Read this article and you decide.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Now, on the eve of an election where things look bad for the incumbents, let’s change strategy. After some 2,700+ US deaths and 3 years. OK, change is probably not a bad thing, but the timing, oh the timing. And what new course will these geniuses chart?

It looks like a duck, it sounds like a duck, so I’m going to call it a duck. Flip-flop.

Ohio State’s 2006 record: 8-0 Next up: Minnesota 10/28
Tune: Move it on over by Hank Williams
Technorati Tags: War | Iraq | Election | Mike Harding Blog

If you’re into way off the grid living, this is an interesting way to get some light. The University of Michigan has done some prototyping on a “light bag” – effectively a solar textile that charges 6 individual lamps and/or a central battery.



Ohio State’s 2006 record: 8-0 Next up: Minnesota 10/28
Tune: These Streets by Tanya Stephens
Technorati Tags: Solar | Light | Energy | Mike Harding Blog

An interesting snippet from the wire service this morning:

BERLIN (Reuters) – A German motorist followed the command “Turn right now!” from his navigation system and crashed into a small toilet hut by the side of the road — about 30 yards before the crossing he was meant to take.

The overly obedient 53-year-old from Freiburg drove his sport utility vehicle off the road onto into a building site, up a stairway and into the small toilet shack, police in the eastern town of Rudolstadt said Sunday.

It caused 2,000 euros ($2,500) worth of damage to the stairway, 100 euros damage to his car, and he was also fined 35 euros.

Earlier this month an 80-year-old motorist also chose to follow his navigation system and ignored a “closed for construction” sign on a Hamburg motorway. He then crashed into a pile of sand but neither he nor his passenger were injured.

Even with a GPS navigation system, you still need to know where you’re going and make your own decisions. They’re 99% accurate in my experience and that 1% error margin can be dangerous!

Ohio State’s 2006 record: 8-0 Next up: Minnesota 10/28
Tune: Zora by Olu Dara
Technorati Tags: Humor | GPS | Navigation | Mike Harding Blog

In a game most people weren’t able to see due to boneheaded tv types (only shown on ESPNU) the Buckeyes had a complete game. The Hoosiers were outgained by 417 yards and were held to 3 net rushing yards on 28 attempts. Meanwhile, for the first time this season, the rushing attack outgained the passing attack 268 net yards to 267. That’s balance. Then again, this was against Indiana at home.

As has become standard, 73 of Indiana’s 118 total net yards came in the 4th quarter against the 2nd and 3rd team defense. An improvement this week was that the opponent wasn’t able to score in the prevent package. That’s showing growth which needs to continue as the countdown for the Michigan game continues (in 28 days…)

Ohio State’s 2006 record: 8-0 Next up: Minnesota 10/28
Tune: Candy by The Presidents of the United States of America
Technorati Tags: Ohio State | Indiana | Football | Mike Harding Blog

You might recall “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” as a catchy little tune from the musical Hair, but that’s not what this entry is about…

It turns out that the energy in sunlight is measured at 250 watts/square meter on average across the US, or 3 KWh/square meter/day. See the NREL map below for details.



Now don’t go out and buy solar panels for your roof just yet, not all of that available energy can be directly translated into electricity, the best solar panels are about 15% efficient which means that one might harvest as much as 0.45 KWh/square meter/day into direct current, during day time. Obviously the amount of energy produced is related to location, hours of direct/indirect sunlight, and weather. So just what are these solar panels (photovoltaic cells) anyway?

Photovoltaic (PV) cells are a semi-conductor that absorbs sunlight (photons) into charge carriers (electrons) then directs them to a conductor. Typically, PV cells are grouped into arrays and placed on sheets or panels which in turn are arrayed to generate a desired amount of electricity. Solar panels have been in use for years in space applications, remote sensors, pocket calculators, and increasingly, for individual home power generation (or co-generation.)

There have been some efforts to get to utility scale with PV technology, but the cost remains prohibitive (~$0.20/KWh competing against $0.03-0.07/KWh for other technologies.) Japan and Germany have the most installed PV technology with the largest single installation rated at 12 MW peak production. To put this in perspective, the average fossil fuel plant in the US is rated at 219 MW peak production and the average nuclear plant in the US at 2,000 MW. As costs for PV continue to drop (as they have around 3% per year over the past few years) coupled with fossil fuel cost increases, the point at which PV becomes profitable at scale will likely happen in the next 15 years.

PV power generation does have some distinct advantages including $0 fuel costs, zero-emission power generation, long equipment lifespan, relatively low maintenance costs, and modular application scaling from micro-installations up to small utility size. The disadvantages to solar are in capacity factor, it’s only light so many hours per day and power demands are 24/7. Relatively speaking, it’s expensive to procure and install. And finally, the resulting power is direct current which further degrades efficiency as the power must be “inverted” to use on the grid or in typical AC household power systems. I’ve heard there may be some breakthrough research happening on the production of PV cells that radically change the costs of PV; if this happens, solar may become mainstream faster than any of us would expect.

Google is certainly making a go of it. Recently, the company announced a plan to install solar panels on its buildings (1.6 MW) and that the resulting power would satisfy up to 30% of the company’s energy requirement. Aside from being good for the planet, I presume someone ran the numbers to see this would at least be a slightly positive return on investment.

Ohio State’s 2006 record: 7-0 Next up: Indiana 10/21
Tune: Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats
Technorati Tags: Energy | Solar | Photovoltaic | Mike Harding Blog