Concentrating Solar Power Cracking the Code Concentrating Solar Power Cracking the Code Concentrating Solar Power: Cracking the Code How do you know when a new technology has truly arrived? Contrary to what one might think, its not when manufacturers of the next big thing surpass break-even and settle comfortably in the black. Or when brand awareness has evolved such that a product becomes the solution of choice among potential users. Rather, the highest praise makers of any promising new technology can hope to receive is when industry cares enough about the product to demand rules be written to ensure it performs exactly the way it should. Its these heightened expectations, says Bernie Pastorik, engineering manager of testing services at McHale Associates, Inc., that separates the good from the great. You can come up with a good engineering idea that benefits industry, and for years, theres no code, he says. Its only once it becomes prevalent that industry will begin to feel the need to have a well-defined and agreed-upon standard that everybody respects. The Need for Codes In the field of alternative energy, one of the more promising technologies now being put through these paces is concentrating solar power (CSP) systems, which use the suns heatrather than fossil fuelsto boil water and create steam that spins the large turbines that drive electricity generators. Due to the spate of state and federal legislation passed to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil and promote green energy, CSP systems, along with their carbon-neutral cousins, wind, and geothermal, are taking off. That development has created a need for codes to provide industry with guidance on how to prepare, execute, and report on performance tests, says Pastorik. Concentrating solar power (CSP), a promising technology, uses the suns heat to power turbines that drive electricity generators. According to researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, which forms public and private partnerships to make CSP technologies competitive in power markets worldwide, CSP offers one of the most promising solutions to the power generation issues facing the West. There, rising population growth, drought conditions that render hyrdropower infeasible, and rising demand for electricity, make the idea of harnessing the power of the sun, especially during the season when both its potency and the public demand on utilities peak, a win-win. In 2010, much of that potential came to fruition as six CSP plants received permits from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. According to U.S. Solar Market Insight, a joint publication of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, the rash of permits represents a strong comeback in the U.S. after a two-decade fallow periodfrom 1996-2006that followed an initial surge of CSP development in California in the 1980s. Today, the U.S. Southwest is the site of 41 new CSP projectson tap to generate a combined total of 9 GWincluding some of the largest CSP projects to be built. These will come online over the course of the next five to six years, with 2013 expected to be a milestone for the industry with some eight projects due for commissioning. ASME Committee That timing could dovetail nicely with the work Pastorik and other CSP stakeholders are doing on the ASME committee formed in 2009 to ensure performance testing codes for those plants are ready to handle the boom. Pastorik, who now serves as vice chair of that ASME committee, recalls the 2009 ASME Conference on Energy Sustainability in San Francisco at which attendees from various sectors of the solar Industry debated whether there was enough interest in creating a code. Should we even bother? But consensus emerged that rapidly advancing CSP technologiesparabolic trough, linear fresnel, and power towercombined with stepped-up government funding and legislation to push green energy meant the time for a new code had come. Performance Test Code (PTC) 52 was born. Citing the usual four-to-five-year gestation period for new codes, Pastorik estimates the committee is about halfway through the process. With the codes goals and scope defined, members are now drilling into each technology to determine whats important in terms of those goals and how do we get there? What measurements do we need and what considerations do we evaluate for testing? All angles must be assessed, from the duration of the test to the test conditions themselves: Is one hour adequate or is a full-day test, with equipment evaluated from sunrise to sunset, more meaningful? Should the test be conducted near solar noon and only on sunny days? These are the questions committee members, carefully chosen from among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), independent engineering firms, testing service companies, owners, PV contractors, and government entities, have been debating to arrive at the right answersand a solid code. A firm grasp of engineering knowledge, experience, and research represented on the committee ensures that risk doesnt get pushed unfairly onto the owners, lets say, or the OEMs, explains Pastorik. A balanced perspective ensures you get the right compromises on the right values, and most importantly the most accurate test thats economically possible within a reasonable time frame. Thats what everyone is shooting for. The lists of stakeholders who stand to benefit is a long one. Among the many who await the new codebeyond those engineers who will use the codes guidelines to test CSP equipment performanceare design engineers who can use PTC 52 to identify and plan proper instrument connections by targeting high-priority maintenance/capital items. Purchasing agents and sales people can refer to test results when seeking to add equipment guarantees to contracts while the very same results can also be used by manufacturers and suppliers to validate their equipments performance. Just as important, engineers, maintenance, and operations staff can use PTC 52 to evaluate the key components of their plants and plan improvements accordingly. The development of ASME PTC 52 will enable the solar-power industry to standardize performance testing and analysis effortsjust as other forms of power generation have already doneand further solidify its status, says Pastorik. That outcome will serve the committees larger objective: enhancing solar powers viability as an alternative to fossil fuels. In that scenario everyones a winner. Marion Hart is an independent writer. Today, the U.S. Southwest is the site of 41 new CSP projectson tap to generate a combined total of 9 GWincluding some of the largest CSP projects to be built yet.
