Monday, April 30, 2012
permaculture tinkerers presentation (permaculture forum at permies)
permaculture tinkerers presentation (permaculture forum at permies)
some inspiring energy saving builders at work, many videos, good alternative energy info!
full of good info, small houses, low energy fridge, fukuoka interplanted perrenial food gardens, animal shelters, and more!
some inspiring energy saving builders at work, many videos, good alternative energy info!
full of good info, small houses, low energy fridge, fukuoka interplanted perrenial food gardens, animal shelters, and more!
Jean Pain Method (alternative energy forum at permies)
Jean Pain Method (alternative energy forum at permies)
he book is The Methods of Jean Pain: Or Another Kind of Garden, by Ida and Jean Pain, in English, self-published 1980, 88 pages, with photos.
An old article from Reader's Digest: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_pain.html
Photos: And http://www.permacultureactivist.net/PeterBane/Jean_Pain.html
Dated 9/8/07 (do you think this is correct? They speak of him in the present tense.)
"EDITOR'S NOTE: You can order an English translation of Ida Pain's 88-page book about Jean Pain's techniques Another Kind of Garden: The Methods of Jean Pain, Seventh Edition in English-by sending a $20 international money order to Ida and Jean Pain, Domaine "Les Templiers", 83980 Villecroze, France." http://tribes.tribe.net/permaculturetribe/thread/8...62-bec9-4eff-b16d-ae541c0a8837
"For anyone interested in Jean Pain's methods of producing energy from compost, but frustrated at the lack of information and the scarcity of the English edition of his book, I found a nice video about his methods that is narrated in German and is about 15 minutes long. I think this was also posted at the stoves mailing list, but didn't make it into our archives yet. '
Jean Pain video http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=1718032861615687313
he book is The Methods of Jean Pain: Or Another Kind of Garden, by Ida and Jean Pain, in English, self-published 1980, 88 pages, with photos.
An old article from Reader's Digest: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_pain.html
Photos: And http://www.permacultureactivist.net/PeterBane/Jean_Pain.html
Dated 9/8/07 (do you think this is correct? They speak of him in the present tense.)
"EDITOR'S NOTE: You can order an English translation of Ida Pain's 88-page book about Jean Pain's techniques Another Kind of Garden: The Methods of Jean Pain, Seventh Edition in English-by sending a $20 international money order to Ida and Jean Pain, Domaine "Les Templiers", 83980 Villecroze, France." http://tribes.tribe.net/permaculturetribe/thread/8...62-bec9-4eff-b16d-ae541c0a8837
"For anyone interested in Jean Pain's methods of producing energy from compost, but frustrated at the lack of information and the scarcity of the English edition of his book, I found a nice video about his methods that is narrated in German and is about 15 minutes long. I think this was also posted at the stoves mailing list, but didn't make it into our archives yet. '
Jean Pain video http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=1718032861615687313
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Permaculture Forums at Permies
Permaculture Forums at Permies:
'via Blog this'
wood byproducts, such as branches, prunings, and dead trees can be composted and fertilise a garden soil.
'via Blog this'
wood byproducts, such as branches, prunings, and dead trees can be composted and fertilise a garden soil.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
6 Tips for Building Soil for Your Raised Garden Beds and Planters | Eartheasy Blog
6 Tips for Building Soil for Your Raised Garden Beds and Planters | Eartheasy Blog
6 Tips for Building Soil for Your Raised Garden Beds and Planters
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Here are some tips for building productive soil for your garden beds and planters – while there are some differences based on locale, these tips pretty much apply anywhere…
Monday, April 9, 2012
The Tyee – Understanding Harper's Evangelical Mission
The Tyee – Understanding Harper's Evangelical Mission:
'My goal here is to explore the underlying causes for this “Fox News effect”—explaining how this station has brought about a hurricane-like intensification of factual error, misinformation and unsupportable but ideologically charged beliefs on the conservative side of the aisle. First, though, let’s begin by surveying the evidence about how misinformed Fox viewers actually are.
'My goal here is to explore the underlying causes for this “Fox News effect”—explaining how this station has brought about a hurricane-like intensification of factual error, misinformation and unsupportable but ideologically charged beliefs on the conservative side of the aisle. First, though, let’s begin by surveying the evidence about how misinformed Fox viewers actually are.
Based upon my research, I have located seven separate studies that support Stewart’s claim about Fox, and none that undermine it. Six of these studies were available at the time that PolitFact took on Stewart; one of them is newer.
The studies all take a similar form: These are public opinion surveys that ask citizens about their beliefs on factual but contested issues, and also about their media habits. Inevitably, some significant percentage of citizens are found to be misinformed about the facts, and in a politicized way—but not only that. The surveys also find that those who watch Fox are more likely to be misinformed, their views of reality skewed in a right-wing direction. In some cases, the studies even show that watching more Fox makes the misinformation problem worse.
