Enhancing the Energy of Wind Turbines

One of the most basic of problems for the energy created by a wind turbine, is that the wind does not constantly blow, and this could result less energy production than the standard power plants or nuclear power plants, which harness up to ninety percent of the available energy.  One of the best wind turbines, will at its optimum harvest just thirty percent of the energy that is potentially available.  This has caused many of the production companies building turbines today to step up and find ways to increase the productivity of each turbine.

One of the aspects that the designers are focusing on is the length of each individual blade.  Longer blades can increase the energy stored.  Standard wind turbines today are designed with three blades that had before been three hundred and five feet in diameter.  The newer designs will reach up to three hundred and thirty feet in diameter.  This increases what is called the sweep area, the circular motion of the air that provides the energy for the wind turbine to capture.  This increase constitutes an eighteen percent increase in the size of the turbines.

If the wind constantly blew and blew hard, then the size of the blades does not make a difference.  Even at moderate rates, the energy output of each turbine is elevated.  When the wind blows at the rate of seventeen miles per hour, the larger length blades will have the output go up by almost eight percent, as opposed to the smaller blades.  The larger blades do not turn faster, but the energy they capture from the air that passes over them increases.

This is a great new aspect in that this can mean that areas that are not high wind will still be able to utilize this alternative form of energy.  But there are some limits to consider, such that when the blades get longer, the more difficult it becomes to transport the blades from the factories in which they are built, to the top of the hills where the turbines are usually placed.  And the production of these blades is much more expense.  However, the benefits have been seen in the newer wind plants in the US states of Washington and Minnesota, as well as throughout the country of Denmark.

The History Museum of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is the cultural capital of South East Asia.  There are many events that occur throughout the city from exhibits in the world of visual arts to dazzling festivals.  Sports, theater, musical concerts and international dance companies…to consumer and product fairs where shoppers can find everything from flower seeds to computers.  One of the local venues that is a draw for tourists staying in the best Hong Kong hotels,  is the Museum of History.  The museum was founded in 1975, and was the result of the split in the City Museum and Art Gallery.  Many of the items in the collections at the museum date back to 1962 however, from before the split.  For a short time, the new museum was located in Kowloon Park but now has a permanent home on Chatham Road, close to many other venues in the city, including the Museum of Science,  making this a convenient stop on a tour throughout the city.

One of the exhibits running through the rest of the summer is the Retrospect, which details the last one hundred years in the history of China.  For although there are thousands of years of Chinese history, the last one hundred have seen many enormous changes in the city and the culture, from economic changes to political, to the life of the citizens in general.  Throughout the years following the Revolution in 1911, China and her people were not ‘bouncing back’ according to the intellectual thinkers and philosophers of the day, and a movement was begun to incorporate science and democracy into the daily lives of the citizens.  With this came ideas that shattered the outdated social structures and questioned the traditional ways of the existing culture.  In the later part of the last century, the country’s economic power rapidly developed, and the nation became revitalized in spirit as well as on the global map of technology and science.  The Retrospective Exhibit at the Museum illustrates this transformation through the collection on show, and the lectures and seminars being given throughout the run of the exhibit and is a fascinating look at the history of a city and a country transformed.

Rainy Bombay

I almost forgot about one of the best things I enjoyed about Bombay was the monsoon. After a hot summer the monsoon rains cool everything off. I always visited Bombay in the hot and humid summers. The Bombay Hotel were I always stayed had fans going and their air-conditioning never shut down until the rains arrive, and for some strange reason, I was always in Bombay for the first rain and it was always on June 8th. I accounted for the slightest drizzle that would appear on this date, just to keep the consistency going.

When it rains, it really rains. It’s almost endless. The nallas become full, the gutter overflow, the trees fall and the pothole become and hazard for any car on the road. The monsoon start coincides with the start of school. I remember, when I lived here as a child having to wear a raincoat and rain shoes trying to carrying new books in bags and keeping them dry. Some children just wore sandals instead of rain shoes, which to me seemed more in-tune with the weather. No socks to get wet and no rain-shoes to empty out. By the time I got to school and taking off my soggy socks, which I wasn’t the only one, we got to walk around barefoot in class.

Bombay monsoon is funny, when it pours, it pours like its wanting to submerge us because mother nature is fully aware that what follows is a very long dry spell. So dry it seems like it will never rain again. The heavy rains stress the local trains and bus systems. The water levels are so high that one track stops altogether and the buses are no match for the gathering water in the  underpasses. So, most travellers end up walking or taking a taxi. All the same, with all the troubles the rains bring, it also brings the people together with a commonality of being wet.

Flowering in Singapore

I’ve been in Singapore for about two weeks now and no one told me about the beauty of the flowering Sea Apple trees. I’ve seen trees flowering in the East Coast of Bedok, a city near Little India and along Beach Road and Holland Village. I wonder if they have been flowering elsewhere. My trip to Singapore is a business trip which hardly allowed for free time to find out just how far into the country and along the coastline are these Sea Apple trees flowering. Being an amateur botanist, and having a few days of vacation time, I booked a few more days at the 5 Star Singapore hotel where I’m staying in order to explore a little bit more.

The white flowers on the Sea Apple tree are compact and come in cluster. They are very prominent with just even a quick glance, especially against an overcast day which Singapore seems to be having lately. I’ve been told, my noticing the flowering is a little late, they are starting to turn brown. I do see some browns against white and the dark green of the Sea Apple canopy, now that I take a closer look. This does not stop me from taking some photos.

The flowering most likely started a half a month ago. I feel some regret to not be here at the beginning, but at least I’m here now, and took sometime off work to study this amazing tree. I decided to travel and take some more photos, but the winds were very strong at midday which made it almost impossible to get a good shot. But, not to fear, I found some very wonderful photos of the Sea Apple tree on the Internet. Alas, they are not mine, but all the same, they are quite exquisite. I found my favorites on Flickr. One day my amateur botany photos will be just as good as those on Flickr.

Dubai Astronomy Group

There is no doubting that five-star Dubai hotels are some of the finest in the world. It’s no surprise, given that Dubai, one of the world’s hotspots right now, is known for their expertise in providing otherworldly experiences in comfort, luxury, and hospitality. With splendid beaches, world-class shopping, and a lively urban culture that is growing, there is much to recommend Dubai as a tourist destination.

It is becoming lately something of a gem of a city for star-gazing as well. There are plenty of opportunities to catch a glimpse of some of the coolest movie stars from Hollywood and Bollywood, and television personalities from the UAE, all of whom are favoring Dubai as a vacation spot, or a place for a second home. But it’s also a magnificent place for that other kind of star-gazing, the original kind!

President of the Dubai Astronomy Group, Ahmad Al Hariri offers classes for children every Thursday with instruction on stargazing techniques, and lessons in formal astronomy. These lessons are offered throughout the summer, and are not simply a fun or educational way for kids to spend their summer nights, but they are also a deep part of Arab cultural heritage. The sun and the moon figure prominently in the spiritual daily life here, and stars have also played a dominant role. There is also the long tradition of navigation, through the desert and across the sea, by star, and some of the most proficient astronomers in the ancient and contemporary worlds come from here.

Children can take part in this long tradition, then, and find out more about the night sky. Thanks to the generosity of Thuraya (Satellite Telcom), the Dubai Astronomy Group has a Mead telescope. The classes are taught with this valuable tool, so that children in the region can take part in learning about the role the stars play in teaching us where we are, and where we’re going.