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How to Make Extra Money Over the Holiday Season - The Muse How to Make Extra Money Over the Holiday Season Ho, ho, holy crap the holidays can be expensive! With all the gift giving and get-togethers, you might wonder if it’s possible to survive this season without spending all your paychecks. Well, let me tell you, it is! All you have to do is commit to taking on some side hustles. Oh, and commit to doing it in such a way that you won’t infuriate your boss or upset your co-workers. Here are the golden rules of making extra coin while staying off your company’s naughty list. 1. Keep it Kosher One word of caution: Before you dive head first into a side gig, make sure that everything is on the up and up. Check that your company doesn’t have a non-compete clause. Or, if there is one that you signed when you came on board, make sure you’re clear on the terms so you can know exactly what other work you’re permitted to do. This will give you the peace of mind that should your boss get wise to your extracurricular work, what you’re doing is well within your rights. 2. Keep it on the DL From Your Co-workers Obviously, you can’t use company time to make some extra cash. Even so, offices are often full of gossip. And if your team members know you’re working on the side, misinformation about your split focus could spread. So, don’t feed the office gossips by telling anyone- even your best work friends- that you’re moonlighting. With that said, if you think there’s a chance it could get back to your boss, say something now and ensure him or her that it will in no way interfere with your responsibilities. Better him finding out from you than him finding out on his own and then assuming that’s why your recent presentation arrived so late. Oh, and if your side gig is something you’re open about- say you’re a graphic designer or a copywriter, which is obvious from your website and you’d want contacts to spread the word- just be religious about keeping those activities outside the workplace. 3. Make Sure It’s Flexible Now, the key to keeping your side gig a secret (unlike the fact that you totally re-gifted that soap set in the office’s Secret Santa) from others, is that it has to be flexible enough to work during your free time. Consider these options: Upwork or Fiverr Have some skills that you can offer as a freelancer, like personal assisting or web development? Find clients and projects easily on sites like Upwork or Fiverr. Uber or Lyft If you have a car with insurance, a clean driving record, and the patience and skill to navigate city streets like Rudolph, working with a ride-sharing service just might be the ticket for you. TaskRabbit or AskForTask If helping someone move on the weekend sounds like your idea of a good time (or doesn’t, but you’re willing to do it to make some extra money), becoming a tasker with TaskRabbit or AskForTask (in Canada) could be perfect for you. But you don’t have to love lifting heavy stuff. These companies are always looking for cleaners, errand runners, and general help. 4. Find Something Noncommittal When it comes to holiday side hustles, being noncommittal is key. Year-end can be chaotic for some employers, so if your day job requires some unexpected, extra hours, you want to make sure that you are ready to give your all- without feeling the urgency to dash through the snow to work your side gig. And what’s more noncommittal than working from your couch in your PJs? There are many online jobs available that you can do from the comfort of your own home. For example, take a break from happy hour this Friday and try to break a new website or find bugs in some software all from your living room. Sites like UserTesting.com- where you narrate and record your experience navigating a website- pay around $10 for 20 minutes of work, a great option for making extra bank. Or, believe it or not, some companies will pay you to be opinionated. Try a site like SwagBucks, and earn gift cards that you can re-gift without the guilt. It has an app, so you can take this work on the go, too. And, if you want cold hard cash, search for market research companies that pay you for filling out surveys or being part of a focus group. Or, if you’re particularly qualified and have significant expertise on a topic, consider signing up to offer advice on a site such as JustAnswer. Cha-ching! Last, but not least, if you want to elevate your expert status, consider creating and selling a course on a site like Udemy. You’ll make some money and add a line to your resume. While making a little extra dough around the holidays can be helpful, it’s never worth jeopardizing your actual bread and butter. Always make sure to be completely present and engaged at work. You’ll have a much easier time paying that credit card bill in January if you keep your day job.
12/24/2019 0 Comments Innovating Supercapacitor DesignInnovating Supercapacitor Design Innovating Supercapacitor Design Innovating Supercapacitor Design Mircea Dinca, associate professor of chemistry at MIT, has worked on his share of interesting projects, but he didnt expect to find himself delving into area of energy storage devices. He finds himself with a new appreciation for them now, however, after leading a team that created a supercapacitor without graphitic carbon. The development could lead to energy storage devices storing and delivering more energy. Were synthetic chemists and we make new materials and get a kick out of thinking outside the box, says Dinca. Sort of imagine what are the important metrics for any important project and were thinking about whether we can involve any material that is outside the norm. Here, supercapacitors require highly conductive material with high surface area so that you have large capacitants that scale with surface area. You need to combine electrical conductivity with surface area and, working with very high surface area materials, our interest was to also make them electrically combusted. Our work took years but the results have been very positive so far. Prof. Mircea Dinca, MIT. Image: Justin Knight Metal-Organic Frameworks Working without graphitic carbon, a carbon normally found in supercapacitors, Dinca actually saw multiple advantages, and termed his new class of materials metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs. Our metal organic frameworks clearly have organic components but they are well defined molecules, he says. Its organic, its made partly of carbon but they are well defined components. And in terms of any property you can think of, they are very different from graphitic carbons. They are better thought of as a different class of materials than what had been used previously. The material can be made in temperatures much lower than those needed for graphitic carbon, he says. For what were doing, you should be able to produce it at room temperatures as a solid and it also doesnt need chemicals we dont want to use like sodium hydroxide, he says. Their capacitor has a much lower internal resistance, he says. We have shown it can work at, say, one and a half volts but we would like to improve it, and theres no reason to think it couldnt get to four and a half volts. If we can reach it, then it will look very attractive to a lot of commercial companies. There were a few surprises along the way but one stood out. We didnt optimize it at all and, despite that, we are still beating commercial devices in a number of metrics, he says. But we want to push it forward with optimization. It will further improve in metrics. It was tested at 10,000 cycles for the first demo of the new material. We saw very good reproducibility, he says, and very good capacitance retention, meaning less than 10% lost in capacity. In addition, a decent number of adjustments were made from the first iteration to the current one and they had to do with learning how to make the devices, along with choosing proper current collectors. But its been an enjoyable ride that just might lead to more forays into device work. Im a curious person by nature and you get a sense of the fun engineers are having, he says. This is what its all about: stepping outside your comfort zone to see if you can add new abilities to the mix. Eric Butterman is an independent writer. We didnt optimize it at all and, despite that, we are still beating commercial devices in a number of metrics.Prof. Mircea Dinca, MIT
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