So with that, here are the studies.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
GE Hitachi signs MOU toward small modular nuclear fast reactor to tackle UK plutonium stockpile
GE Hitachi signs MOU toward small modular nuclear fast reactor to tackle UK plutonium stockpile
With the U.K. government looking at ways to address its growing stockpile of civil plutonium, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with National Nuclear Laboratory Ltd. (NNL). NNL will provide expert technical input to the potential U.K. deployment of GEH’s innovative PRISM small modular nuclear fast reactor, which would be specifically designed to disposition the U.K.’s plutonium while generating 600 megawatts of low-carbon electricity.
GEH also spent the day meeting with a number of skilled nuclear workers in West Cumbria to learn how they could work with GEH on PRISM’s potential deployment.
The country is currently storing more than 87 metric tons (and growing) of plutonium at the Sellafield nuclear complex in West Cumbria, England. The U.K. government confirmed its intention to reuse this plutonium in December 2011, declaring that it “remains open to any alternative proposals for plutonium management that offer better value to the U.K. taxpayer.” The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) recently announced in February 2012 that it is seeking proposals for alternative approaches to manage the U.K.’s plutonium stockpile.
“We are excited for the potential opportunity to utilize the expertise of NNL and help the U.K. continue to take a leadership role in the reuse of plutonium,” said Danny Roderick, senior vice president of new plant projects for GEH. “We believe that PRISM is the best way to manage the U.K.’s plutonium stockpile efficiently, securely and safely while generating low-carbon electricity at the same time.”
“With our recognized technical capability and long experience in fuel cycle analysis, we are pleased that GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has looked to NNL to provide independent and authoritative input to the potential U.K. application of a PRISM reactor,” said Paul Howarth, managing director of NNL, which operates a number of research facilities in the U.K. including the flagship Central Laboratory on the Sellafield site. “We look forward to working with GEH as they develop their approach to helping the U.K. address its plutonium legacy.”
Today, GEH, along with leading U.K. engineering firms Costain, Arup and Pöyry, (GEH’s “CAP Alliance” partners), met face-to-face with the number of highly talented and experienced nuclear sector suppliers in West Cumbria at the ENERGUS centre in Lillyhall, Workington. GEH is committed, to the greatest extent possible, to utilizing U.K. companies and workers. Currently, General Electric Company, one of GEH’s parents, has approximately 18,000 U.K. employees countrywide.
Should PRISM be approved for construction, in addition to creating about 900 permanent jobs and thousands of expected indirect jobs for the local community, this multibillion-pound investment would stand to create a range of opportunities for suppliers while continuing to develop the country’s nuclear energy skills base and reaffirming Cumbria’s position of nuclear excellence with “Britain’s energy coast.”
GEH is convinced that its PRISM technology provides an innovative solution to the objectives set forth by the NDA—the quickest disposal of plutonium at the best value—while providing substantial environmental and economic benefits. GEH is currently working closely with the U.K. government, including NDA, to detail why it believes PRISM technology is the best choice for the U.K. taxpayer.
PRISM is based on technology that was demonstrated in a fast reactor in the U.S. called the EBR II (Experimental Breeder Reactor) that operated successfully for 30 years. Last year, GEH completed the commercialization of PRISM, which began in 1981. Calculations have shown that PRISM technology would use practically all the stored plutonium at Sellafield. This is very different from other competing proposals, including turning the plutonium into mixed oxide fuel. Mixed oxide fuel (also known as MOX) simply puts the plutonium into a complex form that is highly radioactive while not actually eliminating any plutonium. In contrast, the PRISM consumes much of the plutonium as a true fuel.
With the U.K. government looking at ways to address its growing stockpile of civil plutonium, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with National Nuclear Laboratory Ltd. (NNL). NNL will provide expert technical input to the potential U.K. deployment of GEH’s innovative PRISM small modular nuclear fast reactor, which would be specifically designed to disposition the U.K.’s plutonium while generating 600 megawatts of low-carbon electricity.
GEH also spent the day meeting with a number of skilled nuclear workers in West Cumbria to learn how they could work with GEH on PRISM’s potential deployment.
The country is currently storing more than 87 metric tons (and growing) of plutonium at the Sellafield nuclear complex in West Cumbria, England. The U.K. government confirmed its intention to reuse this plutonium in December 2011, declaring that it “remains open to any alternative proposals for plutonium management that offer better value to the U.K. taxpayer.” The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) recently announced in February 2012 that it is seeking proposals for alternative approaches to manage the U.K.’s plutonium stockpile.
