Pasadena Sub Rosa

CAL-TECH REDUCES WIND FARM FOOTPRINT

Location location, location: Wind Turbine Power Output Increased 10x

Posted on July 16, 2011 by News Staff (WattsUpWithThat.com) 

Wind Turbine power output is increased ten-fold by careful spacing, and direction of rotation, when compared to existing best practices.

Click image for video surveyGuest post by Roger E. Sowell

Summary:  A new study from CalTech shows that wind-turbine spacing, location, and direction of rotation can increase average power output per acre (hectare) by ten-fold, compared to existing best practices.   Professor John O. Dabiri of California Institute of Technology (CalTech) published a paper describing the impact on power production of spacing, location, and direction of rotation on vertical-axis wind turbines.

 

For images and video, see http://dabiri.caltech.edu/research/wind-energy.html

A preprint of the paper is available athttp://dabiri.caltech.edu/publications/Da_JRSE11.pdf   (675 kB)

VAWT (vertical axis wind turbines) that are spaced approximately 4 diameters apart, with adjacent VAWTs rotating in opposite directions, yield a ten-fold increase in power output per unit of land area, from 2 – 3 Watts per square meter of land, to 21 -  47 Watts per square meter when compared to modern horizontal-axis wind turbines.

This has great implications for new wind-farm projects, especially the economics and environmental impacts.  It does not, however, address the Achilles heel of wind power, the intermittency of power production and the need to time-shift power production by some economic means of grid-scale storage and discharge.

From Dr. Dabiri’s paper:

Abstract

Modern wind farms comprised of horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) require significant land resources to separate each wind turbine from the adjacent turbine wakes. This aerodynamic constraint limits the amount of power that can be extracted from a given wind farm footprint. The resulting inefficiency of HAWT farms is currently compensated by using taller wind turbines to access greater wind resources at high altitudes, but this solution comes at the expense of higher engineering costs and greater visual, acoustic, radar and environmental impacts. We investigated the use of counter-rotating vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) in order to achieve higher power output per unit land area than existing wind farms consisting of HAWTs. Full-scale field tests of 10-m tall VAWTs in various counter-rotating configurations were conducted under natural wind conditions during summer 2010. Whereas modern wind farms consisting of HAWTs produce 2 to 3 watts of power per square meter of land area,
these field tests indicate that power densities an order of magnitude greater can potentially be achieved by arranging VAWTs in layouts that enable them to extract energy from adjacent wakes and from above the wind farm. Moreover, this improved performance does not require higher individual wind turbine efficiency, only closer wind turbine spacing and a sufficient vertical flux of turbulence kinetic energy from the atmospheric surface layer. The results suggest an alternative approach to wind farming that has the potential to concurrently reduce the cost, size, and environmental impacts of wind farms.

 

25 Votes

 

WHY EARTHQUAKE RETROFIT OBSOLESCENT LIBRARIES?

STEVE LAMB = ALTADENA

According to a recent newspaper article, Pasadena libraries do not meet the present earthquake codes. Panic! What to do? Why, tax the citizens for at least $56 million in earthquake retrofitting costs, of course. This is a low-ball figure, because as soon as any construction starts, the buildings will also need retrofitting to include handicapped and energy standards.

 

But think about it: If your house, office or place of work hasn’t been built or remodeled in the last two years, it doesn’t meet the present earthquake standards, either. Earthquake standards are constantly updated and revised, at least once every three years. So long before this new work is approved and done, and within a very short time of it being done, all of the buildings will again be out of compliance, just as your home, office and workplace are, with the present earthquake code. 

 

Being out of compliance with the latest code does not make these structures unsafe. The main library and other branches have within the last two decades been retrofitted. They are no less safe than they were when they were certified safe then. Still safe for habitation and probably much safer than your home, office or place of work.

 

But there is a question that needs to be asked: Should libraries inflict huge tax burdens on citizens at a time when it is probable they will not exist as we know them in a decade or two? 

 

Is earthquake retrofitting of these buildings the best use of public monies for library service, or would it be better to reduce the printed materials to scans and buy each citizen a tablet of some kind to read them on? Could Pasadena, by purchasing 130,000 e-book readers, get a much better price than the current retail?

 

Considerations such as these should be carefully discussed and thought about before the public is asked to spend any tax monies retrofitting, expanding or upgrading library buildings.

