2/19/2007

Garbage Eater: Trash In, Energy Out

Sections: Science — Posted @ 2:10 pm

The March 1007 issue of Popular Science has an excellent article on a technology called plasma gasification. Systems using plasma gasification can break down any material, except nuclear waste, by using energized plasma to rip apart the molecular bonds of the trash. The only byproduct of the system is an obsidian-like glass and a synthetic gas that can be converted into an energy source such as natural gas or ethanol.

The article features the Plasma Converter system from Startech Environmental Corporation and its inventor, Joseph Longo. His plasma gasification machine not only can devour 2,000 tons of garbage a day (about the amount of trash generated by 800,000 people) but actually generates a third more energy than it uses, powering itself from its own “syngas” byproduct and selling the rest of the energy left over.

I think one of these machines would be a great solution to the LA sludge problem that Bakersfield is always fighting over. Let LA convert their sludge to energy instead. A bunch of these machines could solve every city’s trash problem plus help reduce our reliance on foreign oil.

Read the full article here on Popular Science’s website.

2/16/2007

Recent Reads: Feed The Brain

Sections: Books — Posted @ 6:36 pm
Ambient Findability

This book is a philosophical exploration of the past, present, and future of humankind’s ability to discover and interact in an environment suffering with information overload. Ambient Findability isn’t a technical how-to book to show you how to design a better information system. Instead, it is an idea book, meant to make you think about the different ways we find information in our daily lives. It explores concepts such as wayfinding, metadata, folksonomies, taxonomies, and other information retrieval theories all in the attempt to help the reader discover new ways of making their data more findable. It is a gripping read that is sure to make anyone dealing with modern information floods ponder how we can improve our systems.

Beyond Fear

Beyond Fear is the latest book from Bruce Schneier, one of the greatest computer security minds ever, is easily his least technical… but in a good way. His goal in this book is to help the common person, who might not even know how to turn a computer on, understand how to make better security decisions. Even more relevant in this time of terrorism, this book helps us get past the fear mongering of every salesman and politician saying they can protect us. Instead,it helps us learn how to make good decisions about how we can protect ourselves. If you are at all interested in how to see past the hype and make good decisions for yourself, your family, your business, or your country then I can’t recommend this book enough.

SQL Cookbook

Need to know how to do something in SQL? The SQL Cookbook probably has the answer. I particularly like the section on working with date ranges. The book also has a nice appendix on the windowing feature the newer DBs provide. This book won’t give you much new information you probably haven’t seen before if you have been working with SQL for a while, but it will serve as a great reference for recalling those techniques.