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The world is now full of advancements. And as man’s mechanism to adapt to these advancements, several individuals and groups support different funded projects to further make the present technologies even more sophisticated. Whether these technologies give advantages or disadvantages, what is important is that they are built with the aim of helping mankind.

Among other things, countries are in competition with regard to advanced technology. When one country has invented a system, expect that another country will release a new invention. And so others do the same. And this pattern goes on and on.

On this issue, the state performs an important role in supporting its constituents to produce more and more advanced technologies.

Five next generation vehicle research projects were chosen by the United States Department of Energy to receive a maximum of $19 million from the DOE fund in order to further develop plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). A total of $33.8 million projects chosen for negotiation of awards were mixed with the industry’s cost share.

The five chosen projects support advanced power electronics and electric motor technologies so that they would be able to help introduce advanced PHEV, HEV, and FCV applications to the market. This was in support of President George Bush’s Twenty in Ten plans. These seek to minimize by twenty percent the country’s gas consumption within the decade through maximizing the use of alternative and renewable sources of energy and advancing the current Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards.

While also increasing vehicle efficiency, the projects will emphasize the reduction of cost, weight, and size of electric drive and power conversion devices. High-temperature three-phase inverters, high-speed motors, integrated traction drive systems, and bi-directional DC/DC converters are the four areas in which the chosen projects will focus on.

Selected projects are the Delphi Automotive Systems in Troy, Michigan, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University of Blacksburg, Virginia, the General Electric Global Research of Niskayuna, New York, the General Motors Corporation in Torrance, California, and the U.S. Hybrid Corporation of Torrance, California.

For negotiation of an award reaching to $4.9 million intended for high-temperature three-phase inverter research, the Delphi Automotive Systems in Troy, Michigan has been chosen. The agility of electric motors are controlled and regulated by three-phase inverters. The Dow Corning, GE Global Research, GeneSiC, Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are the other team members for the project.

For negotiation of an award of up to $1.7 million, the DOE has chosen Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University of Blacksburg, Virginia. The project will focus on developing an advanced soft switching inverter in order to minimize switching and power losses. The Azure Dynamics, Powerex, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are the other team members for the project.

To work on developing high-speed electric motors, the General Electric Global Research of Niskayuna, New York, has been chosen for negotiation of an award of up to $3.4 million. With team members GE Motors and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the project will be focusing on increasing the traction motor drive power density and efficiency at minimized costs for PHEVs, HEVs and FCVs. This will be done by building an electric motor of at least 55kW peak power and that has the capability to operate on a high speed. The project’s goal is to have at least 14,000 revolutions per minute (RPM).

Maker of quality GMC suspension bushing, General Motors Corporation in Torrance, California, has been chosen for negotiation of an award costing a maximum of $7.9 million. The work is to develop a combined traction motor and power electronic inverter for PHEV, HEV, and FCV. To lower the cost, weight, and package volume, and increase efficiency is the goal of the project. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Ames National Laboratory, Arnold Magnetics, Encap Technologies, Isothermal Systems Research, and AVX are GMC’s team members.

To work on a vehicle system research on order to determine the optimum operating battery and DC-link voltages, allowing for higher efficiency and less costs, the U.S. Hybrid Corporation of Torrance, California has been selected. This was for an award of up to $1.3 million for a bi-directional DC/DC converter for PHEVs. The project will include University of Illinois, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and SiCED as the company’s teammates.

As an essential part of DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program, advancing vehicle technologies aims to develop and improve vehicle technologies and alternative fuels that could tremendously reduce the need for petroleum, lessen emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, and enable the U.S. transportation industry to maintain a strong, competitive position in the domestic and international markets.

The compounds of arsenic have been known since at least the days of Ancient Greece and Rome. They were used by physicians and prisoners. The compound most often used for both purposes was arsenic sulfide (As23). Arsenic was first recognized as an element by alchemists. Alchemy was a kind of pre-science that existed from about 500 B.C. to about the end of the 16th century. People who studied alchemy, alchemists, wanted to find a way of changing lead, iron, and other metals into gold. They were also looking for a way to have eternal life. Alchemy contained too much magic and mysticism to be a real science, but alchemists developed a number of techniques and produced many new materials that were later found to be useful in modern chemistry. A small amount of arsenic is used in alloys (An alloy is made by melting and then mixing two or more metals. The mixture has properties different from those of individual metals.) The most important use of arsenic in the United States is in wood preservatives.

