210 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 38 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing Summarizing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
OpEdNews Op Eds   

Power Outages - You don't have to live with them

By       (Page 3 of 4 pages) Become a premium member to see this article and all articles as one long page.   2 comments

Charlotte Wilson
Message Charlotte Wilson

"Power Outage Closes Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas." A Power outage at the 3,000-room Bellagio Resort forced the hotel to close while workers searched for the source of the electrical failure.

Due to an anomaly in the basic design of the hotel power system, both the primary and the backup power cables were placed in the same duct-work, thus preventing electricians from working on the down system while the backup was operating. This sounds like some kind of joke - a routine more appropriate for a Bellagio comedy club act, rather than successfully powering the hotel. Not funny for hotel finances - an estimated loss of $3 million for each day closed. This large building could have been powered by Mr. Sumaruck's system, to reflect a huge cost savings.

More at Bellagio - http://www.powerefficiency.com/pdf_Bellagio_Escalator.pdf (Editor's note: Link does not work) for a description of an experiment in cost saving done at the Bellagio Hotel showing a, "37.14% average power savings and an estimated yearly cost savings of $2,131.70," for two of their escalators.

For a more detailed explanation, go to environmentalleader.com http://www.enviornmentalleader.com/2007/10/18/how-efficient-is-your-escalator/ (Editor's note: Link does not work) where they refer to the Bellagio test case, saying that E-Save Technology showed, "The system can improve the efficiency of electric motors by 15-35 percent."

Pete gave a hearty laugh, and told me, "The Variable AC Drive was invented in 1972 to run AC motors to increase efficiency - some people claim a 50% effectiveness - they're proud of that." he smiles, but "I am the only person in America who can get motors to run at 100% efficiency," (all the time). Mr. Sumaruck has more than 30 patents pending.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/4168455/description.html Variable Speed AC Drive invented by Katsuji Soeda, patent filed June 8, 1972, issued April 9, 2004 for "Speed Control System for A.C. Series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commutator_(electric) Motor."

For a good explanation, another company who does something similar to E-Save: http://www.joliettech.com/variable-speed-drive_faq.htm This company says, "If you are not using VFD's (Variable Frequency Drive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable-frequency_drive) you are wasting energy and throwing money out the window."

Pete Sumaruck's power production system operates at 100% efficiency - it never gets hot and can operate indefinitely, or as he says, "30 years," which is the standard lifetime of a new building.

Power outages again - One storm and (presumably) a few fallen trees can take down a world capitol. The drama is best shown on http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1226828/Eerie-evening-Brazil-power-outage-plunges-future-home-Olympics-late-night-blackout.html A must click to this link, if only to view the photography; the first picture will stay with you forever.

The above article refers to the massive power outage in Brazil on Nov. 10, 2009, which, "left tens of millions of people without electricity across most of the country's wealthy southeastern region." Chicago Tribune, Nov. 12, 2009. "Power outage isn't cause for alarm, Brazil says."Â President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters in Brasilia, "We didn't have a failure in the generation of energy, we had a problem in the transmission line." So said, but that doesn't make the lights come on any faster.

Government officials report the outage was probably caused by a heavy storm downing "three transmission lines" carrying power from the hydroelectric plant at Itaipu Dam - the largest such plant in the world and 2nd largest dam in the world, 2nd only to Three Gorges in China. The dam is on the Parana River, which acts as a border between Paraguay and Brazil. The plant services 20% of Brazil's power and 90% of Paraguay's power.

"The power system lost 17,000 megawatts after the massive plant went offline, possibly because of a storm. The director of the dam said it had lost its entire hydro-electric output." BBC News, Nov. 11, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8353878.stm tells Wikipedia "50 million people were affected."

Blame game - Brazilian politicians and government officials are very sensitive to criticisms of their energy infrastructure, what with the Olympics set for 2016. "Latin America Herald Tribune" says, "Authorities at the dam said in a statement that the hydro plant resumed normal operations at around 6:AM local time Wednesday and that 18 of its 20 generators were producing 10,450 megawatts of power," (at full power, 17,000 megawatts). That would mean that the power outage lasted 8 hours when government sources stated it was only 2 hours.Â

Brazil does not want the fault placed on the dam. Officially, Brazilian Mines and energy Minister Edison Labao (is that really his first name?) said, "the problem could have been caused by atmospheric problems of high-intensity storms - or a disconnection between the plant and its transmission systems." per dailymail.co.uk, "strong storms uprooted trees near the Itaipu dam just before it went offline could be to blame."

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Charlotte Wilson Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

As well as being a publicist, I am an artist (primarily a painter), and a writer (one book and 2 screenplays, as well as articles on my website). I am most interested in unusual people, what they have to say and what they do (what you do is not (more...)
 
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter

Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

"Bright Star" The Movie - What would poet, John Keats be like today

Highlights of the Advanced Energy Whistleblower Conference, Washington, DC, Dec. 12 and Dec. 13

Power Outages - You don't have to live with them

You Don't Want a Smart Meter for Electricity - How About No Meter At All

Don Carlo - Sex, Politics and Opera

Do Electric Cars Need Batteries - Talk during COP Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend