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Dear Subscriber, HAPPY
HOLIDAYS!
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This month has a great accomplishment of volunteers at Integrity
Research Institute (Story #1) available online for FREE for the first
time, the entire Proceedings of SPESIF 2012. It was a
breakthrough conference as our FE eNews readers and IRI Members know,
with major advances in inertial propulsion and zero point energy
extraction, among others. With this impressive crowning achievement
serving the public, we remind you that donors are needed to help us
meet our minimum operating budget for 2013. Please consider becoming a
member or donating now to get a tax deduction for this year. As always,
we are very thankful for your support and generosity.
With
Story #2, you can see more detail about our Senior Staff Doctor
Panting's therapeutic electric clothing invention. It is a patent pending, revolutionary free
radical quencher that promises to help sports performance by a
significant percentage (at least 10% estimated) because one of the main
effects of exertion is the creation of free radicals systemically,
which taxes the body and slows it down. Dr. Panting also predicts that
it will contribute to longevity, health and vitality since free
radicals are the number one contributor to aging, skin wrinkling and
DNA damage.
Our
Story #3 touches a nerve here at IRI because for years we have been
encouraged to advocate Thorium Nuclear Reactors but I
wanted to see some actual progress somewhere in order to point to it,
with clear advantages outlined for the public to see.
Since we pride ourselves in being ahead of our time (the list keeps
growing), often just waiting a few years will bring the product to the
forefront. Thanks to the Norwegians and to the Chinese, the time is now
for everyone to become informed with what looks like the best nuclear
electricity generator and nuclear waste processor for
many reasons. Maybe the US will reactivate its own invention
(our military made the first one), after dropping the ball in favor of
long-lasting nuclear waste.
Story
#4 is amazing because energy harvesting is becoming very popular (see PowerMEMs
2012 for example) but
no one has suggested that textile fibers could be engineered to be
photovoltaic. In keeping with our Story #2 on electric clothing, the
power source is very convenient with this emerging technology and no
batteries are needed!
We
are happy to see Tidal Power being consistently
developed as with Story #5 regarding megawatts from
an Ireland company, which is more reliable than the wind. The
US has made advances in this area as well, with Ocean
Renewable Power Co.
in Maine for example. IRI also featured a COFE2 presentation by CEO Martin
Burger of Blue Energy Canada on "Tidal Power: A
Primer" from 2006, with COFE2 presentations also available on DVD through
Integrity Research Institute.
Lastly, Story #6 features the www.itif.org Energy Conference coming up
in January which looks interesting and a first for the Innovation
Foundation and Breakthrough Institute.
We wish everyone a Happy Holiday
and Wonderful New Year!
Thomas
Valone, PhD
Editor
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1) Our
Holiday Gift to you: Free Download of all SPESIF Papers
including COFE5 Forum
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 We
are happy to announce that we are offering though Elsevier Publishers in cooperation with Science Direct the complete Proceedings of
the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences International Forum.
Edited by Dr Thomas Valone, We are now offering
online for Guests to view and download PDF copies of all
the published papers including COFE5 forum:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18753892/38
We are grateful for all of you who contributed to this
event and made it possible. The Flash FLV videos of most of the
SPESIF presentations are also online at futurenergy.org
and stored chronologically for online viewing, as
converted from Adobe Connect.
Note: IRI will be collaborating with the highly
successful Natural Philosophy Alliance for the next conference
event in 2013 . Our joint upcoming conference will also be held at
the University of Maryland near the end of May or
beginning of June, 2013 at the request of IRI. Our Call for Abstracts for
the 20th Annual NPA Conference will be issued in the next week or
two as soon as the dates (Thursday-Saturday) are confirmed. Our IRI
effort will be to recruit speakers and authors for the
Sixth Conference on Future Energy (COFE6) and other forums as
you are familiar with such as the Forum on Future Directions in Space
Science; Symposium on High Frequency Gravitational Waves; Symposium on
Astrosociology; the Symposium on Frontiers in Space Propulsion Science
and perhaps the Nuclear Society Forum.
We look forward to your participation which will also
include the same Elsevier publication through Science Direct as before.
