today
9 a.m. International Education Week Humboldt State University
read >noon Redwood Region Audubon Society Meeting Golden Harvest Cafe
read >noon Dreamscapes The Oasis
read >4:30 p.m. HomeWork Hotline Call for details
read >5 p.m. Guitar Jazz Cafe Brio
read >5 p.m. Henderson Center Holiday Open House Henderson Center
read >6 p.m. Americans for Safe Access Bayview Courtyard Complex
read >6 p.m. Matthew Cook Cher-Ae-Heights Casino
read >6 p.m. Bill McBride and Friends Hotel Ivanhoe
read >6 p.m. Kindred Spirits Mad River Brewing Company
read >6 p.m. Watershed Restoration Week Celebration Wharfinger Building
read >6:30 p.m. Seabury Gould at Gallagher's Gallagher's
read >6:30 p.m. Share a Story: Growing Vegetable Soup Arcata Library
read >6:30 p.m. 2008 Transgender Day of Remebrance Humboldt County Courthouse
read >7 p.m. Blue Grass Jam Old Town Coffee & Chocolates
read >7 p.m. Mr. Calamari's Jazz Machine Mosgo's
read >7 p.m. All Ages Open Mic East Side Deli
read >7 p.m. Don's Neighbors Gilded Rose
read >7 p.m. KEET-TV's Annual Holiday Auction See Event Description
read >8 p.m. Karaoke WAVE @ blue lake casino
read >8 p.m. Karaoke at Bear River Casino Bear River Casino
read >8 p.m. Smuin Ballet: The Christmas Ballet Van Duzer Theater at HSU
read >8 p.m. Getting It Arcata Playhouse
read >8 p.m. She Loves Me North Coast Repertory Theater
read >8 p.m. The Medium Gist Hall Theater at HSU
read >8:30 p.m. Keak da Sneak, San Quinn Mazzotti's Arcata
read >9 p.m. Soldiers of Shangri-la Six Rivers Brewery
read >9 p.m. Dancehall/Reggae Thursday with Rude Lion Sound DJ Jimmy Jonz The Red Fox Tavern
read >9 p.m. Scotch Wiggly The Boiler Room
read >9 p.m. The Common Vice, Silent Giants, Rooster McClintock Humboldt Brews
read >9 p.m. Hillstomp, O'Death Jambalaya
read >9:30 p.m. DJ Ray Ragg's Rack Room
read >10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines
read >10 p.m. Lightnin' Bill Woodcock Pearl Lounge
read >previous columns
Feb. 14, 2008
Use Your Local Radar
A National Doppler Radar installation is conveniently located on Bunker ...
read >Feb. 7, 2008
Can You Predict Rain?
Yes, by simply learning how to interpret available data. The ...
read >Jan. 31, 2008
Stick-Slip Slug Slime
Banana slugs evolved from snails, and both are classified as ...
read >Photos
More Power to You
By Don Garlick
PG&E is planning an upgrade of its aging Humboldt Bay power station. It currently produces 135 megawatts from two steam turbine generators working at 35 percent efficiency (backed by two emergency 15-megawatt diesel-fired gas turbines). The new system would employ 10 reciprocating internal combustion engines running on natural gas, capable of producing 163 megawatts with 47 percent efficiency! Having multiple independent engines provides the flexibility to accommodate variable demand and the evolving availability of solar, wind or ocean power. Here is an outline of the new technology.
We are familiar with the four-stroke diesel engine, in which ignition occurs when high-pressure diesel is injected into the cylinder at the moment air is maximally heated by compression. No spark plug is required, as in a gasoline engine of lower compression. PG&E plans to use 10 engines, each with 18-cylinders, which take in natural gas mixed with air. The mixture is ignited at the top of the piston stroke by a tiny injection of diesel fuel. These engines have the advantage of being able to seamlessly switch to diesel fuel alone in case natural gas from Redding is disrupted by some accident to the pipeline.
The engines are cooled by fresh water through closed loops, as in your car. (The existing power station uses once-through sea water to condense steam for re-injection into its boilers.) Internal combustion engines can be noisy, but PG&E will enclose its engines in acoustically engineered buildings and use silencers on the exhaust stacks. Their Application for Certification assures us that they will be as quiet as the existing turbines. Air pollution will be reduced in spite of increased power generation, and will conform to North Coast Air Quality regulations. The planned facility will have a lower profile than the old structure, which should be dismantled when the new is completed.
To exemplify the importance of energy in our lives I share with you some data from a letter in Science by R. Burruss. One human can work at the rate of 100 watts. Dividing the world's total energy use by its population yields 2,000 watts per human. Thus, an average human is supported by the equivalent of 20 energy slaves or "Virtual Persons" (VPs), each rated at 100 watts. Pushing a 20 m.p.g. car 10,000 miles per year requires 20 VPs. But Americans use a disproportionate fraction of the world's energy, equivalent to 115 VPs per American. Please sir, can you spare a VP?

















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