Workers shifting to 4-day week to save gasoline

I always loved 10 hour shifts, gives you 3 days off and if they are consecutive, all the better. It let me go to many conferences and stay the entire time.

“The reason is simple: rising gas prices and a desire to retain good workers. Regular gasoline averages $3.94 a gallon in the United States, up 33 cents in the past month and 88 cents since the beginning of the year, the Energy Information Administration said this week. The federal government has offered four-day workweeks to eligible employees for years as part of a flexible work program that also includes telecommuting. But the surge in gasoline prices is pushing more private employers as well as local governments to offer a four-day week as a perk that eliminates two commutes a week. “By allowing employees to work four 10-hour days it will save them 20 percent on their commute costs and ease the financial pinch of filling up their cars,” said L. Brooks Patterson, who last week proposed the compressed week for county workers. Gasoline prices have begun altering U.S. commutes in many ways, a survey released on Thursday showed. Some 44 percent of respondents said they have changed the way they commute — doing things such as sharing a ride or driving a more fuel-efficient car — or are working from home or looking for a closer job in order to reduce gasoline costs, according to staffing services company Robert Half International. That’s up from 34 percent two years ago. On New York’s Long Island, Suffolk County legislator Wayne Horsley also has proposed employees have the option of working four 10-hour shifts, rather than five eight-hour shifts, saying it would save 461 barrels of oil in a 120-day pilot project. “This is a gasoline-driven proposition and we’re looking to change people’s long term philosophies of life,” Horsley said. The program, termed Operation Sunshine, will cut gasoline costs for workers who drive an average round trip of 32 miles to work. It also aims to cut the county’s energy bill by having fewer employees in the office at a time, Horsley said.” - Source

Turning to water to save fuel

Sadly this guy didn’t provide any diagrams or photos but the principle is quite simple. The 12vdc from the battery converts a small container of water to hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is tied into the fuel line of the engine so that it combusts with the gasoline.

Several sites sell it on the net and my ebook, ‘14 Ways to Save Money on Fuel Costs’ includes electrolyzer and vapor cleaner construction details and much more for only $15 as a rapid download.

“Franky Chahyadi’s motorbike used to travel between 30 and 35 kilometers on one liter of premium fuel. But since he started using an electrolyzer, a liter of premium fuel can keep his motorbike going for 50 to 55 kilometers. And it’s not just his motorbike; his Mercedes C18 is also performing more economically. Before, a liter of fuel was just enough to travel five kilometers, but with an electrolyzer, his Mercedes travels nine.

In 2006, after undertaking numerous tests, Joko found a simple way to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water and channel the hydrogen to the engine. This can save between 70 and 100 percent of fuel used in motor vehicles.

The shape of the device is quite simple. A coil is wrapped around a plastic soy sauce bottle and is used to transmit an electric current beneath the bottle. The coil is connected to the battery. A pipe is attached to the top of the bottle to connect the engine to the carburetor.

“When the engine is running, it will automatically produce hydrogen and this causes an explosion in the engine,” Joko said. “The chemical formula for water is H2O. If this is subjected to an electric current, it will produce H2 and O2,” Joko said.

About five seconds after the electric current, gas bubbles out of the water. After the gas has been channeled to the trial engine, it explodes and can drive the crankshaft five meters or more. “This is just from using one piston.

If we use three pistons to drive the crankshaft, it can break,” Joko said. He chose a transparent soy sauce bottle because it was cheap, easy to find and safe. “The transparency can help us check the water’s condition and whether or not it is still clear,” Joko said.

In order to produce good hydrogen, the water should be neutral or rainwater, and it only needs to be changed once a month. The use of tap water can cause problems because it includes other substances that inhibit the production of hydrogen. Joko installed the electrolyzer in his car.

Joko said burning hydrogen was good and its octane rating reached 130. This compares with the rating of premium fuel, which is only in the 80s, and Pertamax, with a rating of 94. With the electrolyzer, the burning of fuel is more efficient and the power of the engine is stronger, he said. He said the more efficient burning decreases carbon emissions.

Oil use also becomes more economical. It is cleaner because it partly emits water in place of carbon. “Consequently, water will always come out of vehicles with electrolyzers. When the engine is used for the first time in the morning, the system expels water,” Joko said.

To replace the raw materials used for installation in a motorcycle, the customer is charged Rp 75,000 (US $8.00) for motorbikes and Rp 150,000 for cars. “This is not about profit. The money being charged is only used to buy the components,” said Joko, adding more than 1,000 vehicles have used his invention.

Since he has no commercial interest, Joko said he did not want to patent his invention. He hopes people will make the device themselves since its construction is simple and the materials easy to find. Joko is further innovating in trying to develop an engine that uses water as its fuel.

He has changed the working mechanisms of a lawn mower engine so the machine can only use exploding hydrogen and not fuel.

“Using 10 soy sauce bottles each containing 0.5 liters of water, the lawn mower engine keeps running,” he said. “I want to try this on my motorcycle just using water.”

