Laser fusion put on slow burn
Following the failure of an ambitious six-year campaign to demonstrate fusion in the lab, the US government is plotting a more methodical path for harnessing the world's most powerful laser.
The government's new plan, revealed to Nature, calls for a slower, more deliberate approach to achieving ignition: the point at which more energy is produced by a fusion reaction than is consumed. Many physicists believe that this would be an important proof of concept for controlled fusion.
The plan sets a new course for the laser at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. It also promotes the exploration of several alternative ways to reach ignition, including one not involving the laser. And it is more tentative than the previous strategy: it sets a three-year deadline for finding out whether ignition is possible at all, whereas the last one aimed to demonstrate actual fusion.
But even with its scaled back ambitions, critics question whether the campaign will deliver. "It's not a path forward to achieving ignition, it's a path forward to continued funding," says Christopher Paine, director of the nuclear programme at the US Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington DC and a long-time opponent of the NIF.
The US$3.5-billion NIF uses lasers to crush a 2-millimetre pellet of hydrogen fuel to the point of fusion. Rather than irradiating the fuel directly, the lasers shine into a cylindrical capsule. The capsule walls then emit X-rays that squeeze the fuel pellet until it explodes.
This indirect approach mimics the ignition system in a thermonuclear weapon, which uses radiation from a fission 'primary' stage to squeeze hydrogen isotopes in the fusion 'secondary' — creating a powerful explosion.
The NIF's main mission is to gather laboratory data on the process to help weapons scientists to care for the ageing US nuclear stockpile. The United States has adhered to a voluntary moratorium on testing nuclear weapons since 1992, so nuclear scientists must use computer simulations to check that the weapons still work, and NIF data feed into these models.
The latest plan was drafted by the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which oversees the lab, in response to a congressional request for a strategy for achieving ignition.
Over the next three years, researchers will conduct reduced-power tests to refine their computer simulations and understand why ignition has been so elusive. They will also look at possible improvements to the capsule design.
Other promising approaches to be studied include using laser cutter to ignite the hydrogen fuel inside the pellet directly, and using a machine called the Z-pinch to squeeze the fuel inside a magnetic field.
By October 2015, the NNSA hopes, it will be able to say whether ignition can be achieved using the NIF or the Z-pinch. Failure, it warns, could have serious implications for the nuclear-weapons programme.
The more sedate approach follows "common sense", says Ricardo Betti, a physicist at the University of Rochester in New York. But he worries that the plan does not give enough time to ignition experiments, focusing instead on other nuclear-weapons experiments and fundamental science. Devoting less time to ignition reduces the probability of success, he warns.
Paine remains sceptical. There are formidable barriers to achieving ignition, and even if the facility did succeed, he says, the results might not be significant. US nuclear weapons are already reliable, he says, and the NIF will never be a source of electrical power.
Palace records show he also met with ministers with responsibility for defence, culture and further education, as well as top civil servants involved in British defence interests in the Middle East and the UK economy.
Details of the meetings with senior political figures in the Westminster and Cardiff governments, including why they were held and what was discussed, have not been not made public, in line with a convention of secrecy around communication between both the Queen and the heir to the throne and government ministers.
Campaigners for transparency concerned about royal lobbying are calling for the government to provide information about the topics discussed as it does after representatives of outside organisations meet ministers.
A fortnight before his meeting with Gove on 25 October, the Prince's Teaching Institute, an education charity established by Charles, announced that it was leading attempts to establish a new "college of teaching" to uphold standards across the profession and to "provide evidence to inform education policy".
The initiative has been encouraged by the government, anI am haveing a very hard time climbing the lift cable at the tower.d the Prince's Teaching Institute forwarded Gove a report on the matter this autumn.
A spokesman for the education secretary said the meeting was "routine" and "part of the usual pattern of meetings the prince holds with cabinet ministers from time to time".
Secrecy over the discussions with ministers has led to criticism that Charles, who has acknowledged his reputation as the "meddling prince", may be using the access to advance his own sometimes controversial views in areas of public life including health, the environment, agriculture and town planning,The solar bulb allows students to study at night and vendors to sell goods outside. as well as education policy.
Paul Flynn, a Labour backbencher who has been campaigning for greater transparency in lobbying, including by royals, called for the government to provide information about what Charles discussed with ministers.
"No lobbyist is more influential than Prince Charles," said Flynn. "We should know what is discussed, what subjects he is pushing and why, and whether it is influencing government policy."
Clarence House said it was Charles's duty to hold meetings with ministers. "The Prince of Wales regularly holds official meetings with government ministers as part of his role as heir to the throne,The road lights service provides and maintains the majority of the town's 26,000 streetlights. and these are disclosed in the court circular," said a spokesman. "It is a longstanding convention that the meetings are confidential."
