Revolutionary Electric Motor Design Cuts Energy Use in Half

The sooner these things come to production, the better.

“Electric motors consume 67 percent of the energy produced in the United States, yet their fundamental technology hasn’t changed much in the past 100 years. Thor Power, a resident company in the Ben Franklin Business Incubator, is well on its way to commercializing an entirely new electric motor design that could have a dramatic impact on nearly every sector of society. Thor Power’s technology uses rare earth magnets, resulting in a motor that generates twice the power at half the weight and double the efficiency. Eliminating the electromagnets lowers the weight and results in a quieter, more efficient motor — 87 percent efficient, in fact. Testing has shown that the motor also lasts significantly longer than standard designs. “The typical AC motor has a life span of about 400 hours,” says Bonner. “We stopped testing ours when it reached the 2,000-hour mark with no signs of degradation.” So what might this mean for consumers? Bonner sums it up succinctly. “Our design generates twice the power at half the weight and double the efficiency of existing electric motors,” he says. “This cuts the consumers’ operating costs by 50 percent. This is a major technological advance, particularly in the one- to two-kilowatt power range. And it comes at an opportune time, considering this country’s current energy and environmental needs.” (via zpenergy.com)” – Source

A Concrete Fix to Global Warming

Wonder if this wins some of that CO2 removal prize money?

“A Canadian company says that it has developed a way for makers of precast concrete products to take all the carbon-dioxide emissions from their factories, as well as neighboring industrial facilities, and store them in the products that they produce by exposing those products to carbon-dioxide-rich flue gases during the curing process. Industry experts say that the technology is unproven but holds great potential if it works. Robert Niven, founder of Halifax-based Carbon Sense Solutions, says that his company’s process would actually allow precast concrete to store carbon dioxide. The company takes advantage of a natural process; carbon dioxide is already reabsorbed in concrete products over hundreds of years from natural chemical reactions. Freshly mixed concrete is exposed to a stream of carbon-dioxide-rich flue gas, rapidly speeding up the reactions between the gas and the calcium-containing minerals in cement (which represents about 10 to 15 percent of the concrete’s volume). The technology also virtually eliminates the need for heat or steam, saving energy and emissions. The curing process can store 60 tons of carbon dioxide inside 1,000 tons of precast concrete products, such as concrete blocks, while saving energy.” – Source

Solar power from Saharan sun could provide Europe’s electricity

All that desert energy going to waste, this is one answer to energy generation with no ecological impact.

“Dwarfed by any of the north African nations, it represents an area slightly smaller than Wales but scientists claimed yesterday it could one day generate enough solar energy to supply all of Europe with clean electricity. The capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts would meet all of Europe’s energy needs. Scientists are calling for the creation of a series of huge solar farms – producing electricity either through photovoltaic cells, or by concentrating the sun’s heat to boil water and drive turbines – as part of a plan to share Europe’s renewable energy resources across the continent. A new supergrid, transmitting electricity along high voltage direct current cables would allow countries such as the UK and Denmark ultimately to export wind energy at times of surplus supply, as well as import from other green sources such as geothermal power in Iceland. Energy losses on DC lines are far lower than on the traditional AC ones, which make transmission of energy over long distances uneconomic.” – Source

Breakthrough in animal spare part transplants for humans

Amazing! I wonder if you pickup any of the attributes of the donor animal?

“Blood vessels, tendons and bladders from animals are to be used in humans for the first time after a breakthrough in transplant surgery. Scientists have overcome the problem of rejection, which has previously prevented animal tissues from being used in patients. It opens the way for a range of new procedures using animal parts. “We can take a tissue from an animal, remove all the cells that carry the signals that trigger the immune system so just the biological scaffold is left. When this is implanted, the patient’s own cells then grow in to replace the original cells we have removed. This has advantages as the transplant can then grow with the patient – something that is very important in younger patients.” – Source

GasHole film Hints at 100mpg patent from 1946

See earlier post about this film which has a link to a KeelyNet file on vapor carburetors.

