Wikipedia: Thermoelectric (Peltier) Cooling
Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux at the junction of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other, with consumption of electrical energy, depending on the direction of the current. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler (TEC) and occasionally a thermoelectric battery. It can be used either for heating or for cooling, although in practice the main application is cooling. It can also be used as a temperature controller that either heats or cools.
This technology is far less commonly applied to refrigeration than vapor-compression refrigeration is. The primary advantages of a Peltier cooler compared to a vapor-compression refrigerator are its lack of moving parts or circulating liquid, very long life, invulnerability to leaks, small size, and flexible shape. Its main disadvantages are high cost for a given cooling capacity and poor power efficiency (a low coefficient of performance or COP). Many researchers and companies are trying to develop Peltier coolers that are cheap and efficient. (See Thermoelectric materials.)
NYT: Hot Summer Threatens Efficacy of Mail-Order Medications
The temperatures inside delivery trucks can reach twice the recommended threshold, but federal rules on drug storage conditions do not apply to the booming world of mail-order delivery.
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Mail-order pharmacies say that their packaging is weather resistantand that they take special precautions when medication “requires specific temperature control.” But in a study published last year, independent pharmaceutical researchers who embedded data-logging thermometers inside simulated shipments found that the packages had spent more than two-thirds of their transit time outside the appropriate temperature range, “regardless of the shipping method, carrier, or season.”
TorStar: Education Minister Todd Smith resigns suddenly
Veteran Progressive Conservative MPP Todd Smith has resigned suddenly as Premier Doug Ford‘s education minister after just 10 weeks on the job.
Smith, who has represented Bay of Quinte since 2011, stepped down Friday in a surprise move that will trigger a byelection within six months.
The unexpected departure will force Ford to appoint a new education minister later Friday afternoon with schools set to reopen in a fortnight.
Nobody was saying what company or role Smith was moving to.
TorStar: Court rejects Jacob Hoggard sex assault appeal
Hoggard was convicted by a jury of sexual assault causing bodily harm in relation to an Ottawa woman who testified he raped her over several hours in a Toronto hotel room in 2016 when she was in her early 20s. She said Hoggard also slapped and choked her, and described bleeding afterward. The jury acquitted Hoggard of raping and groping another complainant, a teenage fan.
His lawyers argued on appeal that Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts' decision to allow clinical psychologist Lori Haskell to testify for the Crown about the “neurobiology of trauma” tainted the trial’s fairness. The judge said she believed Haskell’s testimony would help the jury better understand her instructions on avoiding myths and stereotypes in sexual assault cases.
TorStar: Former Tory is launching a new political party
A new political party will appear on the ballot in two upcoming by-elections as the Canadian Future Party seeks to introduce itself officially as a centrist option for voters it argues are growing weary of an increasingly polarized environment.
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“It turns out that in the last couple of years there are things worse than having 338 root canals, which is watching as our current political system continues to fight about things that don’t matter and ignore existential threats against Canada,” Cardy said, citing defence, trade and foreign policy as examples.
Cardy also accused those on the left and right of twisting facts and evidence to suit their political narratives, arguing they are taking Canada to a place where the country can’t even agree on its basic challenges.
I wonder if the time is right?
TorStar/CP: New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau nuclear power plant down until mid-November
New Brunswick’s electrical utility says its sole nuclear generating station will remain shut down until at least mid-November.
The station at Point Lepreau, N.B., has been off-line since April 6, while NB Power carried out a planned 100-day maintenance outage.
In a news release Thursday, the utility said that during startup a “critical issue” related to the 660-megawatt power plant’s main generator was identified and needs to be addressed before the station can return to service.
CBC: Government still hasn’t decided whether CBC CEO should receive a bonus
The Liberal government said today it has not yet made a decision on whether it will grant a bonus to the head of CBC after the public broadcaster eliminated hundreds of jobs.
Because of the Privacy Act, it will likely be up to CEO Catherine Tait to publicly disclose it if she does receive one, as she did for the 2021-22 fiscal year at a Canadian Heritage committee hearing. No one has stated publicly whether she was granted a bonus the following year.
My guess is that they’ll wait for the buzz to die down, and then they’ll grant it.
Wired: What Is Gemini Live and How Do You Use It?
Google is rolling out this new voice assistant, and now you can have real-time, natural conversations with its chatbot. Here’s what it’s like.
howtogeek: How to Play DOS Games on Your iPad
Apple has been lifting restrictions on game emulation on iOS and iPadOS for months now, and finally it’s possible to get DOS emulation on your mobile Apple devices without jailbreaking. One of the first DOS emulation tools on the App Store is iDOS 3, and here’s how you can get a game running in no time.
… or Eudora?
Electrek: This startup’s heat pump water heater syncs with your solar
Cala’s efficient and intelligent heat pump system heats water based on the patterns of hot water use in the home, as well as homeowner preferences.
By understanding a home’s hot water patterns, Cala improves hot water availability during times of high demand and minimizes costs. Homeowners can also tailor water heating to their home and priorities, including synchronizing water heating with their rooftop solar system’s power output.
That gives the homeowner the ability to coordinate water heating with clean electricity production, decrease costs for homes with variable electric rates, and preheat water before potential power disruptions.
AP: Election 2024: Trump is putting mass deportations at the heart of his campaign
“Mass Deportation Now!” declared the signs at the Republican National Convention, giving a full embrace to Donald Trump’s pledge to expel millions of migrants in the largest deportation program in American history.
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But Trump and his advisers have other plans. He is putting immigration at the heart of his campaignto retake the White House and pushing the Republican Party towards a bellicose strategy that hearkens back to the 1950s when former President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched a deportation policy known by a racial slur -— “Operation Wetback.”
The Military Times: Trump belittles Medal of Honor award in campaign speech
“It’s the equivalent of the congressional Medal of Honor,” Trump said of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “But the civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone that gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers.”
“They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead,” he said. “[Adelson] gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
Trump’s antipathy to service members is well-documented. How can any veteran support him? It’s beyond me.
CleanTechnica: How I Love My Battery-Electric Chevy Bolt - Let Me Count The Ways
For those of you who follow my writing, you remember how I struggled last summer about whether to keep my Honda Si with its delightful 6-speed transmission or to switch to an environmentally-friendly electric vehicle for my summer cabin in the CT woods. Ultimately, I decided to trade it in for a used EV, and I purchased a used 2017 Chevy Bolt. I’ve learned a lot about the Bolt over two summers of driving it, and I absolutely love the vehicle. The Bolt has been affordable to own, maintain, insure, and run.
All Bolts feature a 65 kWh battery pack, affording the EV a 259-mile range. The Bolt EV returns a 120 MPGe or 28 kWh per 100 miles combined energy consumption estimate. Here’s an overview that might convince you too, to add a used Chevy Bolt to your fleet.
Last Updated: 16.Aug.2024 23:42 EDT
