New Additions

If you haven't been here for awhile, here is a chronological list of the updates:

March 2013:

 

July 2012:

Added coastal Labrador power to the small hydro page.

June 2012:

There is more small hydro potential in Newfoundland than there is in Muskrat Falls, Labrador yet only mega projects are in the public debate.

The Insanity of Compound Interest The fundamental underpinning of modern finance is mathematically unstable.

A brief overview of approval voting and why we need need voting reform- Better ways to Vote

A new page on load shedding as an alternative to building new power plants.

A new page on root cellars for food storage.

May 2012:

An overivew of the Energy Alternatives for the Canadian province of Newfoundland.

April 2012:

The Hidro perpetial motion machine by James Kwok appears to be running on compressed air. The scam overview section was updated.

February 2011:

New article on on-demand ventilation in the home. You can save significant money if your heat exchanger is smart enough to sense the carbon dioxide that you breath out and adjust to your activities.

Some completly unrelated articles on the blog regarding protecting your privacy on the internet, encryption, data security as well as some postings about the unrest in the middle east. Beware, there are some truly disturbing images posted depicting horrific evil in Libya so don't click this unless you are prepared!

December 2010:

I finally have some time on my hands again, so I hope to be able to catch up with all the corrections that readers have submitted and fix broken links.

There is a new page devoted to poorly designed and dangerous Venmar brand heat exchangers.

More readers have been sending feedback about the Voltage Control Guard scam. It seems to be growing.

A totally new scam has surfaced called the Power Optimizer. The most interesting aspect of this insane device is that the insane US patent office has actually granted a patent on it.

September 2010:

A quiet year for posting, mostly because of the demands of academia. Hate mail still rolls in, and one C&D letter arrived. Pictures were removed from another scam page because the engineer that sent them to us was being legally harrassed at his employer's workplace. Thanks to everyone that sent in corrections, broken link reports and offered support.

November 2009:

Tutorial for connecting RESOL VBUS (DeltaSol) to a RS-485 controller and EKM smart meters to a RS-485 controller.

October 2009:

A pair of smart 220 volt kWh meters from EKM metering were installed to measure hydronics and domestic hot water loads.

September 2009:

We have a 30 tube EOS brand evacuated solar panel installed for testing in a geographic region generally considered unsuitable for solar applications because of bad weather. So far it is exceeding our expectations. Economic Viability of Solar Heating in Atlantic Canada. A Taco Solar X-pump block was also tested but abandoned for a RESOL controller and standard coil in tank heat exchanger due to performance limitations.

August 2009:

New section on basement vapor barriers and mold.

New sections on yet more insane scams -- Agua Luna and Magniwork and Home Made Power Plant and water4gas and magnets4energy.

A new energy management device called the Voltage Control Guard VCG1

New page on AppleTV network problems. Since the Apple Support has a predictliction to censor knowledge on their boards, here is a tutorial on copying content from your AppleTV back to your PC. This has little to do with our regular content, but I feel that Apple deserves it.

May 2009:

Expanded analysis of the Fitch Fuel Catalyst and new comments on power factor correction scams.

March 2009:

A new page on the green building rating systems LEED and Green Globes.

Added Wiki pages for Mondragon style workers cooperatives and sustainable societies.

February 2009:

A new page on making Blower Windows (an alternate to a blower door) for measuring the air infiltration of houses.

New links to stirling engine design manuals.

A new section on dryer vents under thermal imaging.

A new section on ceilings under thermal imaging.

A copy of the scam e-book earth4energy.pdf arrived. See the review here:

January 2009:

A new section on Environmental Issues and articles on asbestos and hydrogen.

A new section on Thermal Imaging

Heat Exchanger monitoring project (under Sensors)

Whole house kWh monitoring (under Sensors)

AAG Weather Instrument had a hard time (under Sensors)

How to install a watchdog timer (under Sensors)

Additional information under the scam Earth4Energy, with links to DIY solar cells

An essay on how governments need to run a Ministry or Department of the Environment

A section on vertical axis wind generators (under Scams)

A wiki for engineering students (hosted as a community service)