Breakthru Ocean Generator, Isolated Biodiesel, Vietnamese Biodiesel, The Joy of Breastfeeding
Stafford Williamson
December 04, 2008
A professor of naval architecture at the University of Michigan, Michael Bernitsas, has developed a wiggle. So has pop singer Beyonce if I'm to judge by her latest commercial, but the professor's is likely to have more commercial value. He calls his new system "vivace" (which in Italian, or musical notation, means "lively") which, but since in this case it is supposed to be an acronym is far easier to remember them the tortuously twisted phrase, "vortex-induced vibrations for aquatic clean energy".
The origins of the device come from the professor's insight into the hydrodynamics of what happens to water flowing over an obstruction. Vivace takes advantage of this vortex effect and the change of pressure in much the same way that fish travelling in a school use the vortex created by the fish ahead of it. This is similar to what is called, "drafting" in the automobile racing field, also sometimes known as slip streaming. But in water these eddies or vortices can deflect an object left and right or up and down. The Vivace device captures the energy in this motion and converts it into electricity.
The great advantage of the Vivace is that it can capture the energy in fluids flowing as slow as 1 mph. Most turbines or other devices designed to extract energy from flowing water require 3 miles per hour or greater of current. Professor Bernitsas has calculated that approximately 1 square meter of these devices will produce approximately 50 W. It would take a couple of square kilometers covered with the devices to power a small town but any small boat at anchor could toss a cubic meter of these devices overboard to become electrically self-sufficient overnight.
The German broadcasting (and media) company Deutsche Welle is trumpeting a Swedish company's accomplishments in African countries. (Just coincidentally the German article doesn't mention the name of the company, but it appears to be Ageratec Biodiesel Solutions. Ageratec also has customers in Australia, Mali, Cameroon, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Rwanda, Colombia, and Zambia.) The technology is nothing new. The fact that they are using WVO (waste vegetable oil) is not even slightly novel in North America. But Gert Frykeras' company in Norrkoping, just south of Stockholm, does have an interesting point. A biodiesel plant they recently supplied to a palm oil plantation in the African country of Cote D'Ivoire (also known as Ivory Coast, and on some embargo lists for reasons that haven't been publicized enough for most people to even know about the rift between them and the USA) seems a logical step and nothing out of the ordinary, until you realize that although the plantation produces palm oil, one of the most common and least expensive feedstocks for biodiesel. This plantation sold the oil. It had to buy fuel for its vehicles from the usual petroleum sources. Because of the turmoil in their country, this plantation could not get regular, reliable delivery of diesel fuel for their equipment, so a small biodiesel facility was the logical answer for them. Now this palm oil plantation is effectively energy independent despite the political turmoil around them.
That is a subject to which we (I) have been giving a lot of thought over the last few months. Energy independence for isolated or underdeveloped regions. Can it be done? What would the effect be? We believe it can be done, indeed it MUST be done, and we want to be a catalyst to making it happen. Watch for our announcement about our Green Shift ™ Logo Program later in this month.
DISCLAIMER: Of course since most of North America goes on vacation for almost the whole second half of the month of December, and things happen at a much delayed pace, the details of our announcement may be delayed until January, but we expect to be starting informing the press before the new year begins.
WORTH MENTIONING: The government of Malaysia has approved 91 new biodiesel plants with a total capacity of 10 million tonnes (that's metric tonnes) of biodiesel annually. Since the country currently has only 14 plants in operation with a capacity of 1.7 million tonnes, and in 2007 only produced 129,000 tonnes (of which just under 80% was exported), that's a huge jump in capacity. Clearly at least some of the entrepreneurs in South East Asia still have a lot of faith that the biodiesel market will continue to grow, whether through market or mandate forces. (oh, and that story is from -- believe it or not -- TOMORROW's NEWS from the New Strait Times) (honest, it is just past noon here as I write this but the story already has tomorrow's date of December 2nd on it on the website, I assure you it is fun to be "returning from the future.")
Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made a small investment in a biodiesel factory in Vietnam. The Finish government money is in support of the demonstration stage of the ENERFISH plant that will eventually be using the 60 tonnes of "waste" fish parts from a fish factory there to produce biodiesel. Cleantech's version of this news includes mention that other companies in the Mekong Delta region have been producing biodiesel from catfish fat for at least a couple of years, but only intermittently because catfish fat is worth more as catfish fat for export than as a feedstock for biodiesel, despite the fact that the Mekong Delta area is estimated to consume 5 million liters of diesel fuel each day.
