How do you generate power, when the wind is not blowing, at offshore wind farms? Use Compressed Air.

Compressed air energy storage for offshore turbines

This article was first published in WindMax, the quarterly technical data publication of Windpower Monthly. Click here to find out more. The first large-scale commercial plant was built in Huntorf in Germany and has now been in successful operation for many years.

 From article, (In its simplest form, a CAES [Compressed Air Energy] system for an offshore wind turbine would use a multistage compressor driven from the electrical output of the turbine generator, and a separate expander-driven generator, to feed back the stored energy when there is sufficient demand.

It would be impractical on a single turbine to burn fossil fuel to enhance energy recovery in the expander – and would defeat the objective of a totally green system.

The expansion of air in unfired turbo expander systems to recover energy has well-known history in air-separation plants, factory air systems and aero engine testbeds, so the technology required is reasonably well established, as it is for the compressor, which would likely be of a standard packaged centrifugal type for which there are a wealth of references.

In a single-stage expansion from 10 bar down to atmospheric pressure the expander exhaust temperature would reach cryogenic levels.

Energy would be recovered and power would be available from the expander to drive a generator, but without a fossil fuel combustion system the power available would be limited. The power can be substantially increased however, and very low air temperatures avoided, by a variety of methods.

In a multi-stage expander, ambient temperature sea water could be used to provide interstage heating of the expanding air and could also preheat the first stage of air as the temperature inside the storage vessel falls due to the declining pressure in the reservoir. This would make use of free heat in the ocean as the energy source for what is in effect a heat pump.

Compressing air from atmospheric pressure to 10 bar requires an intercooled multi-stage compressor. The heated water from the compressor intercoolers can be stored in an insulated vessel, and also used, in the energy recovery phase, to preheat the expander inlet air stream, or for interstage heating. 

The cooling water could be retained in a closed system in which the water is repeatedly cycled to and from hot and cold water storage tanks.

To adapt a buoyancy column for CAES would require a machinery room between the column itself and the tower to house the necessary compressor, expander and ancillaries. 

Strengthening of the end closures of the column would also be necessary. Elimination of the need for a standby oil- or gas-fired turbine generator, plus the opportunity to offer stored energy at a premium price during peak demand would offset the capital costs involved.

The system is entirely flexible and the calculated powers are based on an arbitrary choice of a 10-bar pressure.

If more power is required the storage pressure can be increased, or the column diameter increased to give more storage volume; if less power is acceptable the storage pressure could be reduced.

The system described above offers a potential solution to the problem of the intermittent and unpredictable nature of wind.

Not only does a large buoyant turbine support offer a CAES reservoir of exactly the right size, but the reservoir is located exactly where it is required.)

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Should Barriers be installed along bus lanes? The plus is it keeps the lane car free, speeding up service. The negative is that buses get stuck behind each other.

Put barriers along bus lanes, TWU says

Transportation Workers Union Local 100 last Friday called on the Department of Transportation to place physical barriers along some bus-only lanes and Select Bus Service routes to prevent cars and trucks from "invading" the dedicated spaces.The request came after the union surveyed 400 bus operators, asking them to identify the top causes of on-the-job stress - double-parking and traffic were the top two.

 From article, (Transportation Workers Union Local 100 last Friday called on the Department of Transportation to place physical barriers along some bus-only lanes and Select Bus Service routes to prevent cars and trucks from “invading” the dedicated spaces.

The request came after the union surveyed 400 bus operators, asking them to identify the top causes of on-the-job stress — double-parking and traffic were the top two.

“The results highlight the need for the city Department of Transportation to be much more aggressive when it comes to making mass transit the top priority, not the movement of private cars and trucks,” union officials said in a statement.

No specific bus-only lanes or SBS corridors were mentioned in the survey or the union’s statement.

Boston recently placed traffic cones along a bus-only lane for two days, and, according to the TWU, saw commutes for bus riders reduced by four minutes.
Bringing that concept to Queens, or any other part of New York City, has already received some mixed reviews.

“The barrier idea is not necessarily something we would oppose,” said Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for the American Automobile Association. “However, there would have to be a demonstrated need for such a change. In any case, it appears more vigorous traditional enforcement is called for.”

There are more than 12 SBS routes in New York City with bus-only lanes. The TWU says travel times on them have “generally improved,” though it didn’t say by how much.

