Transmission Congestion Threatens To Clog Nation's Power Grid

Science Daily — Inadequate investment in the power grid transmission network remains the Achilles heel of the nation's electric system, an engineer who specializes in utility policy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says.

The electric industry and government regulators have addressed the immediate problems that led to the nation's worst power failure three years ago on Aug. 14, 2003, said George Gross, a U. of I. professor of electrical and computer engineering. This includes mandatory reliability standards for the industry, which were passed by Congress as part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

But the broader problems of transmission congestion and bottlenecks continue to threaten the reliability of the grid, particularly during periods of peak demand.

"The August 2003 blackout was a wake-up call for the country to upgrade its transmission grid system," Gross said. "But the truth is that very few major transmission projects have been constructed and, as a result, transmission capacity has failed to keep pace with the expansion of power demand."

In the period between 1988 and 1998, for example, growth in electric demand grew by 30 percent, but growth in transmission capacity was just 15 percent, Gross said.

The 2003 blackout prompted calls for spending of up to $100 billion to reduce bottlenecks and increase capacity of the transmission lines that carry electricity from power plants to homes and businesses.

Instead, investment has lagged behind both power-plant generation and growth in demand for electricity. "Demand growth is forecasted to be 20 percent between 1998-2008, but the increase in transmission capacity is still below 5 percent," Gross said.

"The need to strengthen the existing transmission infrastructure, to expand it and to effectively harness advances in technology constitutes the single most pressing challenge for the country's electricity system."

Gross recommended the introduction of incentives to spur utilities and transmission companies to increase capacity. In addition, state regulatory agencies should show more initiative in encouraging new power networks that cross state lines and serve a regional rather than strictly local purpose.

The August 2003 blackout left more than 50 million people without electricity in Canada and the northeastern U.S. and cost at least $10 billion in lost economic activity.

A heat wave in California this week has resulted in cutbacks in electrical use by government agencies and businesses to avoid the kind of rolling blackouts that plagued the state in 2000 and 2001.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060727162612.htm

Brighten For Future Superconductor Power Cables

Science Daily — New research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests that next-generation, high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wire can withstand more mechanical strain than originally thought. As a result, superconductor power cables employing this future wire may be used for transmission grid applications. Projected to become available in three to four years, the advanced superconductor wire (known in the industry as second generation HTS wire) is expected to cost less than the HTS wire used in today's superconductor power cables. The NIST research is described in the Nov. 17 issue of Applied Physics Letters.

Superconductor power cables can carry three to five times the power of conventional copper cables. Compact, underground superconductor cables can be used to expand capacity and direct power flows at strategic points on the electric power grid and can be used in city centers where there is enormous demand, but little space under the streets for additional copper cables. One important challenge in using this next-generation HTS wire in such applications is the need for sufficient strength and resiliency to withstand the stretching and bending that occurs during power cable fabrication and installation.

Using superconductor ceramic coatings on metallic substrates fabricated by American Superconductor Corp. and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the NIST researchers tested the material's electromechanical properties. According to lead author Najib Cheggour, they found that these advanced wires could stretch almost twice as much as previously believed without any cracking of the superconductor coating and with almost no loss in the coating's ability to carry electricity.

Moreover, the NIST team found that strain-induced degradation of the superconductors' ability to carry electricity is reversible up to a certain critical strain value. That is, the materials return to their original condition once the strain is relieved. The strain tolerance of this future HTS wire was found to be high enough for even the most demanding electric utility applications. The discovered reversible strain effect also opens new opportunities for better understanding of the mechanisms governing the conduction of electricity in this class of superconductors.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031124071226.htm

Casimir Effect Heats Up

Science Daily — For the first time, a group led by Nobel laureate Eric Cornell at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado in Boulder has confirmed a 1955 prediction, by physicist Evgeny Lifschitz, that temperature affects the Casimir force, the attraction between two objects when they come to within 5 millionths of a meter (approximately 1/5,000 of an inch) of each other or less. These efforts heighten the understanding of the force and enable future experiments to better account for its effects.

Tiny as it is, the Casimir effect causes parts in nano- and microelectromechanical systems (NEMS and MEMS) to stick together. It confounds tabletop experimental efforts to detect exotic new forces beyond those predicted by Newtonian gravity and the Standard Model of particle physics.

In their work, the researchers investigated the Casimir-Polder force, the attraction between a neutral atom and a nearby surface. The Colorado group sent ultracold rubidium atoms to within a few microns of a glass surface. Doubling the temperature of the glass to 600 degrees Kelvin while keeping the surroundings near room temperature caused the glass to increase its attractive force threefold, confirming theoretical predictions recently made by the group's theorist co-authors in Trento, Italy.

What was happening here? The Casimir force arises from effects of the vacuum (empty space). According to quantum mechanics, the vacuum contains fleeting electromagnetic waves, in turn consisting of electric and magnetic fields. The electric fields can slightly rearrange the charge in atoms. Such "polarized" atoms can then feel a force from an electric field. The vacuum's electric fields are altered by the presence of the glass, creating a region of maximum electric field that attracts the atoms. In addition, heat inside the glass also drives the fleeting electromagnetic waves, some of which leak onto the surface as "evanescent waves." These evanescent waves have a maximum electric field on the surface and further attract the atoms.