The story in Energy Business Daily begins with, "Eastern European leaders met in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Friday ..." and in the perpetual powder keg that is the Balkan region it is nice to see that the various neighbors are attempting to create most stability for a change. You can hardly blame the Azerbaijani's for being nervous after that actual "shooting war" between their neighboring country, Georgia, and Russia last summer. (I remain convinced that Senator McCain was not blameless in provoking that flare up, even if it was just in a muttered comment, Murder in the Cathedral style.) This time the representatives of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, and Ukraine also were honored by the presence of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, as they all attempted to plan for more secure routes for petroleum resources from the Caspian Sea region to get to European markets (and Eastern European countries in particular). Russia has used cold winter weather and the "off" valve to Russian supplied pipelines for political pressure on Europe and especially Eastern Europe in past years. Meanwhile Turkey is trying to have a greater role in this rich oil discovery, and has thus far felt that it has been given less than the participation its geography would suggest it might be due in sharing in the prosperity. It is reported that the talks centered on a "southern corridor" for energy transport to Europe that avoids Russia, as well as an "energy ring" that links Europe and Southern Mediterranean countries.
Happy thoughts to end on? How about a word about a lovely, gentle lady I met last month in New York City, Laura Keegan. Laura wrote a book I didn't know there was a need for, but indeed once explained, there is without question a lack of knowledge and a lack of communications on the subject of breastfeeding. In part I blame the geographic dispersion of families for lack of proper training for breastfeeding. No, I don't mean training the babies, I mean the mothers. There was a time, many decades ago now, that mothers were shown by grandmothers exactly how to hold a baby to make the whole process of breast feeding comfortable. Sadly, like the art of correctly fitting brassieres, it is mostly a lost art now, until Laura's book came along: Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy: A Photographic Guide for Mom and Those Who Help Her. Laura is a quiet-spoken, gentle mannered lady, but she is a Registered Nurse, and a Family Nurse Practitioner, so she knows her stuff. If you want to know how to ENJOY breastfeeding your baby, prepare ahead of time and order Laura's book. Better yet, if you run a pre-natal program, order a couple of cases.
Love and warm wishes,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
http://daochienergy.com
The origins of the device come from the professor's insight into the hydrodynamics of what happens to water flowing over an obstruction. Vivace takes advantage of this vortex effect and the change of pressure in much the same way that fish travelling in a school use the vortex created by the fish ahead of it. This is similar to what is called, "drafting" in the automobile racing field, also sometimes known as slip streaming. But in water these eddies or vortices can deflect an object left and right or up and down. The Vivace device captures the energy in this motion and converts it into electricity.
The great advantage of the Vivace is that it can capture the energy in fluids flowing as slow as 1 mph. Most turbines or other devices designed to extract energy from flowing water require 3 miles per hour or greater of current. Professor Bernitsas has calculated that approximately 1 square meter of these devices will produce approximately 50 W. It would take a couple of square kilometers covered with the devices to power a small town but any small boat at anchor could toss a cubic meter of these devices overboard to become electrically self-sufficient overnight.
The German broadcasting (and media) company Deutsche Welle is trumpeting a Swedish company's accomplishments in African countries. (Just coincidentally the German article doesn't mention the name of the company, but it appears to be Ageratec Biodiesel Solutions. Ageratec also has customers in Australia, Mali, Cameroon, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Rwanda, Colombia, and Zambia.) The technology is nothing new. The fact that they are using WVO (waste vegetable oil) is not even slightly novel in North America. But Gert Frykeras' company in Norrkoping, just south of Stockholm, does have an interesting point. A biodiesel plant they recently supplied to a palm oil plantation in the African country of Cote D'Ivoire (also known as Ivory Coast, and on some embargo lists for reasons that haven't been publicized enough for most people to even know about the rift between them and the USA) seems a logical step and nothing out of the ordinary, until you realize that although the plantation produces palm oil, one of the most common and least expensive feedstocks for biodiesel. This plantation sold the oil. It had to buy fuel for its vehicles from the usual petroleum sources. Because of the turmoil in their country, this plantation could not get regular, reliable delivery of diesel fuel for their equipment, so a small biodiesel facility was the logical answer for them. Now this palm oil plantation is effectively energy independent despite the political turmoil around them.