Bus drivers also seem to like the features of SBS — with 79 percent of those surveyed saying off-board fare collection, in which commuters pay for their ticket before getting on the bus, has made their job easier.

Fifty-one percent said camera enforcement of SBS lanes has 
made their job easier.)

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What if you came up with a method, purely by accident, but, that could Capturing CO2 at 85% less cost than what is normally possible? Ethan Novek is making this possible.

The teenager inventor who could change the way the world fights climate change

Greenwich, Connecticut Ethan Novek speaks fast and insists on giving you every detail, even in response to simple questions. It can be overwhelming. But it's worth sticking with him. Novek started winning science fairs in middle school and was awarded his first patent at 16. Now, at 18, he has his own company, Innovator Energy,...

From article, (If everything were to work as planned, Novek’s technology could capture carbon dioxide at $10 or so per metric ton, about 85% less than industry standard.

“I’ve always been fascinated by energy,” says Novek. “There’s so much of it around us, and my early inventions were attempts to find new ways to capture them.” (He calls them inventions, but most only exist as novel ideas.)

Novek wanted to see what would happen if he mixed ethanol with ammonium bicarbonate, a salt whose components are ammonia and carbon dioxide. He thought maybe it could break ammonia and carbon dioxide apart and then recombine them, hopefully to produce urea. When he started the experiment, nothing happened. So he heated the mixture to agitate the molecules even more. He was surprised to see a gas bubbling. That didn’t make sense: urea is not a gas.

When he tested the gas, Novek realized it was almost entirely CO2. That’s when it struck him: He could use a version of the system to separate out the CO2 that results from burning fossil fuels, and capture it—at a lower cost lower than what the industry can achieve today. The most energy-intensive step in carbon capture is using heat to break the bond between an amine and carbon dioxide. Novek, in his experiment, had just broken the bond between ammonia and carbon dioxide, without very much energy.

Here’s how Novek imagined a future carbon capture system would work: First, exhaust gases containing carbon dioxide are piped into a mixture of ammonia and water. Ammonia reacts with the CO2 to form a salt, and the remaining inert gases (such as oxygen and nitrogen) escape. Second, a solvent is added to the mixture, and breaks down the salt back into ammonia and CO2. The resulting pure stream of carbon dioxide is captured and piped underground. Third, the solvent-and-ammonia mixture is separated through distillation, and each component then recycled through the process.)

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When a car is taken to the scrapyard, what happens to those coins, you lost, under your car seat? They get turned into the U.S. Government for cash. Problem is that the U.S. thought it was being scammed by China.

Lost Coins Help Prop Up the Multibillion-Dollar Car Recycling Industry

Image: Shutterstock Your car isn't a piggy bank, but it's hard to tell from all the coins spilling over the edge of the cup holder. Don't worry though, you're not alone in your reckless abandonment of these annoying pieces of legal tender: There's so much loose change hiding in American cars that, cumulatively, our abandoned coins are a multimillion dollar revenue stream that helps prop up an entire industry.

 From article, (“The U.S. Mint gets a lot of value from the redemption of damaged coins,” Johnson, said referring to the Mint’s decision to reinstate the program. “It gets precious metals back so they may be used in new coins and protects the integrity of the U.S. coinage system by taking older coins out of circulation. 

Your car isn’t a piggy bank, but it’s hard to tell from all the coins spilling over the edge of the cup holder. Don’t worry though, you’re not alone in your reckless abandonment of these annoying pieces of legal tender: There’s so much loose change hiding in American cars that, cumulatively, our abandoned coins are a multimillion dollar revenue stream that helps prop up an entire industry.

Each year, millions of American cars, washing machines, vending machines, and other coin-operated devices are torn to bits and recycled, mostly in China and India. This process also results in the recovery of millions of dollars in coins that were hidden in these machines and mutilated during the recycling process.


Until 2015, recyclers could collect these mutilated coins and sell them back to the US Mint at a rate that equals their unmutilated value ($20 per pound for quarters and dimes, $1.81 for a pound of pennies, $4.53 for a pound of nickels). This redemption program provided an important source of income for the scrap-metal recycling industry, which was suddenly cut off in 2015 when the Mint abruptly halted the program. At the time, the Mint said it noticed a significant uptick in the number of coins being processed by its Mutilated Coin Redemption Program that had been sent from abroad, stoking fears that foreign recycling programs were defrauding the US Mint with counterfeit coins.