Electromagnetic waves from heat in the rest of the environment would usually cancel out the thermal attraction from the glass surface. However, dialing up the temperature on the glass tilts the playing field in favor of glass's thermal force and heightens the attraction between the wall and the atoms.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070220144759.htm

Benefits Of Building Your Own Computer

Why would anyone want to build a computer if they can simply buy it from an existing name brand? After all it's fast, and inexpensive and of course you can rely on any brand to deliver quality service.

Most people who want to learn how to build a computer are driven by a much deeper need or interest, which is of course the joy and freedom of experimentation and learning.

Building your own PC is a great learning experience. You will gain better understanding of how the various components work together - knowledge that can be useful when troubleshooting. If your computer ever breaks down you may be able to pinpoint and fix the problem yourself right on the spot.

The greatest benefit of integrating all the parts together and making it work is that you will understand and own that knowledge forever and will be much motivated to take care of what you have given birth to. Yes you are pretty well guaranteed to get the best computer when you build your own system.

Another great advantage you have when building your machine is if you have special requirements for software or hardware, building your own PC gives you total control over the quality of the components. This flexible selection allows you to balance the system precisely as you desire so you end up with exactly the system you want.

You can save some money too, but thats the last consideration you have when you want to build a powerful & stable computer that you are proud of.

As you can see, the time invested to learn how to build your own PC has a lot to offer.

To find out how to build a computer for optimum performance visit the up to date, computer resource newsletter.

Related Articles - how to build a computer, build your own computer, benefits of building your own computer, build your own pc,

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LG Shine Vs LG Prada; The War of the Hob Goblins

Mobile arena is growing with the potentiality to suffice every communicational needs. Every competitor is challenging to better its competitor in-terms of looks and features. In this hobnob, the ones with engrossing looks stands to gain the maximum attention. LG with LG Prada KE850, LG Shine come to the fore with its two supremely stylish incarnations that promises to reap rich dividends for LG.

The LG Prada KE850 is a collaborative effort from LG and Prada - the famous Italian fashion house. And embodies stupendous styling whole bodily. Already the winner of Red dots 'best of the best' styling award, this gadget, in the name of a phone is a work of art. Prada's graceful touch is visible throughout the user interface, pre-loaded content, and ring-tones. However, the state-of-art device is not all about style and grace. LG Prada comprises 2 megapixel camera featuring Schneider-Kreuznach lens, video player and a document viewer. The video player of this phone supports MPEG4, H.263 and H.264 formats. The integrated music player helps users to play songs in Mp3, ACC, ACC+, WMA, and real audio file formats. The futuristic user interface of this phone runs with Macromedia Flash player. This EDGE and tri-band phone comes with expandable memory option, supports for Blue tooth 2.0, USB 2.0, and USB mass storage.

LG Shine, on the other hand, comes in two forms. LG KE970, the EDGE variant, has a carbon copy in the name of LG KU970, the HSDPA version. Both of the models are made with spellbinding finesse, capable to hypnotise onlookers with their shining vivacity. Both the models possess Schneider-Kreuznach lens-equipped 2 megapixel camera and a 2.2' large screen with resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The screen of both the phones supports 262 colours and offers a sharp and clear viewing facility. The screen gives a stylish mirror effect while in power-off mode.

Amongst both the variants from the house of LG, there lies very less to differentiate about. Both have a exquisite styling and persona of their own. Leaving the styling, the other discriminating factor that worth mentioning is the price tag that the both phone follow. And with Prada earmarking rich upper-class style concious souls, LG Shine, with its comparatively lesser cost price, shines bright to attract upper-middle fashion aficionados.

If you want to know more about the latest LG mobile phones with sim free, pay as you go & contract deals please visit :Mobile Phones.

http://www.amazines.com/Electronics/article_detail.cfm/276380?articleid=276380

SanDisk Memory Cards: Enough Room for Everything

With the advancement of mobile technology, everything associated with it has undergone sea changes. Bulky mobile phones gave way to razor slim phones, voice call replaced by video calls and introduction of GPRS, EDGE and eventually 3G technologies have changed one's perception of functions of a mobile phones. No longer are they only a mobile telephone, but a internet surfing device, a digital camera, a media player and a strong office tools.

As the number of functions increased, so did the need for space to fit in more and more programs and files. Initially, a couple of Mb as internal memory would have been sufficient for any mobile user because of the absence of many functions like video player or any high end functions. Later, especially during the music mobile revolution, need for additional memory packets to store data and files was felt. Memory cards started to become increasingly popular among mid and high end mobile users across the demography. Among all memory cards available today, flash memory cards from SanDisk is probably the most popular brand all over the world.

After being established back in 1988 as SunDisk, the company has closely followed and in many ways, guided the mobile technological advances. Today, SanDisk has many market leading products, competing successfully with other giant brands like Sony, Apple Inc and Samsung. Extensive product portfolio includes external memory cards of almost all types and kinds. Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Pro Duo, SD, MiniSD, and MicroSD cards – SanDisk has quickly emerged as one of the the most advanced and trusted memory card brand. Innovation has been another reason that lead to the emergence of SanDisk. Time and again, the company has been successful to surprise everyone by their innovations. The most recent example is the 2GB MicroSD external memory card that was recently launched – it is smaller than a baby's fingernail!


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