IEEE Consultants' Network of Long Island

Drought in Venezuela - Dick LaRosa

Today I came across a news item about low levels in Venezuela's Guri Reservoir that feeds a 15 GW hydroelectric plant. It is the third largest hydro plant in the world and it supplies 73 % of Venezuela's electric power. The reservoir is fed by the Caroni River, which originates in mountains about 2800 m high. During this season, winds coming in from the ocean blow over the mountains. I would imagine that this would be the time when they should get some orographic precipitation, but the article seemed to indicate that this was the dry season. Alas, they didn't offer Meteorology 101 in Brooklyn Poly, and I doubt that I would have been interested in it then. The wind patterns shown in my $ 4.99 atlas sure don't look like the Trade Winds that I see in elementary books. Whatever. It used to rain on those mountains, or they wouldn't have built such a big hydro plant. Now they don't have enough rain. Hugo Chavez blames it on El Nino, but maybe he has aerosols, like everybody else. If so, he might want to think about large rafts of solar-heated evaporator panels moored in his coastal waters.

AN ELECTRIC ONLY VOLT?--Carl Schwab

In just the last few days, representatives from GM have been stressing that GM just may offer an "ELECTRIC ONLY" version of the VOLT. But also nearly simultaneously Bob Lutz, GM spokesperson, has been raising hell about the damage to "electric only" car range during winter driving. Hmmmmm?

It seems all is confusion in the VOLT camp. Schedule has slipped back now into late 2011 and volume production won't be reached until 2012. Will it be electric only? Or will it be a series mode hybrid.? Or will they offer both?

In any case the price is still sticking at $40,000 AFTER the $7500 bonus. TOO HIGH!!

BTW for now the Prius seems the only hybrid that remains selling well. Just by casual observation here on LI, I count an average of 1 in 20 cars as a Prius meaning about 5% of the population. That's good. Toyota has in the works for 2011 or late this year a PHEV version Prius.

Honda has one year sales of the new INSIGHT under its belt and the new INSIGHT is a better competitor against the Prius BUT not a beater.

NISSAN seems on track for the LEAF by 2010 year end. Nissan claims to have home installed chargers ready for delivery with the cars.

In the commercial livery business, HYBRID vehicles are gaining usage.

FIRST YEAR OPERATION ON NATURAL GAS — Carl Schwab

Jan 13, 2010 marked the first full year of heating our home in Huntington Station, NY using natural gas, NG. Recall this was a conversion of the burner only as the boiler system was only 3 years old.

Some comparisons:
The total NG burned was 907 therms. To convert this to the equivalent amount of #2 that would have burned—

Equivalent oil (gals)=907 x 29.31/41.11=647gal. Adjusted for the measured improvement of the burner efficiency this becomes 722 gal.

We paid for NG for the year, 907 x 1.68=$1523.76. We would have paid for #2 oil, 722 x 2.26=$1631.72. Or about $108 less for the year.

Some comments:
The boiler works flawlessly on NG and hot water recovery is at least as good as with #2 oil.

Overall we are pleased with the conversion. The stainless steel chimney liner has extended our chimney life at least 75 years. Our underground oil tank is "officially" abandoned i.e. drained, filled with sand and documented. See ANECDOTE below.

The availability of #2 oil is considered good, but specialists are predicting more runs at $4-5/gal as artificial restrictions can be contrived. Regards NG several new gas fields on the North American continent are currently pressuring the price of a therm some 8-16% lower and pressure is being applied to generate more electric power by NG rather than coal.  INTERESTING.

Three Deadly D's - Dick LaRosa

Drought, Desertification, Dust. They feed on each other, helped by overgrazing by herds that are too large. Decreased precipitation dries out the topsoil so it cannot support vegetation. Desperately hungry animals rip out whatever vegetation they can find. First the topsoil blows away, then the less productive subsoil, then sand and pebbles are blown along by the fierce wind. The dust in the air is an aerosol which, along with aerosols from industrial pollution, creates too many cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). When water vapor condenses out of the air, it forms clumps of water or ice around the aerosol particles. Too many CCN means the clumps are small and don't coalesce and grow large enough to precipitate. So drought causes desertification and dust, and dust causes drought. In northern China, there are fierce dust storms that come with heavy rainfall - not the gentle sprinkles that the crops need. The Science Channel interviewed one man who pulled several children out of a drainage channel. They had drowned. One was his daughter. Beijing is in the path of desertification.

