[Cog]

If not a handcrank then a bicycle crank using the mechanical advantage of gears. Us humans are pretty smart when survival comes into play.

[Outcast_Searcher]

I'm wondering how many watts this thing could produce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbJPQlu ... e=youtu.be

If I lived in Alaska and had sled dogs, I would certainly find out. BTW: I don't have much use for people who don't like dogs.

There are more people than dogs on the planet. Perhaps we should have people generating power this way!

Which of course gets to the dystopian story in Dark Mirror Season 1, "Fifteen Million Merits" where normal people live in a tiny cubicle, produce power via treadmill to earn their living, and have to pay a significant chunk of their pay not to be inundated with endless ads they can't avoid watching and hearing.

Of course, the implication is that's in a future that is managing to remain high tech. Oh, and apparently the well-off are those who can provide content that people want to see.

...

With things like Twitch TV a reality, news which is now mostly entertainment to garner eyeballs, BAU growth, more and more people packed into cities -- the trend certainly seems to be heading in that direction.

[Outcast_Searcher]

BTW: I don't have much use for people who don't like dogs.

Some dogs and cats are just fantastic pets and friends. (I love both if they're reasonably well behaved.)

OTOH, some dogs and cats are just horrific, re their vicious/violent personalities. I can see how USPS mail carriers and utility meter readers might have an issue with dogs, given how they spend their weeks. I don't see how one can reasonably put a "one size fits all" stamp on an issue like this.

[lpetrich]

Treadmills and similar energy sources are only good if the "fuel" for their "engines" is not very energetically costly to us. A horse is good if it eats grass in pastures, but not if it eats intensively-farmed grain, at least if the EROI of corn ethanol is any guide.

BTW, the horsepower was invented by steam-engine inventor James Watt as a way of promoting his steam engines. It is the rate of mechanical energy that a horse can sustainably produce, and if one of his engines can produce 10 times as much, then it can do the work of 10 horses.

James Watt's estimate of that quantity is approximately correct. A horse can produce up to 15 hp in bursts, however. There are two common conventions for it: the imperial horsepower, 745.7 watts, and the metric horsepower, 735.5 watts (75 kg lifted 1 meter).

We can do about 0.1 horsepower sustained, and 1 hp in bursts.

[vtsnowedin]

In 1915 there were 26 million horses in the USA. By 1960 it had dropped to 3 million. It has sense rebounded to 9 million. Each horse consumes some five tons of grass and hay each year and usually some corn and oats on the side. So getting rid of 23 million horses freed up about 50 million acres of hay and pasture land for other livestock or crops.

[GHung]

In 1915 there were 26 million horses in the USA. By 1960 it had dropped to 3 million. It has sense rebounded to 9 million. Each horse consumes some five tons of grass and hay each year and usually some corn and oats on the side. So getting rid of 23 million horses freed up about 50 million acres of hay and pasture land for other livestock or crops.

Horses are also quite destructive to pastures. They need a lot of acreage to be sustainably grazed. Dogs can eat table scraps, roadkill, dead fish, leftovers from the butcher, or even your cat if it comes to that.

[vtsnowedin]

But no ox ever did a two minute mile pulling a sulky.

[KaiserJeep]

I know people who are obsessed with dogs and cats. There is even a new refrigerated section of my local grocery store to provide fresh pet foods.

I have known many people obsessed with horses as well. Those pets take a large bite out of your income, since they require a fair amount of space and food and care.

But I never met anybody who liked oxen. Except perhaps me, as I have a fondness for oxtail soup.

[Outcast_Searcher]

But I never met anybody who liked oxen. Except perhaps me, as I have a fondness for oxtail soup.

Two thumbs up for oxtail soup. Mom used to let that simmer in a crock pot all day. Fall off the bone tender, moderate amount of fat, and the meat would absorb a lot of the flavors from the soup (compared to, say, beef, IMO).

Via a quick search, I see a bunch of packaged Oxtail soup mixes. Add your own ox tail. Probably terrible. (I don't cook).

[Outcast_Searcher]

I know people who are obsessed with dogs and cats.

I have friends who basically call their cats their children. These are the best taken care of pair of cats imaginable, re their health, welfare, comfort, entertainment, etc. Even when they travel, it's not enough if I come by twice a day, feed them, spend time playing with them, etc. (I work for free, as I'm their friend. Plus the wife feeds me home cooked meals which are healthy and awesome).

But I didn't want to live there as I have my own neurotic cat which doesn't do well (digestion) if I'm away for more than a few hours. They hire a school teacher friend who does a home pet sitting service to come LIVE in their house while they travel. The implication is she's pretty expensive.

Looking at vet bills and various internet estimates that to PROPERLY care for a cat would cost about $30,000 (dogs $40,000) over the lifetime of the animal. This would obviously include good medical care. I looked this up when I started getting bills like $800 for an annual cleaning and extraction of a couple teeth with big cavities. I have to wonder what proportion of first world people give their cats and dogs FAR less medical care than they should -- if they care about their pet not suffering.