“Actor Scott D. Roberts and his filmmaking partner, Jeremy Wagener are the unlikely men behind the new documentary GasHole. Narrated by The O.C. and American Beauty actor Peter Gallagher, the film chronicles the history of oil prices and alternative fuels. It will screen for one night only at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Village 8 Theater in Louisville. This is its second stop in Louisville; a screening on July 14 sold out. The idea started 21/2 years ago when gas prices were at a then-high of $2.20 and a letter to the editor in The Modesto Bee newspaper sparked Roberts’ interest. The letter writer told of a Buick Roadmaster he saw come to the Crows Landing Naval Airfield in the 1940s that its inventor claimed was water-injected and could get 100 miles per gallon. The inventor said he became a millionaire by selling the patent to Shell Oil Co., but one of the conditions was he could not make any more. “His story was jaw-dropping,” Roberts said. So Roberts called his friend Wagener, an L.A.-based writer-director, and said he might have a great idea for a movie. The two began researching it and tracked down Kunde, who tells his story in the film. From there, the filmmakers went in search of the elusive patent sold to Shell. They found one from 1946 registered to a man who lived 20 miles outside Modesto; they thought it could be the invention in question. They brought the design to an engineer, who agreed that it might be able to improve fuel economy. From there, the documentary took off. Kunde’s story led them to find other documented cases of fuel-saving inventions that never have seen the light of day. They include Texas inventor Tom Ogle’s 100-mpg vapor fuel system and Shell’s own internal 1977 publication “Fuel Economy of the Gasoline Engine,” which shows that Shell engineers were able to achieve 149.95 mpg on a 1947 Studebaker. http://www.gasholemovie.com / (If anyone can find this patent number, please share it with everyone. Email Me. The US patent website doesn’t allow searches without specific numbers before 1972, but I ran some numbers and found this one for January 1st, 1946 – 2,391,988. It’s not the patent in question, but it gives a range of numbers to hunt. – JWD)” – Source

New knife with exploding tip that freezes victims’ organs w/video

What a weird defense/attack weapon.

“Police in London are on the lookout for £200 frozen-gas knives designed to kill bears and sharks, according to the never-inflammatory Daily Mail. The manufacturer describes [the Wasp Knife] as perfect for downed pilots, soldiers and security guards and boasts that it will “drop many of the world’s largest land predators”. It can snap-freeze all tissue and organs in the area surrounding the blast. A source close to West Midlands Police said: “The Met is obviously concerned about this and that is why they have circulated the information. “This knife will almost certainly kill and the Met must have intelligence that they are in circulation. “I think it is only a matter of time before one of these is used because the internet makes it much easier to find and buy weapons like this.” / As divers, we all know what the effects of compressed gas are underwater. Our training teaches us that our lungs would burst from over-inflation if we held our breath and rose to the surface. This principle is key to the effectiveness of the WASP Injection System. This weapon injects a freezing cold ball of compressed gas, approximately the size of a basketball, at 800psi nearly instantly. The effects of this injection will drop many of the world’s largest land predators. The effects of the compressed gas not only cause over-inflation during ascent when used underwater, but also freezes all tissues and organs surrounding the point of injection on land or at sea. When used underwater, the injected gas carries the predator to the surface BEFORE blood is released into the water. Thus giving the diver added protection by diverting other potential predators to the surface.” – Source

Mideast Facing Choice Between Crops and Water

This could happen to the whole world which will lead to water and food wars.

“Global food shortages have placed the Middle East and North Africa in a quandary, as they are forced to choose between growing more crops to feed an expanding population or preserving their already scant supply of water. For decades nations in this region have drained aquifers, sucked the salt from seawater and diverted the mighty Nile to make the deserts bloom. But those projects were so costly and used so much water that it remained far more practical to import food than to produce it. Today, some countries import 90 percent or more of their staples. Now, the worldwide food crisis is making many countries in this politically volatile region rethink that math. The population of the region has more than quadrupled since 1950, to 364 million, and is expected to reach nearly 600 million by 2050. By that time, the amount of fresh water available for each person, already scarce, will be cut in half, and declining resources could inflame political tensions further.” – Source

