Engineering Institute » time engineering http://www.etoinstitute.org Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:18:07 +0000 en hourly 1 Riding green — leafy green http://www.etoinstitute.org/riding-green-%e2%80%94-leafy-green-2/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/riding-green-%e2%80%94-leafy-green-2/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:20:09 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/riding-green-%e2%80%94-leafy-green-2/ It sounds like the opposite of high-tech engineering, but it’s not. High-end racing bikes built of bamboo. Today, on Engineering Works!

If you’re a serious cyclist or know someone who is, you probably know that over the years, the stuff really good bikes are made of has changed. From steel and aluminum to exotic alloys and carbon fiber. Some engineers are taking the search for the best bicycle material the other way. All the way back to bamboo.

This sounds like green technology gone crazy. Except for one thing. It works. If you’ve ever watched a construction worker in Shanghai swing a bamboo-handled sledge hammer, you know. Bamboo is tough. And it’s light. Bamboo bike frames weigh about four-pounds. Features you need in a bike built for serious riding or racing. Bamboo frames also absorb vibration better than carbon fiber, absorb impacts better, and are less likely to break.

Like many other good things, good bamboo bike frames don’t come cheap. Some cost more than $2,500. Which, compared to top carbon fiber frames, isn’t bad.

Not all bamboo bikes are expensive or aimed at riding the Tour de France. One engineer has come up with a bamboo bike that people can build at home with basic tools. It’s intended for folks in Africa and other developing areas who need cheap, durable transportation.

Our bike isn’t made of bamboo, but we’re still going to ride it home. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web.

http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

For more:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,670689,00.html

http://www.calfeedesign.com/


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]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/riding-green-%e2%80%94-leafy-green-2/feed/ 0 Energy — there’s an app for that http://www.etoinstitute.org/energy-%e2%80%94-there%e2%80%99s-an-app-for-that-2/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/energy-%e2%80%94-there%e2%80%99s-an-app-for-that-2/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:20:08 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/energy-%e2%80%94-there%e2%80%99s-an-app-for-that-2/

csaila/flickr.com

It seems sometimes like there’s an app for everything. Some of them are even useful. Save energy with your smart phone. Today, on Engineering Works!

Smart phones are learning to do amazing things. What’s the weather going to be like this afternoon? Bring up your weather app and find out. Out to dinner with friends? One app will split the check for you. Another turns your iPhone into an iTunes remote.

App developers are aiming at another target, too. Using your phone to manage your house. Especially the amount of energy you use. Saving energy is getting sexy. One German company has developed an app that lets you open and close windows, turns lights on or off, change thermostat settings, from anywhere, through your phone. Other companies offer similar apps and more are getting into the game every day, it seems.

A technological perfect storm is driving these developments. We’re all concerned about energy use and climate change. More companies are developing technology to control home energy use, almost hour by hour. And smart phones and software for apps give you the technology to do something about.

It’s not all mobile technology. Major household appliance manufacturers expect to launch internet-compatible washing machines and refrigerators any day now. Match ‘em up with an app and you’re good to go. Other companies are getting ready with adapter plugs that will let older appliances talk to your app.

Our get-out-of-here app is ready and we’re gone. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web.

http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

For more, visit:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,670235,00.html

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-50422.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/10/20/smart-phone-will-clean-energy-be-apples-killer-app/tab/article/


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]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/energy-%e2%80%94-there%e2%80%99s-an-app-for-that-2/feed/ 0 Riding green — leafy green http://www.etoinstitute.org/riding-green-%e2%80%94-leafy-green/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/riding-green-%e2%80%94-leafy-green/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:00:22 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/riding-green-%e2%80%94-leafy-green/ It sounds like the opposite of high-tech engineering, but it’s not. High-end racing bikes built of bamboo. Today, on Engineering Works!

If you’re a serious cyclist or know someone who is, you probably know that over the years, the stuff really good bikes are made of has changed. From steel and aluminum to exotic alloys and carbon fiber. Some engineers are taking the search for the best bicycle material the other way. All the way back to bamboo.

This sounds like green technology gone crazy. Except for one thing. It works. If you’ve ever watched a construction worker in Shanghai swing a bamboo-handled sledge hammer, you know. Bamboo is tough. And it’s light. Bamboo bike frames weigh about four-pounds. Features you need in a bike built for serious riding or racing. Bamboo frames also absorb vibration better than carbon fiber, absorb impacts better, and are less likely to break.

Like many other good things, good bamboo bike frames don’t come cheap. Some cost more than $2,500. Which, compared to top carbon fiber frames, isn’t bad.

Not all bamboo bikes are expensive or aimed at riding the Tour de France. One engineer has come up with a bamboo bike that people can build at home with basic tools. It’s intended for folks in Africa and other developing areas who need cheap, durable transportation.