Things came to a head in 2014, when a US recycling company called Wealthy Max, whose recycling operation has an affiliate in China, was accused of passing off counterfeit coins to the US Mint. Indeed, one judge claimed that the prosecutors laid out “convincing evidence that rationally leads to the conclusion that most, if not all, mutilated coin imports from China were counterfeit for the past 15 years.”

This was no small accusation. Over the past two decades, Wealthy Max has redeemed nearly $40 million worth of mutilated coins from the US Mint. In 2014 and 2015, Wealthy Max shipped a total of $3.2 million worth of mutilated coins that were seized by the Department of Homeland Security on suspicion of being counterfeit, and the Mutilated Coin Redemption Plan was indefinitely suspended shortly thereafter.

Much of the “convincing evidence” put forth by the government was contested by Wealthy Max as being unfounded. For instance, the government claimed that Chinese companies have redeemed more half dollars in the last decade than have ever been produced, and a 2009 report found that every scrap car sent to China for processing in 2007 would have had to have contained $900 worth of coins to account for all the mutilated coins the Mint received from the country that year.

As it turned out, however, the government just didn’t understand how the global scrap recycling industry worked. As part of its lawsuit to recover the $3.2 million it was owed for its seized mutilated coins, Wealthy Max flew two executives from China to the US to explain how the Chinese recycling industry worked and to demonstrate its massive scope (China is the number one importer of US scrap metals). It even went so far as to open up 13 tons of mutilated coins for inspection by the public, but no government officials bothered to attend the event. Neither Wealthy Max, nor its legal representation, could be reached for comment.

The problem with the claim that more half dollars were redeemed than ever produced is that the government had no record of the number of half dollars redeemed through the coin mutilation program, making this allegation impossible to prove. Moreover, the reason why more coins were redeemed in 2007 than could possibly have been shipped in scrapped cars was that many of those coins were from previous scrap that had been stored in China for years before being shipped and were also recovered from other scrap sources (such as washing and vending machines), not just cars.)

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The amazing thing about Autonomous cars is that they can look everywhere, constantly. Humans only have two eyes, and no matter how much they are looking, there is always something they could miss.

How autonomous vehicles could save over 350K lives in the US and millions worldwide | ZDNet

American roads are deadly. In 2016, 37,461 people died in traffic accidents in the US, a 5.6 percent increase over 2015, according to the US Department of Transportation (DoT). This is down from 1970, when around 60,000 people died in traffic accidents in the US.

From article, (Cars with automated technology have sensors that never lose vigilance. "They're always looking for pedestrians. They're always looking for the edge of the road. They're always watching the car in front. They don't become distracted or drunk, and I think that's really the main reason why most experts would say that there is a definite possibility that automation can significantly reduce those human error caused fatal crashes," Maddox said.

However, there is a learning curve, as drivers in cars with automated technology operate in an environment with drivers who are not in cars with any level of autonomy. With five levels of autonomy, as defined by the DoT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there is a range of how much autonomy a driver can choose, with Level 1 providing a specific function, such as steering or accelerating done automatically by the car, and Level 3 where the automated driving system begins to monitor the driving environment.

Sometimes drivers might be frustrated with a slower-moving vehicle that is actually an autonomous car, even though the other driver doesn't know it. And this could result in accidents as frustrated drivers can often act aggressively. Maddox said he's been in his own vehicle at a Level 2 of automation, and spotted aggressive drivers trying to get around his slower-moving vehicle.

"Really, the jury's still out [on the safety of autonomous vehicles], and what we need is lots of data. We know a lot about human-caused crashes, because we've been studying that for 100 years. We don't have the same level of data, the same breadth of data, on automated vehicles. Not even close. So to really be sure on the effects, we need to acquire and analyze lots of data," Maddox said.

"While it will take us years to collect the data that even starts to rival what we have today, the good news is that automated vehicles are data-collecting machines. That's how they work. They collect data about their environment and other road users. So if we can correctly and effectively tap into that data, we don't have to wait 100 years. The data collection and analysis process can go a lot faster because of the data that's generated on board and off board these vehicles," he said.

