[MobileRatty] tag: heat

Google.org invests more than $10 million in breakthrough geothermal energy technology

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) could supply thousands of times US energy needs

Mountain View, California (August 19, 2008) – In the continuing effort to develop electricity from renewable energy cheaper than from coal, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), through its philanthropic arm Google.org, announced $10.25 million in investments in a breakthrough energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Today's announcement also includes funding for research on next-generation geothermal resource mapping, EGS information tools, and a policy agenda for geothermal energy.

EGS expands the potential of geothermal energy by orders of magnitude. The traditional geothermal approach relies on finding naturally occurring pockets of steam and hot water. The EGS process, by comparison, replicates these conditions by fracturing hot rock, circulating water through the system, and using the resulting steam to produce electricity in a conventional turbine.

A recent MIT report on EGS estimates that just 2% of the heat below the continental United States between 3 and 10 kilometers, depths within the range of current drilling technology, is more than 2,500 times the country's total annual energy use.

"EGS could be the 'killer app' of the energy world. It has the potential to deliver vast quantities of power 24/7 and be captured nearly anywhere on the planet. And it would be a perfect complement to intermittent sources like solar and wind," said Dan Reicher, Director of Climate and Energy Initiatives for Google.org.

Google's Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative focuses on solar thermal power, advanced wind, EGS and other potential breakthrough technologies. Google has set a goal to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity, enough to power a city the size of San Francisco, in years, not decades.

To advance EGS, Google.org announced funding for two companies and a university:

AltaRock Energy, Inc.: $6.25 million investment to develop innovative technologies to achieve significant cost reductions and improved performance in EGS projects. For more information, please visit http://www.altarockenergy.com/.
Potter Drilling, Inc.: $4 million investment in two tranches, to develop new approaches to lower the cost and expand the range of deep hard rock drilling, a critical element to large-scale deployment of EGS. For more information, please visit http://www.potterdrilling.com/.
Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab: $489,521 grant to improve understanding of the size and distribution of geothermal energy resources and to update geothermal mapping of North America. For more information, please visit http://www.smu.edu/geothermal/.
"Innovation is the path to massive quantities of cleaner, cheaper energy. The people we're funding today have a real shot at lowering the cost of EGS, and bringing us closer to our goal of Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal," added Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org.

"EGS is critical to the clean electricity revolution we need to solve the climate crisis, but EGS hasn't received the attention it merits. That's why we're pressing for expanded support from government and increased investment from the private sector," said Reicher, "We're big believers in EGS and we're looking for more opportunities."

Ongoing Commitments

Today's announcement represents the latest step in Google's commitment to a clean energy future.

Google has been working hard on energy efficiency and making its business environmentally sustainable. To this end, the company has taken concrete steps to reduce its carbon footprint and accelerate improvements in green technology, including:

Developing cutting-edge energy efficiency technology to power and cool its data centers in the U.S. and around the world using 50% less energy than the industry standard
Generating electricity for its Mountain View campus from a 1.6 megawatt corporate solar panel installation, one of the largest in the U.S.
Accelerating development and adoption of plug-in electric vehicles through the RechargeIT initiative (http://www.google.org/recharge/)
Joining with other industry leaders to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a consortium that advocates the design and use of more energy-efficient computers and servers (http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/)
Working on policies that encourage renewable energy development and deployment, such as a U.S. Renewable Energy Standard
For more information on EGS, including a 3-D model of a project in Australia, a Google Earth layer, an introductory YouTube video, and our policy brief, see http://www.google.org/egs/.

For more information on the Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative, including $30 million in investments to advance solar thermal and advanced wind technologies, see http://www.google.org/rec.html.

For broadcast-standard video and other multimedia files for the announcement, see http://www.thenewsmarket.com/google.

For more information on Google's commitment to a clean energy future, see http://www.google.com/renewableenergy.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements relating to our ability to develop electricity from renewable energy cheaper than from coal, the development of EGS technology, the expected supply and delivery of energy through EGS technology, our ability to produce renewable energy and the cost of EGS. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ include, among others, risks related to the development of EGS technology and our ability to identify and pursue the technologies necessary to achieve these goals, as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, which is on file with the SEC and is available on our investor relations website at http://investor.google.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. All information provided in this release is as of August 19, 2008, and Google undertakes no duty to update this information.

About Google Inc.
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit http://www.google.com.

About Google.org
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, uses the power of information to help people better their lives. We develop and invest in tools and partnerships that can help bring shared knowledge to bear on the world's most pressing challenges in the areas of climate change, economic development and global health. For more information, visit http://www.google.org.

Kinoki Footpads Are Stained with Lies and Shame, Not Body Toxins [As Seen On TV]

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Sarah Varney of NPR's "All Things Considered" tested out the Kinoki body-detoxifying footpads currently making the rounds of late-night infomercials, to see if they really eliminate "heavy metals and metabolic waste." She and her husband used them for a night, and by the next morning the pads were covered in disgusting black gunk, as advertised. But then she took them to a lab for chemical analysis to learn exactly what was going on. The results? The Kinoki footpads are a dirty scam.

The adhesive footpads use bamboo vinegar and an unspecified combination of herbs and minerals to draw out toxins through your feet while you sleep, supposedly resulting in the gross-looking muddle you see when you peel them off. But when John Goyette at the Curtis and Tompkins Lab used nitric acid to measure the metallic levels in the two used pads and one fresh pad, he found that they "look like three of the same sample, basically." No heavy metals, no lighter metals: There was no significant difference, chemically speaking, between the samples. The $30-per-month pads are, definitively, just another shifty case of new-age snake oil, like the master cleanse or "recycling."

It turns out the Kinoki product is activated by either heat or moisture—the pads turned into the dirty "used" state even when held over a steaming pot of harmless water! Our bodies have a pretty efficient ways to get rid of metabolic waste; usually, you can even read the paper while it happens. Either way, waste definitely doesn't emanate through the skin of your feet while you slumber, or my Mighty Morphin Power Rangers footie PJs would've been tossed out long ago. [NPR via Consumerist]

Black Maple Hill Small Batch Bourbon

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:21:06 +0000

Aged for an average of eight years, Black Maple Hill Small Batch Bourbon is bottled in small batches straight from Heaven Hill Distillery oak casks in Bardston, Kentucky. The technique and the fact that Heaven Hill is the only remaining family-owned distillery in the state makes for an especially rare find of superior quality and taste.

In spite of its affordable price, Black Maple Hill is a nicely smooth bourbon. A 95-proof liquor, it expectedly has a bit of heat but it's met with a surprisingly mellow and dry finish with hints of butterscotch and oak.

Be careful when purchasing as Black Maple Hill also bottles a Small Batch Bourbon that comes out of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky but it's not a Heaven Hill product. Recently bottled in time for the inevitable colder weather, you'd be smart to snatch this up while you can. Available in limited quantities at your local liquor shop and online at K&L for $33.

Black Maple Hill also bottles a few older bourbons and ryes including an 18 and 21 year-old but those are quite a bit more expensive, albeit most likely worth it.

Mobile microwave for your car

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:02:44 +0000

I had to think for a few minutes to imagine a reason to own this mobile microwave, even though I've often thought that a car refrigerator would be handy for cold drinks on the road. I suppose a microwave in the car could be useful if you're someone who regularly takes long road trips and would rather heat up your own homemade lasagna than eat rest stop fare. Or if you're a huge picnic fanatic who has to have food served really, really hot, which can't be achieved with silly little thermoses. Or you want to make your own hot, organic popcorn for the movie theatre minutes before you go in.

You power it through your 12V cigarette lighter socket (produces 175W of power) or directly from your car battery (produces 660W). This little novelty appliance is now on sale at UK store Maplin for 80GBP, (about $149).

Via Kitchen Contraptions.

Posted by lydia Category: cars | misc gadgets | novelty
Tags: appliances
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Thermaltake BlacX Instant Hot-Swappable hard drive docking station!

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:29:11 +0000

Thermaltake BlacX Series Instant Hot-Swappable hard drive enclosure supports all 2.5” and 3.5” Serial ATA hard drives up to 1TB. With the fast and easy installation process as 3-2-1, this handy HDD docking station has also been designed with fanless, natural ventilation structure, and yet still performing maximum heat dissipation and exhaust. The hard drive will thus be improved with expended lifespan and more stable performance with less harmful heating environment. Thermaltake BlacX Series HDD Docking Station supports SATA HDDs up to 1TB storage capacity. Various models with dual data transport eSATA and USB 2.0 interfaces are also available, offering convenient and effective transfer rates, together with the distinctive Hot-Swap function, Thermaltake BlacX Series will be the best gadget for users who demand multiple HDD access.

