Polaris Geothermal published an update on well performance for its San Jacinto – Tizate field in Nicaragua. The most recent result showed that a well completed in late November to a depth of 1,200m (~3,900 feet) flowed sufficiently to yield 16MW at 265C (~500F) resource. Polaris continues drilling at the site and intends to increase production from present levels of 10MW to 34MW considering the new drilling program.
Also, Polaris indicated their intention to employ new Kalina cycle technology from Exorka to boost existing production with existing resources.
San Jacinto Plant
Photo Credit: Polaris Geothermal
Last week I had the chance to go to the French Riviera, ooh-la-la. What a beautiful area! The trip to get there notwithstanding, I enjoyed the short time in Cannes, France and took a few snapshots of the waterfront, the Palais (where the film festival is held,) a double decker merry-go-round, and of an excellent restaurant in Antibes. If you’re traveling there, you’re lucky! In some respects, I’d love to see it in season, but in others (primarily traffic related) I think that could be a nightmare. In any case, some photos are below.
Cannes Waterfront taken from quay west of the Palais
Merry-Go-Round, Double decker variety on the Cannes waterfront
The Palais advertising VMWorld
You too can be Han Solo, just step and snap a photo – these were all over the Palais area
The excellent restaurant Les Vieux Murs in the old city portion of Antibes
Clear is a service you should not to miss if you fly often. Essentially, you submit to a background check and allow Clear to collect some biometric information about you. Provided you pass the background check, a smartcard is issued to you that enables you to bypass the security check-in line at the airport. You can wave at the first class customers and airline employees as you breeze past to the front of the line once you’ve submitted your smartcard and scanned your thumb print.
When I left for my last trip, the security line experience at SFO lasted exactly 97 seconds (you still get to take your shoes off, extricate your laptop, and empty your pockets, you just get to do it first!) In this post 9/11 world, it was the best service I’ve ever experienced flying bar none.
The negatives? Clear is not available in all airports, they collect a bunch of personal and biometric information, and the service costs $128/year. While it’s not currently a negative, I do wonder what happens as more people use the service. What makes it extraordinary right now is the speed of security line transit, as more people subscribe to the service and load levels increase, it will be interesting to see how the company keeps their promise of no more than 4 minutes to go through security.
The bottom line: if you travel frequently, this is more useful than an annual lounge pass at your favorite airline. As of this writing, Clear is highly recommended.
Note: Other than being a customer, I don’t have any other relationship to Clear.
