There are, on average, two solar eclipses per year in various locations on Earth. Rarely do they cross the United States. In 1979, an eclipse’s path of totality passed through four northwest states. On 10 May 1994, another eclipse was visible in much of the United States, the path of totality going from New Mexico northeast to Maine, passing through southeast Kansas and central Missouri along the way – Annular Solar Eclipse of May 10, 1994. Kansas City was barely on the northern edge of the total eclipse path, and Lawrence KS experienced about 98% solar concealment.
One week from now, on Monday, 21 August 2017, there will be a total solar eclipse, its ecliptic path spanning the entire contiguous United States. The path of totality will enter near Corvallis OR and exit near Charleston SC. Just after 1:00pm CDT, the eclipse shadow will pass through northeast Kansas and Central Missouri. Kansas City will be barely on it’s southern edge, and Lawrence KS will experience about 96% solar concealment. It won’t be until 2045 when another total solar eclipse will transverse the U.S., barely touching the southwest corner of Kansas.
At no time is it safe to look at the sun without stringent eye protection. Sunglasses are not adequate – safe lenses must filter 100% of ultraviolet, 100% of infrared, and 99.999% of visible light. If not, permanent eye damage can occur, if not blindness. The most popular eye protection are cardboard eyeglasses with either aluminized mylar lenses or black polymer lenses. However, NASA and others are reporting that many fly-by-night vendors are taking advantage of the astronomical growth (pardon the pun) in demand for eclipse glasses, and looking to turn a quick profit by selling subpar and potentially dangerous goods to the unsuspecting public. Solar Eclipse Glasses that are ISO 12312-2 certified are safe for eclipse viewing. Another option is welder’s goggles with #14 rated glass, nothing less (combining welder glass layers does not work, such as #10 with #4) – Observing Astronomical Events Safely. All of the NASA-approved manufacturers are specialists, making only lenses or astronomical gear, and have also been in business for decades – Reputable Vendors of Solar Filters & Viewers.
There are a number of great web sites with the history and science of solar eclipses, many types of maps, and animations of the 2017 eclipse from several vantage points. View them at:
Total Solar Eclipse – 21 August 2017
NASA – Solar Eclipse Page
2017 Solar Eclipse Animations by Ernie Wright of NASA
Total Solar Eclipse 2017 – Communities in Kansas
Total Solar Eclipse 2017 – Communities in Missouri
eclipse maps
Enjoy!
During the 1970’s energy crisis, Daniel Nocera became interested in the chemistry of plant photosynthesis as the best source of energy. Most of society’s energy derives from photosysnthesis, stored chemically in plant cells. Eating plants or animals that ate plants provides personal energy, and up to this point, industrial energy has come from the stored sunlight of fossil fuels. Nocera decided that the best long-term energy solutions would be plant based. By 2011, he felt his understanding of plant chemistry sufficiently enabled him to replicate solar energy conversion as performed by vegetation. Nocera unveiled his artificial leaf, “a cheap, playing-card-size coated-silicon sheet that, when placed in a glass of tap water and exposed to sunlight, split the water into hydrogen and oxygen”. This process released the hydrogen (H2) for use as a fuel.
The implications of the artificial leaf are that water could be a ready source of fuel. Methods to electrochemically split water into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis have been around for a long time, but mostly rely on fossil generated electricity to do it. Renewable energy electrolysis is also being done, but requires sophisticated and expensive solar panels or wind generators. The artificial leaf is simpler than these technologies. Rather than electrodes in water connected to an external source of electricity, the artificial leaf makes its own electricity while submerged, directly generating hydrogen (H2).
Another big hurdle for electrolysis is that water’s chemical bond resists molecular rearrangement. To overcome this, expensive methods are tpically needed such as increased voltage, adding chemicals, or using catalysts. After several experiments, Nocera and his colleagues used plentiful and cheap cobalt, suplemented with a phosphate buffer. Unanticipated, the cobalt and phosphate had combined on their own into a highly effective, low-cost catalyst, which coated the electrode. Nocera’s catalyst was self-generating, and re-formed after decomposing during the process. They had discovered a regenerative electrolysis – the artificial leaf. Beyond being a one-stage hydrogen generator made from cheap materials, the other huge attribute is that swarms of tech support aren’t needed around the world to maintain the technology.
