Power Air Zinc Air Fuel Cells

Power Air Corporation’s Zinc Air Fuel Cell technology offers an alternative to batteries, generators, and hydrogen fuel cells as it creates residual zinc oxide that, through electrolysis, can be recycled back into reusable zinc fuel.Power Air Corporation (OTC: PWAC) (PAC), a clean energy company, Is developing a commercially viable Zinc-Air Fuel Cell (ZAFC) technology that generates reliable, environmentally sustainable, zero emission energy for portable, stationary, light mobility, and transportation applications.

Power Air’s better way replaces batteries and engines with fuel cells that can be quickly recharged by a simple exchange of electrolyte. PAC’s ZAFC technology is made using low cost materials and conventional manufacturing techniques. Products powered by PAC’s ZAFC have all the advantages of batteries and engines, without the disadvantages.

The ZAFC is a metal oxide fuel cell using relatively simple physical chemistry. It uses a combination of atmospheric oxygen and zinc pellets in a liquid alkaline electrolyte to generate electricity with by products of zinc oxide and potassium zincates. – continues on the fraserdomain

Lunar Rover What was its power source on the moon? How was it assembled?

A visitor to my moon landing page sends the following. Click thumbnails to enlarge pictures.

THEY LANDED FIVE TIMES IN SIX YEARS AND IN 40 YEARS LATER THEY STILL DIDN’T GO BACK. THEY WOULD HAVE BUILD THE SPACE STATION ON THE MOON IF THEY WOULD HAVE REALLY LANDED. THE MOON ROVER WAS A JOKE LOOK AT THOSE TWO PICTURES + HOW IN THE WORLD COULD THEY HAVE ASSEMBLED SUCH A BIG 1952 JEEP AND DROVE IT SO EASILY WITHOUT POWER SOURCE.

Wikipedia says this:

The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle was an electric vehicle designed to operate in the low-gravity vacuum of the Moon and to be capable of traversing the lunar surface, allowing the Apollo astronauts to extend the range of their surface extravehicular activities. … Each wheel had its own electric drive, a DC series wound 0.25 hp (200 W) motor capable of 10,000 rpm, attached to the wheel via an 80:1 harmonic drive, and a mechanical brake unit. Maneuvering capability was provided through the use of front and rear steering motors. Each series wound DC steering motor was capable of 0.1 hp (100 W). Both sets of wheels would turn in opposite directions, giving a steering radius of 10 feet (3 m), or could be decoupled so only one set would be used for steering. They could also free-wheel in case of drive failure. Power was provided by two 36-volt silver-zinc potassium hydroxide non-rechargeable batteries with a capacity of 121 A·h. These were used to power the drive and steering motors and also a 36 volt utility outlet mounted on front of the LRV to power the communications relay unit or the TV camera.

Considerable money was spent on the moon buggies.

Four were made – at a total cost of $38 million. Developed in just 17 months, the 3.1-metre vehicle was powered by two 36-volt silver-zinc potassium hydroxide batteries, enabling a top speed of 8mph. – carsmoneycantbuy

How do silver-zinc batteries compare to lithium ion batteries?

Silver-zinc chemistry has three significant advantages over lithium ion, according to Dueber: It’s inherently safer because it lacks the volatile cathode makeup that leads to a thermal runaway, it’s very green since both silver and zinc are non-toxic as well as recyclable, and, perhaps most importantly, it packs 40% more energy into a battery pack than lithium ion can. Silver-zinc has a long history…. It was used by the military and aerospace where programs could afford to pay for the higher-priced silver in exchange for increased energy density. – edn

Hard Time Killing Fraud

When a prominent Indian politician said her political opponents had put a black magic spell on her, one of India’s largest Hindu TV stations invited Indian rationalist Sanal Edamaruku to debate black magic shaman Pandit Surinder Sharma on science and religion. That’s where it got interesting:

During the discussion, the tantrik showed a small human shape of wheat flour dough, laid a thread around it like a noose and tightened it. He claimed that he was able to kill any person he wanted within three minutes by using black magic. Sanal challenged him to try and kill him.

The tantrik tried. He chanted his mantras (magic words): “Om lingalingalinalinga, kilikili….” But his efforts did not show any impact on Sanal – not after three minutes, and not after five. The time was extended and extended again. The original discussion program should have ended here, but the “breaking news” of the ongoing great tantra challenge was overrunning all program schedules.

[...]

He started sprinkling water on Sanal and brandishing a knife in front of him. Sometimes he moved the blade all over his body. Sanal did not flinch. Then he touched Sanal’s head with his hand, rubbing and rumpling up his hair, pressing his forehead, laying his hand over his eyes, pressing his fingers against his temples. When he pressed harder and harder, Sanal reminded him that he was supposed to use black magic only, not forceful attacks to bring him down. The tantrik took a new run: water, knife, fingers, mantras. But Sanal kept looking very healthy and even amused.