~STEVE LAMB

FORMER TRUSTEE

ALTADENA LIBRARY BOARD

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COAL BURNING SLOWS GLOBAL WARMING - SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Permanent Address: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=stratospheric-pollution-helps-slow-global-warming

Stratospheric Pollution Helps Slow Global Warming

Particles of sulfuric acid--injected by volcanoes or humans--have slowed the pace of climate change in the past decade

By David Biello  | Friday, July 22, 2011 | 37

STRATOSPHERIC POLLUTER?: Eruptions like that of Soufriere Hill in Montserrat pictured here may be adding enough aerosols to the stratosphere recently to slow global warming--or coal burning in China may be the primary culprit.Image: Courtesy of NASA

Despite significant pyrotechnics and air travel disruption last year, the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull simply didn't put that many aerosols into the stratosphere. In contrast, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, put 10 cubic kilometers of ash, gas and other materials into the sky, and cooled the planet for a year. Now, research suggests that for the past decade, such stratospheric aerosols—injected into the atmosphere by either recent volcanic eruptions or human activities such as coal burning—are slowing down global warming.

"Aerosols acted to keep warming from being as big as it would have been," says atmospheric scientist John Daniel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory, who helped lead theresearch published online in Science on July 21. "It's still warming, it's just not warming as much as it would have been."

Essentially, sulfur dioxide gets emitted near the surface, either by a coal-fired power plant's smokestack or a volcano. If that SO2 makes it to the stratosphere—the middle layer of the atmosphere 10 kilometers up—it forms droplets of diluted sulfuric acid, known as  aerosols. These aerosols reflect sunlight away from the planet, shading the surface and cooling temperatures. And some can persist for a few years, prolonging that cooling.

By analyzing satellite data and other measures, Daniel and his colleagues found that such aerosols have been on the rise in Earth's atmosphere in the past decade, nearly doubling in concentration. That concentration has reflected roughly 0.1 watts per meter squared of sunlight away from the planet, enough to offset roughly one-third of the 0.28 watts per meter squared of extra heat trapped by rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The researchers calculate that the aerosols prevented 0.07 degrees Celsius of warming in average temperatures since 2000.

The question is: why the increase in such aerosols? There have been plenty of smaller volcanic eruptions in recent years, such as the continuously erupting Soufriere Hills on Montserrat and Tavurvur on Papua New Guinea, which may have exploded enough SO2 into the atmosphere. And there has been plenty of coal burning in countries such as China, which now burns some 3 billion metric tons of the fuel rock per year, largely without the pollution controls that would scrub out the SO2, as is sometimes done in the U.S. In fact, a computer model study published July 5 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggested that such SO2 pollution in China has cancelled out the warming effects of rising greenhouse gas concentrations globally since 1998. Determining whether humans or volcanoes explain more of the increase in stratospheric aerosols is the focus of ongoing research, says PhD candidate Ryan Neely of the University of Colorado, who contributed to the NOAA research.

Combined with a decrease in atmospheric water vapor and a weaker sun due to the most recent solar cycle, the aerosol finding may explain why climate change has not been accelerating as fast as it did in the 1990s. The effect also illustrates one proposal for so-called geoengineering—the deliberate, large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment—that would use various means to create such sulfuric acid aerosols in the stratosphere to reflect sunlight and thereby hopefully forestall catastrophic climate change.

But that points up another potential problem: if aerosol levels, whether natural or human-made, decline in the future, climate change could accelerate—and China is adding scrubbing technology to its coal-fired power plants to reduce SO2 emissions and thereby minimize acid rain. In effect, fixing acid rain could end up exacerbating global warming. China "could cause some decreases [in stratospheric aerosols] if that is the source," Neely says, adding that growing SO2 emissions from India could also increase cooling if humans are the dominant cause of injecting aerosols into the atmosphere. On the other hand, "if some volcanoes that are large enough go off and if they are the dominant cause [of increasing aerosols], then we will probably see some increases" in cooling.

 

PASADENA "BUNDLERS" RAISE $500,000+ FOR OBAMA

The Washington Post reports that President Obama's re-election campaign raised over $500,000 from Lena and John Kennedy of Pasadena.  John Kennedy is a Pasadena attorney.  

Most of Obama's contributions came from 244 well-connected "bundlers."  Just 27 "bundlers" raised over $500,000 each for Obama.  

EXCERPT:

The campaign fundraising efforts of President Obama raised $86 million in the past three months from 500,000 people — but at least $35 million of it can be traced to just 244 well-connected supporters who collected contributions from wealthy friends.

Just 634 donations from people giving $30,000 or more to the Obama Victory Fund comprise $23 million, while the 1,335 donations the fundreceived from those giving $250 add up to about $336,000, a Washington Times analysis shows.