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2) Therapeutic Antioxidant Electric Clothing Approved
for listing in NineSights
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Valone, Thomas, Integrity Research Institute Press Release,
December 22, 2012 www.bioenergydevice.org
Therapeutic Antioxidant Electric Clothing approved and posted
Nov 30, 2012 at NineSights, a Nine Sigma Community
This unique invention relates to the field of
electrotherapy, bioelectricity, bioelectromagnetics, sports performance
enhancement, medical electricity and electromedicine. Particularly, the
invention involves the novel implementation of self-powered electric
therapeutic clothing with the novel addition of imbedded wiring in order
to provide antioxidant microcurrent electricity delivered to the human
skin at strategic acupuncture points using an integrated constant
voltage, constant current, variable voltage or variable current circuit.
The present invention further comprises transcutaneous and
percutaneous applications for electron delivery in microdoses for health.
It also is patent pending and invented by a senior staff naturopathic
doctor, Jacqueline
Panting, N.D., of Integrity Research Institute. Licenses
are available from assignee.
back to table of contents
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3) Thorium Reactors Being Tested in Norway
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Peter Murray, Singularity Hub, Singularity
University, 12/11/12
Editor's Note - - Environmental Liquid Fluoride
Thorium Reactor (LFTR) Advantages
1.The LFTR produces energy cheaper than from coal.
2.The LFTR produces about 3% of the waste of a light water reactor of the
same power and much of this "waste" can be extracted and sold
within 10 years. Moreover, this waste need only be sequestered from the
environment for 300 years, a far less daunting task than the 300,000
years required for today's LWR (regular nuclear reactor) waste.
3. The LFTR uses an inexhaustible supply of inexpensive thorium fuel.
Visit the Library pdf page of the Energy From
Thorium Foundation for tons of free pdf papers. - TV
A Norwegian company is breaking with convention and
switching to an alternative energy it hopes will be safer, cleaner and
more efficient. But this isn't about ditching fossil fuels, but rather
about making the switch from uranium to thorium. Oslo based Thor
Energy is pairing up with the Norwegian government and US-based (but Japanese/Toshiba
owned)Westinghouse to begin a four year test that they hope will
dispel doubts and make thorium the rule rather than the exception. The
thorium will run at a government reactor in Halden.
Thorium was discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons
Jakob Berzelius who named it after the Norse god of thunder, Thor. Found
in trace amounts in rocks and soil, thorium is actually about three times
more abundant than uranium.
The attractiveness of thorium has led others in the past
to build their own thorium reactors. A reactor operated in Germany
between 1983 and 1989, and three operated in the US between the late
sixties and early eighties. These plants were abandoned, some think,
because the plutonium produced at uranium reactors was deemed
indispensable to many in a Cold War world.
Thorium is 'fertile,' unlike 'fissile' uranium, which
means it can't be used as is but must first be converted to uranium-233.
A good deal of research has been conducted to determine if fuel
production, processing and waste management for thorium is safe and cost
effective. For decades many have argued that thorium is superior to the
uranium in nearly all of the world's nuclear reactors, providing 14
percent of the world's electricity. Proponents argue that thorium reacts
more efficiently than uranium does, that the waste thorium produces is
shorter lived than waste from uranium, and that, because of its much
higher melting point, is meltdown proof. An added plus is the fact
that thorium reactors do not produce plutonium and thus reduce the risk
of nuclear weapons proliferation.
Some experts maintain that the benefits of thorium would
be maximized in molten salt reactors or pebble bed reactors. The
reactor at Halden is not ideal for thorium as it is a 'heavy water'
reactor, built for running uranium. But it is also a reactor that has
already received regulatory approval. Many thorium supporters argue that,
rather than wait for ideal molten salt or pebble bed reactors tests
should be performed in approved reactors so that their benefits can be
more quickly demonstrated to the world.
But is thorium really cheaper, cleaner and more efficient
than uranium? And if so, do the added benefits really warrant the cost
and effort to make the switch? Data is still pretty scarce, but at least
one report is urging us to not believe the hype.
Through their National Nuclear Laboratory the UK's
Department of Energy & Climate Change released a report in
September that stated: "thorium has theoretical advantages regarding
sustainability, reducing radiotoxicity and reducing proliferation risk.
While there is some justification for these benefits, they are often
overstated." The report goes on to acknowledge that worldwide
interest in thorium is likely to remain high and they recommend that the
UK maintain a "low level" of research and development into
thorium fuel.
The place where thorium is proven either way could be
China. The country is serious about weaning itself off of fossil fuels
and making nuclear power their primary energy source. Fourteen nuclear
power reactors are in operation in China today, another 25 under
construction, and there are plans to build more. And in 2011 they announced
plans to build a thorium, molten salt reactor. So whether it be
Norway, the UK, China, or some other forward-thinking countries, we'll
soon find out if thorium reactors are better than uranium ones, at which
point more countries may want to join the thorium chain reaction.