“We are excited for the potential opportunity to utilize the expertise of NNL and help the U.K. continue to take a leadership role in the reuse of plutonium,” said Danny Roderick, senior vice president of new plant projects for GEH. “We believe that PRISM is the best way to manage the U.K.’s plutonium stockpile efficiently, securely and safely while generating low-carbon electricity at the same time.”
“With our recognized technical capability and long experience in fuel cycle analysis, we are pleased that GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has looked to NNL to provide independent and authoritative input to the potential U.K. application of a PRISM reactor,” said Paul Howarth, managing director of NNL, which operates a number of research facilities in the U.K. including the flagship Central Laboratory on the Sellafield site. “We look forward to working with GEH as they develop their approach to helping the U.K. address its plutonium legacy.”
Today, GEH, along with leading U.K. engineering firms Costain, Arup and Pöyry, (GEH’s “CAP Alliance” partners), met face-to-face with the number of highly talented and experienced nuclear sector suppliers in West Cumbria at the ENERGUS centre in Lillyhall, Workington. GEH is committed, to the greatest extent possible, to utilizing U.K. companies and workers. Currently, General Electric Company, one of GEH’s parents, has approximately 18,000 U.K. employees countrywide.
Should PRISM be approved for construction, in addition to creating about 900 permanent jobs and thousands of expected indirect jobs for the local community, this multibillion-pound investment would stand to create a range of opportunities for suppliers while continuing to develop the country’s nuclear energy skills base and reaffirming Cumbria’s position of nuclear excellence with “Britain’s energy coast.”
GEH is convinced that its PRISM technology provides an innovative solution to the objectives set forth by the NDA—the quickest disposal of plutonium at the best value—while providing substantial environmental and economic benefits. GEH is currently working closely with the U.K. government, including NDA, to detail why it believes PRISM technology is the best choice for the U.K. taxpayer.
PRISM is based on technology that was demonstrated in a fast reactor in the U.S. called the EBR II (Experimental Breeder Reactor) that operated successfully for 30 years. Last year, GEH completed the commercialization of PRISM, which began in 1981. Calculations have shown that PRISM technology would use practically all the stored plutonium at Sellafield. This is very different from other competing proposals, including turning the plutonium into mixed oxide fuel. Mixed oxide fuel (also known as MOX) simply puts the plutonium into a complex form that is highly radioactive while not actually eliminating any plutonium. In contrast, the PRISM consumes much of the plutonium as a true fuel.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Move over graphene: Bamboo is the next wonder material | SmartPlanet
Move over graphene: Bamboo is the next wonder material | SmartPlanet:
Step aside graphene, there’s a new super material in town, and it’s a lot more common than you and your honeycombed carbon lattices: bamboo.
“Bamboo is being hailed as a new super material, with uses ranging from textiles to construction,”writes the BBC in an article coinciding with its radio report Green Gold: The Bamboo Boom(available for listening through April 9, possibly 10). “It also has the potential to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, the biggest greenhouse gas, and provide some of the world’s poorest people with cash.
Bamboo house under construction in Martinique.
“Today you can buy a pair of bamboo socks or use it as fully load-bearing structural beam in your house - and it is said that there are some 1,500 uses for it in between.”
The fast growing rugged grass has “unrivaled capacity to capture carbon” the article claims.
The bamboo industry hails the crop’s other environmental benefits. Because it shoots up quickly - as much as a meter (over 3 feet) in a day - it is highly renewable.
According to the Bamboo Clothing website, it thrives without fertilizers or pesticides, requires little water, grows on slopes too inhospitable for other crops, and has a 10 times higher yield per acre than cotton. Want more? It does not uproot soil (harvesting involves cutting it as it’s a grass) and it’s 100 percent biodegradable, the website notes.
The World Bamboo Organization says today’s bamboo market is $10 billion and could double in five years. China produces about 80 percent of the world’s supply, but other nations are turning to it as a cash crop.
Bamboo scaffolding can reach high, as above at Hong Kong's now completed Four Seasons Hotel.
“In eastern Nicaragua, bamboo was until recently regarded by most of the local population as valueless - more as a nuisance to be cleared than a boon to them and their region,” the BBC writes. “But on land once under dense forest cover, then turned over to slash-and-burn agriculture and ranching, new bamboo plantations are rising.”
Nicaragua’s bamboo boom has given root to what the BBC claims is the world’s first bamboo bond, offered by Britain’s EcoPlanet Bamboo with a return of 500 percent over 15 years for the biggest investors, and less for smaller investors.
New industrial processing techniques (I wonder what the ecological impact of those are) makes bamboo competitive with wood products for Western markets, the BBC says. Another use: bamboo has provided biomass fuel at power plants in the Philippines.
