Monday, August 30, 2010

Spam on Blogger






Would you believe it!
SPAM on Blogger Comments

Spam used to be this horrible ham like stuff in a tin with a key on the side to open it. Not any more is it! Spam could be described as "Internet junk mail". There is a whole new breed of low life advertising and promotions using SPAM to push their grubby wares.

These annoying bastards aka "Spammers", just cannot leave anyone alone, they try to put their foot in every possible door. The comments on Blogger have recently been invaded by this pig ignorant band of commercial spammers pushing their dubious wares.

The epidemic is such that Google Blogger have installed an automatic Comments Spam Removal tool. But the few still get through.




The latest SPAM comment that I received was pushing secondhand Opel cars. I don't know if Opel would approve of this sort of crass behaviour, or indeed if the respectable Opel Dealers would be happy either?

Either way, the spam comment and all like it will be assigned to the SPAM box where they belong.


END OF RANT - thank you for listening.



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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Philips CFL bulbs still only 1 Euro



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Woodies DIY
still have
 CFL Bulbs at 1 Euro each



Woodies Hardware still have their offer of 5 CFL bulbs for 5Euro. These are ideal for porch lamps, sheds, bedside lamps, main lights in smaller rooms etc. etc.




Do yourself, the environment, and the country a favour and go out and buy some today!!

PS  My friend Vida - who left a comment and who lives in Switzerland - cannot get such bargain prices where she lives. The RipOff Republic (the other name for Ireland)  has a few perks in it!!


http://www.buy4now.ie/woodiesdiy/search.aspx?loc=S

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Sad to Say SunMachine in Liquidation



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SunMachine Germany
Has gone into Liquidation

Innovative German sustainable energy company filed for liquidation in May this year. Their development of a woodpellet boiler is one of the most interesting I have seen. I did not greatly like their CHP application along with the very noisy Stirling engine, but the burner itself looked to have a lot to offer. The feed system, and the down-firing burner design both looked like really good ideas.

I hope someone takes up where they left off. We need good design in woodpellet burners!

http://wood-pellet-ireland.blogspot.com/2009/12/sunmachine-pellet-boiler-update.html



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Friday, August 13, 2010

Philips CFL Bulbs only 1 Euro



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CFL Bulbs
€1 each




Winter is coming soon enough, and along with it come the dark days and nights. Now is a very good time to look at your lighting needs.

CFL bulbs represent a terrific energy saving in any household. Right now is the time to dash out and buy a dozen or so. You might catch one hell of a bargain as Woodies have the standard Philips CFL 60 watt and 40 Watt equivalents for a mere €1 each.

You would be crazy not to buy some. Think about it for a moment !! - - - At that price you could make 800% profit by way of energy savings over the life of the bulbs!!!



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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Rotor Sails - Wind Energy 1920





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Anton Flettner's
Rotor Sail Ship


In my last post, about Enercon fantastic new ship with the "rotor sails" , I mentioned Anton Flettner and his use of these devices way back in the 1920ies. From Germany, Anton Flettner (November 1, 1885 December 29, 1961) was an aviation engineer rather than a ship designer.




Just came across a couple of old photographs showing the man himself, and a small ship bearing both his name and an example of his "rotor sails".



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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Enercon E-Ship docks in Dublin



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The Amazing Enercon EShip
Docked in Dublin Today



Probably one of the most environmentally friendly and innovative ships on the seas docked in Dublin today. The ship was designed and built by Enercon. Yes - the same Enercon, wind turbine manufacturers, that I have written extensively about on this blog. It’s cargo? What else - wind turbines!! More and more Enercon turbines are being used in Ireland. I really like their design features!