One thing to keep in mind is that in the beginning, there will still be accidents caused by autonomous vehicles. "Aviation is extremely safe. But in the early years of aviation, there were more crashes as well. There were more in the beginning with traditional cars. Anything new, whether FDA drugs or new surgical procedures, get safer as they get better and better. But when a new product comes out initially, it might break down. But eventually it can get better," Zannoni said.)

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Autonomous Vehicles. Will society benefit from them?

The obstacles to autonomous vehicles: Liability, societal acceptance, and disaster stories | ZDNet

If you were to talk to a technology optimist about autonomous vehicles and self-driving cars, you'd probably hear about how revolutionary the technology is and how much it will disrupt markets around the world. And it's true: autonomous vehicles will revolutionize trucking and personal transportation, among other things.

From article, (It will take years, maybe decades, for driverless vehicles to reach widespread adoption. The technology behind these innovations is getting closer to achieving full autonomy every day, but the industry still faces obstacles in liability and societal acceptance, as well as negative consumer response to disaster stories.

 On the human driver level, shifts in insurance are the major concern. Koetzle said that insurers have told her the future will look the same as the current process: If your car is in an accident, the insurance company will pay the claim so you can get your car fixed. On the back end, they'll figure out whether it was a software, hardware, or another issue.

"In the short- to medium-term, you're not going to see any reduction in premium for the insurance customer for autonomous driving," Koetzle said, "because the cost of replacing components on a vehicle that drives autonomously is much higher than on one that doesn't."

But, as the cost of building autonomous vehicles comes down, eventually there will be "meaningful declines" in insurance costs, Koetzle said. Additionally, Koetzle said she believes that usage-based insurance will become one of the primary products offered by insurers.

General societal acceptance is a "big concern," Ramsey said, but it's also the easiest barrier to address -- and it doesn't have to be tackled immediately due to the predicted slow adoption of these vehicles. During the technology's initial phase, only early adopters will use it, but it will eventually make its way to other sectors of society.

Over time, as cars evolve from level 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 of autonomy, individuals will slowly come to accept driverless vehicles as a reality without any shock or awe, Renaud said. One day, he said, an Uber will show up to your house without a driver, but it won't come as a surprise, because the last few times the driver was just reading a book anyway, and was only there if something went wrong.

In the future, major cities with congestion areas might even mandate downtown areas as autonomous-only zones to help with traffic and safety, Renaud predicted. This will encourage others to follow suit, which will also help with adoption.)

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Another day, another way to kill cancer in a lightly, applied, chemical therapy discovery. This is what happens when you have Millions of Researchers around the world focused on finding a cure for deadly diseases.

Cancer 'vaccine' eliminates tumors in mice

Some immunotherapy approaches rely on stimulating the immune system throughout the body. Others target naturally occurring checkpoints that limit the anti-cancer activity of immune cells. Still others, like the CAR T-cell therapy recently approved to treat some types of leukemia and lymphomas, require a patient's immune cells to be removed from the body and genetically engineered to attack the tumor cells.

From article, (Injecting minute amounts of two immune-stimulating agents directly into solid tumors in mice can eliminate all traces of cancer in the animals, including distant, untreated metastases, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The approach works for many different types of cancers, including those that arise spontaneously, the study found.

The researchers believe the local application of very small amounts of the agents could serve as a rapid and relatively inexpensive cancer therapy that is unlikely to cause the adverse side effects often seen with bodywide immune stimulation.

“When we use these two agents together, we see the elimination of tumors all over the body,” said Ronald Levy, MD, professor of oncology. “This approach bypasses the need to identify tumor-specific immune targets and doesn’t require wholesale activation of the immune system or customization of a patient’s immune cells.”

One agent is currently already approved for use in humans; the other has been tested for human use in several unrelated clinical trials. A clinical trial was launched in January to test the effect of the treatment in patients with lymphoma.

Levy is a pioneer in the field of cancer immunotherapy, in which researchers try to harness the immune system to combat cancer. Research in his laboratory led to the development of rituximab, one of the first monoclonal antibodies approved for use as an anticancer treatment in humans.

