NeutralAxis

What nuclear fuel can be carried safely in your pocket, has a nearly inexhaustible supply in nature, leaves minuscule waste, and can run a reactor that could fit within a medium sized suburban house?  Need a hint?  Its named after a Norse god and was pretty much forgotten about by the nuclear power industry because it was too safe. (continue reading…)

Saw my first Dyson AirBlade hand dryer in a restroom this evening.  Seems to work as advertised in that it dries your hands reasonably well and very quickly, but its jet engine noisy. You insert your hands, fingers pointing downward, and the fan turns on.  Or should I say, THE FAN TURNS ON.  You then slowly pull your hands up and out while a thin blade of high speed air wipes them dry.  Drips collect in a reservoir below and slowly evaporate.  Afterward, my hands were adequately dry.  I suppose there are two key benefits to this device.  First, that because it has no heater and runs for less time, its more energy efficient.  The second is that there’s no defaced sign on it saying “Push butt to turn on.”

Last winter I had an old Rheem gas furnace and air conditioner replaced with what amounts to Rheem’s top of the line air-source heat pump system.  Its a dual fuel heat pump with a modulating gas burner and variable speed fan.  To make that part of the system work required a modulating thermostat and the one Rheem sells is made by White Rodgers (Emerson).  Rheem’s model number is RHC-TST411MDMS.  White Rodgers and Emerson refer to it as “Big Blue” under several different variations.  That stat added $300 to the cost and had a stupid programming glitch in it that came to light with the daylight savings time switch last weekend. [Problem resolved, see updates]

(continue reading…)

An interesting project I hope to be involved in has crossed my desk.  Its not every day around here where somebody wants to build a 12,000 sq.ft. home, yet an email arrived from a German architectural firm looking for someone local to perform structural and MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) engineering on such a home.  I won’t be posting any images of the real thing, and I don’t yet know who the owner is, but the photo is similar to the style and here are the specs.

(continue reading…)

A new electric vehicle (EV) charging corridor is being established along a corridor linking LA and San Francisco for owners of electric vehicles to recharge their battery.  Its the first of its kind in the country.

(continue reading…)

Who knew?  Ovens can be rebooted.  Yesterday the oven part of my 15 year old GE electric range refused to turn on and the timer/clock went blank.  The stovetop burners still worked though.  The circuit breaker was OK too.  Grasping at a straw before calling for service, I turned off the breaker and left it off for about 30 seconds and then back on.  Problem fixed.

Weird.

BusinessWeek.com is reporting that this fall as part of the federal stimulus package, there will be a rebate program for home appliances similar to the Cash For Clunkers automobile program.  Certain appliances will be eligible for rebates of $50 to $200 and the old appliance will not be required to be turned in.  This sounds like a great thing for the manufacturer’s but I can’t help thinking its going to prompt a whole lot of people from spending money needlessly on new equipment thinking they’re getting a good deal.

(continue reading…)

I’ve been trying to find a nice looking electric outlet to put on my exterior deck but have had difficulty finding anything other than a plain box with a hinged lid.  It seems that painting the box green is what passes for making it a little more attractive.  However, I ran across this recessed floor receptacle box today and it would be perfect.  I can’t find anything similar by a US company, so I have a sinking feeling that its not legal in the US. (continue reading…)

[Update 07/18/09: Weather information is working again.  I presume weather.com didn't change things back, so I'm guessing Irritrol was working as a middleman taking weather.com info and packaging it for their program when it calls back to HQ.  Originally I had thought the program contacted weather.com directly but it looks like that's not the case.  As long as Irritrol is around and supporting this program, that should mean the program can always access the data with the exception of short windows around when weather.com changes their system.  That was a smart design decision.] (continue reading…)

If you don’t mind paying more than 10 times the price of a standard incandescent lamp, a new incandescent technology can boost efficiency around 30% and lasts about 3 times as long.  They’re still not as efficient as a CFL but they’re instantly on at full brightness, which is my only complaint about CFL.  Home Depot and Amazon.com are currently selling them under the Philips Halogena Energy Savers name at around $5 apiece. (continue reading…)