Chattanooga Engineers Club Newsletter

NEXT MEETING ____________________

Monday June 7 - Mike Harrison - System Architect - Utiliflex

“Prepaid Utility Systems Around the Developing World”

Mike Harrison will present a candid, fun look at installing prepaid utility meters (electricity, water and gas) around the world in developing countries. He will provide an overview of the associated technologies, financial arrangements and customer responses. Mike says, “it is all about people, social change, and application of effective technology to improve life.”

Mike Harrison is an ‘internet evangelist and programmer’, who is now applying lessons learned from the internet revolution to utility information systems.

FUTURE MEETINGS ____________________

Monday June 14 – Tim McGhee - Chattanooga State

“New Technology Programs at Chattooga State: Solar Energy, Nuclear Power,
and Quality Assurance /Quality Control”

Monday June 21 - Lawrence Cole - TVA

“Responding to Changing Power Demands”

Monday June 28 – Chris Finen - Eaton

“Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupters to Improve Home Safety”

Monday July 5 – No Meeting – in Observance of Independence Day (July 4)

PREVIOUS MEETING____________________

Monday May 21 – Dale Bradshaw, Consultant to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Cooperative Research Network, discussed methods of using carbon dioxide from fossil fueled power plant exhaust gas. High-Temperature Co-Electrolysis (HTCE) uses a solid oxide fuel cell, operated in reverse, to produce a syngas and oxygen. The oxygen mixed with recycled carbon dioxide can be used instead of air to support combustion in a boiler or gas turbine, and provide an undiluted stream of carbon dioxide in the exhaust gas. The primary product of this cycle is syngas, which can then be converted to a liquid motor fuel, a much more valuable product than electricity.

Dale also briefly discussed the use of algae to capture carbon dioxide from the air or from a power plant exhaust. Using open ponds to capture CO2 from a 100 MW plant would require 18,000 acres, whereas using bioreactors would require only 850 acres. Efficient reactions depend on selected genetic strains of algae, but open ponds would quickly be contaminated with wild strains of algae

CHATTANOOGA ENGINEERS CLUB — CORPORATE SPONSORS_____________

We gratefully acknowledge the corporate sponsorships listed below.

2010 — Robbins & Bohr, LLC

2009 — Coca—Cola

2008 — Alstom

2008 — Chattanooga State

MEETING LOGISTICS_______________________

The Chattanooga Engineer's Club meets at the DOUBLETREE HOTEL,
407 Chestnut St., Chattanooga, TN 37402. Free parking is available in the gated parking lot on the south side of the Hotel.

For noontime meetings, the gate will be open from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Plan to arrive at about 11:30 a.m., if you intend to park in the limited space available.

QUESTIONS and SUGGESTIONS______________

If you have any questions, items that would be of interest to the Chattanooga Engineers Club, or suggestions for future programs, please contact Ralph Boroughs by e-mail at rdboroughs@gmail.com or by phone at 423-227-0412. You can find membership application forms, references to future programs, historical data, and other info at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org. To receive future meeting announcements by email, join the Chattanooga Technology Organization mailing list at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org/email.

Links to local engineering societies are available to you at: http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/engineer/

For a calendar of local technology related events see: http://chatc.org/