Adventure Ausrama Blog

A new more efficient battery is needed. While computer chips have made fantastic gains, batteries have stood still. Lithium dominates the market. There seems to be no choice, but new research has come up with something. Lithium batteries came to the fore in the 1970s when they superseded lead acid, though not in cars. However, litio is getting scarce. The price has risen dramatically recently. People require storage devices: demand is rising. A completely new kind of device for storing electrical energy is on the horizon. It is called the proton flow battery and has been developed within Australia. A carbon electrode stores hydrogen. During the charging process carbon couples up with protons by splitting water. When in use H2O is reproduced with oxygen from the air; thus power is generated. Protons are moved to achieve this. Another type of cell has been around since the 1930s, the vanadium redox. Despite a lot of investment this has not taken off. Countries such as the UK have ...

Water dousing is not a scientifically proven method of finding minerals.  CSIRO's chief executive officer has suggested that dousing be put to the test scientifically.  Over the years it has been put to the test and found wanting. Personal experience has highlighted this when a water bore contractor used the system and did not find water.  He said that he would have to drill deeper and I would pay for it.  I waved the contract at him and said there is no mention of a surcharge in this - you guaranteed to find water. The claim of 80 per cent accuracy is not true.  It is based on heresay and after the fact selection of results.  It is like ghosts and life after death.  There is no scientific proof that these are real. The main use of divining is to locate water.  As former chief of CSIRO Land and Water John Williams says, “We know where the water is. The trouble is there isn’t much of it."   Dr Larry Marshall is a trained sc...

Drilling techniques in industry have not changed for decades. Oil rigs are built in he same old way. Now something has come along that will improve drilling enormously. The Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre based in Adelaide has announced a new type of drill. It is constructed with coiled tubing. Costs will fall dramatically as drilling is faster . Australia's mines are mostly over 30 years old. New mines have to be established. We can only rely on the old mines for another 20 years. No longer is it necessary to keep stopping to add a new drilling section. The new drill is a continuous coil of tubing. Being smaller and lighter transportation is easy. The motor is at the bottom of the shaft, not at the top. The tubing no longer twists during drilling. Any twisting will occur in the other direction as the motor pulls the tubing around. Less drilling power is needed as the tubing is being pulled around in already drilled space. A lot ...

According to the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey we have never been able to buy so much with our income. Over the last decade income inequality has hardly changed, Wages have risen faster than inflation. Of course, we know that announced inflation is lower than real price rises. Although Australia's debt is low compared to other developed countries, less than half of Australians believe this. Despite the good times, many are feeling down and depressed feeling that the country is not doing well economically. This is probably due to the negative political arena at the moment with any bad news being blown out of proportion, with political blame and counter denials being kept uppermost in people's minds. We should be happy but the minority, politicians, are pulling us down. Things are certainly changing now with Chinese demand for primary products falling as well as prices producers receive. The new government, in September, will have to deal with ...