Here in Australia we are in the Worst Drought that we have seen since the English settled here over 200 years ago.  Our dam levels are as low as they have ever been, Governments are talking about recycled water and purifiying our sea water and there is no forseeable end to this water crisis in sight.

 

But reading through Slashdot this morning I cam accross this really interesting article on a guy who has created a windmill that can create Water from the air!  Reading through the article I am very impressed.  If it can truly work then this might be a way to extend our water supplys further while we wait for rain!

It's been a while since we have had a rather shocking celebrity death here in Australia.  However it is now unfortunatle that we have one.  Steve Irwin (aka The Crocodile Hunter) has just been killed while apparently filming a documentry on the great barrier reef. We Aussies have always made some fun of Steve and his over the top Australian style, but at the same time everyone I know also has a great deal of respect for the man as both a business man and a environmentalist.  Steve Irwin in my view was a 'Top Bloke' and we will more than likely joke about his life with the usual australian way, but we will also miss his larger than life views and personality.

 

RIP Steve Irwin.

Browsing through the Smarthouse web site today found this little article on the price of petrol and where our $$$ are going:

 

" When Hurricane Katrina was battering the US Gulf Coast and energy prices skyrocketed, officials at the big oil companies along with the Australian Federal Government  insisted that they weren't profiting on the nation's misery. Rising costs explained rising prices, they said, not gouging.  But that seems hard to believe in light of Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell's recently reported record profits of $9 billion or more. Now it emerges that oil sheiks are raking it in as much as the oil companies.This house in Saudia Arabia is just one example of where the money is going.

Saw this interesting article on Slashdot this morning, talks about a guy who might have a solution to the fuel crisis.  I like it mainly because I remember paying 56c/L at the pump only a few years ago, I remember paying 80 - 90c/L at the beginning of the year. i'm currently paying $1.20 - 1.30/L at the moment.  Read the article it could be the future if it turns out to be real! 

 

Monitoring Fuel prices have a look at fuelwatch.com.au

The idea of breathing underwater without cumbersome oxygen tanks has been the dream of science fiction writers for many years. In George Lucas’ movie "The Phantom Menace", Obi-Wan whips out a little Jedi underwater breathing apparatus and dives in. As things tend to happen in our world, yesterday’s science fiction has turned into today's science fact due to one Israeli inventor with a dream.

There are a number of limitations to the existing oxygen tank underwater breathing method. The first is the amount of time a diver can stay underwater, which is the result of the oxygen tank capacity. Another limitation is the dependence on oxygen refueling facilities near the diving site which are costly to operate and are used to compress the gas into the tanks which might be dangerous if not handled properly. The final problem has to do with the actual use of oxygen tanks underwater. When these tanks are in use they empty out and change the balance of the diver in the water.

Engineers have tried to overcome these limitations for many years now. Nuclear submarines and the international space station use systems that generate Oxygen from water by performing 'Electrolysis', which is chemical separation of Oxygen from Hydrogen. These systems require very large amounts of energy to operate. For this reason, smaller, diesel fueled submarines cannot use these systems and are required to resurface to re-supply their oxygen tanks every so often. Divers can't even consider carrying such large machines not to mention supplying them with energy. To overcome this limitation an Israeli inventor, Alon Bodner, turned to fish.
Fish do not perform chemical separation of oxygen from water; instead they use the dissolved air that exists in the water in order to breathe. In the ocean the wind, waves and underwater currents help spread small amounts of air inside the water. Studies have shown that in a depth of 200m below the sea there is still about 1.5% of dissolved air. This might not sound like much but it is enough to allow both small and large fish to breathe comfortably underwater. Bodner’s idea was to create an artificial system that will mimic the way fish use the air in the water thus allowing both smaller submarines and divers to get rid of the large, cumbersome oxygen tanks.

The general structure of the system

The system developed by Bodner uses a well known physical law called the "Henry Law" which describes gas absorption in liquids. This law states that the amount of gas that can be dissolved in a liquid body is proportional to the pressure on the liquid body. The law works in both directions – lowering the pressure will release more gas out of the liquid. This is done by a centrifuge which rotates rapidly thus creating under pressure inside a small sealed chamber containing sea water. The system will be powered by rechargeable batteries. Calculations showed that a one kilo Lithium battery can provide a diver with about one hour of diving time.

Alon Bodner

Bodner has already built and tested a laboratory model and he is on the path to building a full-scale prototype. Patents for the invention have already been granted in Europe and a similar one is currently pending examination in the U.S. Meetings have already been held with most major diving manufacturers as well as with the Israeli Navy. Initial financial support for the project has been given by Israel Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Bodner is currently looking for private investors to help complete his project.

If everything goes according to plan, in a few years the new tankless breathing system will be operational and will be attached to a diver in the form of a vest that will enable him to stay underwater for a period of many hours.