Joko believes the fuel crisis will be solved with the creation of a water-powered engine.” - Source

With the money we spent on the Iraq war — what else could we do?

Doesn’t this get old and why can’t we stop it and divert our money to beneficial things? I got the stupidest email supposedly from Jay Leno saying he doesn’t like Bush, but that we should be thankful we live in such a great country, then followed with a lot of statistics and saying we are just a bunch of whiners.

But it has NOTHING to do with Bush…he is NOT a builder, but a destroyer. For many decades, it has been the work and efforts of many others who helped to build up the systems and services we all take for granted.

He gets no cigar for accomplishing anything good in my book.

“We could have sent a colony of over 500 astronauts to Mars, provided modern nuclear power to the USA and shut down its coal plants, built modern cities for 600,000,000 Chinese people to live in, and so on… For $6Tn we could buy a lot of juice - a quarter of our global civilization’s energy budget would go carbon-neutral at a stroke. (Yes, we just solved our carbon dioxide emissions problem by switching to a nuclear economy.) This probably isn’t the ideal way of dealing with our environmental problems, and it’s a naive treatment of the costs (has anyone done a proper treatment of the economic implications of shifting the planet over to a nuclear economy, say to the same extent as France?) but it’s thought-provoking. Finally, there’s all the other little stuff we could solve by pointing $513Bn at it, never mind $6000Bn. Eliminating childhood diseases in South-East Asia? Piffle - Bill and Melinda Gates are trying to do that out of their pocket lint. Build first-world grade housing in shiny new cities for 600 million Chinese peasants, nearly a tenth of the planetary population? Yes, this budget will cover that. What else? Yes, I’m asking you: what would you do with the cost of the Iraq war (take your pick: $513Bn or $6000Bn) in your budget? Colonise Mars? Solve our carbon emission problem and fix global warming? House half a billion people? Or something else …? (And what isn’t going to happen now, because we pissed it all away on the desert sands?) (via boingboing.net)” - Source

Local inventor making cheaper gas from coal?

A remarkable claim that dirty coal can be converted to produce a liquid gasoline. This guy needs funding, NOW!

“As pump prices approach $4.00, a Bowling Green inventor says he’s created a machine that could save you money someday. Albert Calderon says he’s made a machine that helps turn coal into cheaper gas. The president of Calderon Energy Co. spent 30 years coming up with the new technology with help from his team. The patented idea is getting national attention as several big companies examine the invention. Calderon claims it can reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, and lower our fuel prices. “We can make this the equivalent of 25 dollars per barrel of oil, which will come out about $1.10 gasoline at the pump,” He told NBC 24 during a demonstration in his lab. / 6,911,058 - June 28, 2005 - A method for producing clean energy from coal by feeding the coal in a reactor which is sealed to the atmosphere and moving the coal in the reactor while injecting oxygen to combust a portion of the coal in a substoichiometric mode to devolatilize the coal and yield a pressurized hydrogen rich raw gas which contains coal-derived cancer causing distillates and hydrocarbons together with a hot char. The distillates and the hydrocarbons are cracked to result in a cracked gas of essentially 2H.sub.2 and 1CO which after desulfurization becomes an ideal synthesis gas that can be synthesized to a liquid fuel for heating and transportation as an alternate to petroleum.” - Source

Tiny video $99 camera mounts to R/C planes, skateboards, etc.

This could be a great experimental and research tool, let alone for fun and diversion. Bell the cat? Why not see what he sees? Or any other animal or moving thing?

“This 1 oz. video camera, meant for R/C planes, could be used for a number of fun projects. 3″ x 1-1/2″ x 1/2″ (camera only), 1 oz. V.2 changes include: larger resolution, LCD display, rotating lens, longer battery life, and a thermal activated motion detector. Video camera includes audio, still photos, a voice recorder, USB drive, and a Webcam. Unit is small enough to mount on just about any model FlyCamOne2 micro video cameraairplane, small parkflyers, RC cars, trains, skate boards, or even a kite. Can be remotely activated using an additional servo. Videos are recorded with a resolution of 640×480 for clear playback, complete with sound, and 1280×1024 pixels for still photos. Camera lens rotates 90 degrees so you can take photos or video from multiple angles. Built-in rechargeable 200 mAh Li-Ion battery that charges via the USB port on your computer in about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. (via boingboing.net)” - Source

Avalanche Effect Demonstrated In Solar Cells

This could lead to something useful. Ken Shoulders is the expert on Charge Clusters which allow the accumulation of electrons as clumps like grapes that he can direct and discharge at will in huge bursts of energy. Note that electrons normally repel from each other, so I think there is a tie-in here.

