Published Wed, 2007-12-12 17:43 Energy
In many ways, wind energy seems an ideal energy source. Fields of mighty turbines spinning in rhythm could harness carbonless power and shuttle it off to homes and industries. But questions remain about the feasibility of wind parks: How much will they cost" Can this unpredictable energy source be relied upon to contribute appreciably to the country's power needs"
A team of Stanford researchers set out to find answers in a recent study of the California coast and will present their research during a Dec. 13 poster session at this year's meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The poster is titled ''California Offshore Wind Energy Potential.''
Published Wed, 2007-12-05 15:53 Energy
Officials from Nellis Air Force Base and SunPower Corp. are scheduled to finalize the commission of 15 megawatts in solar power to the base this month, making up North America's largest solar photovoltaic power system.
When complete, the solar power will save the base $1 million annually.
The switch to solar power should be transparent to the Nellis AFB community, SunPower officials said.
Published Sat, 2007-12-08 17:03 Energy
The Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has released a 2007 update to its groundbreaking study, Estimating Freshwater Needs to Meet Future Thermoelectric Generation Requirements. The updated analysis increases understanding of regional and national water needs and usage in the power industry, and provides input for research and development aimed at water-use reduction.
New in this year's report is a response to heightened concerns over atmospheric carbon dioxide. The report examines the possibility that future policies to combat climate change may result in the addition of carbon capture technologies to many coal-fired power plants by 2030. Since these technologies require additional water, the 2007 report includes case study scenarios that predict how much water may be needed by power plants when carbon capture technology is installed.
Water has become a pivotal issue in the Nation since economic development hinges on the availability of freshwater. Public water systems, agriculture, power generation, and other industries all compete for limited regional water supplies. Although the power industry is only responsible for around three percent of the freshwater consumed in the United States, it accounts for nearly 40 percent of withdrawals.
Published Mon, 2007-12-10 19:52 Military | Software
Air Force Office of Scientific Research-funded scientists are currently developing unique, updateable holographic 3-D displays that can be used in military applications.
The holographic 3-D images can be used in command and control for viewing battle space in nearly real time using realistic images that can be updated regularly at short intervals, said Dr. Nasser Peyghambarian. The team lead for the group from the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona.
"These images can also be used for training purposes as well," Dr. Peyghambarian said. "Three-dimensional imaging allows a lot of data to be presented simultaneously, a task that is not possible with the use of two-dimensional pictures."
"Until now dynamic, holographic 3-D images suitable for practical uses did not exist. Our newly developed displays exhibit memory and large size, which makes them stand out among other approaches to dynamic 3-D imaging."
The scientists are able to achieve high-definition 3-D images by using holography to store the appearance of objects or scenes into thin films with the use of laser light, and they have gone one step further beyond static images.
"We've replaced fixed holographic storage materials with dynamic ones" Dr. Peyghambarian said. "We use high-efficiency, low-cost dynamic recording materials capable of very large sizes, which is very important for life-size, realistic 3-D displays. We can record complete scenes or objects within three minutes and can store them for three hours."
Dr. Darrel Hopper is also exploring true 3-D technologies for applications in air, space and cyber command centers. He is part of a team at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Dr. Hopper uses the term "true 3-D" to distinguish systems like the AFOSR updatable holographic effort at the University of Arizona.
"We develop and evaluate various true 3-D systems for their value added beyond the two-dimensional visualization technologies currently used -- for example, in Air Force combined air operations centers," Dr. Hopper said.
According to Dr. Peyghambarian, the next steps are to increase the size of the 3-D displays to 1 foot by 1 foot and then 3 feet by 3 feet, make them in color, and increase the writing speed of the images.
"We also need to examine the psychological aspects of 3-D viewing and the question of how humans interact with 3-D displays," he said. "For example, it's believed that pilots may react and make decisions much faster if they receive 3-D information, which is much more realistic compared with the two-dimensional displays they currently use."
