My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Alternative Energy and Air Conditioning - Cool Runnings

Monday, July 12, 2010

Alternative Energy and Air Conditioning - Cool Runnings

God how the men
Grin by the wall
Watching the fun
Of the Victory ball

Alfred Noyes, A Victory Dance

Spain, are now first time champions in the Jules Rimet Cup otherwise known as the FIFA World Cup, an apt name as the whole world wondered after this game involving the kicking of a round inflated ball into a net after sweating it out for ninety minutes. History has been made for this team, winner of the European Cup and now dual title holders, a feat only achieved prior by East Germany in, ironically, a match against the Netherlands in 1974. History does indeed have a remarkable way of repeating itself. The Jabulani, as the ball was called, was indeed the sphere about which controversy revolved. But possibly the biggest unseen controversy was occurring off the pitch in the form of the Oracle of Germany, namely the now famous Paul the Octopus, who now at the end of the FIFA World Cup will forever be etched in the minds of many as the most accurate analyst thus far and made many a book maker cry much as was the case in the movie Oceans 13. For my sakes and yours, I do hope the Germans are kind and do not decided to fry him in batter after he fated them to lose. But there is one aspect of Energy Savings upon which one cannot lose, and that is in the arena of saving power used by Air Conditioning systems, which account for nearly 60% of most buildings power usage depending of course on which sources you trust. After all, and the Private Sector must agree, before cursing the JPS Co and their legitimately granted rate increase and despite not making their power generating systems more efficient using LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) they themselves must become more energy efficient. It would seem that LNG is the name for the latest religious movement that Senator James Robertson, Minister of Energy and Mining has now joined as stated in the article “Gov’t eyes LNG cure for Energy problems”, published Wednesday June 16 2010 by Laura Redpath, Senior Staff Writer, the Jamaica Gleaner, laura.redpath@gleanerjm.com (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com) along with Ernest Moniz, Director of the prestigious Engineering Institute, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in preaching to John Public as stated in the article “Fuel of the future?”, published Sunday July 4 2010 by Dwight Bellanfante, Gleaner Writer The Sunday Gleaner, (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com) as if it were a new idea. But new it is not, as it had been proposed by the then Portia Simpson Miller of the PNP (People National Party) in 2006 in an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the People’s Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to import LNG at local market prices to refine alumina and have it smelted at the Alutrint facility, a deal which later fell through as stated in the article “No Trinidad LNG for Jamaica anytime soon”, published Friday December 15, 2006, Friday Gleaner by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar, Business Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner, (http://www.jamaica-observer.com) then was revived under the guise of being a “National Priority” as stated by Prime Minister of People’s Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the article “LNG for Jamaica a national priority – Manning”, published Friday June 26, 2009, The Friday Gleaner, by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar, Business Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner, (http://www.jamaica-observer.com), with the logical reason for the reversal following not long after as stated by Robert Riley, Chairman and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of BP Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the article “Rivalry sends Trinidad in search of new LNG markets”, published Saturday, July 4, 2009, The Saturday Gleaner, by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar, Business Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner, (http://www.jamaica-observer.com). Like I said nothing new……

Quite simply, the means of reducing ones onerous load on ones electricity bill (word to the wise in the Private Sector as well as the Hoteliers!!) would be to use more efficient designs for air conditioners, such as the DEVap (Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative) air conditioner as described in the article “Novel design yields energy-efficient air conditioner”, published June 17, 2010 6:24 AM PDT, by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech (http://www.cnet.com) developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which according to its backers, not only is 25% to 75% energy efficient but eliminates the need for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) or hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as the technology is based on evaporation and desiccation, evaporation to remove heat by transfer of convection heat to evaporate water from a semi-permeable membrane and desiccation to remove any moisture in the air, leaving the air both cool and dry, all done without compressors and only one fan, hence the lower energy cost claim. Even better, the fan can be designed using a Photon Drive Motor, in which the drive shaft of the fan, instead of being connected to a motor, is instead connected to a vane enclosed inside of a vacuum hemisphere that has the vertical fan vanes painted alternately white or black and a strong light source impinging on the vanes, creating movement via light pressure much in the same way charged particles can be used to push a spacecraft through space as stated in the article “Japan unfurls solar sail in space”, published Friday June 11 2010, BBC News, (http:/www.news.bbc.co.uk). Alternately, the Air Conditioning Unit can be powered using solar panels as the article “Novel design yields energy-efficient air conditioner”, published June 17, 2010 6:24 AM PDT, by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech (http://www.cnet.com) further goes on to suggest. Solar/Wind Alternative Energy can be used to not only power more energy efficient Air Conditioning units but can eventually, depending on the type of equipment in the building, take the entire business of the grid altogether and reduce the local Power Utility Company, in this case JPS Co into merely a backup facility as expounded in my blog article “Alternative Energy - A Telecom Provider's Strong Tower”, (http://www.mythoughtsontechnologyandjamaica.blogspot.com)

It seems that in the race to chastise local Power Utility Companies, the Private Sector and the Hoteliers are forgetting that they too must play a part in improving efficiency in their consumption of electrical power as ultimately no matter the level of power generating efficiency realized by Energy Sector Liberalization and the cost reductions eschewed thereof by the local Power Utility Company switching to the bold religion of LNG, they will only begin to see real competitive cost savings it they make their own usage of power more efficient, and the first place to start is usually the areas of their system that use the most power, such as Air Conditioning. Private Sector should take their queue from Senator Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, who has decided to put his money where his money should be and invest in the future, that being solar power as stated in the article “Obama commits billions to solar firms”, published July 4, 2010 11:34 AM PDT by Reuters, CNET News - Green Tech, (http://www.cnet.com) and do likewise, as by making this commitment, Senator Barack Obama, President of the United States of America is living true to his campaign promise: Change You Can Believe In. As for the Photon Drive Motor, that is fodder for another article………….about motors with no magnetically induced moving parts.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's impressive that you are getting thoughts from this post as well as from our discussion made here.
Have a look at my page ; dentist union city nj}