“”Researchers at TU Delft (Netherlands) and the FOM (Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter) have found irrefutable proof that the so-called avalanche effect by electrons occurs in specific semiconducting crystals of nanometer dimensions. This physical effect could pave the way for cheap, high-output solar cells. Solar cells currently have relatively low output, typically 15%, and high manufacturing costs. One possible improvement could derive from a new type of solar cell made of semiconducting nanocrystals and could theoretically lead to a maximum output of 44%, with the added benefit of reducing manufacturing costs. In conventional solar cells, one photon can release precisely one electron. However, in some semiconducting nanocrystals, one photon can release two or three electrons, hence the term ‘avalanche effect.’ This effect was first measured by researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratories in 2004, and since then the scientific world had raised doubts about the value of these measurements. This current research does in fact demonstrate that the avalanche effect can occur.” - Source

Nigeria: Waste-to-Energy - Engineer Launches Machine

Great idea to use what has heretofore been pure waste but can now be fuel. Burning cow manure as so many countries do produces stinging, polluting smoke but indications are these briquettes burn clean.

“An engineer, Mr. Audu Guga, yesterday in Abuja launched a motorised briquette machine capable of turning agricultural and wood wastes into energy. “The machine will meet the energy needs of targeted population, mitigating the hazards of de-forestation, enhanced efficient utilisation of raw materials and improve on environmental cleanliness,” he said. Guga said the machine, which would cost about N350,000, was designed to convert wood and agricultural wastes into useful materials for the production of energy. The principal scientific officer said the machine was built on a four piston cylinder platform and driven by two gear reducer electric motor. Guga said a loaded test of the machine had shown that 12.75kg of mixed waste materials produced 12.00kg of briquettes in 15 minutes. “This gave a production rate of 48kg per hour and production efficiency of 94 per cent,” he said. He said the briquettes produced by the machine performed better than those of the manually operated machine in terms of shatter index and heating characteristics.” - Source

Dropped your phone in Water? I can help

This is new to me, never knew dried rice acted as a natural desiccant to suck up moisture.

“It’s very common to hear people around you getting their gadgets soaked in water (normally is into the toilet bowl), and it’s even worst when the damage is so bad that it’s beyond repair. By the way, most company’s warranty do not cover water damages, which makes the matter even worst. Here’s a temporary way to help you revive your expensive gadget after a nice bath.. “Power off the device if it’s not off already and try to completely cover the device in a bowl of dry rice. Rice being a natural dessicant will help absorb the excess moisture. Let it dry for at least 24 hours and DO NOT try to change the device. If your device has a removeable battery, dry it separately to speed up the whole drying process.” I’ve heard of rice’s capabilities of absorbing moisture, in fact, it’s used by professionals when they’re restoring artworks which contacted water in some way. However, I’ve never thought of using it when things get wet.” - Source

Dutch Build the First Solar-Powered Speedboat w/video

Next will be across the ocean purely on solar power. What a neat way to take advantage of all that sunlight and still provide power.

“The Czeers MK1 is a 10-meter vessel covered in photovoltaic cells that is capable of hitting speeds of up to 30 knots (55.5 km/ph to you non-nautical folks out there). While there are certainly faster boats on the water, those tend to use obscene amounts of fuel. The solar-powered Czeers MK1 is naturally going to be a lot quieter than its gas guzzling cousins, which would make it great for sneaking up over fish (though there is limited space to put them if you catch them. I would like to see a similar model with little bit more space for passengers, even if it did mean sacrificing some speed. Speedboats are so limited in what they are able to do, but if this had a little extra space, it could do so much more.”- Source

Fuel-saving find

Yet another incredible invention that could change our world if some person, group or company will just fund the guy or buy him out and put this technology on the market.

“West Fargo inventor Ernie Brookins has produced a hydraulic transmission that can power vehicles without the engine running full time. Now he’s looking for investors willing to fund full-scale production of his prototype. Brookins believes his invention could potentially save drivers 50 percent in fuel costs. Here’s how it works: Brookins’ hybrid drive system captures, compresses, and stores “wasted” drive-train energy produced when a vehicle’s engine is running. The compressed air pushes hydraulic fluid through a piston-driven torque converter capable of propelling a vehicle at highway speeds without the engine running, he says. Once fully developed, an embedded computer system will automatically switch the vehicle’s power source back and forth from engine to hybrid drive transmission. “The engine will have to run about 50 percent of the time,” Brookins said. “If we went out on the road, I could maintain 60 miles per hour with the engine turned off,” Brookins said. “We can put it on anything. This is designed for a grain truck hauling 40,000 pounds,” he said, while displaying a similar prototype in his West Fargo shop. “We’re going to target vehicles using millions of gallons of gas.” Likely targets are school buses, delivery trucks, semis, postal vehicles, even train locomotives: “Anything that uses gas or diesel (fuel) for power,” Brookins said. The invention can “make an immediate impact on the fuel crisis.” Brookins said the invention can be available for commercial markets within six months of having investors and other funding sources that can provide the $250,000 needed to mass produce it. “It does seem to me like it’s sort of a breakthrough invention,” Johnson said. “His challenge is breaking into the industry. It’s going to take a fair amount of capital. He needs someone to partner up and put some money into this.” Brookins said he can produce 10 to 15 units a day with three full-time employees. He would eventually consider selling the business to any U.S. company that could produce 100,000 units per year. “Then we could make an impact on the fuel crisis,” he said. “The market is 1 million per year.” - Source