Electricity

Change, Choice, Control and Priorities

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electricityJennifer Hoffman – For the last 5 days I had no electricity, as my area was hit by the high winds and heavy rain from hurricane Michael. When the power first went out I waited for a few hours for it to return and went to bed in the dark, thinking it would be on by morning. When it wasn’t, I realized it might be out for a while and I was going to have to change my routine and my life to accommodate this unwelcome, inconvenient, and unwanted change. I did and now that the electricity is back, I realized it was a big lesson in changes, choices, control, and priorities.

It’s funny how you don’t realize how much of your life is run by electricity until it is not working. I had no hot water, no heat or air conditioning, no way to cook, no phone or internet, and no lights. After the sun goes down it is very dark in the house with no artificial light. So I had to get out the candles, flashlights, and lanterns and they provided the light to help me navigate through my house. But I could not do the things I normally do because all of them required electricity. Continue reading →

Katharine J. Tobal ~ California Launches The World’s Largest Solar Power Farm

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“The company behind the project, First Solar, confirmed on its website that this project will generate sufficient electricity to power 160,000 average sized California homes. Moreover, it will remove 377,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year – equivalent to taking 73,000 cars off the road.” – K J Tobal

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The world’s largest solar power plant is now fully operational in California, with enough power to supply 160,000 homes. Reports revealed that the plant is equipped with 9 million solar panels installed across 9.5 square miles.

Late last month, the Topaz Solar project, as it’s being called, performed full commercial operation with the completion of its final 40-megawatt (AC) phase, making history not only as the first 500-megawatt plus solar farm to come on-line in the U.S. but also as the largest solar plant on-line in the world, according to Greentech Media.

Located in San Luis Obispo County on California’s Carrizo Plain, Topaz consists of 9 million solar panels, spanning a huge 9.5 square miles (25 square km): 1/3 of Manhattan’s size.

Topaz is separated from the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California’s Mojave Desert, which produces power by directing sunlight towards a central boiler using a large number of mirrors. Continue reading →

Ancient Egyptian Electricity

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“Did the Egyptians know and use electric lights? If so, where did they get the principle from? ” – J Martell

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It is a widespread belief in alternative science that our forefathers possessed a much greater technological knowledge than our schoolbook science is willing to accept. Many of those theories are lacking serious foundation and are often based on overdrawn speculations, like the Manna machine I discussed before. But the theory that electricity was known and used in antiquity seems to rest on a much more stable foundation.

The key to the whole theory lies a few hundred kilometers east of Egypt, in today’s Iraq. There some strange pots were found. Some contained watertight copper cylinders, glued into the opening with asphalt. In the middle of the cylinder was an iron rod, held in place also with asphalt. The excavator who found the first of these pots in 1936 was sure: this is a galvanic element, a primitive battery. Reconstructions did indeed show that it was possible to create electricity with it. Continue reading →