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Monthly Archives: November 2012

A Dirty Secret About Electric Energy

I like the idea of electric vehicles, I just wonder if its too soon.  It seems to me we need to get a handle on how we generate electricity.  The chart below shows the source of the electricity that Puget Sound generated for 2011:

(Click on the chart for more details) Here in Washington, we are lucky to be able to get half our power from our dams.  But even here, 32% of our electricity is generated from coal.  PSE’s goal for 2012 is to get 3% of its energy from renewaable sources, primarily its wind farms.

So where are we going to find the replacement for Coal in the next few years?  Obviously wind will get a larger share, but its a ways off from being significant.  One would have to believe the winner will be Natural Gas, as cheap as it is and its alot cleaner than coal.

So I plan to keep an eye on the progress we make towards eliminating coal before I get on the electric car bandwagon. I am not saying I am against electric vehicles – but lets make sure we dont swap gasoline for coal.   I really like my hybrid car – it is extremely efficient in its use of power and I get 40 – 44 miles to gallon.  Lets focus on getting more cars to use gasoline efficiently while we tackle this electricity generation problem.

November 27, 2012 Dan 3 Comments

Windows 8 early response

Looks like there is a lot of energy about windows 8 even amongst insiders.  This article is a from a windows centric website, read mostly by Microsoft developers and technology people.

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-8-sales-well-below-projections-plenty-blame-go-around

Whats most interesting about this is the comments at the bottom. These are comments from people who work primarily with Microsoft   software, and they have some pretty choice words for how Microsoft is rolling out the new windows.

November 16, 2012 Dan Leave a comment

The problem with Drones

A great article here on the current use of drones and how America desperately needs to understand how drones are being used.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/09/30/obama-drones-al-qaeda-legacy/1597973/

Hopefully now that Obama is re-elected, and he will be focusing on his legacy, he will do what needs to be done, and curtail the killing of innocent (until proven guilty) citizens.  The current policy has no constraints on who can be targeted by drones – 2 American citizens have already been killed by executive decree.  What will prevent future presidents from expanding this policy to drug lords, suspected mobsters, and political activists?

9/11 was over 11 years ago.  Isnt it time to reinstate the principles of law rather than just checking enemies of the state off a kill list?  If not now, when?

November 11, 2012 Dan 1 Comment

Carbon Nanotubes

Looks like Moores Law is not ending anytime soon.  IBM appears to be making strides towards switching from silicon based processors to carbon based.

http://www.eweek.com/it-management/ibm-researchers-making-carbon-nanotube-production-a-reality/

The other big advantage is carbon nanotubes use a lot less power – perhaps that will also give us progress in battling the issue of lousy battery technologies.

November 8, 2012 Dan Leave a comment

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