vigilenator

Out of 300 photos of golden cats taken over the course of over 18,000 trap days, just four images of kittens have been captured.

Will the Tesla Model S P85D soon have its acceleration improved to 0–60 mph in just 2.8 seconds, via nothing but a firmware update? Yes, that’s apparently exactly what’s going to happen… based on rumors (unverified insider information) circulating in specific corners of the net. The interesting, but not necessarily easy to believe, information is

Tesla Updating P85D To 0–60 MPH In 2.8 Seconds With Nothing But Firmware Update? was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Elon Musk recently sent out a tweet confirming (to some degree) some of the rumours swirling around the net concerning a possible improvement of the P85D’s acceleration. As stated in the tweet, the Model S P85D will see its 0–60 mph acceleration improved by ~0.1 seconds, via nothing but an upcoming software update affecting the

Confirmed: Elon Musk Says Tesla P85D Getting ~0.1 Second Acceleration Improvement Via Inverter Software Update was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

In this episode, I interview the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger… at his kitchen table.

First off, he wants to invite you to LA to blow sh*t up with him in person. Seriously. Here’s how.

In our conversation, we dig into lessons learned, routines, favorite books, and much more, including many stories I’ve never heard anywhere else.  I’m also giving away amazing goodies for this episode, so be sure to read this entire post.

As a starting point, we cover:

• The Art of Psychological Warfare, and How Arnold Uses It to Win
• How Twins Became His Most Lucrative Movie (?!?)
• Mailing Cow Balls to Politicians
• How Arnold Made Millions — Fresh Off The Boat — BEFORE His Acting Career Took Off
• How Arnold Used Meditation For One Year To Reset His Brain
• And Much More…

• Listen to it on iTunes.
• Stream it now by clicking here.
• Download it as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”.

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I WANT TO GIVE YOU GOODIES:

1) A signed copy of Arnold’s autobiography, Total Recall, personalized for you by Arnold himself.

2) A roundtrip ticket anywhere in the world Continental flies, $1,000 USD cold hard cash, or a long dinner with me in SF (and a flight from anywhere in the domestic US).  Pick one of the three.

To get both 1 and 2, all you have to do is this:

1) Promote the hell out of this episode this week, driving clicks to the iTunes page (ideal) for my podcast, this direct streaming link, or this blog post. If helpful, the shorter link fourhourworkweek.com/arnold forwards to this blog post.

2) Leave a comment on this post telling me what you did (including anything quantifiable), no later than this Friday, Feb 6, at 6pm PT. Comments must be submitted by 6pm PT. It’s OK if they’re in moderation and don’t appear live before 6pm. Note: You must include #arnoldpod at the top of your comment to be considered! 

3) Within 7 days hence, I and my panel of magic elves will select the winner: he or she who describes in their comment how they drove the most downloads/listens.

4) That’s it! Remember: Deadline is 6pm PT this Friday, Feb 6.  No extensions.

5) Of course, void where prohibited, no purchase required, you must be over 21, no minotaurs, etc.

###

This episode is sponsored by Onnit. I have used Onnit products for years. If you look in my kitchen or in my garage you will find Alpha BRAIN, chewable melatonin (for resetting my clock while traveling), kettlebells, maces, battle ropes, and steel clubs. It sounds like a torture chamber, and it basically is. A torture chamber for self-improvement! Ah, the lovely pain. To see a list of my favorite pills, potions, and heavy tools, click here.

This podcast is also brought to you by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results.  Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade.  Give it a test run..

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Enjoy!

Selected Links from the Episode

• Arnold wants to fly you to LA to blow sh*t up with him in person. Check out Omaze for details.
• Pumping Iron
• Stay Hungry
• See Franco Columbu dislocate his leg in the World’s Strongest Man competition
• See the trailer for Twins with Arnold and Danny DeVito
• Learn more about the documentary Brooklyn Castle
• The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History by Boris Johnson
• Free to Choose by Milton Friedman
• California by Kevin Starr
• Learn more about the USC Schwarzenegger Institute
• Follow Arnold on Twitter
• Learn more about climate action at Regions 20

Sample People Mentioned

• Reg Park
• Steve Reeves
• Franco Columbu
• Warren Buffett
• Bill Gates
• Larry Ellison
• Elon Musk
• Nelson Mandela
• Mikhail Gorbachov
• Muhammad Ali
• Cincinnatus

 

Brazil is a country with shockingly high C-sections rates, upwards of 87% in the private medical system. How does an entire nation lose sight of natural childbirth, one of our basic human functions?

Hackers claiming affiliation with the hacktivist group "Anonymous" have allegedly leaked more than 13,000 username and password combinations for some of the worlds most popular websites, including Amazon, Xbox Live and Playstation Network. The stolen personal information was released in a massive text document posted to the Internet file-sharing website Ghostbin (now deleted), on Friday.

Google Releases Standalone Docs and Sheets Apps to Compete with Office is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

Everybody likes a little competition, right? Especially when it comes to document creation and productivity work on tablets and smartphones. Just a month or so after Microsoft released its long overdue and eagerly anticipated versions of Office Apps for the iPad, Google has released standalone Apps for Google Docs and Google Sheets for the iPhone and iPad. In addition Google has released Android versions for smartphones and tablets as well. Google Slides, Google’s presentation App, is expected to follow in the near future. Both Docs and Sheets are available for free now from the respective platform App stores. The new Apps go head to head with Microsoft’s new Office Apps for the iPad and also with Apples iWork Apps that include Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

Previously mobile users of Google’s productivity Apps could access their Google Docs or Google Sheets documents through the Google Drive App or via a browser on mobile devices. These standalone versions allow users the option of continuing to work within the Google Drive interface or within the new stand alone Apps.

Unlike the Microsoft Office Apps for the iPads, users can take advantage of these free Apps to create, edit, and share documents through the Apps. Microsoft Office users can only use those new Apps to view or print documents. To create or edit documents in the Microsoft Office Apps, users have to obtain an Office 365 subscription. The Microsoft Office Apps are not available as stand alone Apps for the Android Platform, although Microsoft has said these will be coming in the future. Apple’s Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are only available for iOS devices.

On a first look, the functionality in the new Google Apps is very similar to the editing, document creation, and sharing capability that already exists through the Google Docs App interface. Users can use familiar commands to bold text for example. Given that the feature set and user interface are essentially the same between the new stand alone apps and Google Drive it certainly makes it look like Google wants to ratchet up the competition. In fact, given that there really is no significant new functionality it makes one wonder why the Apps were released at all.

Currently Office Apps for the iPad and Apple’s iWork Apps offer much more functionality that the Google Doc versions do. You can’t insert pictures or charts for example. These new stand alone Google versions do offer you the option to Print documents via Google Cloud Print or AirPrint. Printing was a feature Microsoft left out of its initial release of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Printing capability for those Apps was introduced in updates just yesterday, and iWorks App users have been able to print for some time.

Read: Microsoft Office for the iPad: Review

Users can continue to store and manage documents in the cloud using Google Drive, or they can choose to also store a copy of the document or spreadsheet on their device for offline work if they so choose.

Early Syncing Issues

The new Apps were just released so this may have to do with the newness factor. I’m noticing that new documents I place or save in Google Drive on my MacBook Pro are not syncing over currently to be available in the Docs or Sheets App on either the Android or iOS versions.  Those that resided in Google Drive previously are available, but any new documents moved to that folder do not appear. They do appear as expected in the Google Drive App on both iOS and Android though. Documents that I have made available for offline usage in Google Drive on the iPad are also not showing in either the Docs or Sheets Apps. So that is a curiosity.

Users who want to work with documents on their iPads now have three App and service providers to choose from between Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Android users currently have Google and third party alternatives for Microsoft Office document processing. The Google document creation experience is more streamlined and not as full featured as its competitors, but for many that type of experience is more than sufficient.

Google Docs and Google Sheets for the iPhone or iPad can be downloaded here and here. Both are universal Apps. Docs and Sheets for Android smartphones and Tablets can be downloaded here and here.

Cloud Storage Options

Here’s a breakdown of the three Cloud services for Google Drive, Office for iPad and iWork Apps:

Currently users receive 15GB of free storage on Google Drive and can purchase 100GB of extra storage for $1.99 a month, or 1TB for $9.99 a month. Google Drive and Google Docs and Sheets users are not restricted to  a specific number of devices they can install the Apps on.

Office 365 users receive 20GB of free OneDrive storage with their subscription which costs $6.99 a month ($69.99 per year) for 1 computer and one tablet, or $9.99 a month ($99.99) per year for up to five computers or tablets.

Apple iCloud users receive 5GB of free storage and can purchase an additional 10GB of storage for $20 per year with prices ranging up for larger storage capacities.

 

Google Releases Standalone Docs and Sheets Apps to Compete with Office is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

Preface by Editor

This post will explain how heat can be used to increase growth hormone, muscular hypertrophy, endurance, and otherwise aid performance.