Some immunotherapy approaches rely on stimulating the immune system throughout the body. Others target naturally occurring checkpoints that limit the anti-cancer activity of immune cells. Still others, like the CAR T-cell therapy recently approved to treat some types of leukemia and lymphomas, require a patient’s immune cells to be removed from the body and genetically engineered to attack the tumor cells. Many of these approaches have been successful, but they each have downsides — from difficult-to-handle side effects to high-cost and lengthy preparation or treatment times.

“All of these immunotherapy advances are changing medical practice,” Levy said. “Our approach uses a one-time application of very small amounts of two agents to stimulate the immune cells only within the tumor itself. In the mice, we saw amazing, bodywide effects, including the elimination of tumors all over the animal.”)

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Tesla to set up displays of its solar panels and battery storage systems at Home Depot and maybe Lowes. This is a great idea because the public can see first hand what Tesla products are like, and if it makes sense to buy them.

Tesla to set up mini solar stores inside Home Depot

Tesla is expected to expand its solar division across Home Depot's stores, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The expansion plans would help Tesla test the appeal of its renewable-energy products to a wider audience. It would help Home Depot use some of its excess floor space to sell new products and gain a competitive edge over its peers.

From article, (Tesla is expected to expand its solar division across Home Depot's stores, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The expansion plans would help Tesla test the appeal of its renewable-energy products to a wider audience. It would help Home Depot use some of its excess floor space to sell new products and gain a competitive edge over its peers.

Tesla is adding its own selling spaces at 800 of Home Depot's stores across the U.S., Bloomberg said. Those areas are scheduled to be built in the first half of 2018, and Tesla employees will man them, according to the publication.

Representatives from Home Depot and Tesla didn't immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Lowe's has also held talks with Tesla about selling solar products, Bloomberg reported, based on conversations with familiar sources.)

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China is secretly buying up stock, or whole companies, that produce Lithium and Cobalt. They are using their economic muscle to corner the market, to blackmail car companies, into manufacturing their electric cars in China, or go out of business.

China is winning 'arms race' for electric cars

As demand for the vehicles surges, Chinese companies have been doing deals around the world to secure supplies of lithium, a silvery-white metal mined from rocks in Australia and brine pools in South America. China is the top market for electric and hybrid cars, accounting for roughly half of global sales, and the government is pushing the development of the industry within its borders.

From article, (The Chinese government has been quietly instructing state-owned enterprises to hunt down lithium resources outside China, according to Francois Perrin, a portfolio manager at investment firm East Capital. He predicts that over the next few years, China will wield increasing influence over the supply of lithium and other metals used in electric batteries.

Beijing has a track record of directing Chinese companies to do its bidding, such as squeezing South Korea's tourism industry earlier this year over a dispute with Seoul over a U.S. missile defense system.

It also has history of using crucial natural resources under its control as diplomatic weapons: it was widely accused of restricting exports in 2010 of a group of minerals that are vital for many high-tech devices.

Western companies haven't so far shown much interest in the kinds of investments for electric cars made by their Chinese counterparts, according to experts.

"They're late to the party," Moores said.

Like China, the U.S. and Europe have few lithium resources of their own and rely on supplies shipped from elsewhere. Tesla (TSLA) and other electric car makers could end up scrambling for a limited supply of crucial resources where China is the biggest player.

 The growing global appetite for lithium is already driving up its price. It's gained 40% since the start of the year to trade around $14,000 per ton, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

"This is an incredible bull market like lithium's never seen," Moores said.

A lot of the demand comes from China's large and growing battery manufacturing industry.

Tesla's huge Gigafactory in the Nevada desert gets a lot of headlines, but China produces about two-thirds of the global supply of batteries for electric vehicles, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. And the firm estimates that China is building about half of the 20 or more battery mega-factories currently in the works.

With the biggest market for electric vehicles and the biggest battery supply, China is making itself an inescapable destination for global automakers. They have been lining up recently to announce plans to make their electric cars in the country.

And it's not just lithium that China's locking down.

Cobalt, another metal used to make electric vehicle batteries, is even scarcer. Almost two-thirds of supply is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a war-torn country in central Africa.

Last year, China bought a majority stake in Congo's biggest cobalt mine for more than $2.5 billion, helping secure long-term supply of the metal. Since that deal, the price of cobalt has more than doubled.

"The cobalt supply situation is a serious concern," Perrin said.)

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