Arsenic can be produced from its ores very easily; so many early craftspeople may have seen the element without realizing what it was. Since arsenic is somewhat similar to mercury, early scholars probably confused the two elements with each other. Credit for the actual discovery of arsenic often goes to alchemist Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus). He heated a common compound of arsenic, orpiment (As2S3), with soap. Nearly pure arsenic was formed in the process. By the mid-seventeenth century, arsenic was well known as an element.  

Arsenic occurs in two allotropic forms (Allotropes are forms of an element with different physical and chemical properties.) The more common form of arsenic is a shiny, gray, brittle, metallic-looking solid. The less common form is a yellow crystalline solid. It is produced when vapors of arsenic are cooled suddenly. When heated, arsenic does not melt, as most solids do. Instead, it changes directly into a vapor (gas). This process is known as sublimation. However, under high pressure, arsenic can be forced to melt at about 814°C (1,500°F). Arsenic has a density of 5.72 grams per cubic centimeter.

Arsenic is a metalloid, an element that has properties of both metals and non-metals and   occurs in the periodic table on either side of the staircase line that starts between boron and aluminum. When heated in air, arsenic combines with oxygen to form arsenic oxide (As2O3). A blue flame is produced, and arsenic oxide can be identified by its distinctive garlic-like odor. Arsenic combines with oxygen more slowly at room temperatures. The thin coating of arsenic oxide that forms on the element prevents it from reacting further. Arsenic does not dissolve in water or most cold acids. It does react with some hot acids to form arsenous acid (H3AsO3) or arsenic acid (H3AsO4).

Arsenic rarely occurs as a pure element. It is usually found as a compound. The most common ores of arsenic are arsenopyrite (FeAsS), orpiment (As2S3), and realgar (As4S4). These compounds are obtained as a by-product of the mining and purification of silver metal. The abundance of arsenic in the Earth’s crust is thought to be about 5 parts per million. That places it among the bottom third of the elements in abundance in the Earth’s crust. The world’s largest producers of arsenic are China, Chile, Mexico, Belgium, Namibia, and the Philippines. The United States does not produce any arsenic. About 14 radioactive isotopes of arsenic are known. One naturally occurring isotope of arsenic exists, arsenic-75. None of the isotopes of arsenic have any important commercial use. The process of recovering arsenic from its ores is a common one used with metals. The ore is first roasted (heated in air) to chemically convert arsenic sulfide to arsenic oxide. The arsenic oxide is then heated with charcoal (pure carbon). The carbon reacts with the oxygen in arsenic oxide, leaving behind pure arsenic:

Arsenic is mostly used in compounds. A much smaller amount of the element itself is used in alloys. For example, certain parts of lead storage batteries used in cars and trucks contain alloys of lead and arsenic. Arsenic has also been used to make lead shot in the past. The amount of arsenic used in these applications is likely to continue to decrease as it is too easy for arsenic to get into the environment from such applications. Minute amounts of arsenic are used in the electronics industry. It is added to germanium and silicon to make transistors. A compound of arsenic, gallium arsenide (GaAs), is also used to make light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs produce the lighted numbers in hand-held calculators, clocks, watches, and a number of other electronic devices.

Arsenic has a fascinating history as a healer and killer. Early physicians, such as Hippocrates (c. 460 B.C-370 B.C.) and Paracelsus (1493-1541), recommended arsenic for the treatment of some diseases. In more recent times, compounds of arsenic have been used to treat a variety of diseases, including syphilis and various tropical diseases. Arsenic has a special place in the history of modern medicine. In 1910, German biologist Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) invented the first drug that would cure syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease. This drug, called salvarsan, is a compound of arsenic. Its chemical name is arsphenamine.

O n July 9, 1850, the twelfth president of the United States, Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), died in office. He had served as president for a little more than sixteen months. The cause of his death was widely reported as gastroenteritis (an inflammation in the stomach and intestines). He had gotten sick after eating a mixture of cherries and buttermilk. But for years, historians wondered whether Taylor had been murdered by arsenic- poisoning. On June 17, 1991, Taylor’s remains were exhumed (removed from his grave) from a cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. The late president’s descendents agreed with historians that the possibility of poisoning existed. Samples of Taylor’s hair and fingernails were taken to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for analysis.