It’s authored by Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick, Ph.D, and it’s comprehensive. But before we get started, you need to read some background and warnings…

Heat is no joke.

Ever since I was a premie, overheating and thermo-regulation have been my arch-enemies. On a few occasions, I’ve been hospitalized for heat stroke symptoms, and the symptoms hit suddenly and without warning. I’m extremely lucky I didn’t smash my skull on the ground after the collapses.

To delve into this handicap, I even became a test subject at Stanford University in 2005.

I underwent military-related heat marches to exhaustion, capturing data the entire time. Here are some choice pics.

It was as fun as it looks (I’ll share videos another time, as they’re hilarious):

After each session, I was so incapacitated that I couldn’t do any work for 8-12 hours. I often had to simply go home and sleep, even at 11am. These issues led me to eventually leave the study.

Heat is serious fucking business, m’kay?

People can die from excessive heat (sauna example here, recent running death here), so read these warnings carefully…

TIM’S DISCLAIMER ON THIS POST:

Please don’t be stupid and kill yourself. It would make us both quite unhappy. Consult a doctor before doing anything described in this post or on this blog.

BIGGER LAWYER DISCLAIMER:

The material on this blog is for informational purposes only. As each individual situation is unique, you should use proper discretion, in consultation with a health care practitioner, before undertaking the protocols, diet, exercises, techniques, training methods, or otherwise described herein. The author and publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects that may result from the use or application of the information contained herein.

OK, will all that out of the way, here we go.

Consider looking at this piece as what elite athletes are likely to augment to their training and drug regimens.

The following is a guest article by Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick, Ph.D., who works with Dr. Bruce Ames of the Ames carcinogenicity test, the 23rd most-cited scientist in all fields between 1973 and 1984. Dr. Patrick also conducts clinical trials, performed aging research at Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and did graduate research at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where she focused on cancer, mitochondrial metabolism, and apoptosis.

Enjoy!

And if you have any experiences with using heat, cold, or other environmental factors to improve performance; or if you’ve suffered from them; I’d love to hear about it all in the comments. Ditto for any factual corrections.

Enter Rhonda

For the most part, people don’t like to get hot.

The massive indoor climate control systems and pleasantly chilled water fountains found in most gyms speak to this fact. There are some exceptions — Bikram yoga, for example — but they’re few and far between.

But here’s the surprise: increasing your core temperature for short bursts is not only healthful, it can also dramatically improve performance.

This is true whether it’s done in conjunction with your existing workout or as an entirely separate activity. I’m going to explain how heat acclimation through sauna use (and likely any other non-aerobic activity that increases core body temperature) can promote physiological adaptations that result in increased endurance, easier acquisition of muscle mass, and a general increased capacity for stress tolerance. I will refer to this concept of deliberately acclimating yourself to heat, independent of working out, as “hyperthermic conditioning.”

I’m also going to explain the positive effects of heat acclimation on the brain, including the growth of new brain cells, improvement in focus, learning and memory, and ameliorating depression and anxiety. In addition, you’ll learn how modulation of core temperature might even be largely responsible for “runner’s high” via an interaction between the dynorphin/beta-endorphin opioid systems.

The Effects of Heat Acclimation on Endurance

If you’ve ever run long distances or exercised for endurance, it’s intuitive that increased body temperature will ultimately induce strain, attenuate your endurance performance, and accelerating exhaustion. What might not be as intuitive is this: acclimating yourself to heat independent of aerobic physical activity through sauna use induces adaptations that reduce the later strain of your primary aerobic activity.

Hyperthermic conditioning improves your performance during endurance training activities by causing adaptations, such as improved cardiovascular and thermoregulatory mechanisms (I will explain what these mean) that reduce the negative effects associated with elevations in core body temperature. This helps optimize your body for subsequent exposures to heat (from metabolic activities) during your next big race or even your next workout.

Just a few of the physiological adaptations that occur are:

• Improved cardiovascular mechanisms and lower heart rate.¹
• Lower core body temperature during workload (surprise!)
• Higher sweat rate and sweat sensitivity as a function of increased thermoregulatory control.²
• Increased blood flow to skeletal muscle (known as muscle perfusion) and other tissues.²
• Reduced rate of glycogen depletion due to improved muscle perfusion.³
• Increased red blood cell count (likely via erythropoietin).⁴
• Increased efficiency of oxygen transport to muscles.⁴

Hyperthermic conditioning optimizes blood flow to the heart, skeletal muscles, skin, and other tissues because it increases plasma volume. This leads to endurance enhancements in your next workout or race, when your core body temperature is once again elevated.

Being heat acclimated enhances endurance by the following mechanisms…

1. It increases plasma volume and blood flow to the heart (stroke volume).^2,5 This results in reduced cardiovascular strain and lowers the heart rate for the same given workload.² These cardiovascular improvements have been shown to enhance endurance in both highly trained and untrained athletes.^2,5,6
2. It increases blood flow to the skeletal muscles, keeping them fueled with glucose, esterified fatty acids, and oxygen while removing by-products of the metabolic process such as lactic acid. The increased delivery of nutrients to muscles reduces their dependence on glycogen stores. Endurance athletes often hit a “wall” (or “bonk”) when they have depleted their muscle glycogen stores. Hyperthermic conditioning has been shown to reduce muscle glycogen use by 40%-50% compared to before heat acclimation.^3,7 This is presumably due to the increased blood flow to the muscles.³ In addition, lactate accumulation in blood and muscle during exercise is reduced after heat acclimation.⁵
3. It improves thermoregulatory control, which operates by activating the sympathetic nervous system and increasing the blood flow to the skin and, thus the sweat rate. This dissipates some of the core body heat. After acclimation, sweating occurs at a lower core temperature and the sweat rate is maintained for a longer period.²

So what sort of gains can you anticipate?

One study demonstrated that a 30-minute sauna session two times a week for three weeks POST-workout increased the time that it took for study participants to run until exhaustion by 32% compared to baseline.⁴

The 32% increase in running endurance found in this particular study was accompanied by a 7.1% increase in plasma volume and 3.5% increase in red blood cell (RBC) count.⁴ This increased red blood cell count accompanying these performance gains feed right back into those more general mechanisms we talked about earlier, the most obvious of which being: more red blood cells increase oxygen delivery to muscles. It is thought that heat acclimation boosts the RBC count through erythropoietin (EPO) because the body is trying to compensate for the corresponding rise in plasma volume.⁴

[Note from Tim: If "EPO" sounds familiar, it's because it's commonly injected by Tour de France competitors. More on that here.]

In other words, hyperthermic conditioning through sauna use doesn’t just make you better at dealing with heat; it makes you better, period. I do want to mention that while these gains were made with a small sample size (N=6) some of the later studies that I point out reinforce this conclusion.

The Effects of Hyperthermic Conditioning on Muscle Hypertrophy (Growth)

Exercise can induce muscular hypertrophy. Heat induces muscular hypertrophy. Both of these together synergize to induce hyper-hypertrophy.

Here are a few of the basics of how muscle hypertrophy works: muscle hypertrophy involves both the increase in the size of muscle cells and, perhaps unsurprisingly, an accompanying increase in strength. Skeletal muscle cells do contain stem cells that are able to increase the number of muscle cells [TIM: called "hyperplasia"] but hypertrophy instead generally involves an increase in size rather than number.

So what determines whether your muscle cells are growing or shrinking (atrophying)?

A shift in the protein synthesis-to-degradation ratio…and an applied workload on the muscle tissue (of course). That’s it.

At any given time your muscles are performing a balancing act between NEW protein synthesis and degradation of existing proteins. The important thing is your net protein synthesis, and not strictly the amount of new protein synthesis occurring. Protein degradation occurs both during muscle use and disuse. This is where hyperthermic conditioning shines: heat acclimation reduces the amount of protein degradation occurring and as a result it increases net protein synthesis and, thus muscle hypertrophy. Hyperthermic conditioning is known to increase muscle hypertrophy by increasing net protein synthesis through three important mechanisms:

• Induction of heat shock proteins.^8,9
• Robust induction of growth hormone.¹
• Improved insulin sensitivity.¹⁰

Exercise induces both protein synthesis and degradation in skeletal muscles but, again, it is the net protein synthesis that causes the actual hypertrophy. When you exercise, you are increasing the workload on the skeletal muscle and, thus, the energetic needs of your muscle cells. The mitochondria found in each of these cells kick into gear in order to help meet this demand and start sucking in the oxygen found in your blood in order to produce new energy in the form of ATP. This process is called oxidative phosphorylation. A by-product of this process, however, is the generation of oxygen free radicals like superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, which is more generally referred to simply as “oxidative stress”.

Heat Stress Triggers Heat Shock Proteins That Prevent Protein Degradation

Oxidative stress is a major source of protein degradation.

For this reason, any means of preventing exercise-induced oxidative protein damage and/or repairing damaged proteins, while keeping the exercise induced protein synthesis, will ultimately cause a net increase of protein synthesis and therefore will be anabolic.