Our bike isn’t made of bamboo, but we’re still going to ride it home. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web.

http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

For more:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,670689,00.html

http://www.calfeedesign.com/

Read More

]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/riding-green-%e2%80%94-leafy-green/feed/ 0 Energy — there’s an app for that http://www.etoinstitute.org/energy-%e2%80%94-there%e2%80%99s-an-app-for-that/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/energy-%e2%80%94-there%e2%80%99s-an-app-for-that/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:00:34 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/energy-%e2%80%94-there%e2%80%99s-an-app-for-that/

csaila/flickr.com

It seems sometimes like there’s an app for everything. Some of them are even useful. Save energy with your smart phone. Today, on Engineering Works!

Smart phones are learning to do amazing things. What’s the weather going to be like this afternoon? Bring up your weather app and find out. Out to dinner with friends? One app will split the check for you. Another turns your iPhone into an iTunes remote.

App developers are aiming at another target, too. Using your phone to manage your house. Especially the amount of energy you use. Saving energy is getting sexy. One German company has developed an app that lets you open and close windows, turns lights on or off, change thermostat settings, from anywhere, through your phone. Other companies offer similar apps and more are getting into the game every day, it seems.

A technological perfect storm is driving these developments. We’re all concerned about energy use and climate change. More companies are developing technology to control home energy use, almost hour by hour. And smart phones and software for apps give you the technology to do something about.

It’s not all mobile technology. Major household appliance manufacturers expect to launch internet-compatible washing machines and refrigerators any day now. Match ‘em up with an app and you’re good to go. Other companies are getting ready with adapter plugs that will let older appliances talk to your app.

Our get-out-of-here app is ready and we’re gone. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web.

http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

For more, visit:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,670235,00.html

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-50422.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/10/20/smart-phone-will-clean-energy-be-apples-killer-app/tab/article/

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]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/energy-%e2%80%94-there%e2%80%99s-an-app-for-that/feed/ 0 Electric words http://www.etoinstitute.org/electric-words/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/electric-words/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:51:40 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/electric-words/ It’s hard to fix something if you don’t have words to describe what went wrong. We’ll look back at how they did it. Today, on Engineering Works!

The problem started about 150 ago. That’s when the first transatlantic cable connected the east and west shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

Now, people could send telegrams across the ocean in minutes instead of letters by ship that took weeks. It doesn’t sound like much today, when you can call anywhere from anywhere on your cell phone, but back then it was a big deal.

It didn’t last. The cable failed a few weeks after the first message was sent. A group of engineers met to figure out what went wrong. Then they discovered they had another problem. Electricity carried the messages from one side of the ocean to the other. But nobody had words yet to describe electricity yet, especially the important ideas of current and resistance.

In the end, they borrowed the names of scientists who’d done important research into electricity to describe what they needed. You’ll probably recognize the words, even if you don’t recognize the people. Ampere, from Andre-Marie Ampere, to describe electric current. Ohm, from Georg Ohm, for resistance in a wire. Watt, from James Watt, available power. And volt, from Alessandro Volta, the amount of electrical – pressure – in a system.

We do have the words we need to get out of here, so we’re gone. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web.

http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

For more, visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/cable/

http://www.history-magazine.com/cable.html

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]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/electric-words/feed/ 0 Cyborgs, for real http://www.etoinstitute.org/cyborgs-for-real/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/cyborgs-for-real/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:28:06 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/cyborgs-for-real/ If you liked Ahnald in the Terminator movies, you’re going to love this one. Cyborgs. Cyborg beetles, that is. Today, on Engineering Works!

When you saw the Terminator movies or Star Trek, you know that mixing up computers and humans is standard stuff in science fiction. But now, engineers are doing the next best thing. Computers and insects. Beetles.

They’re putting electrodes into the nervous systems of immature beetles. When the beetles grow up, they add a tiny battery and a computer microcontroller. The whole assembly can be connected to a laptop computer through a wireless link. And they’re ready to go.

Flying a beetle is pretty straightforward. A joystick attached to the computer can send an electric current into any of the electrodes. If the operator, pilot?, wants the beetle to fly to the right, an electric pulse to the left-side electrode gets the muscles on that side working a little harder and the beetle makes a right turn. You get the idea.

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is paying for the research. It’s not clear exactly what the Pentagon wants radio-controlled beetles for, but we can make some guesses. They’re also looking into flies, moths and dragonflies. Other researchers say the cyborg beetles are a good way to learn more about the dynamics of flight.

The beetle we’re watching is getting ready to head out the door, so we better be close behind. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web.

http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

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]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/cyborgs-for-real/feed/ 0 Move ‘em out http://www.etoinstitute.org/move-%e2%80%98em-out/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/move-%e2%80%98em-out/#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:29:27 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/move-%e2%80%98em-out/ We’ve all come across things that just don’t make sense, even though they work. Engineers do, too. We’ll look at one, today on Engineering Works!

If you’ve been to a big concert, or a ball game, with a big crowd of other people, you know what happens when it’s time to leave. No matter how big the exit is, everybody gets jammed up and it goes really slowly.