[Pops]

Renewable energy now makes up a third of global power capacity

Strong gains in solar and wind energy last year have pushed renewable energy to now account for a third of global power capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

IRENA released its Renewable Capacity Statistics 2019 report, which says the world added 171 gigawatts of overall renewable energy capacity in 2018. Global renewable capacity reached 2,351 GW in total by the end of 2018, with hydropower still accounting for half of that. But the vast majority of the gains in 2018 came from solar and wind installations, which accounted for 84% of last year’s growth.

Global wind capacity is now at 564 GW, with solar capacity right behind at 480 GW and rising fast. Whereas wind capacity increased by 49 GW, led by China and the U.S., solar added 94 GW of capacity in 2018 — a 24% increase globally.

Of course that's "nameplate" capacity but impressive increase nonetheless. Need more & faster obviously, but good news as far as it goes.

[vtsnowedin]

Renewable energy now makes up a third of global power capacity

Strong gains in solar and wind energy last year have pushed renewable energy to now account for a third of global power capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

IRENA released its Renewable Capacity Statistics 2019 report, which says the world added 171 gigawatts of overall renewable energy capacity in 2018. Global renewable capacity reached 2,351 GW in total by the end of 2018, with hydropower still accounting for half of that. But the vast majority of the gains in 2018 came from solar and wind installations, which accounted for 84% of last year’s growth.

Global wind capacity is now at 564 GW, with solar capacity right behind at 480 GW and rising fast. Whereas wind capacity increased by 49 GW, led by China and the U.S., solar added 94 GW of capacity in 2018 — a 24% increase globally.

Of course that's "nameplate" capacity but impressive increase nonetheless. Need more & faster obviously, but good news as far as it goes.

The title of that should have the word electric inserted before the word power to make it clear they are talking about electricity only. As a share of all world energy production electricity accounts for only 12 percent of the total so renewables are now accounting for about four percent of total world energy production or six percent of final consumption if you consider the losses between well and gas tank etc.
Not to be sneezed at as a one percent gain in total world consumption is a huge number and far better then the declines predicted for a post peakoil world.

[dohboi]

Magnet doubles hydrogen yield from water splitting

"They coated a nickel foam anode with magnetic nickel zinc ferrite and used it in an electrolyzer running at about 1.6 V. When they placed a commercial neodymium magnet next to the anode, it roughly doubled the current density at the anode without requiring any additional voltage. This doubled the rate of oxygen production and caused an equivalent increase in hydrogen output."

https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/ ... eb/2019/06


This experimental result might be of great importance. If this pans out to greatly increase electrolytic efficiency, it promotes the possibility of storing excess solar/wind output as hydrogen fuel for fuel cells. Then moderate overbuilding of solar+wind could completely eliminate fossil fuels for electrical generation.

[GHung]

BNP Paribas Says The Party Is Over For Oil Companies

....... Now a new report entitled Wells, Wires, And Wheels from French investment bank BNP Paribas comes with this stunning announcement — “We conclude that the economics of oil for gasoline and diesel vehicles versus wind- and solar-powered EVs are now in relentless and irreversible decline, with far-reaching implications for both policymakers and the oil majors.” ........

BNP Paribas is the world’s 8th largest bank in terms of total assets. The lead author of the report is Mark Lewis. Before joining BNP Paribas in January, he was head of research at the Carbon Tracker Initiative, head of European Utilities Research at Barclays, chief energy economist at Kepler Cheuvreux and head of energy research at Deutsche Bank.

The report introduces a new concept called Energy Return on Capital Invested or EROCI, which allows a comparison of the energy yielded from a given level of investment in different energy sources. Its primary thrust is taking a look at the transportation sector, although its findings apply to all sectors in which fossil fuels are a significant factor. ....

.... The report says, “We define net energy as the amount of energy that does useful work after taking in to account all energy-transportation and energy-conversion costs and losses. What we are most interested in is how much a given capital outlay on oil and renewables translates into useful or propulsive energy at the wheels: in other words, for a given capital outlay, how much mobility can you buy?”

Here’s one example of the shocking news contained in the report: “We calculate that for the same outlay on these different energy sources (wind and solar), oil would have to trade at $9/bbl to yield as much useful energy for gasoline-fueled long distance vehicles as offshore wind would yield in tandem with EVs, $10/bbl for as much useful energy as onshore wind in tandem with EVs, and $10/bbl for as much as useful energy as solar-PV in tandem with EVs.” ......
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/08/12/bn ... companies/

BNP Paribas report: https://docfinder.bnpparibas-am.com/api ... 65EAD09A7F

[GHung]

Video of a nice little electric construction excavator in the UK. Seems to have some serious advantages beyond not burning diesel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cumZxYjzx6M

[Peakstuff]

Interesting chart, have we entered the "Golden Age of New Energy"? Which, interestingly also corresponds to "The Heyday of Natural Gas"...

Source https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 4016300109

[AdamB]

Green technology and growth.

James McKenzie believes the UK government’s ambitious 10-point-plan for a “green industrial revolution” can deliver – if we put our collective minds to the problem