Body heat powers flashlight

A 16 year old Canadian high school student developed a hand-held flashlight that runs off the heat from your hand. It has no batteries, solar cells or motion driven generators. It uses peltier tiles which produce electrical energy from the difference between a person’s body heat and the ambient temperature.

The flashlight was entered into the 2013 Google Science Fair. In September 2013 it was named a finalist for the student’s age group. It won and the student was awarded a trophy made out of Legos, a visit to the Lego Group headquarters in Denmark, and a $25,000 scholarship.

A patent has been applied for and work continues to increase the output which is currently at 24 lumens. If you want to know more about this follow the link below. FOR SOME REASON!! You need to right click on the link and open it in a new tab, then it will work.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20791083,00.html

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Cold weather and Global warming?

Now that North America has gone through its first very nasty winter in a few decade people have been asking me; ‘Why is it so cold?’ and ‘What up with global warming?’.

Well, it’s all part of the same thing – climate change.As sea ice in the arctic melts due to global warming the warmer ocean water heats up the cooler atmosphere above it. This in turn causes the jet stream to slow down. When the jet stream slows down it becomes unstable and starts to meander from its historic pattern. When and if the jet stream forms a new pattern is unclear, But, there will continue to be shifts in the jet stream bringing colder winter weather than in the past and this weather will last longer.

Significant impacts on crop and live stock production can be expected as the majority of these take place in the mid-latitudes of our planet where the cold weather is having its effects. Follow the link below to find out more.

http://news.yahoo.com/jet-stream-shift-could-prompt-harsher-winters-scientists-132931128.html

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Bye, bye solar panels?

Humans are always trying to find new ways to improve just about everything in our lives and one that we’d love to find is a more efficient replacement for the suburban roof accessory called the solar panel.
Most of us are familiar with lighthouses which project a beam of light miles out to sea, warning ships of shallow water and reefs. An integral part of every lighthouse is a lens system to project the beam many miles out to sea. Well, why not use a similar type of lens system to capture light and make it drive a solar power system? A system that follows the sun, is weather proof and can be easily moved to new locations is under development using a ball lens. If you’re interested follow the link below.
The French did this. Really? The French!
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rawlemon-solar-devices

 

 

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