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Prior to Arrow Park`s participating in any of Wisconsin Power and Light`s (WP and L) Bright Ideas for Business conservation programs, Arrow Park`s steam operation consisted of two boilers, each rated for 500 BHP. The boiler staged for primary operation had dual-fuel capabilities but was primarily fueled by natural gas. The boiler staged for secondary operation was oil-fired and very inefficient. In 1988, Arrow Park used 180,050 therms of natural gas and 40,000 gallons of No. 2 fuel oil. At that time, Arrow Park was on an interruptible gas transportation rate and had been on an interruptible gas rate since 1961 and been transporting since October of 1987. Therefore, the majority of their fuel oil usage occurred as the result of operating on fuel oil during natural gas interruptions. The bulk of their gas usage was used to power the boiler operation which was fairly efficient in the winter when space heating loads were high; but very inefficient in the summer due to the small amount of process load. Exacerbating the problem was the fact that the process loads were located a long distance from the existing 500 BHP boiler being used to supply them. Concurrently in 1988, WP andmore » L introduced its Bright Ideas for Business Shared Savings financing program. The basic concept of this program is to encourage customers to implement energy saving projects by providing low interest funding for them. By financing these projects, WP and L avoids or delays the even greater expense associated with constructing either new power plants or extending natural gas pipelines. This paper describes the energy conservation measures that were installed in the plant, the energy savings, and the environmental gains.« less

A Miniature Mass Spectrometer (MMS) with an array detector has been developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The spectrometer has a focal plane geometry, and an array detector that can measure the intensities of different masses simultaneously after their separation along the focal plane. In the past, the large mass, size and the lack of an array detector with high gain (such as an electron multiplier) did not allow the application of focal plane mass spectrometer to the measurement that required high sensitivity and portability. In the JPL developed-MMS, miniaturization has been accomplished by using rare earth magnet material and novelties in the design of the magnetic and electric sectors. A new ion detector was developed for the measurement of the intensities of different mass ions. The array detector is based on the conversion sequence of ions into electrons into photons and their final measurement by a photon array detector. MMS possesses high sensitivity, specificity, and fast response time and can be used as a universal chemical analyzer. It will find application in a variety of Home Defense tasks. MMS is presently being applied for the detection of propellants (hydrazine and its derivatives). The instrument will have a mass of 1-2 kg and consume a power of 2-4 W for operation

This paper presents the concept of methanol decomposition using engine exhaust heat, and examines its potential for use in the operation of passenger cars, diesel trucks, and diesel-electric locomotives. Energy economy improvements of 10-20% are calculated over the representative driving cycles without a net loss in power. Some reductions in exhaust emissions are also projected.