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A carbon neutral gym?

Monday, September 5th, 2011

While sweating and struggling in a gym, you may have wondered if all the energy you’re putting into your workout could be put to some use. How about, using that energy to help power the lights, or the actual treadmill you’re running on, rather than it all being wasted. What’s more, could all this energy being produced actually offset all of the gym’s power needs and create an entirely carbon neutral gym?

Let’s look at the power 20 squad members in a Rugby team training together might produce.

  • Rowing Machines: If I try hard I can generate 150 W of power on a rowing machine for around 10 minutes. Let’s assume rugby players can generate for 250 W for 15 minutes. If we had 5 machines then we could rotate banks of 5 players through these machines to generate a continuous 5 x 250 = 1250 W – that’s impressive .
  • Treadmills: A treadmill actually consumes energy, and a typical device might have a 2 horse power (1500 W) motor. So either we could have 6 rowing machines powering one treadmill, or more sensibly, we could just abandon treadmills and get the team to run around a Rugby pitch.
  • Exercise bikes: I don’t have a figure for bikes, but in my experience they are less knackering than rowing so I would guess they can generate less energy. Let’s guess we have 5 exercise bikes and each one can generate 150 W then we could rotate banks of 5 players through these machines to generate a continuous 5 x 150 = 750 W.
  • Cross Trainers: I don’t have a figure for cross-trainers (sometimes called elliptical trainers),  but in my experience they are less knackering than rowing but more knackering than exercise bikes, so I would guess they can generate power somewhere in between the previous two. Let’s guess we have 5 cross-trainers and each one can generate 200 W then we could rotate banks of 5 players through these machines to generate a continuous 5 x 200 = 1000 W.

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Fukushima: What happened?

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

It’s been 6 weeks since the Fukushima nuclear accident, and news reports of the incident vary from the facile

to the mundanely exagerated

However, I have yet to read a clear web account of what has actually happened! The Wikipedia timeline somehow confuses rather than elucidates. A couple of weeks back I was lucky enough to receive a PowerPoint presentation by Mattias Braun from Areva. Using this and other sources I have attempted to summarise what actually happened.

The Fukushima Daiichi Site #1 consisted of 4 boiling water reactors:

  • Unit 1 – GE Mark I BWR (439 MW), Operating since 1971
  • Units 2-4 – GE Mark I BWR (760 MW), Operating since 1974
Unit 4 was shut down at the time of the accident and a pool in the building was used to store spent fuel rods – of which more later. A key feature worthy of note is that  these units were more than 35 years old, and nearly at the end of their operating life.
The reactor structure was similar for each reactor. The inner pressure vessel was contained within a ‘pear-shaped’ dry containment vessel, surrounded by a torus-shaped so-called ‘wet well’. So, yes, everything was already ‘pear-shaped’ even before the accident.
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Science isn’t just a subject, it’s a career

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Laurie Winkless, a Higher Research Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory, answers questions on her career into science and her inspiration of why she chose to become a scientist. Laurie has a BA (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics, a MSc in Space Science and has just started a PhD in Nanostructured Thermoelectrics!

What inspired you to study physics?

I’ve loved science since before I knew what the term meant! I was constantly asking questions as a child, and loved anything mechanical. Once I realised that I wanted to have a science-based career, my entire family thought I was crazy, but they encouraged it!

At the age of about twelve, I first read the book that has most shaped me. Its called “Yeager” and it’s about General Chuck Yeager, an amazing combat pilot and the first human to break the sound barrier in a jet called the Bell X-1. His story is an inspirational one. The son of a poor farming family, he joined the US Air Force at 18 and worked his way up through the ranks. He understood the importance and function of every component in all of the planes he flew (and still flies). He never accepted a “rough approximation”, he learned as much as possible about the “hows”, “whys” and “what ifs”.

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