machine

this particular component of a bigger machine is to cool down its product, copper rod. I had the opportunity to visit this factory as a part of energy audit process. I had a big respect to those who worked in the factory for their dedication and contribution to the nation's economy. thank you every one!

Japan, 'nuclear energy free' society II

any news on the Japan's vision on nuke energy free society? I really want to learn how the Japan is going to implement this. or is it the change in the government has also change the direction? I hope not. this is a very good initiative that I believe everyone is eager to follow.

Japan, nuclear free nation

so the PM of Japan has finally spoken on the future of nuclear power plant. but does it translated into the government policy? I really want to see what this advanced nation has in store to replace one-third of her electricity energy source. energy efficiency society? natural energy resource?

according to Wikipedia, Japan is using 868 W/ person. that is less than Finland (almost 2000), Norway (almost 3000) and Iceland (slightly more than 3000) (of course cold countries). Japan's figure is lower than Qatar and Kuwait (more than 1700 and 1500 respectively) (ok, small, hot energy-hunger countries). and the figure lower than Singapore (947) but is slightly more than Brunei (801). other G7 countries electricity energy consumption stands as follows: France (851), German (822), Italy(603), UK(667), US (1460) , Canada (1910). Wow, Italy and UK are low at less than 700.

so Japan, show your colour.

engineering

this is the first 'engineering' entry in my blog despite I'm and engineer by profession. this picture depicts a part of the overhead 'catenary' for electrified train system. the scheme is essentially supplies electricity to the train set. the picture was taken lat week after a very disappointed, 'waste and stupid' interview session. the location of the picture was in a 100-year old former main train station in the capital. the electrical system is new, less than 20 years old.

Japan, nuclear waste and sunflower

so they are planning to plant as much sunflower as they can. it's a symbolic, they said. after renouncing 'live by principle' axiom, I believe what we should do is more effort and thinking to minimise what ever risk we face. why symbolic? this kind of thing reminds me to my previous boss who always said he's talking in symbolic and expecting people to understand. what the meaning of that? could he just got straight to the point instead of 'symbolism' which people may not understand due to 'poor or stupid symbolism'.

uk nuclear power plants sites

ok now the UK has named their nuclear power plants site. Japan is still studying, I guess, since there is no news about their fuel strategy. as my country, still no news.

nuclear fuel Japan - underestimate the risk

so there was report from United Nation saying that Japan has underestimate the risk of hazard by tsunami to nuclear power station. however the praised the Japanese response as 'exemplary'.

I hope I can learn that 'exemplary' steps. such an effort towards such a serious event can be easily adopted into solving other lesser problem. and about for the last one or two days senior citizen of Japan are volunteering themselves in fighting the radiation. they gave their reason but saying their mission is no 'kamikaze'. kamikaze, according to them is a weird strategy where 'people go and never comeback'. but their effort is 'go and will come back'.

I should go to Japan, work there and learn.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: negligible

electricity fuel, my country

after weeks of speculation, our country's electricity tariff is finally increased. the reason: increase in global fossil fuel price. another reason: previous tariff is not good enough to promote renewable energy development!

and I also noticed that there will be 1% surcharge on certain class of consumer. the statement by the national electricity company is as follow:

'In line with the Renewable Energy (RE) Act which was passed in April 2011, the Government will impose 1% as Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) for RE Fund, effective 1st September 2011. The fund will be utilised for promotion and development of RE projects and initiatives and will be managed by Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA)'

so are we going to see a leap in renewable energy in my country? it's going to be excited development, in the coming months. I hope.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.04 kg

nuclear fuel Germany

so Germany is going to phase out all of their nuclear plants. may be it's political decision, but I really want to see how are they going to fill in the about quarter of their energy source. I read about the possibility of going efficient may contribute to 10% reduction of electricity usage.

this is very excited. as an electrical engineer I really want to see how this advanced country overcome the 'opportunity'. last week, the UK announced that they will stick to nuclear power plant. this week Germans is doing the opposite. I'm still waiting announcement from the Japanese government.

once I went for a course on electricity. the speaker said "no one need electricity. you can get electrocuted. if anyone can figure a different way to light a bulb, electricity is history". I don't know whether the quote is worth but it's a challenge.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.02 kg

nuclear fuel UK

I heard that UK won't scale down their nuclear reactors development despite what happened in Fukushima, Japan. perhaps the UK has some solutions to minimize any haphazard on their plants. I found it interesting because it is Japan will announce their energy fuel policy.

for my country, the decision whether to go for the nuclear power station is on hold. may be they wait for further announcement from other countries as well. in the case of my country, it is even dramatic because recent news of rising the electricity price was largely unpopular. the government claimed that the increment is unavoidable because of the rising price in oil, gas etc.

either way my car will be sold in short time.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.02 kg

Fukushima

I watched our local TV news last night. there was a news that the radiation level at Fukushima power plant's reactor no. 1 has been declined & they'll send workers inside to do some cool down job. well I guess they managed to overcome the situation there. I really hope that the situation will be put under control soon.

and then I read in the internet about the Japanese government is to look at their energy strategy because they're now too dependent on nuclear plants. this is an exciting event. I would like to learn how an advanced nation like Japan will act on this situation. revert to fossil fuel-fired power plant? I hope not. green energy technology? I really hope so. I really hope to see a real green technology power plant in action. from my reading, the biggest solar power plant produces 97 MW in Canada. while largest wind farm generates about 870 MW (US). but just compare to the largest power plant, Three Gorges, China, with the capacity of 18,460 MW. even in my country the biggest power plant, fossil fuels fired, is more than 2000 MW.

I really hope to learn from the Japanese on this issue.

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.117 kg

technology

above is the picture of one of the many communication towers in my country. this one is more than 500 feet high, towering a small capital city of one of the states. the tower has two elevators that will bring us to an observation deck. it is said that this tower is 19th highest telecommunication tower on earth. statistic.

with such achievement as the background, I had my mobile phone blocked 4 times: twice on 6 April last week and twice today. the culprit: I paid my bill through an agent counter. the agent made a mistake on the account number. it's funny to note that the agent is actually an outlet of the parent company of my mobile service provider. but I understand that they are separate entity.

what made me 'more' felt as a commoner was that I need to keep on calling several times to have my story heard by the 'customer' service personnel. the 'story' was also recorded 'for our improvement process', or so their answering machine claim. finally my wife, whose name is used as the registered owner of the number, asked the money whereabout. and as what we were expected, the money is now in the mobile provider company's pocket but they need a long time to do the correction MANUALLY! so much of their self claim "Customers are always on top of our priority list". to rub salt to the wound, they need to do it MANUALLY. remember the tower in the picture? it is owned by the parent company of the mobile service provider. what a joke. don't get me wrong. I'm not live in a troubled country such as Libya or Yemen. I'm a citizen of a country which GDP (nominal) is at the top 40 (statistic for 2010, IMF).


so what ever the numbers on the economic scales (GDP, per capita, what ever), once you are a commoner, you are doomed to be a commoner to the bunch of people who claim "customers are always on top of our PRIORITY list". good heaven.