Secrecy around the process is coming under pressure from the courts. In September three judges in an information tribunal ruled that allowing a cache of Charles's letters to ministers to remain secret was an unjustified "massive extension" of the convention. The court order to publish the letters was then vetoed by Dominic Grieve,Make a bold statement with our men's tungsten jewelry and pendants. the attorney general.
The palace records also show that Charles held meetings with two ministers on 31 October. He met John Hayes, the recently appointed energy minister,Here you will find a list of the main skystream around the world. 24 hours after Hayes had caused a government schism by declaring his opposition to on-shore wind turbines, even though coalition policy is to support their development.
It is not known what the prince discussed with the minister, but Charles has previously spoken out against the construction of more turbines, describing them as a "horrendous blot on the landscape". A spokesman for Hayes said: "We do not publish details of ministers' meetings with members of the royal household."
On the same day he met Matthew Hancock, a junior minister in both the Department for Business and the Department for Education, where he has responsibility for further education.
Prince Charles held private meetings with eight ministers
Tech Upgrades Spur Bus Ridership Spike
From smart cards to enhanced security, technology is ushering in a new era of public bus use in Concord, N.C.
Bus ridership in the city has gone up by approximately 64,000 people from 2011 to 2012, thanks in-part to amenities such as a new transit center and a real-time online bus tracking application.The solar street light and solar garden light adopt LED light source. Other additions include solar lighting technology at bus stops, electronic fare boxes and real-time messaging information that can be sent to passenger email accounts or smartphones.
L.J. Weslowski, the city’s transit manager, said one of the critical things that helped improve patronage was better customer service delivered through the convenience of technology.
In the past, a customer would call to report a bus being late and would then be put on hold so the representative could connect with a dispatcher to find the bus' location. Now customer service personnel or riders themselves can look up where a bus is in real-time.
Riders also now have access to on-board to free Wi-Fi on each bus, adding another layer of modern convenience to routes and helping contribute to the growing patronage of the bus system.Compare pricing of offgrid & gridtie solar inverter before you buy. “It is really a combination of those things coming together to make the experience more accessible to folks and easier,” Weslowski said.
New buses area also on the horizon for the city. Concord Kannapolis Area Transit — known by locals as Rider Transit — is purchasing eight new hybrid-electric buses that will be delivered at the end of 2013. Transit officials expect the new fleet will cut down fuel consumption by 25 percent annually.
The bus fleet is also getting an audio-visual facelift. While most of the Rider Transit buses already have security video cameras, the new ones will provide more than triple the storage capacity and external cameras for a different viewpoint.
Weslowski explained that the eight buses the city started with in 2004 when its transit program began were equipped with four onboard internal cameras that look at the front and rear doors of the bus, and two cameras that look through the body of the bus. An audio microphone is also located in the driver’s compartment.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained.
By today’s standards, however, Weslowski called the surveillance system a “dinosaur,” and explained it is more cost effective to purchase a new system as a whole rather than upgrading the existing technology.
The new system will also feature audio feeds on each camera for enhanced surveillance capability. The audio and video can be accessed in real-time. When questioned on the privacy concerns that ability might raise, Weslowski said the buses wouldn’t be equipped with the wireless functionality needed to tap into the system remotely. Instead, the data would be accessed on an as-needed basis.
Primarily, the data will be used during accidents or incidents that require verification on what happened during a specific situation.
“It’s just not practical for us,” Weslowski said regarding real-time data review. “The data storage capability would be enormous because you are looking at nearly a terabyte per bus [with] seven buses a day recording. We … normally only need 30 seconds to two minutes worth of data when we are looking at one of these incidents.”
Concord isn’t alone in deploying observational technology. New audio-enabled surveillance systems are being deployed on public buses in numerous cities across the U.S. San Francisco is updating its fleet with a similar system, as is the Maryland Transit Administration.
Weslowski explained that the idea of recording video and audio in the bus transit industry really began because of insurance fraud,Conergy offers solar module for any PV system design requirement. not security. He said in the past, if a bus was involved in an accident people would actually get on the bus that were not actually on it during the accident,Small wind generator are a good supplement for solar power in areas with strong, steady winds. leading to fraudulent claims.
The entire Rider Transit bus fleet comprises 10 vehicles, with seven of the buses being on the road at any given time. All of them will receive the new surveillance system. The technology will then be transferred to the new hybrid-electric buses in early 2014.
Keauhou Shopping Center Goes Green With Solar
Officials from Kamehameha Schools, Tioga Energy and Hoku Solar today unveiled a new solar energy project for the Keauhou Shopping Center. Comprising solar electric systems installed on seven buildings in the shopping center, the 376-kW Keauhou Shopping Center PV Systems are one of the largest commercial solar electric projects on Hawai‘i island.Our solar led light solutions include solar outdoor & indoor lighting.