After nearly two hours, the anchor declared the tantrik’s failure. The tantrik, unwilling to admit defeat, tried the excuse that a very strong god whom Sanal might be worshipping obviously protected him. “No, I am an atheist,” said Sanal Edamaruku. Finally, the disgraced tantrik tried to save his face by claiming that there was a never-failing special black magic for ultimate destruction, which could, however, only been done at night. Bad luck again, he did not get away with this, but was challenged to prove his claim this very night in another “breaking news” live program. – reason

Truckers ‘going broke’ and threatening to strike

What started as a small, online grassroots effort now appears to have the potential for something bigger.Dan Little, the owner/operator of a livestock hauling company in Carrollton, Mo., estimated Tuesday that at least 1,000 other truckers from across the United States have committed so far to joining him in a strike on April 1.

Although none of the truckers interviewed Tuesday at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, Walcott, which is just off Interstate 80 west of Davenport, has heard of the intended strike, some said they would shut down, too. Weldon Kinnison, a Virginia trucker who was hauling soft drink from Indiana to Denver, heard about the plans for a strike for the first time Tuesday while stopping at Walcott.

“I’m an owner/operator with the American Truckers Association,” he said. “I’d park my truck for a week with the cattle haulers. “The fuel is too high, and there’s no reason for it. I don’t listen to the CB (radio) that much, but I guess I’ll start now.”

At issue is the rising cost of diesel fuel, which has reached or exceeded $4 per gallon in at least 17 states. But Little does not expect his strike to bring down the per-gallon price of gas, nor does he expect to have any effect on the oil companies.

“What I would personally like to see is our federal and state governments, until our economy recovers, suspend federal and state fuel taxes,” the 49-year-old said. “The second thing I’d like to see is an oversight committee for truck insurance, which is part of what’s taking us down.

“The average owner/operator is paying $600 to $800 a month for truck insurance. It’s based on personal credit, which means the monthly cost is going up for a lot of truckers because their credit is going down.

“Everything in the world is going up (in price), except for what we do. I lose money if I start my truck, and that truck is paid for — free and clear.”

Mike Hills, a driver from Wyoming, Iowa, said he also would shut down to support Little and the others — if he could.

“I can’t strike with them because I’m company,” he said while at the Walcott truck stop. “If I owned the truck, I’d strike with them. As far as I’m concerned, the gas prices are driving the economy.

“It might be a good thing if the drivers strike. They can’t make payments. Maybe if the oil companies bought all the trucks, things would change. Everything in this country is trucked.”

Hills then removed his wristwatch, using it to explain his point of view: “Every piece of this watch was trucked from somewhere. If you can’t keep up with the trucks, we’re all screwed — not just this country, but the world.” – qctimes

Many things will change as the world runs out of oil.

Countrywide Reconstructed: PennyMac

As the largest mortgage lender in the United States, many believe Countrywide Financial helped fuel the subprime mortgage mess with its no-holds-barred approach to mortgage lending. Now a group of former Countrywide executives are looking for a new way to get paid: buy distressed mortgages at rock-bottom prices and resell them for a pretty penny.

On Monday investment management firms BlackRock (nyse: BLK – news – people ) and Highfields Capital Management announced they are funding the venture, which will be called Private National Mortgage Acceptance and will be run by Stanford Kurland, a 27-year veteran of Countrywide Financial (nyse: CFC – news – people ). Kurland served as president and chief operating officer at the lender through 2006.

Private National Mortgage, also known as PennyMac, will invest in and service resident mortgages with capital raised from private investors. The aim is to avoid home foreclosures and restructure loans so borrowers can maintain payments and stay in their homes.

PennyMac will acquire loans from financial institutions seeking to reduce their mortgage exposure. BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Laurence D. Fink said PennyMac is looking to bring “patient capital to the unprecedented distress in residential mortgages.”

Highfields Co-Founder Jonathon S. Jacobson said although there has been significant attention on write-downs of mortgage-related losses, “whole loan losses have barely begun to materialize.” But Jacobson expects losses to soar over the next two to three years. “PennyMac will be extraordinarily well positioned as both a buyer and servicer of these assets,” Jacobson said.

Meanwhile, some criticize the fact that executives from a company facing probes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for securities fraud, as well as lawsuits and regulatory questioning, can profit from a downturn in the mortgage market it helped to create. (See “ Countrywide’s New Bad News”)

David Spector, the former co-head of global residential mortgages for Morgan Stanley, will be chief investment officer of Pennymac. The firm’s operations will be based in Calabasas, Calif., headquarters of Countrywide.

In January, Bank of America (nyse: BAC – news – people ) agreed to buy Countrywide for $4 billion. (See ” Countrywide On Clearance“) – forbes

U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Hits 4,000

from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod