Past Newsletter

Pollution and Inner City Transport

- Engineers, Innovation and political reponsibility

This is a joint presentation of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering VIC (EEEVIC) group.

Date: Monday, 18 September 2006
Time: 6.00 for 6.30 pm with refreshments to follow
Venue: John Connell Auditorium, Engineering House, 21 Bedford St, North Melbourne

Seminar Details

Much attention is now being given to the so-called greenhouse gases and climate change. Many of the predictions based on computer modelling and flawed statistical data are speculative, but such predictions are being presented to journalists and non-technical policy makers as being the sine qua non of climate analysis. Fortunately, this trend is being addressed by such bodies as the Lavoisier Group and the newly-formed Australian Environment Foundation, (AEF). By contrast, the effects of atmospheric pollution are well documented but largely ignored by our policy makers, who are being led to believe that the major form of pollution is CO2. The exhausts from road vehicles are the prime cause of atmospheric pollution with its attendant health problems. The numbers of these vehicles currently in operation cause periodic bottlenecks, usually during peak travelling periods, and contribute to a general feeling of malaise.

The talk is a synthesis of comparative energy requirements and the analyses of problems which arise in the implementation of transport systems. Examples are presented of alternative means of transport for cities of various sizes throughout the world. These considerations are juxtaposed against the energy requirements, efficiencies and performance of conventional means of transport. We are fortunate that in the case of Melbourne, it is not yet too late to put matters right.

The solution is not to build more roads to accommodate yet more vehicles, but to increase electrified public transport, and to introduce electric road vehicles on a massive scale. This would create a new innovative industry. Any proposed solutions should invoke the disciplines of town planning, architecture, engineering, economics, and public health. All it needs is the political will so to do.

The Speaker

Robert Jones was born in Melbourne, Australia and qualified in both mechanical and electrical engineering from Caulfield Institute of Technology,(now a campus of Monash University). After graduation he worked for AWA, Australasia, as an engineer on the first digital electronic computer used in commerce. From 1963 to 1968 he worked for ICL, UK, as a computer engineer and a systems consultant. From 1994 to 2004 he was employed by the Department of Defence in the Logistics Group at Bandiana, Victoria, working mainly on the computerised development of tank gunnery. Currently, he consults privately, and has a keen interest in efficient energy and transport with attendant minimal pollution. He is convinced that there must be much more dialogue between the professions and all levels of government. He gained an MSc (1985), and a PhD(1991) in the Faculty of Technology at Brunel University, UK. He is the author of over twenty publications, including eight patents, and has held membership of the IET since 1981.

NUCLEAR GENERATED POWER – An International Resurgence – Why not in Australia?

Dr Neil McDonald

The EEEVic joint technical presentation for August 2006 was held on Monday, 21 August at the Engineers Australia auditorium, hosted by the Electrical Engineering Branch, Engineers Australia and supported by the Electrical Energy Society of Australia (EESA) Vic/Tas Chapter.

In opening his presentation, Dr McDonald said that because of the recent renewed public interest in the subject of nuclear energy he would cover four main topics. These would be a brief history and position of nuclear energy, an overview of the international situation, the technologies available both now and in the future, and the positive trends to world energy output. Currently there are some 442 power reactors operating in 28 countries contributing about 16% of the world’s electrical energy; with a further 115 planned and 38 proposed. Most reactors are water moderated and cooled with variations in future designs. In France, about 78% of the electricity is supplied from nuclear plant; in Sweden the contribution is about 40% and in Germany 28%. Other countries have smaller contributions. The attraction of nuclear plant is the lack of emissions, high load factor exceeding 80% and the long present operating life of 40 years that is being extended to 50 or 60 years, so further reducing the costs of operation.

Contrary to popular belief, when all costs are taken into consideration nuclear power generation is not more expensive and is competitive or better with conventional coal, gas or oil-fired means. Recent development work on nuclear plant has lead to significant improvements in efficiency and maintenance practices, greater utilisation and less outages, and better training and safety culture. Design features of new nuclear plant now coming forward are both evolutionary and revolutionary; these are often referred to as 3G and in the future, 4G reactors. Some features include significantly smaller, more compact architecture and large reductions in ancillary plant through integration within the pressure vessel or containment shell. Such plants will be easier to site and require much less land and so be less environmentally intrusive. Apart from the generation of electrical power, a feature of future nuclear plants is that the heat output will be used also for water desalination and the production of hydrogen for the so-called hydrogen economy.

Dr McDonald indicated that Australia was not very well equipped for the nuclear age as much of the academic and industrial knowledge had transferred overseas. Waste management and safety regulation issues have technical solutions but require political and industrial leadership for resolution. Other vital issues are public education to overcome atomphobia and the stimulation of political will. An important international conference and technical exhibition being held in Sydney in October 2006 with the theme “A Nuclear Future: Nuclear Science and Engineering for a Sustainable Future” will ensure that the benefits of the technology will continue to be available in areas such as medicine, industry and the environment. In summary, the technologies are ready, willing and proved able.

The interest in this topic could be gauged from the audience of over 80 attendees and the variety of questions to the speaker that resulted in the presentation running over the allotted time. Discussions continued later over refreshments in an adjacent room.

Moore's Law for Clocks

Dr Peter Farrell

An EEEVic joint technical presentation was held on Friday, 25 August at the Engineers Australia auditorium, hosted by the Information, Telecommunications & Electronics Engineering (ITEE) College of Engineers Australia and supported by the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Victoria Section, Laser & Electro-Optics (LEOS) Chapter.

Dr Farrell indicated that Moore’s Law (the number of transistors on a silicon integrated circuits doubles roughly every 18 months) has continued to predict the development of semiconductor technology over the period since its formulation in 1965. It forms the basis of a roadmap for integrated circuit development and has been found to apply not only to transistors but similarly for the rate of growth of a number of other devices and appliances.

Accurate timekeeping and clocks form a vital part of scientific and economic progress. Accuracy in timekeeping has increased enormously since primitive devices marked the passage of time in the Chinese and Roman eras. After the invention of the pendulum by Galileo in the 16th century there was steadily increasing progress in the accuracy of clocks, which has accelerated in recent times with the introduction of electronic means of timekeeping. Around the end of the first millennium, errors of the order of 1 hour per day were normal; today, with modern high stability instruments, errors are of the order of a few picoseconds per day halving about every 3 years.

If one plots the stability of timekeeping against time, over the centuries there are 2 distinct break points on the curve, the first near the end of the 15th century and the second towards the end of the 19th century. The reasons for the appearance of the breakpoints can be speculated but it seems likely that they may be due to a mix of scientific, social, economic and political factors appearing at those times. In the first case the efforts of the likes of Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Galileo, Huygens, Gutenberg and Luther may well have had an influence, while in the second case Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Electricity, Invar and other inventions, and long distance instantaneous communications could have been the drivers. As a comparison to clocks it is of interest to note that the rate of improvement in performance of lamps has doubled about every 13 years; the figure for steam engines is about 51 years.

In looking to the future there seems little doubt that progress will continue in the development of clocks and the accuracy of timekeeping but additional factors such as relativistic and quantum effects are likely to intrude and also must be considered. There are some interesting questions to be answered, for example: Will Moore’s Law falter? Will an approaching limit change Moore’s Law?