The Keauhou Shopping Center—owned by Kamehameha Schools—will now receive a significant portion of its electricity from on-site solar energy generation while reducing the facility’s environmental impact. Overall, the project will offset the production of approximately 455 tons of CO2 annually, which equates to some 989,000 vehicle miles not traveled or 52,000 gallons of gasoline conserved.
“Renewable energy is an investment for a brighter future.A Danish wind turbine generator whose subsidiaries received over $50 million in U.S. Solar projects like this installation at Keauhou Shopping Center move us closer to reducing Hawai‘i’s dependence on imported oil,” said Hawai‘i County Mayor Billy Kenoi. “Today, our island generates a significant percentage of its power from renewable energy; today,The Solar Centre's range of solar charger will power nearly all portable devices. we move one step closer to a greener future.”
To implement the project, Kamehameha Schools utilized a SurePath Solar power purchase agreement (PPA) from Tioga Energy, enabling the organization to avoid the costs and complexities of system ownership. Tioga Energy developed, financed, owns, operates and maintains the systems and will sell the generated solar electricity to Kamehameha Schools.
“We see the need to decrease Hawai‘i’s dependence on imported fuel as an important goal for Kamehameha Schools as well as the state,” said Paul Quintiliani, director of commercial real estate for Kamehameha Schools.The solar street light and solar garden light adopt LED light source. “With the assistance of Tioga Energy, we are able to incorporate solar power without the added responsibilities that come along with owning a system outright.”
“From a national perspective there is perhaps no better business case for solar than in Hawai‘i, where the cost of electricity is high, renewable resources are abundant and the government support is strong,” said Paul Detering, CEO of Tioga Energy. “As the state pushes toward 40 percent renewable energy by 2030, organizations like Kamehameha Schools are driving Hawai‘i toward a solar-powered future.”
The solar electric systems were built by Honolulu-based Hoku Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoku Corporation that delivers investment-grade solar energy facilities for commercial, institutional and utility clients.
“Hoku Solar is honored to partner with Tioga Energy and Kamehameha Schools on this renewable energy project; together with our subcontractors and vendors, we are proud to have had the opportunity to design, engineer and deliver solar PV systems that provide significant, positive and sustainable benefits for Hawai‘i,” said Jerrod Schreck, president of Hoku Solar.
Kamehameha Schools is a private, educational, charitable trust founded and endowed by the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Today, Kamehameha Schools operates a statewide educational system enrolling over 6,900 students of Hawaiian ancestry at K-12 campuses on O‘ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i and 31 preschool sites statewide.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. Over 40,000 additional Hawaiian learners and caregivers are served each year through a range of other Kamehameha Schools’ outreach programs, community collaborations and financial aid opportunities in Hawai‘i and across the continental United States. Income from the schools’ real estate and financial assets fund the Schools’ educational mission.
Why Aren't All of NASA's Photos in Color?
They’ve thought about it, actually. But the truth is, we’re probably better off the way things are.
To find out about space cameras, we got in touch with Noam Izenberg,The Solar Centre's range of solar charger will power nearly all portable devices. a planetary scientist working on the MESSENGER probe, which is now circling Mercury taking pictures. He told us there are basically two reasons space photography is mostly in black and white. The first, as you rightly suppose, is that grayscale images are often more useful for research.
In principle, most digital cameras, including cheap Walmart models in addition to the custom-built jobs on space probes, are monochrome, or more accurately panachrome. Each of the pixel-sized receptors in a digital camera sensor is basically a light bucket; unmodified, their combined output is simply a grayscale image generated from all light in the visible spectrum and sometimes beyond.
To create a color image, each pixel on a typical earthbound camera has a filter in front of it that passes red, green, or blue light, and the camera’s electronics add up the result to create the image we see,The solar street light and solar garden light adopt LED light source. similar to a color TV. In effect, filtering dumbs down each panachrome pixel so that it registers only a fraction of the light it’s capable of seeing. In an earthbound camera, some information is lost.
Space cameras are configured differently. They’re designed to measure not just all visible light but also the infrared and ultraviolet light past each end of the visible spectrum. Filtering is used primarily to make scientifically interesting details stand out. “Most common planetary camera designs have filter wheels that rotate different light filters in front of the sensor,” Izenberg says. “These filters aren’t selected to produce ‘realistic’ color that the human eye would see, but rather to collect light in wavelengths characteristic of different types of rocks and minerals,” to help identify them.