The Enercon E-ship carries, along with many other innovative features, four huge "rotor sails", large tall vertical rotating cylinders driven by electric motors. These rotating cylinders along with the wind, give motive power similar to traditional sails, only ten times more effectively. They use what is called the “Magnus Effect”. The Magnus Effect, in a way, is like the opposite of the vortex effect utilised by Prof. Bernitsas’ “Vortex Hydro Energy” sea current generators.

http://wood-pellet-ireland.blogspot.com/2008/12/vivace-vortex-power.html


The spinning cylinder is the equivalent of a vortex and thus creates a push or flow pattern. The rotor sail technology was successfully demonstrated as far back as the 1920ies by Anton Flettner. As with so many fantastic early energy innovations, it lost its significance due to the introduction of oil driven engines. Now that the oil is running out - the world will need to reclaim these past discoveries.

I am an Enercon fan - Well done Enercon.



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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Nano Battery Market Worth $2.5billion by 2015

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Don't Buy an Electric Car Now
Wait for the New Nano Batteries!
You have been Warned!

I have just read a recently published report by a group called “Global Industry Analysts”. The essence of the report is that the global market for nano-technology type batteries, the type I have been writing and raving about, is expected to reach $2.5 Billion US by 2015.

These guys evidently can see the benefits that this type of battery has to offer in terms of price, charge capacity, lifespan, and environmental benefits, and the range of uses primarily including transport, and wind energy balancing application. If only our politicians and government agencies could be as alert.

I really believe that there is little or no point in buying an electric car now - just wait a year until these new batteries become available.



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Sunday, August 08, 2010

Mouchot Solar addendum





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Augustin Mouchot
(April 2, 1825 - October 4, 1912)


I recently got a picture from a friend of a scale model of Augustin Mouchot's "Solar Boiler" It gives a much better idea of what the original might have looked like. I have no information as to what is the scale of this model, nor am I aware of where it is situated or if it is on public view. I have reproduced the photo below.






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Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Solar Energy History continued



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Solar Energy History
The French Connection

Act 3
Charles Cros

While Augustin Mouchot was inventing mirror based solar engines, a fellow countryman, at around the same time, was thinking of solar mirrors on a much larger scale indeed.



Charles Cros (1842-1888)


Charles Cros was a dapper looking French poet, scientist, visionary and inventor. He was well regarded both as a poet and a humorous writer.

In the 1870s, he came up with the idea of a machine that would mechanically record sound by tracing oscillations, captured on a diaphragm, onto a metal-coated cylinder. He called his invention the “Paleophone” or “voix du passé”, literally “voices from the past”. He submitted his idea in a letter to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, which haughtily dismissed it as impractical.

Only a year later, the better funded US Edison inventing factory demonstrated a working model of the device, which was called the phonograph. It used almost precisely the ideas outlined by Cros.

In addition to his phonograph, Cros developed improved photographic processes including an early colour process. He also invented improvements in telegraph technology.

Charles Cros was convinced, by contemporary astronomers published findings, that there was life on Mars. As a result, he was thinking how solar mirrors might be used to communicate with Mars. He published his proposition in his 1869 book called “Moyens de Communications avec les Planètes”.

The idea was to build a huge movable mirror with extremely shallow parabolic curvature, thus making for a very distant focal point. Make the focal point the surface of Mars, and use the heat to “write” “a greeting card” on the Martian desert. His thinking did not go as far as to how the Martians might react to a heat ray incinerating their land.

Vision is what makes invention and Cros had plenty of that. He was, a mainly self taught, genius who could turn his hand to just about anything.

I like the above photo of him, he looks like the kind of guy I would like as a next door neighbour and a friend. He was a sad figure though, who's genius seems to have been generally overlooked.

He married and had two sons René and Guy. It is reported that he died in wretched poverty his body literally burned out from, among other things, absinthe on August 9th 1888, a mere 46 years old.

France has not forgotten Charles Cros, the French version of a National Academy of Recording Arts is called “L'Académie Charles Cros”, and their annual award is named “Le Prix Charles Cros”.

A dark and sad end for a very bright man - may his spirit rest in peace.




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