Robot Experiment

       This was such a fun project for me to do. I have always enjoyed building and creating things. I felt like a child again building something with the leggos. I did however learn a lot in the process. I had to pay attention to the instruction photograph and follow along attentively. If one piece was out of place then the whole car would not work right. Once it was completed the next step was to get the motor to work. It felt amazing plugging in this little device and watching it move. The fact that I could say I helped create that was great !
      The part that was a bit more challenging was the analysis. We had to choose three different powers. Me and my partner chose 75, 60, and 25. The first thing we had to figure out was the circumference of wheel. This was pretty simple, all we had to do was measure the wheel and multiply that by 3.14.  After this step it was time to figure out the distance's. We had trouble keeping the car straight. I believe that this is what created higher numbers than what the computer got. Once the distances were all figured out it was time to get the percent error. We then had to subtract the distance we got with the one from the computer, divide by the average of the two numbers and multiply by 100. Believe it or not our best percent was 24% and our worst was 63%. How did we get such high percent's !? I believe that it had to do with the way we were measuring, and the path of the car. If it stayed straight and did not curve we would have had an easier time measuring. As for the measuring, I think that we started at the edge of the table and the car was not completely on the edge. This may have been where the error came to play. Overall, it was a fun experiment and I enjoyed working on it.

      

Gas Mileage Technology

As we all know gas prices are increasing tremendously lately. The demand for gas has increased. It is becoming increasingly difficult for people to afford to drive. Automobile companies are now trying to come up with ways to increase gas mileage, that way people will be less dependent on gas. New technologies are being created that will benefit the earth and us. One we may have heard about is hybrid cars. These cars do not run on gas alone, it is run by an electric motor. A small amount of gas is put in the car, just incase the motor runs out of battery. The car needs to be charged in order to run everyday. Like this technology many other things have been in the works.

         Design is very important to the overall workings of a car. For gas mileage it may be most important. New materials are being used that decreases the load an engine usually carries, which means that less gas is needed. These two materials are aluminum alloy and carbon fiber. They are strong yet light. A perfect combination for the travel through wind. Because the material is not heavy it cuts through air with minimal wind resistance. The next important design is that of the engine. The engine is the key element to the increase and decrease of gas mileage. Automakers say that the biggest improvement that has been made is the switch from carburetors to electronic fuel injectors. How it works is that it uses a computer to determine the amount of fuel that is needed. It takes the drivers speed and input into account and comes up with an amount that Is best at any specific time. With will make it easier for a driver to not over-fuel. It will decrease the amount of gas being used and also help with saving money for the driver. As mentioned earlier hybrids, are an excellent way to save money and increase gas mileage. They also do things that many cars cannot making them more  efficient all around. When going downhill. hybrids store energy that in many cars would simply go to waster, it is then used to power the battery and assist the engine later on. All these technologies are creating a great domino effect. With less gas being needed, the price of gas will go down due to a smaller demand of it. This will help drivers save money.With gas being used at a smaller rate the emissions will be lower. This is a great contribution to the slowing down of Global Warming.
           Many new types of vehicles are being produced that are drastically helping in the increase of gas mileage. Hydrogen fueled vehicles are a new technology coming into form. These vehicles use liquid hydrogen to charge the battery and produce only water vapor emissions. Another possible option that is being experimented with is the use of corn ethanol and natural gas to fuel cars. Vision Motor Company is coming out with a brand new line of cars being powered by natural gas. This will be able to cut fuel costs by up to 80% . That is amazing ! The problem now is, if the gas prices begin to go down and things become more affordable people are going to want big cars. With bigger vehicles comes a higher MPG. This means that even though fuel efficiency has gone up tremendously the miles per gallon of a large vehicle has not changed very much. So although we have helped one thing we still need to work on another. Unfortunately, this is going to be a continual process for a while. However, there have been many improvements. We are doing well in this effort and simply need to continue.

