Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Stick a Fork in 2009

Forget it. 2009 is toast. It's done. Stick a fork in it. There's no way EEStor is going to announce something we've all been waiting for in the next couple days.

Now, 2010, that's a different eestory.



Until then, cue the 2009 Skeptics Ball Celebration Dance Music. Distribute the carbonated apple juice and let's get funky.


NEWSFLASH!: let's go LIVE now, to a tent set up on a vacant lot in Cedar Park, TX. Sources tell me they have just begun a new dance called, "The Magical EESU Is Still Not Here, Mr. Weir." Let's see the footage:



Pretty good dancing there. I could get into that music...sort of funky, no? Tough on the knees though. Impressive. So any way, Dick Weir!, I want those friggin batteries, sir! Let's get them charged up and out on the road, please, and sometime well before every many woman and child in the Middle East is a multi-millionaire! THANK YOU! (no, i havent forgotten about you Canadian Oilers--you're just not good dancers).

Monday, December 14, 2009

EEStor's Weir Delivers in 09


Not those Weirs. This one. EEStor Board of Director, Greg Weir, who is Senior Manager of Dell Precision Workstations at Dell has helped to unveil "the World's Most Powerful Mobile Workstation" as noted in a Press Release from December 1, 2009. According to Weir,

"The Dell Precision M6500 establishes a new class of mobile workstation for the most demanding computing environments. This system is truly a desktop replacement without compromise. In addition, we’re leveraging our robust ‘eco system’ of partners to deliver the performance users require running applications in key vertical markets such as 3D animation, Computer Aided Design (CAD), engineering, and scientific exploration, defense visualization and other computationally intensive applications.”

These workstations have an overall energy density of 0 kWh so they can not be used as batteries. No word on whether they will be field upgradeable for future expansion with a 15kWh EESU.

Will any other Weirs have rollout plans for December 2009? Yes, at least one other. Betty Weir plans to rollout another elegant Christmas Dinner as she's done for years. Full menu details are covered by NDA but the Turkey cooks in about 13.5 seconds -- it's placed in between two 15kWH EESU's. I'm told this cooking method yields "a turkey that does not need to be sliced with the consistency of mashed potatoes." Yummy.


GM Comment Offers Mixed Signals


I spoke to GM-Volt.com's Dr. Lyle Dennis for the first time this past Friday. We compared notes with each other on our latest story leads and talked a great deal about EEStor. Dennis is hooked into GM and from his latest blog post, you can see that he does inquire periodically as to whether or not anything from EEStor is trickling up to GM. It doesn't appear to amount to much yet. But there may be more coming. But that's not my story. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here's an excerpt from the GM Volt article:

"I often mention EEStor to GM executives when I get the chance. I recently asked Volt vehicle line chief Tony Posawatz what he knows about EEStor.

“I have heard a little bit,” he said. “Certainly the press releases are interesting, it causes you to take note and follow it.”

“The guys involved in it certainly aren’t a fly by night operation,” he noted. “Still some of the claims, knowing what I know, are way out there.”

-------

Is he referring to EEStor only or including in his assessment Zenn Motor Company?


Image Source: autoblog.com

Saturday, December 12, 2009

EEStor Believer Video

Sages Clifford, Weir and Nelson, praise be their name! :-)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Will USEE EESU in 2009? Probably Not....


Take a good long look at this calendar. Do you see the number 10 on the second row? That's TODAY. That means there are only 3 weeks left in THE YEAR 2009. Look at those weeks and think back to what occurs in December every year. That's right, Christmas and some other religious celebrations I won't enumerate. Yes, it's true there's something called "Wright Brother's Day," on December 17 but what I am driving at is if you are expecting an EESU to drop in 2009, you should probably scale back your expectations.

Based on what's left with this calendar in terms of time this month, I just see a rapidly shrinking window of opportunity for a company like EEStor to make any announcements, not if they want to maximize exposure. My feeling is if EEStor hasn't announced anything BY NOW then they aren't likely to announce anything IN DECEMBER, ie, THIS YEAR.

Oh sure, there's tons more chatter this year surrounding EEStor about the possibility of they will be delivering an EESU to LightEVS and Zenn Motor Company, but don't let yourself get carried away. After all it's December 10th, 2009 and the holidays are upon us.



So, be of good cheer. Relax your expectations based solely on the remaining time of the year. And figure out how you can focus on the holidays and enjoy them without an EESU under the tree.

If it helps you, you can picture what is very likely true: EEStor is working feverishly to get working, testable pre-production units to LightEVs and Zenn in 2009. But just don't let yourself believe they are going to make it! OK? Are you following me? They have the power electronics. They have likely completed component testing. And they are very likely running tests on a completed EESU in preparation for allowing an outside party to test it. But there are many many moving parts....not the least of which is coordinating with partners Lockheed Martin and Zenn Motor Company about messaging, timing, wording, etc. All of this could be complicated by hitherto unannounced new partner/s in the mix. If you knew all hell was going to break lose, wouldn't you be building a modern day Noah's communcations Ark and running it through the matrix, making a list, checking it twice? All almost certainly happening as you read this.