That is a subject to which we (I) have been giving a lot of thought over the last few months. Energy independence for isolated or underdeveloped regions. Can it be done? What would the effect be? We believe it can be done, indeed it MUST be done, and we want to be a catalyst to making it happen. Watch for our announcement about our Green Shift ™ Logo Program later in this month.
DISCLAIMER: Of course since most of North America goes on vacation for almost the whole second half of the month of December, and things happen at a much delayed pace, the details of our announcement may be delayed until January, but we expect to be starting informing the press before the new year begins.
WORTH MENTIONING: The government of Malaysia has approved 91 new biodiesel plants with a total capacity of 10 million tonnes (that's metric tonnes) of biodiesel annually. Since the country currently has only 14 plants in operation with a capacity of 1.7 million tonnes, and in 2007 only produced 129,000 tonnes (of which just under 80% was exported), that's a huge jump in capacity. Clearly at least some of the entrepreneurs in South East Asia still have a lot of faith that the biodiesel market will continue to grow, whether through market or mandate forces. (oh, and that story is from -- believe it or not -- TOMORROW's NEWS from the New Strait Times) (honest, it is just past noon here as I write this but the story already has tomorrow's date of December 2nd on it on the website, I assure you it is fun to be "returning from the future.")
Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made a small investment in a biodiesel factory in Vietnam. The Finish government money is in support of the demonstration stage of the ENERFISH plant that will eventually be using the 60 tonnes of "waste" fish parts from a fish factory there to produce biodiesel. Cleantech's version of this news includes mention that other companies in the Mekong Delta region have been producing biodiesel from catfish fat for at least a couple of years, but only intermittently because catfish fat is worth more as catfish fat for export than as a feedstock for biodiesel, despite the fact that the Mekong Delta area is estimated to consume 5 million liters of diesel fuel each day.
The story in Energy Business Daily begins with, "Eastern European leaders met in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Friday ..." and in the perpetual powder keg that is the Balkan region it is nice to see that the various neighbors are attempting to create most stability for a change. You can hardly blame the Azerbaijani's for being nervous after that actual "shooting war" between their neighboring country, Georgia, and Russia last summer. (I remain convinced that Senator McCain was not blameless in provoking that flare up, even if it was just in a muttered comment, Murder in the Cathedral style.) This time the representatives of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, and Ukraine also were honored by the presence of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, as they all attempted to plan for more secure routes for petroleum resources from the Caspian Sea region to get to European markets (and Eastern European countries in particular). Russia has used cold winter weather and the "off" valve to Russian supplied pipelines for political pressure on Europe and especially Eastern Europe in past years. Meanwhile Turkey is trying to have a greater role in this rich oil discovery, and has thus far felt that it has been given less than the participation its geography would suggest it might be due in sharing in the prosperity. It is reported that the talks centered on a "southern corridor" for energy transport to Europe that avoids Russia, as well as an "energy ring" that links Europe and Southern Mediterranean countries.
Happy thoughts to end on? How about a word about a lovely, gentle lady I met last month in New York City, Laura Keegan. Laura wrote a book I didn't know there was a need for, but indeed once explained, there is without question a lack of knowledge and a lack of communications on the subject of breastfeeding. In part I blame the geographic dispersion of families for lack of proper training for breastfeeding. No, I don't mean training the babies, I mean the mothers. There was a time, many decades ago now, that mothers were shown by grandmothers exactly how to hold a baby to make the whole process of breast feeding comfortable. Sadly, like the art of correctly fitting brassieres, it is mostly a lost art now, until Laura's book came along: Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy: A Photographic Guide for Mom and Those Who Help Her. Laura is a quiet-spoken, gentle mannered lady, but she is a Registered Nurse, and a Family Nurse Practitioner, so she knows her stuff. If you want to know how to ENJOY breastfeeding your baby, prepare ahead of time and order Laura's book. Better yet, if you run a pre-natal program, order a couple of cases.
Love and warm wishes,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
http://daochienergy.com
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