Heat shock proteins (or HSPs), as the name implies, are induced by heat and are a prime example of hormesis. Intermittent exposure to heat induces a hormetic response (a protective stress response), which promotes the expression of a gene called heat shock factor 1 and subsequently HSPs involved in stress resistance.

• HSPs can prevent damage by directly scavenging free radicals and also by supporting cellular antioxidant capacity through its effects on maintaining glutathione.^8,9
• HSPs can repair misfolded, damaged proteins thereby ensuring proteins have their proper structure and function.^8,9

Okay, let’s take a step back from the underlying mechanisms and look at the big picture of heat acclimation in the context of increasing muscle hypertrophy:

It has been shown that a 30-minute intermittent hyperthermic treatment at 41°C (105.8°F) in rats induced a robust expression of heat shock proteins (including HSP32, HSP25, and HSP72) in muscle and, importantly, this correlated with 30% more muscle regrowth than a control group during the seven days subsequent to a week of immobilization.⁸ This HSP induction from a 30-minute intermittent hyperthermic exposure can persist for up to 48 hours after heat shock.^8,9 Heat acclimation actually causes a higher basal (such as when not exercising) expression of HSPs and a more robust induction upon elevation in core body temperature (such as during exercise).^11,12,13 This is a great example of how a person can theoretically use hyperthermic conditioning to increase their own heat shock proteins and thereby reap the rewards.

Heat Stress Triggers A Massive Release of Growth Hormone

Another way in which hyperthermic conditioning can be used to increase anabolism is through a massive induction of growth hormone.^14,15,1 Many of the anabolic effects of growth hormone are primarily mediated by IGF-1, which is synthesized (mainly in the liver but also in skeletal muscle and other tissues) in response to growth hormone. There are two important mechanisms by which IGF-1 promotes the growth of skeletal muscle:

1. It Increases protein synthesis via activation of the mTOR pathway.¹⁶
2. It decreases protein degradation via inhibition of the FOXO pathway.¹⁶

Mice that have been engineered to express high levels of IGF-1 in their muscle develop skeletal muscle hypertrophy, can combat age-related muscle atrophy, and retained the same regenerative capacity as young muscle.^17,18 In humans, it has been shown that the major anabolic effects of growth hormone in skeletal muscle may be due to inhibition of muscle protein degradation (anti-catabolic), thereby increasing net protein synthesis.¹⁶ In fact, growth hormone administration to endurance athletes for four weeks has been shown to decrease muscle protein oxidation (a biomarker for oxidative stress) and degradation by 50%.¹⁹

My point is good news. You don’t need to take exogenous growth hormone. Sauna use can cause a robust release in growth hormone, which varies according to time, temperature, and frequency.^1,15

For example, two 20-minute sauna sessions at 80°C (176°F) separated by a 30-minute cooling period elevated growth hormone levels two-fold over baseline.^1,15 Whereas, two 15-minute sauna sessions at 100°C (212°F) dry heat separated by a 30-minute cooling period resulted in a five-fold increase in growth hormone.^1,15 However, what’s perhaps more amazing is that repeated exposure to whole-body, intermittent hyperthermia (hyperthermic conditioning) through sauna use has an even more profound effect on boosting growth hormone immediately afterward: two one-hour sauna sessions a day at 80°C (176°F) dry heat (okay, this is a bit extreme) for 7 days was shown to increase growth hormone by 16-fold on the third day.¹⁴ The growth hormone effects generally persist for a couple of hours post-sauna.¹ It is also important to note that when hyperthermia and exercise are combined, they induce a synergistic increase in growth hormone.²⁰

Increased Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin is an endocrine hormone that primarily regulates glucose homeostasis, particularly by promoting the uptake of glucose into muscle and adipose tissue. In addition, insulin also plays a role in protein metabolism, albeit to a lesser degree than IGF-1. Insulin regulates protein metabolism in skeletal muscle by the two following mechanisms:

1. It increases protein synthesis by stimulating the uptake of amino acids (particularly BCAAs) into skeletal muscle.²¹
2. It decreases protein degradation through inhibition of the proteasome, which is a protein complex inside cells that is largely responsible for the degradation of most cellular proteins.²²

In humans, there is more evidence indicating that the major anabolic effects of insulin on skeletal muscle are due to its inhibitory action on protein degradation.

For example, insulin infusion in healthy humans, which increased insulin to normal physiological postprandial (after a meal) levels, suppressed muscle protein breakdown without significant affecting muscle protein synthesis.^{23, 21} In contrast, insulin deficiency (such as in type 1 diabetes mellitus) and insulin resistance (to a lesser extent) are both associated with increased skeletal muscle breakdown.^22,24

For this reason, hyperthermic conditioning may also lend itself to promoting muscle growth by improving insulin sensitivity and decreasing muscle protein catabolism. Intermittent hyperthermia has been demonstrated to reduce insulin resistance in an obese diabetic mouse model. Insulin resistant diabetic mice were subjected to 30 minutes of hyperthermic treatment, three times a week for twelve weeks. This resulted in a 31% decrease in insulin levels and a significant reduction in blood glucose levels, suggesting re-sensitization to insulin.¹⁰ The hyperthermic treatment specifically targeted the skeletal muscle by increasing the expression of a type of transporter known as GLUT 4, which is responsible for the transporting of glucose into skeletal muscle from the bloodstream. Decreased glucose uptake by skeletal muscle is one of the mechanisms that leads to insulin resistance.

[TIM: For more fun with GLUT 4 transporters, read the "Damage Control" chapter in The 4-Hour Body, which covers how to minimize (or eliminate) fat gain from cheat meals or cheat days.]

Relevance for Muscle Injury

Animal studies using rats have shown that a 30-minute and 60-minute hyperthermic treatment at 41°C (105.8°F) attenuates hindlimb muscle atrophy during disuse by 20% and 32%, respectively.^9,25 In order to return to a hypertrophic state after injury, muscle regrowth (“reloading”) must occur. Muscle reloading, while important for hypertrophy, induces oxidative stress particularly after periods of disuse, which slows the rate of muscle regrowth. A 30-minute hyperthermic treatment at 41°C (105.8°F) increased soleus muscle regrowth by 30% after reloading as compared to non-hyperthermic treatment in rats.⁸ The effects of whole body hyperthermia on preventing muscle atrophy and increasing muscle regrowth after immobilization were shown to occur as a consequence of elevated HSP levels.^8,9,25

During injury, you may be immobilized but you don’t have to be very mobile to sit in the sauna a few times a week to boost your HSPs! This is a clear win in the injury and recovery department. Remember, hyperthermic conditioning (from sauna use) results in an elevation in HSP levels under normal conditions and leads to an even greater boost during exercise (or when core body temperature is elevated).^11-13

Relevance for Rhabdomyolysis

Hyperthermic conditioning may also be able to protect against rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown due to severe muscle overuse) through the induction of HSP32 also known as heme oxygenase 1.^26,27

Rhabdomyolysis releases myoglobin, a byproduct from broken down muscle tissue, into the bloodstream, which can cause kidney failure. [TIM: CrossFitters, watch your CPK levels after glute-ham ab work. If you can't do long planks with your feet *against* a wall, don't do hyper-extended ROM, ballistic ab work.]

Since myoglobin is a heme-containing protein, HSP32 (heme oxygenase 1) can rapidly degrade myoglobin before it has toxic effects on the kidney.^26,27 In fact, induction of HSP32 in rats has been shown to protect against rhabdomyolysis in rats.²⁶ This function of HSP32 is very different than the classical role of HSPs in preventing protein degradation. Again, heat acclimation causes a higher basal expression of HSPs and a more robust expression upon heat stress.^11-13 The more heat acclimated your body is (the pre-conditioning is the key here), the higher your HSP32 expression will be during physical activity and this will protect your kidneys from the toxic myoglobin breakdown product.

That’s a sweet deal.

Longevity

In flies and worms, a brief exposure to heat treatment has been shown to increase their lifespan by up to 15% and it’s been shown that this effect is specifically mediated by HSPs.^28,29,30

While studying the effects of something like hyperthermic conditioning on longevity is inherently hard in humans (obviously), there have been some preliminary positive associations with variations in the HSP70 gene associated with increased expression and longevity.³¹

Effects of Heat Stress on The Brain

One of the ways that the brain responds to injury on the cellular level is increased HSP production.