Made in China - Dick LaRosa

I left my drill press in the family home when I got married, and didn't buy a new one until a few years ago. It is a Ryobi bought in one of the Home Depots, where I was lucky enough to find a complete one in an intact package. It is a beauty. I overlooked its weird noises and rattles, and the fact that the Jacobs chuck did not have a smooth action when I tightened and loosened it. After all, it had a half-inch capacity, so I could drill large holes safely. Oh yeah? One day I was using a large drill to deburr a smaller hole (wasn't even drilling), and I wound up holding the chuck in my hand. The tapered spindle was still in the drill press quill. The chuck body had separated from the spindle, to which it had been joined with a short taper whose diameter was not much more than the drills that could be clamped in the chuck. Guess what's going to slip when you try to drill a half-inch hole in a steel block.

Fortunately, I had cleaned out that house and brought stuff home to add to the clutter in my basement. Included was a lathe with two chucks with Morse No.2 tapered spindles that fit in my drill press. These have been in the family for about 70 years and have given reliable service. The useless "Chuck Chinois" is an example of how our trading partners cut corners and sell us unsafe junk.

Ocean Solar Absorption - Dick LaRosa

The ocean surface is a good absorber of solar energy. That's why the surface heats up in the summer and the lighter water stays on top. This stratification prevents nutrients from reaching the surface to replenish the nutrients consumed by phytoplankton. That's why we need wave-powered pumps to bring the nitrates, phosphates, and iron up through the thermocline.

Sea ice and snow are good solar reflectors when they are clean. Black carbon deposits like soot reduce the reflectivity somewhat. But when the cover melts during the summer, more open ocean surface becomes available to absorb solar energy and heat up faster. This increases the melting rate, an example of positive feedback. It's happening now. Maritime shipping companies are salivating over the opportunity to deliver large cargo to Siberian ports, and oil well drilling in the Arctic beckons.

A Letter on Logarithms from Uncle Morty - by Marty Kanner

Dear Shiran, Lee-Ad, and of course Shilee (Renee and Udi too),

I called today and spoke to Shiran who gave me a rundown on how everyone is. He also told me that he was busy studying and told me he was having trouble with the logarithm in math. I was thinking about it as this happens to be something that had become very important to me in my work and now I find it important on how I look at life in general. I decided to write you about this and when I went to my computer file holding the letters I sent you, I find that I haven't written (other than e-mails) in over 10 years-sorry about that.

I was wondering why Shiran and so many students find this difficult to understand and are quick to forget about it once they passed the course. I came to the conclusion that the great difficulty starts when the student sees no reason to understand or handle this mathematical function. I therefore conclude that if one is to teach the subject, then the first thing to do is provide  purpose for what you are teaching. Additionally, the next thing the student should be taught is how this function relates to the linear system we first learn about. The last thing to present the student is how to handle the logarithm. Unfortunately, this is usually the first and only thing the student is presented with.

Grand Cayman Island - Dick LaRosa

A mosquito control unit on Grand Cayman was reporting monthly averages of mean sea level (MSL) to the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level. The data run stopped several years ago, but there is enough to compare with MSL at Settlement Point, Grand Bahama. Cayman is about as close as you can get to the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) without incurring errors from velocity effects. Settlement Point is close to the exit of the Florida Current into the open Atlantic Ocean.

I also have radar altimeter pictures of GoM sea surface height from January 1993 to the present and approximate dates for when rings separated from the Loop Current (LC), which is the only way that the LC can decrease its length. Putting it all together shows that when Cayman MSL starts to fall, while Settlement Point MSL is rising or flat, we are experiencing decreased hydraulic drive on the path through the GoM and Florida Straits. The response is a decrease in LC length, rather than a decrease in the rate at which water flows through. We have a constant current source, and the LC is a series resistor whose value is adjusted to get the right voltage drop between Cayman and Settlement Point. Turbines making electric power can give us the proper resistance with a shorter LC, thereby decreasing the amount of warm water collected to energize hurricanes.

It's an expensive idea, but much cheaper that moving to another planet. We need to restore the tide gages on Grand Cayman to provide validation.