Scientists used a process that measured the amount of arsenic in the tissue samples. Most human bodies do contain traces of arsenic. So the key issue was whether there would be more arsenic in the tissue samples than would be normal for someone who had been dead for 141 years. If there were, that would mean Taylor was probably poisoned; if not, death by natural causes was more likely. The Kentucky medical examiner (a public official who studies corpses to find the cause of death) came to a conclusion. He said the amount of arsenic found in Taylor’s samples was several hundred times less than what could be expected had the president been poisoned by arsenic. So while some still wonder whether Taylor was poisoned, arsenic was certainly not the chemical element used. And, more than likely, it was the cherries and buttermilk.

Compounds of arsenic have long been used for undesirable purposes. Especially during the Middle Ages, they were a popular form of committing murder. At the time, it was difficult to detect the presence of arsenic in the body. A person murdered by receiving arsenic was often thought to have died of pneumonia. The toxic properties of arsenic compounds made them useful as rat poison. However, they are seldom used for this purpose today. Safer compounds are used that do not present a threat to humans, pets, and the environment. Today, the most important use of arsenic is in the preservation of wood. It is used in the form of a compound called chromated copper arsenate (CCA). CCA accounts for about 90 percent of all the arsenic used in the United States. It is added to wood used to build houses and other wooden structures. It prevents organisms from growing in the wood and causing it to rot.  However, there is significant concern about the use of arsenic-treated wood in playground equipment and raised garden beds because of toxicity.

Arsenic and its compounds are toxic to animals. In low doses, arsenic
produces nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. In larger doses, it causes abnormal heart beat, damage to blood vessels, and a feeling of “pins and needles” in hands and feet. Small corns or warts may begin to develop on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Direct contact with the skin can cause redness and swelling. Long term exposure to arsenic and its compounds can cause cancer. Inhalation can result in lung cancer. If swallowed, cancer is likely to develop in the bladder, kidneys, liver, and lungs. In large doses, arsenic and its compounds can cause death.

Geothermal (GeoExchange) Heat Pump Technology is Poised to Support Economic Recovery and Long-Term Energy goals

The stimulus package is intended to create and save 3.6 million jobs and jumpstart the economy with economic recovery tax cuts and targeted investments. In addition to putting money back in the pockets of consumers and businesses, the package also includes provisions that will help achieve long-term goals, such as improving energy efficiency in both the public and private sectors.

Among those provisions, the plan calls for a disbursement of $6.9 billion to state and local governments for energy efficiency upgrades and the reduction of carbon emissions, which amounts to an average of $100 million to each state.

By investing a portion of this $100 million in rebates or low interest loans to homeowners who replace their old fossil fuel or electric furnaces with geothermal heat pumps, the country would definitely make progress toward the goals of the stimulus package. States that have invested in similar programs were able to create hundreds of green collar jobs while significantly increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions.

Green Jobs. An additional state $2,000 rebate on the purchase of a geothermal heat pump – or the availability of low interest loans – could generate an additional 200 heat pump sales every month in a typical state, or 2,400 geothermal heat pump unit sales at the end of the first year. Further, every 18 heat pump installations can create one new job. By the end of the first year that means 133 new green collar jobs can be created (2,400 units divided by 18 installations per job). At $2,000 per unit, the total cost of a job creation/energy efficiency rebate program would be $4.8 million over the course of a year.

Every geothermal heat pump requires 24 hours of manufacturing labor and 32 hours of installation labor. Small businesses involved in the installation include heating and air conditioning contractors, electricians, plumbers, excavators and drilling machine operators. These businesses have the capacity and technical skills to begin installing green geothermal technology in more homes immediately.

Reduced Carbon Footprint. In addition to creating jobs, a rebate program and the ensuing installation of geothermal heat pumps would cut an average four metric tons of carbon emissions per year per unit due to the high energy efficiency of geothermal heat pump technology. This means that for the average unit life of 24.4 years, 97.6 metric tons of emissions could be eliminated over the lifetime of each unit, and 234,240 tons over the lifetime of every 2,400 units sold through a state rebate program.

A recent report published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimated that aggressive deployment of GHPs could achieve 35 to 40 percent of a recommended carbon reduction path for the U.S. building sector. The full report can be downloaded at ornl232.geoexchange.org

If every state takes at least five percent of the funding available through the energy efficiency portion of the stimulus package and invests it in a geothermal heat pump incentive, there couldn’t be a more cost effective, greener way to put people back to work, save fossil fuel, reduce carbon emissions and save homeowners thousands of dollars per year for the next 24 years. It’s the stimulus that keeps on stimulating.

Reba@GreenAirExpert.org

http://www.geothermalexperts.net

http://www.goeggsystems.com