This includes ischemic injury (i.e. stroke), traumatic injury, and excitotoxicity (epileptic).³² What complicates things, however, in the context of “hyperthermic conditioning” (or deliberate heat acclimation) is that while on the one hand hyperthermia has been shown to reduce the frequency of seizures and the damage they cause post-conditioning, hyperthermia can actually increase the damage caused by seizures if they occur during a period of heat stress. In other words, the stress and its damaging effects are additive.^33,34

That (and it’s implicit warning) being said, sauna-induced hyperthermia has been shown to induce a robust activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

One study demonstrated that men that stayed in the sauna that was heated to 80°C (176°F) until subjective exhaustion increased norepinephrine by 310%, had a 10-fold increase in prolactin, and actually modestly decreased cortisol.^1,15 Similarly, in another study, women that spent 20-minute sessions in a dry sauna twice a week had a 86% increase in norepinephrine and a 510% increase in prolactin after the session.³⁵

Norepinephrine helps with focus and attention while prolactin promotes myelin growth, which makes your brain function faster, which is key in repairing nerve cell damage.^36,37

In addition to increasing norepinephrine, heat acclimation has actually been shown to increase biological capacity to store norepinephrine for later release.³⁸ In light of the fact that the norepinephrine response to exercise has been demonstrated to be blunted in children with ADHD and that norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (NRI) are frequently prescribed to treat ADHD (among other things), use of heat stress and subsequent acclimation should be tested for it’s effectiveness as an interesting alternative therapeutic approach.³⁹

Neurogenesis

Heat stress has been shown to increase the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) more than exercise alone when used in conjunction with exercise.⁴⁰

This is important because BDNF increases the growth of new brain cells as well as the survival of existing neurons. An increase in neurogenesis is thought to be responsible for enhancing learning.⁴¹ BDNF’s role in the brain is also to modulate neuronal plasticity and long-term memory, while also having been shown to ameliorate anxiety and depression from early-life stressful events.⁴² In addition to the function BDNF plays in the brain when it’s released as a consequence of exercise, BDNF is also secreted by muscle where it plays a role in muscle repair and the growth of new muscle cells.⁴³

While BDNF has specifically been shown to play some role in relieving depression from stressful early-life events, whole-body hyperthermia has also been demonstrated to improve depression in cancer patients.⁴⁴ In this particular study, however, it was speculated that beta-endorphin (which is also induced by hyperthermia), not BDNF, may have been the agent responsible for this effect. As an aside, one of the reasons whole-body hyperthermia is sometimes used with cancer patients is because it can enhance the effects of chemotherapeutic agents.⁴⁵

The Runner’s High and The Role of Dynorphin

Ever wonder what is responsible for the “runner’s high” or post-exercise highs, in general? You’ve probably heard that it’s due to endorphins, but that’s not the whole story.

Beta-endorphins are endogenous (natural) opioids that are a part of the body’s natural painkiller system, known as the mu opioid system, which block pain messages from spreading from the body to the brain in a process called antinociception. What is lesser known is that the body also produces a peptide known as dynorphin (a “kappa opioid”), which is generally responsible for the sensation of dysphoria. The discomfort experienced during intense exercise, exposure to extreme heat (such as in a sauna), or eating spicy food (capsaicin) is due to the release of dynorphin. The release of dynorphin causes an upregulation and sensitization of mu opioid receptors, which interact with beta-endorphin.⁴⁶ This process is what underlies the “runner’s high” and is directly precipitated by the discomfort of physical exercise. Translation: the greater the discomfort experienced during your workout or sauna, the better the endorphin high will be afterward. Now you understand the underlying biological mechanism that explains this.

How is this relevant to hyperthermic conditioning and sauna use?

Heat stress from heat exposure in a dry sauna has been demonstrated to cause a potent increase in beta-endorphin levels, even more than exercise alone.^1,15

A study in rats explains this somewhat: dynorphin delivered directly into a part of the hypothalamus in the brains of rats triggers a drop in their body temperature, while blocking dynorphin with an antagonist was shown to prevent this same response. Similarly, mu receptor agonists have been shown to induce increases in body temperature in rats.⁴⁷ What this seems to imply is that perhaps, by deliberately manipulating your body temperature you are actually directly engaging the mu (endorphin) and kappa opioid (dynorphin) systems since they clearly play a role in temperature regulation in general.

In Conclusion

To recap and drive the point home: acclimating your body to heat stress by intermittent whole-body hyperthermia via sauna use (“hyperthermic conditioning”) has been shown to:

Enhance endurance by:

• Increasing nutrient delivery to muscles thereby reducing the depletion of glycogen stores.
• Reducing heart rate and reducing core temperature during workload.

Increase muscle hypertrophy by preventing protein degradation through the following three means:

1. Induction of heat shock proteins and a hormetic response (which has also been shown to increase longevity in lower organisms).
2. Cause a massive release of growth hormone.
3. Improving insulin sensitivity.

Hyperthermic conditioning also has robust positive effects on the brain:

• Increases the storage and release of norepinephrine, which improves attention and focus.
• Increases prolactin, which causes your brain to function faster by enhancing myelination and helps to repair damaged neurons.
• Increases BDNF, which causes the growth of new brain cells, improves the ability for you to retain new information, and ameliorates certain types of depression and anxiety.
• Causes a robust increase in dynorphin, which results in your body becoming more sensitive to the ensuing endorphins.

Life is stressful.

When you exercise, you are forcing your body to become more resilient to stress (somewhat paradoxically) through stress itself.

Hyperthermic conditioning is a novel and possibly effective tool that can improve your resistance to the sort of stress associated with fitness pursuits as well as some that are not traditionally associated with fitness such as the protective effects of HSPs on various types of stress. That being said, deliberately applied physical stress, whether heat stress or ordinary exercise, is something that requires caution.

You shouldn’t avoid it altogether, but you should use good common sense, not overwhelm yourself, and make sure to know your limits. (NOTE: you should not drink alcohol before or during sauna use as it increases the risk of death).⁴⁸ Personal variation probably comes into play when finding your own sweet spot for building thermal tolerance while avoiding over-extending yourself.

I believe that hyperthermic conditioning in general may be worth a closer look as a tool in the toolbox of athletes.  Perhaps it can be used for much more than just relaxation?

But no matter how enthusiastic you might be, remember: 

• Heat responsibly and with someone else, never alone.
• Never heat yourself while drunk, and friends don’t let friends sauna drunk.
• If you are pregnant or have any medical condition, saunas are not for you.  Speak with your doctor before starting this or any regimen involving physical stressors.

Be careful, ladies and gents.

###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Rhonda Patrick

You can find more video and writing from Dr. Rhonda Patrick at her website, FoundMyFitness.com.