RELATED NEWS
Energy Update: The Chinese Talk Up Thorium Fueled Nuclear
Reactors.
December 06, 2012
China in its push to reduce its dependence on coal-fired power plants
sees thorium
liquid salt reactors (TMSRs) as an important step in developing clean
energy
technology. Not only will they provide electrical power, but also will
provide
hydrogen, methanol and other byproducts. China has had trouble getting
its first
TMSR up and running but they remain the leader at this moment, ahead of
planned
projects in France and India (the latter country is experimenting with
solid thorium-
fueled water-cooled reactors). The U.S. developed a prototype in the
1960s but
shelved it. But now China is in the forefront with a target completion
date of 2020.
Westinghouse is advising on the project.
Thorium (seen below) is a radioactive element. It is widely abundant in
the Earth's
crust. Its radioactive half-life is much shorter than uranium or
plutonium. And its
byproducts are of no value for making nuclear weapons.
What are the advantages of thorium reactors and particularly thorium
molten salt?
Thorium is far more abundant than uranium and plutonium.
A TMSR can harness up to 98% of the energy from the fuel it burns.
Compare that
to current reactors which obtain efficiencies of between 2 and 5% in a
given
volume of plutonium or uranium.
The molten salt is liquid which expands when heated. This slows the
nuclear
reaction and creates a much safer technology than traditional fuel rod
reactors.
The reactor is self-governing with a drain with plug at the bottom of
each molten
salt container. Should something go wrong the plug melts and the molten
salt
drains into a shielded underground container.
Molten salt reactors are not limited to burning thorium.
They can consumer
different nuclear fuels including nuclear fuel waste and use it as an
energy source.
That makes them highly attractive as a means of consuming spent uranium
and
plutonium from existing reactors. And the small part of the fuel residue
from
TMSRs is Plutonium 238, used by NASA for Deep Space Missions as a heat
and
energy source for missions like Cassini or the Mars rover, Curiosity.
Another byproduct is Molybdenum 99 used in medical diagnostics. Currently
the
source of such radioactive diagnostic imaging materials has been
compromised
by a worldwide shortage when Canada's Chalk River nuclear reactor sprung
a leak
and subsequently, the country decided to phase it out of operation.
Thorium has been called a super fuel by writers such as Richard Martin
who
recently published a book by that same name. In it Martin argues that
using
thorium fuel in existing reactor technology would be far safer than the
fuels we use
today. He states that the only reason most of the world uses uranium and
plutonium dates back to the beginning of atomic weapons programs in the
1940s.
He blames the military for the aborted thorium prototype shelved by the
U.S. in the
1960s.
Thorium pellets are the fuel for India's planned reactor. Research is
ongoing at the
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. Source: Pallava
Bagla/Corbis
The fact that China has taken the lead in building the first TMSR speaks
to the
reality that country faces as it deals with its growing energy demand.
The Chinese
have shut down conventional nuclear power plant projects and scaled back
their
plans because of obvious concerns with safety issues brought to light by
the
disaster at Fukushima, Japan, following the 2011 earthquake and
tsunami.
At the 2012 Thorium Energy Conference held in late October of
this year in
Shanghai, the son of China's former president, Jiang Zemin, Jiang
Mianheng,
spoke at length about why the country is focused on TMSR technology. He
is the
president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, and sees TMSRs
as
a way for China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while meeting its
future
energy needs.
To learn more about thorium reactors visit the International
Thorium Energy
Organisation and http://EnergyfromThorium.com on the web.
The above schematic is of a prototype thorium-fueled nuclear power plant
capable
of generating 300 Megawatts of power. This is one of the designs being
considered by
India.
Source: NECSA, South African Nuclear Energy
--
William Abbott Foster, PhD
Senior Research Associate
Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy (CISTP) Sam
Nunn
School of International Affairs Georgia Institute of Technology
William.Foster@inta.gatech.edu
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4) Solar and Thermal Energy Harvesting Textile
Composites for Aerospace Applications
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Air Force Office of Scientific
Research, Arlington, Virginia.
Saturday, December 01 2012 , Defense Tech Briefs
http://www.defensetechbriefs.com/component/content/article/15281
Energy harvesting devices in the form of fibers could be
woven into lightweight, strong textiles for integration with structural
composites.