Sources :

Hartman, Dennis. "Gas Mileage Technology | EHow." EHow. Demand Media, 05 May 2010. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

 

"Get Better Gas Mileage With New Technology." Auto Copyright Free Content. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

 

Dizikes, Peter. "First Carbon Nanotube Computer." MIT Technology Review. MIT News Magazine, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

The United States Energy Grid and Solutions

As many Americans know energy isn’t something that is in short supply. Americans are very lucky because the access and amount of energy is at a high amount. Many countries are not as lucky as us. We bargain and purchase energy from other places as well. There is also a great profit for the country with the use of greenhouse gasses which are then used for energy. The problem is that the original plan of a National Power Grid may be failing.

The United States has something set up that is called an Energy Grid. The energy grid is a system of electricity production that is all interconnected throughout the nation. The source of it all is a power plant. That is where electricity is produced. Then it is transferred to something called a transformer. That is a larger version of a generator. This system takes the high voltage electricity and transfers it to a power substation that then it is converted. Once this step is completed it is ready to be distributed to residential, industrial, and commercial users. Like I stated earlier the U.S does a lot of trading and purchasing energy. The grid is consisted of three separate grids. The Texas grid, eastern and western grid.  Each grid buys and sells electricity. So the United States does more trading and selling within its own country. This is how the nation is able to receive their electricity. Because everyone is connected there is a threat of blackouts due to a power surge. If that were to happen then an entire area of the U.S could be out of power. The national grid is a very old structure, therefore it is slowly deteriorating. It is now up to the United States to figure out how to fix it, in order to continue the distribution of energy.

The fact that ‘Going Green” is such an influential topic these days, creates threats to the national grid. Why you would say? Well the grid runs on the burning of greenhouse gasses. In today’s world many are trying to slowly lean off the reliability of the gasses. Many people are using solar energy to power their houses. They are putting solar panels on their roof, which uses the suns energy to power their house. The more people stop using them, the worse it will be for the grid. The grid will eventually become extinct. The problem is that not everyone uses the green approach when it comes to powering their house, company etc… This means that the people who rely on the grid are going to have problems receiving electricity. Like I said in the previous paragraph the next step for the U.S is finding a solution before it gets to this point.

The scientist and green innovators have been working hard and it seems like they have come up with a possible solution. It is called a “Smart Grid”. What is a Smart Grid? You may think. A Smart Grid is a grid that will have transmission lines, transformers, and substitutions that work together to power the nation. It is a similar grid as the one we have now. The difference is that it is also digital. With the use of two way digital communication between customer and utility companies it can respond digitally to the needs of the public. There are many benefits of the smart grid. It will be able to transmit electricity more efficiently, there is going to be better security, the electricity will start quicker after distributed, prices are going to be lower, the peak demand will lower[ this means that the times in the day when energy it at its highest use it will be increased ] and renewable energy systems will be integrated into the system. Smart Grid is working to add more resiliency when it comes to weather. The winter can cause power outrageous and families are out of heat. Due to the digital aspect, it can reroute to a different allowing you to get energy from a different area while yours is being fixed. The grid will also be able to detect and outage without having to call the utility company. The grid will digitally detect it and will have it fixed before it spirals into a possible blackout. The goal is to use this grid and rerouting to power the medical centers, grocery, police station, and street lights during power outages. The smart grid will also be able to tell a customer on the house grid how much they are using and how much it is costing them, that way a family can regulate their use, due to financial needs. It looks like due to all of the pieces and technologies it will take about a decade for this to be perfected and put in use. However, it is slowly being used piece by piece. Finished and fully developed will be what we see ten years from now. It is very exciting and amazing to see how far we have come with technology. 