1. Hannuksela, M. L. & Ellahham, S. Benefits and risks of sauna bathing. The American journal of medicine 110, 118-126 (2001). This is actually an important review article that covers some of the benefits of sauna use including the cardiovascular advantages and hormonal changes such as the boost in GH levels. I also like it because it covers some of the risks of alcohol use before or during the sauna.
2. Ricardo J. S. Costa, M. J. C., Jonathan P. Moore & Neil P. Walsh. Heat acclimation responses of an ultra-endurance running group preparing for hot desert-based competition. European Journal of Sport Science, 1-11 (2011). The sample sizes in both studies referenced here and in #4 have small sample sizes but they are two independent studies that compliment each other. This study also reinforces the endurance enhancements in #5.
3. King, D. S., Costill, D. L., Fink, W. J., Hargreaves, M. & Fielding, R. A. Muscle metabolism during exercise in the heat in unacclimatized and acclimatized humans. J Appl Physiol 59, 1350-1354 (1985). This study shows that glycogen utilization is decreased in runners after heat acclimation. The sample size is small but ref #7 (another small sample) is an independent study that shows the same effect.
4. Scoon, G. S., Hopkins, W. G., Mayhew, S. & Cotter, J. D. Effect of post-exercise sauna bathing on the endurance performance of competitive male runners. Journal of science and medicine in sport / Sports Medicine Australia 10, 259-262, doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2006.06.009 (2007). This study shows the effect of preconditioning the body to heat stress by using a sauna for at least 30 min directly after after training session. While the study sample is small, other studies referenced in #2, #5 reinforce and compliment this. I also have some anecdotal data. I did some serious experimentation with the sauna a couple of years ago when I had access to a sauna. I would sit in the sauna for up to 60 min. until I pushed myself to extreme physical discomfort about 4-5 times a week. I substantially (and I know this is just anecdote) increased my running PRs.
5. Michael N. Sawka, C. B. W., Kent B. Pandolf. Thermoregulatory Responses to Acute Exercise-Heat Stress and Heat Acclimation. Handbook of Physiology, Environmental Physiology (2011). This is a good review article that covers many of the mechanisms that underly the endurance enhancements as a consequence of heat acclimation.
6. Garrett, A. T., Creasy, R., Rehrer, N. J., Patterson, M. J. & Cotter, J. D. Effectiveness of short-term heat acclimation for highly trained athletes. European journal of applied physiology 112, 1827-1837, doi:10.1007/s00421-011-2153-3 (2012).
7. Kirwan, J. P. et al. Substrate utilization in leg muscle of men after heat acclimation. J Appl Physiol (1985) 63, 31-35 (1987). The findings in this study reinforce the data in ref #3. Both small sample sizes but multiple studies showing the same effect makes the argument stronger.
8. Selsby, J. T. et al. Intermittent hyperthermia enhances skeletal muscle regrowth and attenuates oxidative damage following reloading. J Appl Physiol (1985) 102, 1702-1707, doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00722.2006 (2007). This is an important paper because it shows that intermittent hyperthermia can enhance the regrowth of skeletal muscle in rats after disuse via induction of heat shock proteins. Having a quantitative way to non-invasively measure muscle mass in humans is difficult. Even though the experiment was done in rats (N=40) this is a good study because it also shows mechanism.
9. Naito, H. et al. Heat stress attenuates skeletal muscle atrophy in hindlimb-unweighted rats. J Appl Physiol 88, 359-363 (2000). This study demonstrates that HSP induction by intermittent hyperthermia in rats can prevent muscle atrophy during muscle disuse. Again, this study was in rats but it shows mechanism has has a good sample size (N=40).
10. Kokura, S. et al. Whole body hyperthermia improves obesity-induced insulin resistance in diabetic mice. International journal of hyperthermia : the official journal of European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology, North American Hyperthermia Group 23, 259-265, doi:10.1080/02656730601176824 (2007). This study was done in mice (N=20) but it demonstrates a very important mechanistic finding that hyperthermia increases the expression of glucose transporters in skeletal muscle, thus improving insulin sensitivity. Exercise (which elevates core body temp.) is known to improve insulin sensitivity. This is a cool mechanism by which this can occur.
11. Yamada, P. M., Amorim, F. T., Moseley, P., Robergs, R. & Schneider, S. M. Effect of heat acclimation on heat shock protein 72 and interleukin-10 in humans. J Appl Physiol (1985) 103, 1196-1204, doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00242.2007 (2007). This study includes a relatively small human sample size (N=12) but it is a very important because it demonstrates that heat acclimation causes a higher induction of heat shock proteins upon later exercise. This is the fundamental concept behind hyperthermic conditioning.
12. Moseley, P. L. Heat shock proteins and heat adaptation of the whole organism. J Appl Physiol (1985) 83, 1413-1417 (1997). This is a review article that explains some of the functions of HSPs and reinforces the data from reference #11 demonstrating that heat acclimation can increase the expression of HSPs.
13. Kuennen, M. et al. Thermotolerance and heat acclimation may share a common mechanism in humans. American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology 301, R524-533, doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00039.2011 (2011). This study is another small human sample size (N=8) but it reinforces the data from ref #11 because it demonstrates that some of the positive effects of heat acclimation are due to increased expression of HSPs. The study even shows specificity here by administering an HSP inhibitor, which ameliorates the positive effects of heat acclimation.
14. Leppaluoto, J. et al. Endocrine effects of repeated sauna bathing. Acta physiologica Scandinavica 128, 467-470, doi:10.1111/j.1748-1716.1986.tb08000.x (1986). This is a very important study because it shows the profound hormonal responses to repeated sauna use in humans (N=17). By day 3, growth hormone increased 16-fold, highlighting the importance of hyperthermic conditioning.
15. Kukkonen-Harjula, K. et al. Haemodynamic and hormonal responses to heat exposure in a Finnish sauna bath. European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology 58, 543-550 (1989). Even though the human sample size in this study is small (N=8), it shows that varying temperatures and durations differentially affect hormones. Small sample or not, the fundamental chemical changes in this study are reinforced from the data referenced in #1 and #4.
16. Velloso, C. P. Regulation of muscle mass by growth hormone and IGF-I. British journal of pharmacology 154, 557-568, doi:10.1038/bjp.2008.153 (2008).
17. Coleman, M. E. et al. Myogenic vector expression of insulin-like growth factor I stimulates muscle cell differentiation and myofiber hypertrophy in transgenic mice. The Journal of biological chemistry 270, 12109-12116 (1995). In this study mice were engineered to constitutively express high levels of human IGF-1 in their muscle stem cells. This caused the proliferation and differentiation of myoblasts and caused muscle hypertrophy.
18. Barton, E. R., Morris, L., Musaro, A., Rosenthal, N. & Sweeney, H. L. Muscle-specific expression of insulin-like growth factor I counters muscle decline in mdx mice. The Journal of cell biology 157, 137-148, doi:10.1083/jcb.200108071 (2002).
19. Healy, M. L. et al. High dose growth hormone exerts an anabolic effect at rest and during exercise in endurance-trained athletes. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 88, 5221-5226 (2003).
20. Ftaiti, F. et al. Effect of hyperthermia and physical activity on circulating growth hormone. Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme 33, 880-887, doi:10.1139/H08-073 (2008). This study shows that hyperthermia SYNERGIZES with exercise to increase growth hormone levels in humans. So you can feel the burn from your routine and then jump immediately in the sauna for amplified effects. Again, small sample (N=8) but its conclusion is logical and intuitively follows the other studies. Anything that substantially increases core temperature should increase growth hormone and the effects should potentiate each other.
21. Louard, R. J., Fryburg, D. A., Gelfand, R. A. & Barrett, E. J. Insulin sensitivity of protein and glucose metabolism in human forearm skeletal muscle. The Journal of clinical investigation 90, 2348-2354, doi:10.1172/JCI116124 (1992). This study demonstrated that insulin stimulated BCAA uptake in the forearm (post-absorptive and insulin infusion) The sample size in this human study was good (N=39).
22. Lecker, S. H., Goldberg, A. L. & Mitch, W. E. Protein degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in normal and disease states. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN 17, 1807-1819, doi:10.1681/ASN.2006010083 (2006). This is a review article that covers the mechanism by which insulin decreases protein degradation: proteasome inhibition.
23. Chow, L. S. et al. Mechanism of insulin’s anabolic effect on muscle: measurements of muscle protein synthesis and breakdown using aminoacyl-tRNA and other surrogate measures. American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism 291, E729-736, doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00003.2006 (2006). This study used multiple different methods to measure protein synthesis and degradation in 18 humans after insulin infusion. The insulin levels were raised to physiologically relevant postprandial levels.
24. Guillet, C., Masgrau, A., Walrand, S. & Boirie, Y. Impaired protein metabolism: interlinks between obesity, insulin resistance and inflammation. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity 13 Suppl 2, 51-57, doi:10.1111/j.1467-789X.2012.01037.x (2012).
25. Selsby, J. T. & Dodd, S. L. Heat treatment reduces oxidative stress and protects muscle mass during immobilization. American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology 289, R134-139, doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00497.2004 (2005). This study just reinforces and compliments the protective effect that HSPs have on muscle mass during disuse. It reinforces data referenced in #9.
26. Nath, K. A. et al. Induction of heme oxygenase is a rapid, protective response in rhabdomyolysis in the rat. The Journal of clinical investigation 90, 267-270, doi:10.1172/JCI115847 (1992). This reference is relevant to the mechanism by which hyperthermic conditioning may protect against rhabdomyolysis: induction of HSP32.
27. Wei, Q., Hill, W. D., Su, Y., Huang, S. & Dong, Z. Heme oxygenase-1 induction contributes to renoprotection by G-CSF during rhabdomyolysis-associated acute kidney injury. American journal of physiology. Renal physiology 301, F162-170, doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00438.2010 (2011).
28. Khazaeli, A. A., Tatar, M., Pletcher, S. D. & Curtsinger, J. W. Heat-induced longevity extension in Drosophila. I. Heat treatment, mortality, and thermotolerance. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 52, B48-52 (1997). This reference, as well as the two immediate ones following, back up the notion that heat shock extends lifespan in lower organisms via HSP induction.
29. Lithgow, G. J., White, T. M., Melov, S. & Johnson, T. E. Thermotolerance and extended life-span conferred by single-gene mutations and induced by thermal stress. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 92, 7540-7544 (1995).
30. Tatar, M., Khazaeli, A. A. & Curtsinger, J. W. Chaperoning extended life. Nature 390, 30, doi:10.1038/36237 (1997).
31. Singh, R. et al. Anti-inflammatory heat shock protein 70 genes are positively associated with human survival. Current pharmaceutical design 16, 796-801 (2010). This study was a longitudinal cohort of a Denmark population (N=168) that found a slight increase in longevity (1 year) in females that had a polymorphism in the HSP70 gene that was associated with increased HSP expression upon heat stress.
32. Yenari, M. A., Giffard, R. G., Sapolsky, R. M. & Steinberg, G. K. The neuroprotective potential of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). Molecular medicine today 5, 525-531 (1999).
33. Duveau, V., Arthaud, S., Serre, H., Rougier, A. & Le Gal La Salle, G. Transient hyperthermia protects against subsequent seizures and epilepsy-induced cell damage in the rat. Neurobiology of disease 19, 142-149, doi:10.1016/j.nbd.2004.11.011 (2005).
34. Lundgren, J., Smith, M. L., Blennow, G. & Siesjo, B. K. Hyperthermia aggravates and hypothermia ameliorates epileptic brain damage. Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Experimentation cerebrale 99, 43-55 (1994).
35. Laatikainen, T., Salminen, K., Kohvakka, A. & Pettersson, J. Response of plasma endorphins, prolactin and catecholamines in women to intense heat in a sauna. European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology 57, 98-102 (1988). This study reinforces ref #15 in terms of the norepinephrine response but this demonstrates it in women. Also, the smaple size is small (N=11), so it good to have multiple studies showing similar effects.
36. Salbaum, J. M. et al. Chlorotoxin-mediated disinhibition of noradrenergic locus coeruleus neurons using a conditional transgenic approach. Brain research 1016, 20-32, doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2004.03.078 (2004).
37. Gregg, C. et al. White matter plasticity and enhanced remyelination in the maternal CNS. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 27, 1812-1823, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4441-06.2007 (2007).
38. Christman, J. V. & Gisolfi, C. V. Heat acclimation: role of norepinephrine in the anterior hypothalamus. J Appl Physiol (1985) 58, 1923-1928 (1985).
39. Wigal, S. B. et al. Catecholamine response to exercise in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Pediatric research 53, 756-761, doi:10.1203/01.PDR.0000061750.71168.23 (2003).
40. Goekint, M., Roelands, B., Heyman, E., Njemini, R. & Meeusen, R. Influence of citalopram and environmental temperature on exercise-induced changes in BDNF. Neuroscience letters 494, 150-154, doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2011.03.001 (2011). This study had an N=8 (okay, tiny) but… it demonstrated that hyperthermia and exercise synergize to elevate BDNF. This is awesome. Who doesn’t want more BDNF?
41. van Praag, H., Christie, B. R., Sejnowski, T. J. & Gage, F. H. Running enhances neurogenesis, learning, and long-term potentiation in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 96, 13427-13431 (1999).
42. Maniam, J. & Morris, M. J. Voluntary exercise and palatable high-fat diet both improve behavioural profile and stress responses in male rats exposed to early life stress: role of hippocampus. Psychoneuroendocrinology 35, 1553-1564, doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.05.012 (2010).
43. Pedersen, B. K. Muscle as a Secretory Organ. Comprhensive Physiology (2013).
44. Koltyn, K. F., Robins, H. I., Schmitt, C. L., Cohen, J. D. & Morgan, W. P. Changes in mood state following whole-body hyperthermia. International journal of hyperthermia : the official journal of European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology, North American Hyperthermia Group 8, 305-307 (1992).
45. Liu, X. L. et al. [Therapeutic effect of whole body hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy in patients with advanced cancer]. Zhong nan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical sciences 31, 350-352 (2006).
46. Narita, M. et al. Heterologous mu-opioid receptor adaptation by repeated stimulation of kappa-opioid receptor: up-regulation of G-protein activation and antinociception. Journal of neurochemistry 85, 1171-1179 (2003). This study was done in mice but shows that repeated activation of kappa opioid receptor causes mu opioid receptor to become more sensitive to beta-endorphin. This study provides a mechanism by which the dysphoric feeling from exercise or heat stress can ultimately result in a better “endorphin high.”
47. Xin, L., Geller, E. B. & Adler, M. W. Body temperature and analgesic effects of selective mu and kappa opioid receptor agonists microdialyzed into rat brain. The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics 281, 499-507 (1997).
48. Heckmann, J. G., Rauch, C., Seidler, S., Dutsch, M. & Kasper, B. Sauna stroke syndrome. Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association 14, 138-139, doi:10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2005.01.006 (2005). This reference is only an N=1 where a a man had consumed several glasses of wine before he got in the sauna and was, subsequently, found dead. Alcohol consumption while in the sauna can cause severe dehydration, hypotension, arrhthymia, and embolic stroke. This is also reviewed in reference #1