Lena and John Kennedy Pasadena, CA 

Bundled for Obama, 2011Q2 (in thousands): $500+  

Likely affiliation, according to Washington Times research: Consultant

 Likely bundler for Obama in 2008

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/17/half-obamas-contributions-traceable-bundlers/

 

HOW MANY FIRES DID PASADENA FIRE DEPT. FIGHT LAST YEAR?

Answer: The number of fires fought is not disclosed in the City's Annual Budget nor on the PFD website.  

The Pasadena Fire Department has 184.5 positions and a $40,600,000 annual budget for the 2011 fiscal year.  

But here are the accomplishments of the Pasadena Fire Department last year. The one that stuck out was "replacement of 12 mattresses at Fire Station." I'm sure the old ones were well worn.  

Major Accomplishments

•Entered into third party agreement for EMS billing/collections

and electronic patient care reporting.

•Piloted the LUCAS chest compression device and only agency in

Los Angeles County with approval to do so.

•Re-established the vial-of-life to the community.

•Continued to upgrade and reprogram the Department’s radios to

meet new frequency standards.

•Tested and inventoried all Department hose to meet National Fire

Protection Association (NFPA) and California Occupational Safety

and Health Association (CAL OSHA) standards.

•Developed a new electronic reporting system for damaged equip-

ment and apparatus reports.

•Standardized equipment carried on engine companies, truck com-

panies and rescue ambulances.

•Developed a maintenance and replacement plan for wood fire

service ladders.

•Purchased new breathing apparatus through the federal grant

program.

•Conducted ongoing fire equipment maintenance, repairs and

replacement.

•Placed two new pumpers into service at Fire Stations 38 and 39.

•Developed training and placed into service the new water tender.

•The installation of a Plymovent Vent Vehicle Exhaust System at

Fire Station 39.

•Egress window installation in the Men’s Dorm at Fire Station 32. 

•Replaced the roof and exterior doors on a storage building at Fire

Station 38.

•Have established a Fire Station Design Standards Committee.

•Will complete an Essential Facilities Building and Seismic Safety

Study of seven of our existing Fire Stations.

•Replacement of 12 mattresses at Fire Sation.

•Developed Revenue Sharing with Glendale College which resulted

in receiving $33,000 for training

•Completed a Firefighter Recruit Academy.

•Delivered Defensive Driver "Train the Trainer" program for 15

employees. 

•One chief officer was selected as a US&R subject matter expert

for Office of Emergency Services (OES) FIRESCOPE committee,

elected as Co-Chair.

•Conducted Fire Simulation training sessions with Shift Captains

to improve fire ground tactics and strategy, communications,

command/control and safety issues.

•Conducted a High-rise Operations review for all 3 shifts that

included a class room review and drill at 940 E Colorado.

•Implemented and oversaw “After Action Reviews” of all major

incidents. Reviewed dispatch tapes, fire ground tactics and

strategy, communications, command/control, lessons learned

and safety issues.

•Conducted regular Captain’s meetings to keep shift personnel

informed on Department issues.

•100% of the probationary Fire Fighters on B shift successfully

completed their probationary exams.

•Assisted in the planning and implementation of a Multi-Agency

Drill that simulated a “Train Fire in the Colorado Box” on

11/6/09. Outside agencies that participated were Mass Transit

Authority (MTA), LA County Sheriffs, and Pasadena Police

Department.

•Established and implemented a new contact procedure for the

Pasadena Water Department to follow when a water system

shut down occurs in the City.

•Volunteer Fire Photographers photographed PFD functions and

emergencies throughout the year. Some of these photos were

used to enhance the Department’s web site, released to the

media for press coverage at incidents and use to enhance the

Department’s annual report.

•Assessed and updated the Explorer Program curriculum, a 37%

increase in enrollment occurred during this year.

•Oversaw the purchase, issuing and maintenance of the 43

different PPE/Uniform items the Department is required to

issues its Fires Fighters, Emergency Medical Service Reserves

and Fire Explorers to meet all current Cal-OSHA, American

National Standards Institute (ANSI), NFPA, memorandum of

understanding (MOU) and department requirements.

•Outfitted all line personnel with new upgraded wildland brush

boots, larger brush shrouds and improved brush goggles to

improve fire ground safety.

•In the final processes of purchasing and installing a new

personal protective equipment (PPE) extractor and dryer at FS32

to enhance PPE maintenance program.

•Established and implemented a PPE committee to evaluate and

field test PPE items for current and future purchases to improve

safety and reduce costs.

 

http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/Finance/2011_Operating_Budget/

 

2011 Budget

Positions: 184.5

Appropriations: $40,605,000

 

LARRY WILSON'S FAMILY HOME FOR SALE

Read here:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-home-20110717,0,2663707.story