All this means that the artificial leaf can provide energy independence to everyone everywhere. Nocera’s goal from the beginning has been to provide inexpensive low-tech energy for the billions of impoverished people of the world. Cheap materials and extremely low maintenance does just that. What might be considered the down-side is that it operates at minimal power level, but enough for sufficiency lifestyles. “Nocera’s vision for the world’s poorest people is of a gridless, decentralized energy system, in which every dwelling has an artificial leaf on its roof. When the sun shines, the leaf splits water, about a litre and a half per day, and after dark the residents burn the hydrogen in an inexpensive micro-turbine, which generates electricity till dawn at an average rate of about a hundred watts”. This quantity of hydrogen doesn’t need expensive high-pressure tanks, but can be stored in ordinary metal tanks, at modest pressure.
The artificial leaf doesn’t pack a punch. It doesn’t lend itself to making H2 in quantities for high pressure storage that can power a Tesla Roadster from zero to 140mph in 9 seconds. It’s not for what Nocera calls the “legacy world”, the fortunate minority of the earth’s population who live consumptive lifestyles exploiting fossil fuels and other inhabitants. The artificial leaf is a technology that operates at a solar pace for people living on a solar budget. “The poor are helping you”, Nocera told an audience in Aspen, “because they’re going to teach you how to live for the future”. Read more at – Daniel Nocera’s Artificial Leaf.
What’s the cleanest most efficient form of transport? What is the most cost effective solar technology? When considering, don’t mistake sophistication for elegance. If humans want to fix our society before it all implodes, we need to chose solutions that actually reduce our carbon and energy footprint, and not give us false positives. The original list of seven sustainable wonders of the world was started in 1997 By Alan Durning of the Sightline Institute (highly recommended group, BTW). The amazingly brilliant system analyst, Donella Meadows (now deceased), heard of the list in 1999 and expanded upon it. What these whole systems thinkers considered truly sustainable technologies are any basic yet revolutionary technologies that allow humans to live gently on the Earth. What qualifies for the list, to paraphrase Donella Meadows, is “kindness to the earth and to human health, accessible to anyone, locally made, inexpensive to obtain and maintain, mostly old in concept with versions that have evolved in many cultures, runs on solar energy with no pollution, reusable, and biodegradable” – Seven-Plus Wonders of Sustainability. Here’s the list:
The bicycle — the most energy-efficient form of transport ever devised. It doesn’t emit pollution, it runs on renewable energy, it makes its user healthier, it’s easy to repair, it requires little in the way of pavement or parking lot, and 80 percent of the world’s people can afford one. (Only 10 percent of the world’s people can afford a car.)
The clothesline — even more affordable than the bicycle, just a length of rope, runs on solar energy, no electricity, no pollution, and your clothes come out smelling sweet.
The ceiling fan — a fan makes a space feel 9 degrees F. cooler than it really is. A typical ceiling fan draws no more than 75 watts, only one-tenth as much as an air conditioner.
The condom — protects against some of the world’s worst diseases, gives parents control over the size and timing of their families, helps control population growth. Those are big jobs for a flimsy tube of rubber.
The public library — the written wisdom of the world at the fingertips of anyone with a library card! The average American pays $20 a year in taxes to support public libraries. A book that is loaned ten times cuts not only cost but paper use per read by a factor of ten.
The root cellar — temperature controlled by the earth, a way of storing many vegetables and fruits without moving parts, canning jars, boiling or freezing.
The basket — baskets, made all over the world by skillful hands out of renewable, biodegradable material, are lightweight, strong, beautiful, and reusable over and over.
