Recently I had occaision to discuss the merits of wind power with a colleague. In particular there is a controversy between horizontal axis wind turbines, the giant propeller driven systems you see in advertisements, and vertical wind, which does not have much presence in the marketplace. The premise is that horizontal systems can take advantage […]
Top Ten Challenges – Energy Storage
Thinking about the top challenges we face in mechatronics there is one that’s connected and not really obvious. It’s energy storage. Our tendency is think in terms of batteries because that’s the form of energy storage that we are most familiar with. Cell phones, laptop computers and many other portable gadgets of the Internet Age […]
Energy
Everyone has an opinion about Energy Policy. Just ask. They’ll tell you! And I am glad for the fact that there is a lot of discussion taking place. We need good dialog and good information. We might be a little lacking on the information side. Nuclear power for generating electricity is not a popular topic, […]
Facts or Fiction? Politics or Science.
I recently picked up my monthly copy of one of the pre-eminent magazines in the sciences that I have subscribed to for many years. This month’s cover article was on American energy policy. OK, fine. We are all concerned about the rising prices at the pump and impact (mostly negative) on our economy. But it […]
Energy Policy
Americans have been focusing on energy reduction in this country for some time. In an upcoming article to be published in Design World, I will detail some of the impact of national energy policy on how electric motors should be built, and how they should be used. The main conclusion of the article from a […]
Motors, R&D and Politics
The “Green Revolution” is under way. Regardless of how you rationalize it, there is a lot of activity around reducing the amount of energy being consumed in almost every aspect of American life. For the most part, its well intentioned. As good stewards of the resources we have, we should use them responsibly. Energy conservation […]