Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
I’m no stranger to the words “inventory” and “audit.” Fact is, my very first job required that inventories regularly be taken to prevent in this case new home audio electronic equipment supplies from running low or out. It mattered not what the consumer product in question was. If in-stock quantities were down, then through the reordering process, stock was … Read more
Number 14 in the Clean Air Technologies Series. If I mention the National Park Service (NPS) what draws to mind? Conjured up images of environmental sustainability? How about awards presentation? Probably neither, correct? First order of business here is the subject of environmental stewardship. I ask: is it not the preservation of open spaces, scenic vistas and the … Read more
Number 12 in the Clean Air Technologies Series. I don’t consider myself to be an inventor or designer, but in the late 1980s I came up with what I thought was a feasible idea: make use of piezo-electric devices to generate electricity. The specific application I was going for was in the railroad realm whereby … Read more
PBS’ America Revealed series presenter Yul Kwon, in 2012 remarking on Thomas Edison in “ELECTRIC NATION,” in no uncertain terms, said: “In 1931, Thomas Edison confided to his friend Henry Ford. ‘We are like tenant farmers, chopping down the fence around our house for fuel, when we should be using nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy: … Read more
Number 11 in the Clean Air Technologies Series. Record-breaking temperatures abound all around. On Jan. 21, 2013, for example, Los Angeles recorded a record-setting high temperature of 81 degrees. That this occurred in the middle of winter especially, isn’t cool. What is, or rather, what helps cool things off (or down), are fans. And with … Read more
Estimates are America has nearly 250 million vehicles, the bulk of which are fossil-fuel-driven. That’s a lot of cars, buses, motorcycles, trucks, etc. To keep not only these vehicles on the go, but the bevy of stationary internal-combustion-engine-powered motorized machines, too, takes fuel – and lots of it. While it’s no surprise the fuel available for … Read more
Number 10 in the Clean Air Technologies Series. When it comes to powering a locomotive, electricity wins hands down, or does it? Before going any farther, a brief review of 20th century U.S. transportation history is in order. I was born in the age of the diesel loco. Steam as locomotive propulsion power, although reaching a zenith right around … Read more
A segment of the Jan. 13, 2013 installment of the CBS 60 Minutes television program covered robotics. Given that I have now had plenty of time to digest what I have watched, my take is, robots, with their ranks apparently increasing, I can only imagine the effect on the electric grid supply and the environment. The presumption, of … Read more
I have put off discussing indoor air quality long enough. That changes today. California right now is feeling the effects of a cold front that has swept down out of the Gulf of Alaska driving nighttime temperatures into the low-to-mid-twenties over much of the San Joaquin Valley floor. Many, it seems, are right now relying on a … Read more
In America a half-century ago, transportation ate up approximately 10 percent of household income. Those days and times are gone for good, but, then again … At any rate, according to renowned architect, a founding member of Congress for the New Urbanism and book author Peter Calthorpe in “The New Transit Town: Best Practices in Transit-Oriented … Read more