SCI 184 A

As a late joiner to the SCI 184 A class, I missed the initial Robotic Car Setup.  Luckily, we had a second class to work with them.  The first thing I learned, was how badly Suffolk’s computers are in need of  tune-up.  There were three of us in our group, and sadly none of our computers worked.  After moving seats, we finally found a computer that while incredibly slow, managed to start up and run the program.  The program itself was incredibly confusing, and our car didn’t seem to work, but luckily our professor, Dr. Shatz, came to the rescue and got us up and moving. (Literally.) Our first goal was for the car to move in a circle with a 2 foot radius.  It seemed easy enough in theory.  But after multiple attempts, we finally realized as we tried to alter the rotation it wasn’t properly downloading onto our robot.  Finally we were able to fix the problem and move on with the rest of the class.

Our next goal was to measure the distance the car moved forward using the complicated program pictured above.  Luckily, our group had pretty accurate readings with this, and our results were as close to perfect as they could be! We learned that the faster the car moved the greater margin of error that occurred. This was caused by the friction in air that pushed back against the car when it stopped, sometimes causing it to bounce back.

I personally found this lab really interesting.  Though I struggled to understand the computer program, I had a much better understanding of motion, and really liked how different this lab was from others offered at Suffolk.

Every day we wake up, turn on the lights, make ourselves coffee and breakfast, shower, and do chores like laundry, vacuuming, and running a dishwasher.  Though we rarely stop and think about it, all of these things depend on electricity, and without it, life as we know it wouldn’t exist.  All of these items and regular household equipment like air conditioning increases the demand for electricity, and arguably the best way to decrease this use is an idea called demand response.

According to studies, demand response programs offer the ability to lower our electrical use during peak hours, high prices and during emergencies.  Currently, the power grid is aging, and new measures need to be introduced to help lower greenhouse gas emissions yet somehow keep up with growing demands for power.  According to studies by the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States used 3,883 billion kWh in 2003, equaling out to be around 13,868 kWh per person.  With that number only increasing since then, the need for demand response continually grows.

When we use too much energy, power grids fail, causing problems such as blackouts.  Unfortunately, blackouts aren’t just annoying, they’re also incredibly costly.  USA Today stated that the 2003 Blackout in New York City cost around $750 million in lost revenue, and the New York Times estimates that around $50 billion is lost each year because of power outages.  With our economy that’s already in tough shape, we can’t afford to let this continue.   Programs such as an automatic direct response system could help forsee potential problems, so we have a chance to correct them before they occur.  Individually, we can all contribute by cutting back the amount of energy we do on a daily basis.  Waiting to do laundry or run a dishwasher until you have a full load, not letting the shower run until you get in, and cutting back on the number of lights you use are all simple ways you can help lower your electrical use.

We can’t keep waiting for things to get better, if we want a better economy, a healthier planet, and more money in our pocket, we have to start fixing the problem today.  Electrical bills are expensive, let’s lower our costs today!

See how buildings can help demand response in this video!

Smart Grids, Smart Buildings

Sources:

New York Times

USA Today

US Department of Energy

On March 11, 2011, the world watched as the worst nuclear meltdown in over twenty years occurred in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan.  Just days before the reactor was scheduled to be shut down, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, causing the three reactors at the Power Plant to shut down.  The tsunami caused the backup generators to malfunction, and left the entire Nuclear plant at a standstill. Without the generators, the lack of cooling led to explosions at the Fukushima plant and left many of the workers with radiation poisoning, injuries and even some fatalities.

This is a first for me. Though I’ve read many of my friends blogs, I’ve never personally written one before. I hope I find my niche as I go, and expand my creativity as well as my knowledge. Soon I’ll start researching my next blog, but I want to make sure I approach it from a fresh angle. The story itself is one that’s received worldwide media coverage and my goal is to blog about it from a new perspective and keep it interesting and accurate. *Fingers crossed!*