NEW TYPE OF SOLAR COLLECTOR: THE SALT GRADIENT POND. Engineers at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster have built a 12'-deep plastic-lined pond that can be heated by the sun to near-boiling temperatures. The trick? The body of water employs a salt gradient (zero percent salt concentration at the surface to 20%o at the bottom) that-in effecteliminates heat loss due to convection. OARDC workers claim their 28' X 60' pool of brine can store enough solar energy to meet all the winter heating requirements of a 2,000-square-foot Ohio home.
LOOKING FOR INEXPENSIVE LAND? Try Pecos Valley, Texas, where farm prices have recently plunged to $100 per acre. Until not long ago, valley cotton farmers paid only 34c per thousand cubic feet for natural gas (the fuel used to drive the area's forced irrigation pumps). Then, when a 10-year contract with Delhi Gas Pipeline Co. expired on December 31, 1975, natural gas prices soared to $1.85and higherper thousand cubic feet. And that is now driving farmers in the area right out of business. "Our situation is not unique," says local county extension agent Dan E. Gary. "It's going to happen everywhere . . . Arizona and California next."
U.S. ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IS RETURNING TO PRE-1973 GROWTH RATES more quickly than had been anticipated by utility companies. Government and industry statistics point to a 1976 growth rate of nearly 6% . . , a sharp rise from the zero increase in demand experienced in 1974. The result may be occasional power shortages in some areas. Says Chauncey Starr, president of the Electric Power Research Institute: "We're headed for energy malnutrition."
THE BUY WISE GUIDE TO SOLAR HEAT is an all-new, 124-page manual designed to help the lay person choose the optimum solar heating/cooling system for his or her home. The 8-1/2" X 10-1/2" handbook contains easy-to-understand discussions of various types of solar systems (and their advantages/drawbacks), and features sections on air conditioning, cost calculations, and how to go about obtaining a home improvement loan for solar installations. The Guide is available for $9.00 from the Arlor Co., P.O. Box 419, Scituate, Mass. 02066.
RADIOACTIVE "FALLOUT" FOUND DOWNWIND OF NUCLEAR PLANT. Land slated for residential development three miles from the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant in Colorado' has been found to be covered with dust containing 80 times the state's maximum allowable level of plutonium. The "fallout" is believed to have drifted downwind from the weapons facility following a series of (presumably unpublicized) accidents.
THE ERA OF THE SOLAR SHAVE IS AT HAND. According to a report in Solar Energy Digest ($28.50/yr. from P.O. Box 17776, San Diego, Calif. 92117), Norelco will market a solar-powered shaver later this year. The unit is said to be powered by batteries that require only 24 hours' exposure to sunshine (or to a 100-watt bulb) to absorb sufficient energy for three weeks of cordless shaving. Projected price: $100.
ERDA WILL STUDY THE EFFECTS OF HIGH-STRENGTH ELECTRIC FIELDS ON ANIMALS. The agency wants to know what health hazards-if anywill accompany a proposed increase in cross-country electrical transmission line voltage. The increase (from 138,000 to 1,200,000 volts), according to the Energy Research and Development Administration, would help utilities meet future electric power demands and improve transmission efficiency. Battelle Memorial Institute's Pacific Northwest Laboratories will receive 91.2 million for the study.
WILL WINDPLANTS INTERFERE WITH TV RECEPTION? One man thinks so. Thomas B.A. Seniorprofessor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michiganbelieves that the presence of a multitude of wind generators in a community would cause significant interference with TV signals, the same as a low-flying aircraft does (except that the windplant phenomenon won't go away in a few minutes). Senior will study the problem with the aid of $112,000 in ERDA grant money.
FOLKS WHO WANT TO KEEP UP WITH SOLAR ENERGY NEWS, patents, and publications will find $8.00 for a year's subscription to Solar Utilization News the 24-page monthly journal of the recently founded Alternate Energy Instituteto be money well spent. Write: SUN, c/o The Alternate Energy Institute, P.O. Box 3100, Estes Park, Colo. 80517.
STILL NO SERI: The long-awaited announcement of where the government's Solar Energy Research Institute will be located has been delayed again, this time until March . . . . Philco-Ford's COLD GUARD REFRIGERATOR -which uses up to 53% less electricity than its competitorsis dead. Consumers were evidently "turned off" by the model's high price . . . . The Energy Research and Development Administration is spending $97,466 to determine "the energy conservation potential of carving beef into boneless commercial cuts just after slaughtering and before refrigeration and shipping". ERDA contends that the ENERGY USED TO CHILL BONES IN BEEF wouldif conservedamount to a yearly savings of 144 million barrels of oil . . . . John BergerEnergy Projects Director for San Franciscobased Friends of the Earthhas recently written a book entitled NUCLEAR POWER: THE UNVIABLE OPTION, available for $4.50 (plus 50 cents postage) from Ramparts Press, Box 10128, Palo Alto, Calif. 94303 . . . . Two Japanese firmsthe Citizen Watch Co. and the Orient Watch Co.have begun to market SOLAR WRISTWATCHES. The Citizen model (priced at around $159) will run for two days on the energy stored after 10 minutes' exposure to sunlight . . . . Volkswagen testdrivers have put almost 1,000,000 miles on a fleet of 45 Sciroccos, Audis, Rabbits, and VW buses powered by a MIXTURE OF 85% GASOLINE AND 15% METHANOL. Results thus far have been "quite promising".
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