ASME "Lunch and Learn"

There will be a "Lunch and Learn" lecture about solar energy this Friday, August 20, at about 11:30. Food (pizza) supplied by the ASME professional chapter.

The location is the second floor conference room in the Frenchtown Renaissance building.

Students are encouraged to attend. You can usually meet some FSU and TCC students as well as engineers at these sessions.

Hopkins Power Plant tour / ASME welcome party

From Ben Cowart for ASME student members, but I believe any TCC students interested in mechanical engineering are welcome to attend and get recruited. (Student memberships are cheap.)

September 30, 2009

Topic: Tour of AB Hopkins Power Plant
Host: Triveni Singh, City of Tallahassee

Agenda

4:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Registration
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Introductions, Announcements, and Recognitions
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Tour
6:30 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. Dinner and Q&A
7:15 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. Clean-up

The Tallahassee Sections welcomes back the student members, with a tour of the Hopkins Plant and cookout. Students, please RSVP to your student Club Advisor NLT Monday, September 28th, so that we can get an approximate head count for buying food. Thank you in advance to Triveni Singh and the Hopkins Plant for hosting this “Welcome Back” Students Event.

The Plant is located about 5 miles west of Capital Circle SW on 1125 Geddie Road, between US 90 West (W. Tennessee) and HWY 20, Blountstown Highway.

Safety and Dress Code:

This is an operating power plant, please do not wear shorts or loose fitting shirts. Shoes must be closed toe preferably leather. If you have a hard hat and safety glasses, please bring them, as the plant has a limited number.

Please contact Gillian if you plan to attend. They want an RSVP head count so they can plan for the right amount of food.

Detailed directions are in this article from 2008.

Electric Vehicles - Lunch and Learn

Put this on your calendar if you are interested in all-electric vehicles.

Topic: ASME Lunch and Learn: Electric Vehicles

I assume the talk will be about amateur conversion of regular cars to all-electric or plug-in hybrid operation because that is what members of TAEVA (Tallahassee Area Electric Vehicle Association) do.

Speaker: Andre Smith of TAEVA

When: Friday, June 26, 11:45 to about 1:15

Where: Ole Times Country Buffet

This is located on the east side of North Monroe, just north of Lake Ella and south of Tharpe Street, across the street from the Lake Ella Publix.

Details

Lunch starts between 11:45 an 12:10. I recommend getting there by 11:45. Just go in, pay your money at the register (one price for all meals at this place), then find the engineering group in one of the private dining areas. Speaker introduction and talk will be from 12:10 to 1:00 with time to inspect the cars in the parking lot before the group adjourns at 1:15 to go back to work.

I'm hoping the all-electric Miata will be there. (An article in the paper last month showed a "shade tree" conversion that replaced the engine with a bunch of DieHard batteries and an electric motor.)

HOPKINS POWER PLANT TOUR and ASME SLS ORLANDO MEETING

STUDENTS ---

Many of us have recently had the privilege of attending either the HOPKINS POWER PLANT TOUR or the ASME SLS (Student Leadership Seminar) in ORLANDO. What I request is that two (different) students step forward and write brief summaries of these events for publication in both the ENGINEERING CLUB BLOG and the ASME MONTHLY NEWSLETTER.

If you are willing to volunteer for this job, please email me ASAP (As Soon As Possible) with your choice of assignment and a proposed submittal date. I'll post the names of the two report-writers on the BLOG and via EMAIL as soon as I receive responses.

If selected, you should at least run a spell-check on your work, but I will proof-read and edit as necessary. So don't be fearful of giving it a "try."

Remember, ultimately, as a professional you will "get paid" for writing reports. Science involves the dissemination of information. And, although I'm asking for a descriptive summary, not an analytical report, this can be a start to your writing experience.

--- DJ

SM 243
850-201-8120 (Office)
850-201-8119 (FAX)
jonesd@tcc.fl.edu

ASME - TSS joint meeting on Biomass plant

Ben Cowart writes about Thursday's meeting:

Subject: ASME - TSS joint meeting Time changed to 7 - 9 PM, August 7th

All - please put on your calendar to attend the August 7th meeting of the joint meeting with the Tallahassee Scientific Society meeting from 7- 9 at the City Hall Commission Chambers. The topic will be the BG&E Biomass Plant. Several local activist have been calling the project "incineration in disguise" and this forum is to hear the evidence from the Pro and Con groups on the project. Should prove to be lively.

Please try to attend.

This will be our August Meeting.

Thanks,
Ben

I've looked at the BG&E proposal and they do take an interesting angle. My reading of it is that at one point they argue (correctly) that they are not burning the waste materials so they are not governed by waste-to-energy incinerator rules. (They are converting it to gas in a low temperature process quite unlike the plasma torch process we heard about a summer or two ago.) However, at another point they argue that the power plant that burns this gas is not subject to emission rules for power plants because it is a waste-to-energy facility, so they don't have to account for what is in the gas they produce.

Ben may be able to tell us what they would have to do at Hopkins if they bought this gas from BG&E and burned it. That will, indeed, make an interesting discussion.

ASME MARCH LUNCHEON

Here is the flyer for the March ASME Luncheon Meeting. Click on the image to enlarge it.