Panos for Progress: Thoughts and Selections

A passive, thermoelectric generator that could decrease battery size by 25 % saving both cost and weight for vehicles, helicopters, etc. Possibly a big winner... "The researchers tested their prototype in a laboratory and found that with a change in temperature of 190 degrees, their thermoelectric generator produced 40 watts of power, enough to charge a phone or a few LED lights and act as a supplementary source of energy for a vehicle’s battery.... It converted about 15% of exhaust heat into electricity. Other commercial thermoelectric generators typically convert about 6% to 8% of heat into additional electricity."

This 5-point news brief by the CATO Institute is a must read. Excerpts below to whet your appetite. 1. “ We are a sovereign currency, we can print all the money we want to serve the people whom we serve .” By Former House Budget Committee chair John Yarmuth (D‑KY), testifying to Congress on October 19, 2023 CATO : Ignoring the threats posed by our ever-increasing debt will only exacerbate problems for future generations, burdening them with slower economic growth, runaway inflation, and higher interest rates. Panos : for a decade now, China and Russia are trying to dethrone the US$ as the main world currency, with some limited success. This will be huge help to them. Recall that up to WWII the British sterling was the leading currency. 2. “ It is time to scrap the cap, expand benefits, and fully fund Social Security .” By Senator Bernie Sanders (I‑VT) CATO : Despite the dismal outlook, leaders on both the left and right have failed to offer realistic solutions, while some law...

Sample quotes : Germany’s auto industry is trapped in a vise between higher energy prices that drive up the cost of production, and electric-vehicle mandates that drive down sales. Germany’s auto industry is trapped in a vise between higher energy prices that drive up the cost of production, and electric-vehicle mandates that drive down sales. Politicians are forcing the companies to sell cars that consumers don’t want.* Europe’s auto-industry travails are painful evidence that net-zero climate policy is the worst act of economic masochism in the West since the 1930s.  (*) A big part of the problem is cost. I'm a fun of VW's newest minivan, the ID.BUZZ , but the all wheel drive version starts at over $69,000!

My article on Nuclear Fusion was printed in the  Reno Gazette Journal on September 6, 2024 ; it is copied below. Nuclear fusion energy is possible —the sun and the H-bomb prove it— but the engineering part for achieving commercial energy production is complicated. Proof of concept models are very expensive, but several exist by entities such as Commonwealth Fusion Systems, First Light, Helion Energy, National Ignition Facility, Tokamak Energy and several others. Earlier this year the Joint European Torus tokamak reactor near Oxford, England produced enough fusion energy to power about 12,000 houses; but it was a five second spurt using a tiny amount of fuel. The primary fuel, deuterium, can be readily harvested from the oceans, and the radioactive waste of nuclear fusion plants has a life of 50 to 100 years, compared to thousands of years for the waste from our current nuclear fission reactors. Can nuclear fusion power be sustained and scaled for mass, affordable production of...

  “Nuclear energy accounts for 50% of the US’s carbon-free electricity” ( The Verge ). Four recent developments point to a renaissance. 1. Vogtle in Waynesboro, Georgia is the largest generator of clean energy in the US; it has two old (1980s) and two new nuclear reactors. Unit 3 entered commercial operation in July 2023, and unit 4 entered commercial operation in April 2024 . The combined power capacity is 4,536 MW! 2. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo, CA was under closing procedures to conclude in 2025, but a $1.1 billion grant from US DOE to Diablo Canyon added to a $1.4 billion loan PG&E got from the state when Gov. Newsom signed a bill in September allowing the plant to stay open until 2030 . 3. A US DOE conditional commitment of up to $1.52 billion for a loan guarantee aims to bring back online the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan, which ceased operations in May 2022, and upgrade it to produce baseload clean power until at least 2051. 4. Constellatio...