The proposed research focuses on developing novel energy
harvesting devices that can be integrated with loadbearing structures in
an air vehicle (e.g. a UAV). Several ambient energy sources are available
on a UAV: light, heat, and vibration. The amount of energy available from
light and heat exceeds that in vibration, so this work focuses on the
first two modes of harvesting.
The approach is to create energy harvesting devices in the
form of long fibers that eventually could be woven into lightweight,
high-strength, multifunctional textiles for seamless integration with
aerospace structural composites. The fiber form factor is a powerful
paradigm for these energy conversion devices, since it can lead to
improved light trapping in the organic photovoltaic (PV) cells, and allow
for a high density of thermocouple junctions without the use of costly
patterning techniques, significantly enhancing the cost-benefit
performance.
The initial focus was on modeling and experimentally
demonstrating prototype devices consisting of single fibers capable of
the thermoelectric (TE) and PV modes of energy conversion. The results
obtained were highly encouraging, and have opened up several exciting new
research directions. In a solar cell geometry, the active organic layers
and metallic electrodes are formed concentrically around a fiber core,
and light is coupled in through the outer electrode. This structure is
quite different from the conventional planar PV cells, and requires
special considerations in its design and for predicting its
optoelectronic performance.
Fresh advances in modeling OPV devices on fibers include
the application of multilayer dielectric coatings to fiber bundles. This
architecture maximizes light in-coupling in individual fibers, and takes
advantage of photon recycling in multi-fiber arrays. The modeling
combines ray-tracing and transfer-matrix simulations at multiple length
scales. Each component of the model has been independently validated by
experiments.
Improved power conversion efficiency of planar OPV cells
was demonstrated using a metal-organic-metal layer structure.
Importantly, these devices now match the efficiency of conventional
ITO-based cells, which were improved. The ITO-free device exhibits a
slightly lower short circuit current density (JSC), but compensates with
a higher open circuit voltage (VOC). Further analysis of how JSC varies
with anode thickness reveals that the device performs unexpectedly better
than the far-field transmittance of the anode would suggest. The enhanced
performance is due to the microcavity effects dominating the thin-film
OPV cell, in which the far-field optical transmission of the electrode is
less important than its ability to place the antinode of the optical
field close to the donor-acceptor junction in the organic layers.
Detailed optical modeling enables mapping of the performance of a wide
range of electrode materials, and predicts that silver is not far from
the conventionally employed ITO with respect to the JSC values it can
allow.
Conversion of heat to electricity (thermoelectric
generation) can be accomplished by connecting two dissimilar materials
(metals or semiconductors) in a series of junctions, and sandwiching the
junctions between a hot source and a cold sink. The voltage produced by
the junction is proportional to the temperature gradient between the hot
and cold sides. The conventional series-connected junction geometry can
be reproduced in the form of thin-film segments deposited along fibers.
Weaving these fibers can position the junctions as required for power
generation. The TE generator is optimized by maximizing the temperature
gradient, minimizing the thermal conductivity, and maximizing the Seebeck
coefficient and electrical conductivity.
Woven thermoelectric generators have been demonstrated
utilizing several TE fibers at once. Several fiber diameters have been
explored, varying also the TE segment length and weave density, and
spanning square inches. For smaller fibers, increased weave density, and
greater temperature gradients, the power density increases dramatically.
The thinness and flexibility of these mats suggests that multilayer TE
fabrics can be used to efficiently span temperature gradients using
individual layers tuned to work at their maximum ZT point.
This work was done by Max Shtein and Kevin Pipe of
the University of Michigan, and Peter Peumans
of Stanford University for the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research. AFOSR-0004
Back to table
of contents
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5) Sea Power: Tidal Energy for Electricity Generation
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By Eliza
Strickland / November 2012, IEEE Spectrum
http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/tech-careers/profile-allan-robinson-tidal-power-engineer
SEA POWER: Allan Robinson develops highly reliable
submarine turbine systems that generate electricity from the tides.
The tides may be predictable, but for an engineer testing
and developing some of the world's first commercial-scale tidal turbines,
conditions can be more than a little unpredictable. Just ask Allan
Robinson, a senior electrical engineer at OpenHydro Group, a leading
tidal power company based in Dublin.
Robinson recalls one afternoon last March, when he was
putting a turbine through its paces at an offshore test site
near Scotland's Orkney Islands. He and his colleagues were
working on an elevated platform, installing power-metering equipment for
the massive turbine that was whirling grandly beneath the waves, when
they received word of an incoming gale. They had 20 minutes to evacuate
before high seas would have forced them to spend the night on the cold
metal platform.