Don’t worry graphene. As far as I know, bamboo does not have semiconductor capabilities.
Photos: Stalks from Piergiorgio Rossi. House from Laurent Gilet de Bambou Habitat. Scaffolding from Chris 73. All via Wikimedia.
Real-time room temperature on your Website (no javascript or server side coding)
Real-time room temperature on your Website (no javascript or server side coding):
'via Blog this'
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'via Blog this'
This is how to push high resolution real-time data from Arduino-based temperature sensor to your web page without any server-side coding.
Arduino is a great device for collecting, storing and transferring data from various sensors but there are times you need to make your data accessible from any place over the internet, like I did for room temperature in my study.
That’s when this solution may come handy.
The solution utilises a cloud-based real time web publishing tool Partcl.com that allows you to publish any data with about 0.1 second latency.
First you will need:
- Temperature sensor TMP102 on sparkfun breakout board
- Arduino Ethernet (which is in fact is Arduino + Ethernet Shield)
- wires
- ethernet cable
-power adaptor for Arduino
- Free account on Partcl.com (when registered you will get your publishing and web keys which you will put into Arduino code and in http code on your website)
Arduino is a great device for collecting, storing and transferring data from various sensors but there are times you need to make your data accessible from any place over the internet, like I did for room temperature in my study.
That’s when this solution may come handy.
The solution utilises a cloud-based real time web publishing tool Partcl.com that allows you to publish any data with about 0.1 second latency.
First you will need:
- Temperature sensor TMP102 on sparkfun breakout board
- Arduino Ethernet (which is in fact is Arduino + Ethernet Shield)
- wires
- ethernet cable
-power adaptor for Arduino
- Free account on Partcl.com (when registered you will get your publishing and web keys which you will put into Arduino code and in http code on your website)
Remove these ads by Signing UpStep 1Connect the sensor as shown on the picture.
Connect the sensor as shown on the picture.
Image is taken from incredibly good blog http://bildr.org
I often use it as a reference
Image is taken from incredibly good blog http://bildr.org
I often use it as a reference
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You said: "If you have DHCP and can not specify a fixed IP address, you will need another library and slightly different code. I will be more then happy to provide any additional instructions if needed."
I do have DHCP and would like the details. I'm not up to speed on interfacing Arduino to the internet, so that would be quite helpful. Also, can you tell me if it's possible to add this data to my dyndns.org web page where I have my Foscam IP camera displayed or is that a totally different animal. If it's possible, I would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction, so I can proceed to figure it out!
Thanks!
Sorry for the delay,
For the second question, yes it will work everywhare.
The first question:
below it is a "modern solution"
You have to upgrage your Arduino IDE to 1.0 and then the code should read:
(minor changes)
It will deal with DHCP
#include
#include
#include
// Enter a MAC address and IP address for your controller below.
byte mac[] = {0x??, 0x??, 0x??, 0x??, 0x??, 0x??}; //Mac Address of Arduino Ethernet Shield or Ethernet Board
char serverName[] = "www.partcl.com";
int tmp102Address = 0x48;
// Initialize the Ethernet client library
// with the IP address and port of the server
// that you want to connect to (port 80 is default for HTTP):
EthernetClient client;
void setup() {
// start the serial library:
Serial.begin(9600);
SPI.begin();
Wire.begin();
// start the Ethernet connection:
if (Ethernet.begin(mac) == 0) {
Serial.println("Failed to configure Ethernet using DHCP");
while(true);
}
delay(1000);
Serial.println("connecting...");
}
void loop()
{
Wire.requestFrom(tmp102Address,2);
byte MSB = Wire.receive();
byte LSB = Wire.receive();
int TemperatureSum = ((MSB << 8) | LSB) >> 4; //it's a 12bit int,
using two's compliment for negative
float celsius = TemperatureSum*0.0625;
Serial.println(celsius,2);
if (client.connect(serverName, 80)) {
client.print("GET
/publish?publish_key=ENTER_YOUR_PUBLISHING_KEY_HERE&id=temp_test&value=");
client.print(celsius, 2);
client.print(" HTTP/1.1\r\n");
client.print("Host: partcl.com\r\n");
client.print("User-Agent: Arduino For Teh Win!\r\n");
client.print("Accept: text/html\r\n");
client.println("Connection: close\r\n");
client.println();
delay(300);
}
client.stop();
}
You said I would need another library, but the above code shows no library , only the #. Did you forget to add them?
Thanks
Sorry, I think it was some parsing trick here ))
in IDE 1.0 Ethernet library deals with DHCP
so oinclude the same libraries as in step 3
About Temperature sensor TMP102,Whether it can replace by DS18B20?
Thanks.
net0040@gmail.com
Kind regards