 

Sources:

"What Is the Smart Grid?" SmartGrid.gov:. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

 

Martin, Chris, Mark Chediak, and Ken Wells. "Why the U.S Power Grid's Day Are Answered." Http://www.businessweek.com/articles. BloombergBuisnessWeek Technology, 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

 

McQuade, Tim. "What Is the National Power Grid? | EHow." EHow. Demand Media, 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

 

Germanys Green Energy Policy

The Green movement has been sweeping the nation and even the world. A new way of living that can make this planet a healthier place. As we all know the earth has been around for a very long time; Argo it has been through a lot of abuse, mainly caused by us.The biggest problem is the release of CO2 in the air due to the burning and use of Fossil Fuels. This CO2 release stays in the air for years. This is believed to be the leading cause of Global Warming. Many scientists, innovators, and people like you and me are trying to find ways to diminish the use of fossil fuels. One place that is really starting to take the green movement seriously is Germany.  

      Germany has been working on solving this problem for many years. Their strongest idea is the use of wind. The company Repower Systems was used to put large windmills on the coast of Germany. These windmills were made from very strong material that could withstand all of the treacherous storms that come on the coastline. These windmills would be able to produce 5 megawatts of energy every 5 seconds. Windmills were scattered along the coast for a reason. The winds along the coast are usually very strong. This is important in creating a significant amount of energy. Although this seemed to be a great idea for Germany it was still a new concept at the time of 2000. There was a hope that this would decrease the emissions of greenhouse gasses. Only a handful of windmills have been created; therefore the emission rate has only decreased slightly. Germany became discouraged and looked to the U.S for solutions. It had seemed at this point that Germany seemed to have given up. It is sad to see because Germany is known to be the only country that has always pushed the use of renewable gasses to be a top priority.

                Nuclear power plants are what supply most of the counties electrical needs. The next project that Germany created was to diminish the use of power plants. Germany still believed that the way to get rid of the power plants was the use of wind energy. The problem was convincing the public. Many farm owners were not excited with the idea of a large windmill to be put next door. It was then discussed and decided that it would be better to put the windmills offshore because the wind would be stronger. This eliminated the problem of public backlash. That problem was over but it was not the last. What comes next is the backlash from the conservationists. Many birds migrate and feed in the areas along the shore where the windmills would be. In 2005 they found areas of wind that were far enough in the water that the windmills would not affect life on the shore. The cost of all of this and now the cost of using wind as an energy source proved to be higher than what was already being used. By 2020 it is said that the cost of energy will be 60 percent more than 2011.This is the cost of renewable energy, not the use of fossil fuels. It would benefit the planet but if no one can afford it, than what good is it? The way this will work is if more power company’s get on board with the switch to wind. Without the almost 1.2 billion dollars needed wind farms cannot be built.

Wind is unpredictable. That seems to be the biggest problem. Without wind the entire project fails. Sometimes there is a huge amount of wind and other times a light breeze. Because it is not a steady wind, energy is not being produced at an equal rate. The wind controls the energy. There would be days that the energy would be at a very low rate, people may even loose power all together. This is a serious problem. It Germany does switch completely to wind energy there is one way it could work. Due to the unpredictability of wind, to compensate for a low wind day Germany would have to have an HVDC super grid that would share Scandinavians hydropower, North Africans Solar Energy with the Northern Europe’s offshore wind energy. This has caused Germany to have some enemies. What they were doing, which is wrong was using powergrids on neighboring countries without their permission. Poland and the Czech Republic are upset because if they are a part of the green policy than their energy bill goes up and if the project suffers so do they; therefore they banned the policy from being established in their countries. This made Germany feel powerless in their efforts. Unfortunately due to the heavy reliance on coal as the main source of energy, Germany has now been lagging in their wind efforts. They feel now that it is important to still have nuclear power plants; although before it was looked at as a problem. It still seems to be an issue, just one that Germany isn’t too concerned about at the moment. However they are working hard to get rid of the use altogether. Today the use is almost completely non-existent, but coal is the greatest source of energy for Germany once again. 

Sources :

"Germany's Green-Energy Gap." - IEEE Spectrum. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

Dini, Jack. "Germany’s Green Energy Policy Hit Households Hard." Canada Free Press. N.p., June-July 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

Welt, Die. "Poland And Czech Republic Ban Germany’s Green Energy." The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). N.p., 28 Dec. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.