ATS Medical Gets CE Mark for CryoMaze Surgical Ablation System

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:16:15 +0000

ATS Medical, Inc., a Minneapolis, MN company, is reporting that its Argon-based cryoablation system ATS CryoMaze™, designed to perform the Cox-Maze III procedure for concomitant atrial fibrillation treatment during open heart surgeries, has been given the CE Mark of approval by European regulators.

From the product page:

For the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, the ATS CryoMaze™ Surgical Ablation System is the only surgical cardiac ablation option that can safely and effectively complete all lesions in the "gold standard" Cox-Maze III procedure with a single product and one energy source. And the versatility of the system makes it adaptable to any procedure or surgical approach.

Cryothermy involves the employment of extremely cold temperatures to ablate specific tissue while leaving underlying connective tissues largely unaffected. This allows the cardiac surgeon to encircle the pulmonary veins with lines of scar tissue to block transmission of erratic electrical signals that trigger atrial fibrillation (atrial fib). The advantage of cryothermy over heat-based therapies is that freezing preserves tissue integrity and minimizes the risk of endocardial thrombus associated with heat-based sources.

Findings from a 1997 study quoted in the product brochure:

All atrial lesions in the study were found to be transmural.

No adverse effect on coronary sinus noted with the ATS CryoMaze probe application for up to 120 seconds.

Under purposeful misapplication directly on the esophagus in in-vivo studies, minimal acute damage was noted in doses up to 90 seconds.

Cryoadhesion offers certainty in lesion placement, minimizing risk of collateral damage.

Press release: ATS Medical Announces CE Mark Regulatory Approval for ATS CryoMaze(TM)

Product page: ATS CryoMaze™ Surgical Ablation System

CryoMaze product brochure (.pdf)...

Thermaltake BlacX Series HDD Enclosure

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:51:32 +0000

Thermaltake has a new hard drive enclosure in the form of the BlacX Series which is capable of holding both 2.5" and 3.5" SATA hard drives at a maximum capacity of 1TB. The installation process is a snap, and the docking station itself uses a fanless, natural ventilation structure that is quiet and yet able to offer maximum heat dissipation and exhaust. Minimal heat equals to an improved and extended hard drive lifespan, resulting in a more stable performance. Folks who require nothing less than multiple hard drive access will definitely find this hot-swappable BlacX series a boon in their everyday lives. No idea on the pricing structure though.

Add a comment | From: Thermaltake BlacX Series HDD Enclosure | Visit Ubergizmo

Drive Bay Toaster is Disturbingly Real

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:51:33 +0000

At first look, I thought that this PC toaster add-on was a gag, but no. It turns out to be all too real. The toaster fits inside a spare 5.25" drive bay, hooks up to a USB port and Molex connector (the USB is just to control the thing) and toasts bread (or crumpets, if you live in England).

The $20 peripheral includes a crumb tray and apparently directs the heat out through the back of the case. Currently PC only (seriously) there is supposedly a Mac version in the works.

Rumors that this works with Roxio's Toast software are unconfirmed as of this writing.

Product page [Crazy PC via Coolest Gadgets]

Skyfire adds Silverlight support; Olympics fans rejoice!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:23:35 +0000

Super awesome Skyfire browser, which is unfortunately still in the private beta stage, has added Silverlight support. The addition of Silverlight is made seamlessly in the backend, without requiring users to install a new plug-in or even update the browser version.

The news is especially interesting in the times of Olympics, as all of the video footage of the summer games from Beijing is available through Microsoft’s Flash-killin’ standard on NBColympics.com.

In addition to the Silverlight support, Skyfire has also added a widget on its launching page, linking to video and picture slideshows of the latest from Beijing.

Now if they would be nice enough to open up their beta program to the public, that would be even more cool…

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PC-XB01 - The Cool XBox 360 Chassis From Lian-Li

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:29:09 +0000

This is definitely a gorgeous chassis for XBox 360. Coming from Lian-Li of Taiwan, PC-XB01 boast an upper-class aluminium material with superior quality and high-safety standards. Once installed (DIY skills is a must), the case would free you from heating issues due to hot components and reduces noise from vibrating optical drives in the original case design, thanks to the 120mm rear fan that draws off the heat silently. It measures 160 x 250 x 415mm.

Excerpt from the press release:

All the Xbox 360 ports are hidden behind stylish dust covers and the ODD bay also has a spring loaded dust cover for aesthetic appeal and convenience. The unit can be placed horizontally, or vertically, depending on your needs, and the water cooling pipe holes are an option to use should you be inclined to do so. The case is designed to fit the entire Xbox 360 internals similar to the original, with the power transformer attaching from the outside.

[ Press ]