Corrosive seawater and marine organisms are tough on
electronics, and Robinson says that's what makes this line of work so
interesting. Because going out to visit a turbine at sea is expensive,
the company designs systems that require as little servicing as possible,
says Robinson. "We need to have high reliability and high redundancy
for all the critical components."
While a few experimental tidal power stations have been
built in past decades, a number of companies are now racing to
develop durable turbines that can be deployed in "tidal farms."
OpenHydro, founded in 2005, is at the forefront. For engineers like
Robinson, it's a chance to invent a new industry. "We're doing
things that no one has ever done before," he says.
Robinson, a Canadian, came into this field after
collecting one bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and another in
electrical engineering, with a focus on power and control systems. After
completing his studies, he worked for a marine power company
in British Columbia, Canada, for more than five years. In 2010,
OpenHydro recruited him and moved him to Ireland to help with
the company's R&D on turbine control systems and grid connections.
OpenHydro's system is invisible from the surface. Its
massive turbines-at 16 meters in diameter, they have open centers to let
fish swim through-rest on the seafloor. Power is sent back to shore with
submarine cables.
Robinson tests these cutting-edge turbines and their
control equipment in saltwater pools at the company's engineering center
in Greenore, Ireland.
The company has begun its first commercial
deployment off the coast of Brittany,France, where the first of
four 2.2-megawatt turbines was being installed at press time. Other tidal
farms are in the works around Britain's Channel Islands.
"We're still at the early stages of the tidal power industry,"
says Robinson, but for an engineer who doesn't mind a little excitement,
unpredictable conditions are just fine.
This article originally appeared in print as
"Profile: Allan Robinson."
Editor's Note: Also see COFE2 presentation by CEO Martin
Burger of Blue Energy, Canada on "Tidal Power: A Primer" in
Proceedings of COFE2 2006, also on DVD through Integrity Research
Institute.
Back to table
of contents
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6) Energy Innovation 2013 Conference: Clean
Energy Ready for Primetime?
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Information
Technology and Innovation Foundation Press Release December 2012.
http://www.itif.org/events/energy-innovation-2013
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The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
and the Breakthrough Institute are pleased to host "Energy
Innovation 2013: Clean Energy, Ready for Primetime?" on January
29, 2013, at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC.
Clean energy is at a crossroads. Thanks to public
investments in nations like the United States, Europe, and China,
solar, wind and battery technologies have over the last five years
improved significantly and become cheaper, but still not as cheap as
fossil fuels. Moreover, these investments, including the wind tax
credit, are now coming to an end. Meanwhile, innovations in the
production of natural gas are displacing coal, generating billions in
consumer energy savings, and becoming the cleaner energy leader few
foresaw.
What is the future of clean energy? On the one hand,
Congress is divided over renewables, with the high-profile failure of
taxpayer-funded Solyndra, and other clean tech companies, tarnishing
green stimulus spending. On the other hand, President Obama has
defended his clean tech investments and says energy innovation
remains a high priority. Senate Energy Committee Chairs Ron Wyden
(D-OR) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) say they are optimistic they can
reach bipartisan agreement on new energy legislation. And natural gas
and nuclear - two long-standing clean energy outliers - have received
renewed attention due to possible inclusion in a clean energy
standard.
Never before has a clear-eyed assessment of clean tech - broadly
defined - been more important. Please join us for this important
conference.
Panels on solar, wind, batteries, nuclear, and natural gas will
be moderated by:
- Kevin Bullis, Senior Editor
for Energy, MIT Technology Review
- Eliza Strickland, Energy
Reporter and Editor, IEEE Spectrum
While a debate pitting leading thinkers on carbon
pricing, aggressive government funding for energy innovation, and
robust clean energy deployment subsidies and mandates will be
moderated by:
- David Leonhardt, Washington,
D.C. Bureau Chief, The New York Times
Highlights include:
- What does the natural gas
revolution teach us about how to do energy innovation?
- What progress has been made
with solar, wind, and batteries and how was this progress made?
What can be expected of these highly promising but still nascent
technologies and what's the best way to drive improvements in
cost and performance?
- Is nuclear energy dead due to
high up-front capital costs and public fears post-Fukushima? Or
is there new hope in the small modular reactors (SMRs) that DOE
is purchasing, and other radical new designs? What must be done
to accelerate their innovation?
- What should be the highest
policy priorities of energy innovation advocates - RD&D,
subsidies and mandates, or carbon pricing?
For media inquiries, please contact William Dube atwdube@itif.org or 202-626-5744.
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