Meadows goes on and on, and so can you: the olive tree, the sari, the compost pile, the knitting needle, the canoe. . .
Are you one of the 59% of Lawrencians who would bicycle more if it were safe? Is a bike lane six-inch paint line no margin for safety? Do you not let your children bicycle to school? We’ve waited 41 years since the Pedalplan was adopted but not enacted, and it’s time to build at least one, major, safe bikeway each year.
A Naismith Drive bicycle track is a priority. From 19th to 23rd St., Naismith Dr. forces cyclists to share narrow street lanes with trucks, buses, and autos. In fact, no sane cyclist does that, but instead rides on the narrow sidewalk which endangers pedestrians – a lose/lose situation. Disgruntled pedestrians are forced to walk on a muddy goat path on the east side of the street.
Bicycles have a zero carbon footprint, powered by carbohydrates, not hydrocarbons. Autos use 34% of U.S. transportation petroleum. Everyday cycling to work and school and for errands is one of the easiest ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But bikeways must be safe!
Despite proposing millions in motor vehicle projects, city staff have recommended NO bikeway projects in the budget they sent to City Commissioners. The Commission needs to hear that residents want safe bikeways in Lawrence!
Please take one minute now to call or email Lawrence City Commissioners, and tell them:
“I want the city to fund at least one major bikeway project every year. Please fund the Naismith shared use path this year, budget line item #CI 1810”
Lawrence City Commissioners:
Mayor Leslie Soden – <lsoden@lawrenceks.org> (913)890-3647
Vice Mayor Stuart Boley – <sboley@lawrenceks.org> 979-6699
Lisa Larsen – <llarsen@lawrenceks.org> 331-9162
Mike Amyx – <mamyx@lawrenceks.org> 843-3089
Matt Herbert – <matthewjherbert@gmail.com> 550-2085
For more information, see the city budget submission at – Naismth bicycle track_2018 budget.pdf.
The deadline to send comments to the KCC is Friday, 26 May 2017, 5:00pm.
After Westar Energy asked the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) in 2015 if they could raise their monthly residential service charge to $50 for folks with rooftop solar or small wind, Westar withdrew the request and agreed to hearings to determine a fair rate structure. A series of hearings has begun, and the public comment period is now open.
Depending on how these hearings go, Kansas may get a solar tax of such magnitude that it would severely punish many existing solar customers and make going solar prohibitively expensive. To forego such a punitive solar tax, it’s important to flood the KCC with public comments in favor of waiting, and carefully studying the solar issue before making major changes in rates. Cromwell Solar, who is an intervenor in the case, said “The anti-consumer proposals put forth by the utilities hurt Kansans by forcing additional fees onto solar customers without first determining the appropriate amount of those fees, or even the necessity of those fees at all. The new rate structures suggested are designed to penalize those going solar, and not to fairly distribute costs”.
A very good explanation of the issue can be viewed at – Protect Solar Choice in Kansas. Cromwell Solar suggests you make some key points when commenting:
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The KCC should study the real impact that the 450 solar customers (of 690,000 total) has on Westar, before imposing new rates
- Westar’s proposed solar tax of higher flat fees and a new demand charge are arbitrary, not based on a cost-benefit analysis
- A study of the benefits and costs of solar is needed by a neutral 3rd party
- Net-metered solar does benefit Westar with greater transmission efficiencies and lower fuel costs
- Punitive rooftop solar rates restricts one’s ability to enjoy their property by freely choosing solar electricity
- Net metering and parallel generation are different in type and scale, and should not be lumped together in rates
After reading Protect Solar Choice in Kansas, there are three ways to submit comments:
- Use the KCC comment form at – Send Public Comments on Solar Rate Docket 16-GIME-403-GIE.
- Send a written letter to the Kansas Corporation Commission, Office of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, 1500 SW Arrowhead Road, Topeka, KS 66604-4027. Be sure to reference Docket #16-GIME-403-GIE.
- Send comments through – CREDO mobilize: Protect Solar Choice in Kansas.
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