline LED advantages outweigh potential snow hazards in traffic signals.

. . . I've looked at that piece 4 times now. Each time, I say to myself -- "yeah sure, but -- probably not to the driver who is dead."

07 Feb, 2010

My friend Tom Lyga has gone out on his own (he worked for Pass & Seymour/Legrand for years, where he was always helpful) -- give EMarketMyBiz.com a look-see. 

07 Feb, 2010

That's the title of an article in the Fall 2009 issue of the Journal of Building Information Modeling (known as JBIM to its friends).

You have to download the 44-page PDF of the issue, and look (at the very least) at pages 28-29.

05 Feb, 2010

I recently penned a 2-part TEDMAG piece on Copper's future price moves and the economic status of China. See part one and part two.

Chanos recently spoke about the China call (found on www.investmentpostcards.com). You can watch -- it's a 57-minute video.