Two new Earth Fixes

A dash of lime may cut CO2 levels back to pre-industrial levels – “Adding lime to seawater increases alkalinity, boosting seawater’s ability to absorb CO2 from air and reducing the tendency to release it back again. However, the idea, which has been bandied about for years, was thought unworkable because of the expense of obtaining lime from limestone and the amount of CO2 released in the process. Tim Kruger, a management consultant at London firm Corven is the brains behind the plan to resurrect the lime process. He argues that it could be made workable by locating it in regions that have a combination of low-cost ‘stranded’ energy considered too remote to be economically viable to exploit – like flared natural gas or solar energy in deserts – and that are rich in limestone, making it feasible for calcination to take place on site. The process of making lime generates CO2, but adding the lime to seawater absorbs almost twice as much CO2. The overall process is therefore ‘carbon negative’. ‘This process has the potential to reverse the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere. It would be possible to reduce CO2 to pre-industrial levels,’ Kruger says.” – Source

Scientists solve riddle of toxic algae blooms – “By pumping various pollutants into Lake 227, a small pristine lake in the Experimental Lakes region of northern Ontario, they were able to pin down which chemical nutrients were key to triggering the blooms. “Phosphorous really is the key,” says Schindler, whose study is highlighted in the U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. “Here in Alberta, it is especially important because the phosphorous content in the soil is naturally high, so you don’t have to add a lot to create a serious problem.” Scientist Stephen Carpenter said global expansion of aquatic “dead zones” caused by algae blooms is rising rapidly. There are now 146 coastal regions in the world in which fish and bottom-feeding life forms have been entirely eliminated because of a lack of oxygen. One dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is about the size of the city of New Jersey and growing. Schindler’s latest series of long-term experiments shows that nitrogen removal completely fails to control blue-green algae blooms. He proved this by manipulating nitrogen and phosphorus levels on Lake 227 for 37 years. Nitrogen control, he found, only encouraged algae blooms.” – Source

Prostrate Cancer Wonder Pill

The sooner the better.

“Trials of a new pill have shown that it can shrink tumours in up to 80 per cent of cases, and end the need for damaging chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The drug, abiraterone, was discovered by researchers at the Royal Marsden Hospital in South-West London. Their leader, Dr Johann de Bono, said patients there had been able to control the disease with just four pills a day and very few side-effects. Prostate cancer is Britain’s most common cancer among men and the second highest killer, after lung cancer. Some 35,000 people a year are diagnosed with it – and 12,000 die. There are two types, aggressive and non-aggressive, which are often called ‘tiger’ and ‘pussycat’. Men with pussycat cancer can often lead a healthy life, but the tiger variety – a third of cases – is usually fatal within 18 months. Prostate cancer is associated with ageing, and over the next 25 years it is estimated there will be a 60 per cent increase in the number of men over 65. This means there will be more cases of the cancer and abiraterone could save many thousands of lives. Its side-effects can include loss of libido, breathlessness, fatigue, fluid retention and weight gain. Some men may be left impotent, but the effects are far less than with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.” – Source

Who owns rain? Does saving rainwater violate state law?

I never thought about this before so was greatly surprised to find there were laws against collecting what falls on your OWN property.

“Technically, rain that falls on your roof isn’t yours for the taking. It’s a resource of the state, which regulates the use of public waters through an allocation process that can take years to navigate. The state has long allowed people to collect a small amount of rain without asking. Although no one wants to police homeowners harvesting a few hundred gallons for a backyard garden, the state hasn’t defined where that regulatory threshold lies. Someone collecting rain in larger quantities to irrigate a farm or wash laundry in a new condo building without a state water right could be breaking the rarely enforced law. “We’re not going to start issuing permits for a pickle barrel in the backyard. But what if it’s four pickle barrels or a system that has 20,000 gallons of storage?” said Brian Walsh, a manager in the Department of Ecology’s water resources program. In urban areas, though, some cities and developers promoting green building practices simply ignored the issue. The rainwater collection system used to flush toilets in Seattle City Hall likely violated state law when it was built five years ago. That’s why the city of Seattle recently obtained a citywide water-right permit, which makes it legal to collect rain from rooftops in most areas of the city. But there still are a few neighborhoods – including most areas north of 85th Street – that aren’t covered. That’s because stormwater there drains into creeks and streams and lakes rather than sewer pipes. Builders there would not enjoy the same legal protection. “Most people just blow it off and nobody’s going to go after them, at least not yet,” said Michael Broili, who designs rainwater-collection systems. “But water is a huge, huge issue that is just below the surface of the radar and in the next … years, especially if global warming becomes a reality, it’s even going to become more of one.” – Source