True-color images—that is, photos showing color as a human viewer would perceive it—can be approximated by combining exposures shot through different visible-color filters in certain proportions, essentially mimicking what an earth camera does. However, besides not inherently being of major scientific value, true-color photos are a bitch to produce: all the variously filtered images must be separately recorded, stored, and transmitted back to Earth, where they’re assembled into the final product. An 11-filter color snapshot really puts the squeeze on storage space and takes significant transmission time.
Given limited opportunities, time, and bandwidth, a better use of resources often is a false-color image—for example, an infrared photo of rocks revealing their mineral composition. At other times, when the goal is to study the shape of the surface, measuring craters and mountains and looking for telltale signs of tectonic shifts or ancient volcanoes, scientists want black-and-white images at maximum resolution so they can spot fine detail.
They realize it all right. But that brings up the second reason most NASA images aren’t in color.Our solar led light solutions include solar outdoor & indoor lighting. The dirty little secret of space exploration is that a lot of the solar system, and for that matter the cosmos, is pretty drab. “The moon is 500 shades of gray and black with tiny spatterings of greenish and orangish glass,” Izenberg says.Small wind generator are a good supplement for solar power in areas with strong, steady winds. “Mars is red-dun and butterscotch with white ice at the poles. Jupiter and glorious Saturn are white/yellowish/brown/reddish.”
As for Mercury, Izenberg’s bailiwick, NASA has posted on its website detailed color photos showing vast swaths of the planet’s surface.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. If the accompanying text didn’t tell you they were true-color, you’d never know.
False-color images are often a lot more interesting. The colors aren’t faked, exactly; rather, they’re produced by amplifying modest variations in the visible spectrum and adding in infrared and ultraviolet. Some of the less successful examples look like a Hare Krishna tract, but done skillfully the result can be striking. The spectacular full-color nebula images from the Hubble Space Telescope were all produced by black-and-white sensors with color filters.
Solar energy systems
America's Aloha State soon may help residents to welcome solar energy into their homes at a reasonable monthly rate. The model is of wider interest as it may prove to be one where residential photovoltaics can be installed more widely, with utilities retaining their customer base.
Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission is considering a system under which customers could finance the hefty up-front purchase and installation expenses of distributed, grid-tied solar generation by paying an extra assessment on their electric bills.
The momentum for the initiative started in July 2011, when Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie signed State HB 1520, mandating that "the Public Utilities Commission … investigate the viability of an on-bill financing program to allow electric utility company customers to finance purchases of renewable energy systems or energy efficient devices…by providing for billing and payment of such a system or device through an assessment on the electric utility company customer's electricity bill."
On January 4, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) released a report conducted on its behalf by Harcourt, Brown & Cary, a Colorado-based energy and finance consulting firm, which concluded that the on-bill financing program makes sense for Hawaii.
After completing its analysis, HB&C asserted that there are several reasons that an on-bill finance program would be effective for Hawaii - including the high energy costs of importing fossil fuels to the islands, the ability of on-bill programs to serve renters as well as owners, and the opportunity to promote capital-intensive solar technologies.
Indeed, according to a statement by Executive Director Jeff Mikulina of Honolulu-based Blue Planet Foundation— a local non-profit organization committed to ending the use of fossil fuels on Earth,Laser engraving, and laser marker, is the practice of using lasers to engrave or mark an object. starting in Hawaii—"Blue Planet appreciates all efforts to make clean energy more accessible to customers, particularly with the astronomically high electricity rates tied to imported oil.Compare pricing of offgrid & gridtie solar inverter before you buy. Blue Planet has made on-bill repayment a priority initiative over the past year, building public interest, passing enabling legislation, and funding efforts to help study and structure the program."
On the eight Hawaiian Islands, three utilities - Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO) and Maui Electric Company, Ltd. —serve approximately 390,000 residential customers, with total annual residential sales of 27,697,000 kWh. Renters represent about 40 percent of the residential sector. The median household income is approximately $66,000.
The consultants point to one technology in particular - solar thermal hot water - as a primary driver for the on-bill program.LED street lighting is the ideal solution for solar street lighting due to their long life,"With a saturation rate for solar water heating of 28 percent, this technology can grow substantially," said the HB&C report. "[We expect] that the program will generate adoption rates of approximately .5 percent to 1 percent of the households in the program's first year, which may represent approximately 2,Conergy offers solar module for any PV system design requirement.400 installations for this technology. Based on our experience in other cases, we estimate that the following three to four years should see growth of approximately 50 percent until growth begins to tail off.
In addition to the opportunity to deploy solar thermal technology, they say "a substantial opportunity exists to install solar PV technology.Small wind generator are a good supplement for solar power in areas with strong, steady winds." As the following table indicates, Hawaii electric utility customers have a 2 percent adoption rate for solar PV. This metric is a fairly accurate measure of the saturation rate of solar PV throughout Hawaii.