Our friends over at Business Insider have been circulating a chart called Welcome to the Terrordome, which depicts an “almost violent decline in solar pricing” globally, to the point where solar beats oil and liquid natural gas in some markets. As for how much lower solar can go, we’ve been tracking the journey of solar from an exotic space technology to a backyard standard, and BI’s arguments for a solar-dominated world dovetail with our observations.

For the record, BI sourced the chart and background information from a note by Michael Parker and Flora Chang of the investment firm AllianceBernstein via its research driven subsidiary Sandford C. Bernstein.

The BI article is provocatively titled “The Solar Industry Has Been Waiting 60 Years For This To Happen — And It Finally Just Did.” It’s well worth a read in full but for those of you on the go, here are a couple of tantalizing bits referencing the now-notorious chart.

Low Cost Solar

1. Solar is a new technology that will continue to be cheaper as the technology advances.

We’ll strongly second that, and add the observation that at least some amount of utility-scale solar, and a practically infinite amount of distributed solar, can be piggybacked on buildings, brownfields, and other sites that have already been built upon.

That includes solar windows and other building-integrated solar elements as well as rooftop and ground mounted systems.

In that context, it’s easy to see how millions of distributed solar owners will eventually blow up the now-conventional model of an energy harvesting industry dominated by large companies.

Here in the US, the Obama Administration has been aggressively pursuing the distributed solar model, both from the foundational research end and through nuts-and-bolts initiatives like the Rooftop Challenge, which is designed to reduce the overall cost of installed solar power.

High Cost Fossils

2. Fossil fuel extraction will continue to get more expensive.

We’ll strongly second that one, too. The basic idea is that as conventional reserves are tapped out, exploration moves to sites that are far more complicated and expensive to access.

When you hear that, you naturally think of deep ocean sites, but here in the US you also have two forms of land based fossil fuel extraction, mountaintop removal for coal and fracking for oil and gas, which have undergone a recent boom and are encroaching on populated areas that formerly hosted little or no such activities.

So, in addition to the direct cost to fossil fuel companies, we’ll add the cost to communities that host fossil fuel extraction, including poor public health outcomes, economic malaise, and declining property values.

Not to pile on, but distributed solar also avoids costs and impacts related to transportation, storage, and byproduct disposal including methane leakage from natural gas pipelines and storage facilities, oil rail car and pipeline disasters, petcoke production, and coal ash spills.

The Battery Angle

3. Utility pushback will weaken as battery technology develops.

The article teases out an especially good point here, which is that the explosion of research into EV batteries (that’s another huge Obama Administration initiative, btw) will spill over into the stationary battery market, to the benefit of distributed solar owners:

A failed battery technology in the auto sector (too hot, too heavy, too rigid a form factor) might well be perfect for the home energy storage market…. with an addressable end market of 2 billion backyards.

We’re all over that one, and that’s just as far as direct electrical energy storage goes. The article doesn’t specifically mention solar powered fuel cells, which are already coming into the home market.

The basic idea behind the solar powered fuel cells is simple: solar energy is used to split hydrogen from water, which goes to a hydrogen fuel cell.

The idea is so simple that researchers are adapting it as a low-cost solar solution for providing electricity to low-usage households in developing countries, as a safer, cheaper alternative to kerosene and other fossil fuels.

A Monkey Wrench, Or Not

Citing the concerns of AllianceBernstein’s Parker, the article points out that major fossil companies could unleash their reserves now to compete with falling solar prices, which could grind solar development to a temporary halt.

We’ll add another unpredictable factor, which is the use of low cost solar energy by fossil companies to offset the rising cost of unconventional fossil extraction methods. Chevron seems to be leading the pack in that area, in partnership with the solar company BrightSource.

However, given the latest IPCC report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), we’re guessing that international policymakers and a growing list of stakeholders in the investment sector will ramp up support for the solar industry against competition from an engineered, temporary drop in fossil fuel prices.

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Solar Falls Off Cliff, World Domination Inevitable Now was originally published on CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

The Ricardo HyBoost hybrid system uses an electric supercharger and downsized engine for better performance and efficiency, as Jay Leno got to see in person. The real kicker is the cost though; just $1,100 per car, which could make hybrid cars a heckuva lot more affordable straight from the factory.

Ricardo is an old engineering firm with roots dating back 100 years, and their innovative HyBoost system is very similar to the hybrid system on the McLaren P1 hypercar. The P1 uses a crank-driven electric supercharger to make up for any perceivable turbolag from the turbocharged engine, delivering massive power without any real downside. The result is instant throttle response from a smaller engine.

The same concept is at work on this right-hand drive 2009 Ford Focus, which had its standard gas engine replaced with a 1.0 liter EcoBoost three-cylinder. This is a great little engine, but still suffers from turbolag as the engine takes time to spool the hairdryer up. The Ricardo system adds an electric supercharger that pushes extra air into the turbocharger to spool it up, while the engine revs up to match the needed air suction. The supercharger takes 200 milliseconds to kick in, and as Leno shows, the system is pretty damn seamless.

The whole system runs off of a 12-volt battery and supercapacitors. When the supercharger needs the significant amount of energy required for the electric supercharger, the supercapacitors discharge the energy. Not only does this boost performance, but fuel economy sees a massive 47% increase in fuel economy.

