courtesy: David Yanko of Virtual Saskatchewan

This blog is about “finding better ways to pour coffee.”  At the risk of sounding like a bureaucratically-generated cliche, it’s a little like a more focused “think outside the box,” which I hate.  Allow me to explain what I mean, starting with a quick story.

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This is a guest post by the moderator of the Electrical Engineering Blog.  It’s a great blog going into the technical details of many interesting and useful facets of electrical engineering and design.

Electrical engineering BLOG was launched in April 2009 by a group of enthusiasts in the field of electrical installation and energy management (mainly based on IEC standards).

With these passionate people, we have created an environment for collaboration and exchange, and we wish to use this Blog to share our current experience as well as our questions about the future – to elicit reactions from others and to discover new concrete ideas, as well as technical and practical tips.

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Scientific American has created a ridiculously interesting infographic on sustainable energy sources.  The article outlines a plan to get the world off of fossil fuels in 20 years.  That’s 100% clean, sustainable energy by 2030.  Although not feasible for a number of economic and political reasons, it is still damn interesting to see how the authors (Mark Z. Jacobson and Mark A. Delucchi) plan this out.  Give it a good read, there are a few surprises in there, particularly re: wind vs. solar.

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Above is how a basic info graphic explaining how a railgun works.  Below is the General Atomic’s new Blitzer Railgun’s test apparatus.

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The image above is a simple betavoltaic graphic from medgadget.  It shows the beta particles creating an electric field over a pn-junction diode, biasing the device, which thereby causes conduction.

It has been some time since betavoltaic batteries have been used. Lithium Ion has been the battery of choice for awhile, probably because it isn’t, you know, radioactive. Widetronix is looking to change that with its Tritium-based, navy-funded technology. By using more efficient semiconductor materials, they have revamped the self-charging betavoltaic battery.

These tiny power sources are said to last for 25 years! Of course, this technology only works for devices that require minimal amounts of current draw (think pacemakers and small sensors).

Check this VentureBeat article for more on these tiny batteries.

We’ve been posting some “green” pictures recently here at Industrial Interface.  So, in keeping with theme, check out these amazing pictures of Taiwan National Stadium.  The entire roof is covered in at least 8,844 solar panels!  In addition to powering 75% of the stadium’s energy needs when in use, it also contributes to the local power grid during times of stadium inactivity.

Here are some photos courtesy of Gizmodo:

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Here is the latest construction monstrosity to grace Dubai’s desert landscape.  The Technosphere is built to test new green sustainable energy sources and simulate future climates.  Photo Courtesy of VentureBeat.  See the VentureBeat article for more details:

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Sweet picture of Saturn and Tethys above (one of Saturn’s moons).  Thanks to NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, we get to see amazing pictures like this one.  It almost looks fake, doesn’t it?  I never get tired of these NASA pictures of the day.  For more space pictures, follow NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Here are a couple other Saturn pictures from NASA, all courtesy of the Cassini probe.  The one on the bottom is a great shot of Saturn’s Titan. Read the rest of this entry »