Stop it. You're imagining something happening this month again. I'm seriously telling you to not get your hopes up. OK? LightEVs may have a plan to test their 2x2x8 in. EESU upon receipt and to trot it out before several interested bike manufacturers not including Segway, but a plan does not equate to a scheduled reality. Zenn Motor Company may have plans to announce Zennergy Drive progress shortly after EEStor makes an announcement. But these are all plans and you mustn't get carried away with the belief that any of it will happen this month. So, for example, if you had targeted specific days in the future like December 17/21, 2009 as maybe a day for launch, just set it aside already. Not likely to happen.



What about the skeptics? Well, if they have a plan for December, I would encourage them to go ahead and commence it at this time if they accept the logic of this blog post, that there's too little time for EEStor to make a substantive announcement in December, ergo, it's not going to happen in December. I think they should go ahead and declare victory. So, commence with all the "I told you so's" and "believers are irrational" and Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin, (scroll to 4:34) etc etc. All the regular stuff we've heard before just more of it and louder given the late date.

Does this mean the blog is shut down for December? Yeah, sure it is.

MUAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!


HO HO HO!!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Polarity Ships Units to EEStor


Some time in the next one to two weeks, Polarity Inc. of Rancho Cordova, CA will update their website with information about their completed work for EEStor/Zenn, according to Polarity owner Wade Goins. Speaking via phone, Goins provided this update:

"We've had some dialogue with Zenn and with EEStor. We've also shipped some things that we'd like to discuss. But we want to make sure it's ok to do that from all parties."

To handle communications for Polarity, Goins hired an outside PR consultant named Greg Jones of Jones PR. According to Goins, Jones PR will manage the "campaign" and "December looks like it should be a pretty good month to discuss what we've done." Is Goins happy with everything he's worked on so far?

"We're happy on our side. We build all types of DC to DC converters & inverters. Our stuff works. We're waiting for the holy grail which is the capacitor. "

For those keeping score with EEStor's EESU development, place a check mark next to power electronics.

____Powder Purity
____Material Permittivity
____Component Testing
____Power Electronics

Do USEE EESU yet? (phrase used without permission)

More info from Polarity when it becomes available....


UPDATE: Speaking with Greg Jones this morning, he wanted to stress that Polarity's interest in working with a PR consultant is not merely for the EEStor work but rather to assist with all of Polarity's endeavors.


Monday, December 7, 2009

Astonishing EEStor News!?!


Before we all get carried away with what could be astonishing EEStor news, it's important to calm the soul, slow down and peer into the wider significance of reality, your life and the universe around you. It's said that 25% of the Earth's inhabitants do not enjoy the use of electricity. Ergo, there are almost literally worlds amid our world which struggle with a great many things we take for granted. Our comfort and the human suffering around the world represent an unignorable lack of balance, one that we are fortunate to have had attacked by heroes who declare the status quo unacceptable.

Until we join these individuals on the higher plain, our own personal lives will very likely mirror the various imbalances in our world. That is, our attempts to satisfy our multitude of greedy desires will invariably lead to lonely, hollow illusions of human fulfillment. The real opportunity is to attack human suffering in order to win one's own humanity.

From it's inception, this blog has been dedicated to the memory of Fr. Angelo D'Agostino, founder of Nyumbani. (It's not a monument or even a church, but then again, D'Agostino has not yet been canonized so relax a little.) :-) After almost 3 years, that dedication seems fitting because EEStor represents a truth not unlike that of ridding Africa of the scourge of AIDS at least insofar as the founding vision is concerned. Granted, in wildly different realms, Nyumbani and EEStor set out to accomplish what is widely considered impossible. Nyumbani attacks human apathy with a goal to normalize & nurture the lives of children who have lost their parents to AIDS. EEStor attacks scientific hubris with a goal to create something extremely useful before giving in to the desire to explain how it is even possible, thereby jeopardizing how it is used and by whom. Does the anology feel stretched a bit? Never mind.

Even if the above reflection has no resonance for you, I felt it important to provide a bit more information about Nyumbani. So I reached out to the succesor of Fr. D'Agostino, a kind soul by the name of Sr. Mary Owens. Hopefully, it will provide additional information for why I support this great charity.

----------------------------------------------------

Dear B,

Greetings from Nyumbani.

See answers to your questions under each question.

I would have appreciated more info about who you are.
Blessings,

Sister Mary

[B's Note: Even charitable people wonder who. ;-) ]



B wrote:
Dear Sr. Mary,

I met Fr. D'Ag in the Washington DC area a few years ago and have been giving my support to Nyumbani ever since. I hope you are doing well.
I would like to write an article about Nyumbani for a blog I maintain. I was hoping you might be so kind as to answer a few questions for the article.
1) Are donations to Nyumbani accounted for in a transparent way? How can one be sure funds are used in an effective manner?
All donations are receipted and our accounts are audited by one of the leading world audit firms


2) What is the most pressing need of your organization at this time of December 2009?
We look to Christmas to receive gifts of food, household items, cash donations which help us in the running of Nyumbani Children's Home which depends entirely on donors