The Ricardo HyBoost system turns the 32 MPG Focus into a 55 MPG Prius fighter, and as Leno points out, it’s both economical and it works damn well. Leno even chirps a gear, just for good measure, knocking home the point that hybrid cars don’t have to be boring. Because the system is so affordable, it won’t be restricted to high cost cars like the McLaren P1 either; Ricardo’s representatives made sure to mention their close work with Ford, which could hint at which company has the drop on this technology.

The post Video: Ricardo HyBoost Hybrid System Vetted By Leno appeared first on Gas 2.

They may be one of the greediest, most exploitative firms on Wall Street, but Goldman Sachs knows a profitable investment when they see one. The company recently released a report that states solar energy is fast approaching grid parity – the moment when electricity from solar power becomes the same price or cheaper than electricity produced by fossil fuels. The report also cites the vision of Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a major factor in the growth of renewable energy – as Inhabitat reported, Tesla’s recently announced lithium-ion “Gigafactory” is expected to reduce EV battery costs by more than 30 percent. That, coupled with the fact that solar panel prices continue to plummet, is a big reason why Goldman Sachs sees renewable energy as the path to the future.

Read the rest of Goldman Sachs Declares Solar Energy Will Soon Be Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels, and Elon Musk is a Genius

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Post tags: "solar energy", cost of fossil fuels, elon musk, Goldman Sachs, price of solar energy, price of solar panels, renewable energy, solar parity, tesla, Tesla Gigafactory

Read the rest of Man Spends $35,000 to Convert His Home into a Feline Fantasyland

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Here’s a milestone to mark. Solar power is apparently going to be sold to Austin Energy for a tiny bit less than 5¢/kWh under a new 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SunEdison. Austin Energy says the deal will even lower electric rates a bit. It’s from no small project either. It’s from two solar

Solar Less Than 5¢/kWh In Austin, Texas! (Cheaper Than Natural Gas, Coal, & Nuclear) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

So much wow here. So much wow. Reposting from ClimateProgress: By Rebecca Leber As ExxonMobil’s CEO, it’s Rex Tillerson’s job to promote the hydraulic fracturing enabling the recent oil and gas boom, and fight regulatory oversight. The oil company is the biggest natural gas producer in the U.S., relying on the controversial drilling technology to

Wow, ExxonMobil CEO Sues To Block Fracking-Related Project Near His Home (Note: ExxonMobil Is Biggest Natural Gas Producer In US) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

Originally published on RenewEconomy.

Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has declared the renewable energy sector to be one of the most compelling and attractive markets – and is backing up its talk with $US40 billion ($A46 billion) of made and planned investments.

Goldman Sachs is not the first big bank to talk up the renewable energy sector, or even “sustainable” investments. But it is one of the first to put real money behind it.

In 2012, the bank made a commitment to invest $US40 billion in renewable energy, and it has made a number of large equity investments, over and above the normal advisory and fund-raising work that is the usual bread and butter revenue for investment banks such as Goldman Sachs.

“Goldman Sachs finds this market incredibly compelling,” Stuart Bernstein, who heads the bank’s clean-technology and renewables investment banking group, told Recharge in a recent interview in a story titled Goldman goes Green.”It is at a transformational moment in time.”

Bernstein said the bank is taking a decades-long view and is convinced that renewable energy will be an important component of global GDP growth.

He dismissed suggestions that it was part of a PR campaign – such as BP’s infamous “Beyond Petroleum” pitch of a decade ago where it appeared to spend more in marketing than it did in new technologies.

“It will be important from a societal perspective, and it will be good business for us and our clients,” Bernstein told Recharge. “We want to be extraordinarily focused, involved and have the best franchise in the area. That’s how we think about it.”

Among Goldman Sachs’ key investments are a recently-approved $1.5 billion investment for a near 20 per cent stake in Danish offshore wind energy developer Dong Energy.

It has also a substantial investment in BrightSource Energy, which is about to bring its huge Ivanpah solar power project (pictured) into full production – it will be the largest in the world.

Goldman Sachs also provided $500 million of finance to SolarCity, to allow the biggest solar installer in the US to expand its solar leasing business. Goldmans is one of a number of banks to do that –the latest was Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

It has also been an early investor in First Solar, the largest solar PV manufacturer in the US, SunEdison, and made big money from the sale of Horizon Wind Energy to Portugal’s EDP for $2.15 billion in 2007.

Goldman’s commitment of $40 billion is based around a number of assumptions – that costs will continue to decline as efficiency improves, that solar and wind will reach grid parity without subsidies in the not-too-distant future, and that energy storage issues will also be solved.

It also believes that the position of coal at the top of the global fuel mix is eroding – something that it highlighted in a recent report that said the window for thermal coal was closing rapidly.

According to the Recharge article, much of Goldman Sachs’ investments will be focused on the emerging economies of Brazil, China, India and Mexico —along with developed economies such as Japan and South Korea that have also made a large commitment to renewables, and are reliant on expensive fossil fuel imports.

In Japan, Goldman Sachs has established a new independent power producer called Japan Renewable Energy (JRE) — to develop, build and operate solar, wind and other renewables projects. It is backed by the bank’s $3.1 billion GS Infrastructure Partners II fund (GSIP). It has already committed to a 250MW solar project in Okayama and a 40MW PV plant near Tokyo.

Goldman has paid more than $3400 million for a majority stake in an Indian wind energy business called Renew Wind Power, which plans to build 1GW of facilities within two years, and it is looking to build solar energy plants to supply mining operations in Chile, where even companies such as BHP Billiton are looking at alternatives.

Bernstein also heads Goldman’s venture-capital group, which has a key office in California’s Silicon Valley and which is focusing on late-stage venture companies. Recharge says it is also using its convening power to host conferences and forums for sector stakeholders.

Other investments include the FloDesign Wind Turbine, a start-up that was developing  an  experimental high-efficiency shrouded wind turbine, and South Korean wind turbine manufacturer CS Wind, which plans an IPO this year.

Goldman Sachs Declares The Renewable Sector One Of The Most Compelling was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

Originally published on RenewEconomy.

Former head of US largest utility says regulations and business models will not change quick enough to save traditional utilities in face of solar.

Jim Rogers, the recently retired head of Duke Energy, the biggest utility in the US, has had some interesting things to say about the fate of the traditional utility, particularly with the proliferation of rooftop solar.

In an interview with Energy Biz Magazine, Rogers says there is no doubt that utilities are under fire from new technologies such as rooftop solar, and are in danger of losing customers to new players.

Indeed, if he were entering the industry now, that’s where he would want to be – in rooftop solar, attacking the market rather than defending it.

“The utility industry has been like the proverbial frog that’s been put in a pot of cold water, and the heat’s been turned up,” he said in the interview.

“And it’s been turned up slowly. The many challenges ahead are going to fundamentally change this industry.

“Leaders in this industry in the future are going to have to run to the problems that they see on the horizon, embrace the problems, and then try to convert the problems and challenges they see into opportunities to create value for their customers as well as their investors.”

This is not the first time he has said such a thing, though not quite as dramatically. Last year, Rogers warned that the progress in solar and storage would mean that customers may simply use the grid as a back-up some time in the future.’

Asked later in the interview what approach he would take if he were entering the industry now, Rogers initially replied that he would like to come back as David Crane, the CEO of NRG – the largest privately owned generator in the US – who has been extolling the virtue of solar and the transition that would likely create, and warning that customers were likely to disconnect from the grid if utilities did not evolve quickly enough

“Maybe I should take that back,” Roger added. “I would come into the industry as someone who is an attacker, not a defender. I’d want the solar on the rooftop. I’d want to run that.

“I’d want the ability to deploy new technologies that lead to productivity gains to the use of electricity in homes and businesses. I would go after the monopoly that I see weakened over the last 25 years.

“My goal would be to take customers away from utilities as fast as I could, because I think they’re vulnerable. Regulations will not be changed fast enough to protect them.  The business model will not be changed fast enough.”

Rogers said all utilities should be making decisions based on the assumption that there will – some day – be a price on carbon. “Our industry needs to lead on environmental issues. We need to lead on productivity gains in the use of electricity. That’s a critical way for us to continue to reinvent ourselves as an industry.

Nuclear supporters may be cheered by his outlook for nuclear, which he said would be centred almost entirely around China, and the development of Chinese technology, including modular reactors.

“They will lead the world in the building and operating of new nuclear plants over the next 30 years.

“They will develop the supply chain and build nuclear plants in a modular fashion. We will have to change our rules and regulations and how we think about the Chinese. They’re going to bring us the nuclear technology to replace our existing plants at a lower cost and build new ones faster than we can.”