Engineers in Japan have been looking at what’s going on and how to fix it. What they found makes no sense to us, but it seems to work. At least in experiments.

They started with what we’ve all seen. Even when exits are wide open, people seem to jam up in front of it. Then they tried something goofy. They put something in the way of the people trying to get out. Not so big that it blocked the way, but big enough that people had to detour around it. And it had to be in just the right place. Guess what? Everybody got out faster.

Here’s why. Usually, so many people get to the exit at the same time that it turns into a people traffic jam. Everything slows down. When there’s an obstacle, it slows some people down just enough that the congestion in the exit never happens. Even though they’re getting there slower, more people get through the exit faster than before.

Our way to the exit is clear now, and we’ll see you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web. http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

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]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/move-%e2%80%98em-out/feed/ 0 The next nukes http://www.etoinstitute.org/the-next-nukes/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/the-next-nukes/#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:29:27 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/the-next-nukes/ Nuclear energy has been in the doghouse for decades. But now it’s getting another look from policy-makers. We’ll look, too. Today, on Engineering Works!

People in the United States have always been a little skittish about nuclear energy. Accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl in Ukraine didn’t help. Construction on the most recent nuclear power plant was started in 1977, and it didn’t go online until 1996.

Then came climate change, and environmental policy-makers took another look at nuclear energy. Unlike coal-fired power plants, nuclear plants produce no carbon dioxide and – get this – even less radiation than coal-fired power plants.

Engineers are working on designs for new reactors that they say should be simpler and safer than existing reactors, and should even deal with nuclear waste. The spent fuel should be a two-fer, the engineers say. Recycle it into new fuel that could go back into the reactor. This reduces the amount of waste we have to store. The technology to do this already exists, and what we now call spent fuel still has about 95 percent of its energy.

New reactors should be safer, with fewer ways operators could accidentally cause something to go wrong. And more automatic safeguards against accidents, like cooling systems that rely less on pumps and more on gravity to keep coolant where it needs to be for safe operation.

Our power plant is humming along, and we’re done. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web. http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu

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]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/the-next-nukes/feed/ 0 Turning down the lights http://www.etoinstitute.org/turning-down-the-lights/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/turning-down-the-lights/#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:29:27 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/turning-down-the-lights/ Paris may be the city of lights, but engineers in France are trying a new way to reduce municipal electric bills. Streetlights. Today, on Engineering Works!

It’s not Paris, but people in the French city of Toulouse still like to have their streets lit at night. There’s a problem, though. The city’s electric bills are high and climbing. So they’re trying a new way pedestrians who walk the city’s streets after dark can help. It’s easy. Just keep walking.

What they’re doing is to install sensors in the lampposts that hold up the streetlights. When the sensors detect the body heat of an approaching pedestrian, the light clicks from dim to bright. When the pedestrian moves on – between 500 and 600 yards away – the streetlight dims its light again.

They’re testing the sensor-operated streetlights now, and if it works on a short stretch of mostly residential street, they’re going to start by installing the sensors along a stretch of busy street between the city’s sports stadium and the university campus. If it works there, they plan to take it citywide. They expect to cut electricity consumption by streetlights on busy streets in half.

City administrators across France are watching what happens, and others around the world are watching, too. A group of city council members from Osaka, Japan, visited a while ago to see firsthand how it’s done.

Our streetlights are still shining, so we’ll leave before somebody dims them. See you next time.

Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web. http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu.

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]]> http://www.etoinstitute.org/turning-down-the-lights/feed/ 0 Saving energy Italian style http://www.etoinstitute.org/saving-energy-italian-style/ http://www.etoinstitute.org/saving-energy-italian-style/#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:29:27 +0000 admin http://www.etoinstitute.org/saving-energy-italian-style/ Say Italy, and most people think of fashion, fast cars and spaghetti. Maybe we should be thinking of something else. Saving energy. Today, on Engineering Works! Just about everywhere in the industrialized world, people are looking for ways to save energy. Especially electricity. So far, Italy seems to be ahead in developing an electrical grid that manages electricity efficiently. A smart grid. The key to the Italian smart grid is a new kind of electric meter. A smart meter. The smart meter tells the electric company how much electricity you’re using, right now, and tells you how much the electricity you’re using, right now, costs. This helps the company run its generators efficiently and lets you decide when to do activities that use a lot of electricity, maybe at times when rates are cheaper. More than eight in 10 Italian homes have smart meters, and they work. Power engineers estimate that using the new meters saves Italy’s largest electric company seven-hundred-50-million-dollars a year and cuts customers’ energy bills by as much as half. One of the little but important things about the new meters is that they’re installed inside the house, where you can see them easily, instead of outside, where you can’t. Might there be a smart meter in your future? We can’t say, but electric companies in Florida and California have visited to take a look. Our smart meter says it’s time to hit the switch. See you next time. Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station. Learn more about engineering. Visit us on the World Wide Web. http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu.

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