3) In the newsletters, I think I've seen mention of some use of renewable energy in the village. Can you share a few thoughts about how that is working? How did you come into it and are there plans to grow it? (I ask about this because my blog is devoted largely to the discussion of renewable energy)

We are growing both jatropha and castor. It was Fr. D'Agostino's dream to run our machines and vehicles on biofuel. Jatropha is taking time to adapt to the environment so we have not harvested seeds yet. We have harvested castor seeds and, because the quantity is still small, have sold as seeds, i.e., we are not yet extracting the oil for use in the Village


4) Can you share a story or two about individuals who benefitted from the services Nyumbani provides?
Our first graduate from Nyumbani Home, Dennis, having acquired a job, moved into his own accommodation in September 2007. He had been with us since 1995.
A visit to Nyumbani Home these days is an experience of meeting happy, healthy children running or cycling around, playing sport, reading in the library or relaxing in their home - totally different from a visit in the 90s when you would see children at varying stages of diminishment and when 1 to 2 would die each month

5) Do you think Fr. D'Ag is a saint? Is he helping out from up above? Any stories you can share in this regard?
Fr. D'Agostino was a good man. I believe that all good people are saints. In addition, he still inspires people - a fruit of a good life. I believe too that he intercedes for us with God.


If your charity is successful, what does it look like 10-25yrs from now?


We shall be out of business since, by then, virtually no child will be born with the virus.

Best Regards,

B


http://nyumbani.org/


Fr. Angelo D'Agostino and Sr. Mary Owens

Friday, December 4, 2009

Carl Nelson & Nobel Prize Winner William N. Lipscomb


I've written previously about how EEStor's Carl Nelson worked with world materials pioneer Arthur Von Hippel. Thanks to EEStory user BigMig, it's now been brought to my attention that Carl Nelson also utilized some notes provided to him by Harvard University's William N. Lipscomb in his 1964 Laboratory of Insulation Research government sponsored research paper.

Lipscomb won the 1976 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, something that escaped by notice. Thanks BigMig!

In any case, just an interesting connection to note.




Photo is of William Lipscomb!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Top Lockheed Martin Energy Execs Lack EEStor Poker Face

Today at the National Press Club, Lockheed Martin held a hastily thrown together press conference to lay out it's vision for it's future in energy. Unfortunately, talking about EEStor was not on the agenda. However, thanks to a gutsy anonymous blogger, we have one hell of a post-event interview whereupon two of Lockheed's senior most executives demonstrate REAL TROUBLE hiding their enthusiasm about EEStor.

Additionally, the vast majority of questions submitted online during the web conference were on the topic of EEStor. Hello, Lockheed? Inquiring minds want to know. Get your game plan together already. Geeze.

Draw your own conclusions. Important: doubleclick on the video below so you can see it in full screen. Blogspot is clipping off the side.




Key take aways from the interviews:

1) Lockheed Martin Execs smile when you ask them about EEStor
2) They have trouble wiping the smile off their faces once they start smiling
3) The slightest hint of an EEStor concept brings the smile back
4) Why are they so happy?
5) What do they know?
6) Are you still reading this list?
7) Go to bed.
8) Now.
9) I mean it.
10) No, I am not the one who captured the video. ;-)


Here is a link to the webcast briefing for replays of Lockheed's Briefing. Here is a more legitimate
article covering what Lockheed actually wanted to talk about.




Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Darryl Siry on DOE

Darryl Siry's latest article is mandatory reading for anyone following the manner in which stimulus funding and in particular, Department of Energy funding is being allocated to private companies as of late. He makes the simple point that when the federal government begins injecting funds into particular markets (such as with the pot of gold Fisker/Tesla have drawn funds), it has the counter effect of reducing private investment in that space since the competitors chosen by the government obtain such an enormous advantage over all others.

This is a very relevant point that has wider application to discussions across all of the current stimulus funding that's being handed out these days. It's the sort of point that should give everyone involved pause and hopefully consider whether or not picking individual companies is really the best way to stimulate the economy and even usher in newer modes of energy use that many who read this blog so strongly desire.

Personally, I advocate tax credits that reward technological advances. Instead of Cash for Clunkers or Cash for Caulkers, make the credits reward innovation and technological success: Cash for Batteries Whose Energy Density Is 52kWh has a nice ring to it. Cash for Solar Panels that cost less than ____per kW. Cash for Wind Turbines that cost less than _____ per kW. Etc Etc. Cash for States that Resolve Distribution Line Right of Way Issues Before X July 2010, etc etc.

It's a simple tweak but what it does is cause more private investment, more competition and thus more jobs. Just handing out funds to a few companies who hire lobbyists and former government office holders (Al Gore) to promote a particular company to their former colleagues (Cathy Zoi) is not the best way forward if the goal is to stimulate the economy and create jobs. In fact, as Siry points out succinctly, it's probably counterproductive.

So, that brings us back to a question I've been asking (all alone apparently) and that is, how is it exactly that the Department of Energy is going about selecting the promising companies/technologies in which to invest? How many who have received stimulus funds have also hired lobbyists?