Why Traditional Utility Companies’ Days Are Numbered was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

NSA Slides Reveal that Spies Grab Data from Angry Birds and Other Apps is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

In a world where mobile device users never know what they are revealing about themselves when they use their trusty devices, blaring headlines from the Guardian today tell us the NSA is grabbing data and personal information from the Apps we use to work and play. While the info displayed on the slides in the Guardian’s report is newsworthy, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for most folks who have been following the NSA story to have put this together already. Did you really think the surveillance state was just interested in your texts and emails?

Previous reporting upset the tech world and its user base when it was revealed that the NSA could tap into big name companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! to grab data. Those big companies with big reputations and big bottom lines to protect have gone out of their way to say this isn’t the case and to also let it be known that they are working on encryption methods to try and keep users data more private as it passes through their systems.

But even an amateur rocket scientist should have figured out that if the NSA was grabbing data from mobile devices that they would also be doing so from companies that developed Apps. Name an App that doesn’t send data back to a server somewhere. For maximum impact with the story, the Guardian is featuring the popular Angry Birds in its headline, and App companies, including large ones like Rovio-who sells Angry Birds, and smaller ones will be coming out with denials and “we didn’t know” statements shortly. Apps are what make mobile devices tick and to assume that they would be free from any data surveillance would be simply naive.

The slides in this report and other reporting from the New York Times and ProPublica reveal that the NSA and Britain’s GCHQ have been scooping up data from “leaky apps” that include age, gender, location, and the report says even details on sexual orientation. The report doesn’t just point to games, but also social and photo sharing sites like Facebook as data collection points. Google Map requests figure prominently. The NSA is of course responding by saying that they don’t spy on every day Americans. Perhaps it is just the bad guys who also happen to play Angry Birds.

NSA Slides Reveal that Spies Grab Data from Angry Birds and Other Apps is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

Animal Planet’s Ernie “Turtleman” Brown Jr. of “Call of the Wildman” has been accused of grotesque abuse to animals that have appeared on his show. The host has been accused of nearly starving three raccoons regulars, as well as drugging a zebra from the Franklin Drive Thru Safari. Kentucky officials have warned Brown against endangering animals, but he has continued the abuse nonetheless.

Read the rest of Call of the Wildman’s Ernie Brown Jr. Accused of Grotesque Animal Abuse

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Originally published on Planetsave.

Environmentalists and active folks love bicycles, because they’re not only efficient and a fun way to stay fit, but they’re also probably the most sustainable method of transportation we have. But is buying a brand new bicycle really that environmentally friendly? After all, new bikes require an entire global supply chain to produce and distribute, along with the related environmental costs that an industrial system incurs.

One way that we can have a more sustainable and environmentally friendly bicycle is by riding a used bike, or refurbishing a vintage bicycle and extending its life for many more years of riding. However, not all of us are inclined to ride an older bike as is, or to overhaul a vintage bicycle ourselves, and the bike industry isn’t exactly supportive of us buying used bikes instead of a new model, because they make their money by selling brand new models and bike parts and accessories.

But a young bicycle brand based in the Netherlands, Roetz Bike, is working to make vintage bicycles and older bikes sexy again, by refurbishing them and putting them back on the road under their own marque.

According to the company, more than a million bikes are sold each year in the Netherlands, which results in almost that many bikes being discarded thrown away. Roetz Bike takes the best quality of those vintage bicycles and recycles as much of them as possible into a “new” bike (or replaces the components that can’t be reused with others made from natural or renewable materials, such as wooden fenders/mudguards) that riders will be proud to pedal.

“In our opinion a bike is only sustainable when it has a long life. Therefore we make a robust bike. This means that for all components we choose for high quality and A-brands.” – Roetz Bike

This funky little animation introduces the Roetz Bike concept (it’s in Dutch, but still worth a watch):

Because these refurbished vintage bicycles aren’t mass-produced, each one is a unique bike, and come with a five year guarantee on the frame. These bike frames all come from discarded or abandoned bicycles, some of them from traditional Dutch “grandma” bikes, which could be up to 50 years old. Prospective buyers can specify the type of frame desired, as well as the frame size needed to fit them, and then each bicycle is assembled and built specifically to those specs in about 4 weeks.

In addition to building custom vintage bicycles, Roetz Bike also offers unique bike accessories, including “dress guards” for the rear wheel made from old conveyor belts, saddlebags made from wood and conveyor belts, cork handlebar grips, and locally-made wooden crates for hauling stuff on the rear bike rack.

Prices for Roetz Bike models start at € 539 (~ $738 USD), with the additional option for three- or five-speed gearing, fenders, lighting, transport packages (front carrier and crate), and more, depending on the model. Check out all your options for getting one of these refurbished vintage bicycles for yourself at Roetz Bike.

The Most Sustainable Bikes Are Purchased Used was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

The Simpsons Send up Google Glass Tonight is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

Like it or not, Google Glass is a hot topic of conversation, a sure fire target for satire, and even worthy of appearing in a weekly animated feature. If you’re a fan of The Simpsons and you are interested in Google Glass, you might want to tune in or set your DVR, if you’re not using a second screen or planning to watch the Grammys live, to catch tonight’s episode, entitled Specs and the City. Homer Simpson and Google Glass. Even an under active imagination can picture the comic potential. Hilarity is sure to ensue based on the trailer which has Homer using Google Glass in a variety of circumstances.

Google Glass is still only available by invitation at a cost of $1500. Google promises to roll it out this year to the mass market. And there is quite a difference of opinion as to whether or not Google Glass or Wearable Computing in any category will be a success. But this truly geeky example of wearable computing is already generating controversy, as in a user being questioned for wearing his Google Glass in a Columbus, Ohio AMC cineplex and a user winning a court case because she was given a ticket for driving while using Google Glass.

You can check out the Simpsons trailer below. The episode airs on Fox at 8pm EST and is called Specs and  the City.

Too bad Google Glass users can’t watch the episode on their devices.

 

The Simpsons Send up Google Glass Tonight is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

Not sure if you’ve, while typing into Google search, ever came across the most bizarre suggestions to complete your query. We have, and other than killing our faith in humanity a little bit every day, these suggestions can sometimes yield hilarious results. So what if Google was just a man in an office, trying to make a living? Do you think he’d like his job? Probably not. Watch the slightly NSFW video below for a chuckle.

[via College Humor]

Originally published on ThinkProgress.
By Katie Valentine.

On Tuesday, frigid temperatures pushed Texas to a new winter record for power usage. But thanks in part to wind power, Texans were able to avoid major power outages, despite the stress on the grid.

On Monday, cold weather and shut downs of some power plants forced the Texas grid operator to begin implementing its emergency plan to meet demand. Demand remained high on Tuesday, but increased output from West Texas wind farms enabled the state to avoid an emergency scenario. It wasn’t the first time wind has helped Texas avoid power outages in extreme weather, either — in 2011, high wind outputs during peak demand helped Texas’s grid weather 100-plus temperatures.

Wind energy is helping other states weather the Polar Vortex as well — as AWEA notes, when the temperatures first began dropping in the Upper Midwest, wind generated enough energy to power 6 million average homes. The Mid-Atlantic region, too, saw high wind energy output, which helped bolster the grid after some power plants failed unexpectedly due to the weather.

But this week’s Polar Vortex is putting the vulnerability of the U.S. energy grid in focus. On Tuesday, electricity demand in parts of the Southeast U.S. was the second-highest it’s been in winter since the 1920s, according to the Tennessee Valley Authority. Parts of Tennessee lost power during the night, and parts of South Carolina instituted rolling blackouts to manage the electricity demand. Earlier this week, 40,000 people in Indiana lost power, and people across the country were urged to conserve power so that the grid could deal with the spike in demand.

Severe weather is the number one cause of power outages in the U.S., meaning that as extreme events become more common, the U.S. power grid will be put more and more at risk. Between 2003 and 2012, extreme weather caused more than 675 power outages and cost the U.S. $18 billion to $33 billion per year, according to the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and the Department of Energy. According to the report, which was released in August, transmission line construction in the U.S. has slowed from 10,000 miles built per year in the late 1960s to just 1,000 miles per year in the mid-2000s — a slowdown that means about 70 percent of U.S. transmission lines and power transformers are over 25 years old. Massoud Amin, electrical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota, estimates that updating the country to Smart Grid technology would cost $21 billion per year for the next two decades, but would ultimately result in savings of savings of between $79 and $94 billion per year.

“As a nation, we must take action to improve our electric grid if we want to meet the power needs of a pervasively digital society,” Amin wrote in Forbes in 2012. “Americans should not accept or learn to cope with increasing blackouts.”

Image Credit: NOAA

Wind Power Kept The Lights On In Texas Storm was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

Steeri is The Driverless Car We All Think Might Happen is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

It’s a very cold weekend in most parts of the U.S. so perhaps a little satirical humor will offer some warmth. Even better, the target of the satire is a favorite for many, and that’s Apple’s Siri. Well, actually it isn’t Siri. It’s Steeri.

The very funny folks at the Smart Department have produced a quite humorous look at what Apple’s promised iOS in the Car might look like if it was run by Siri. It’s called Steeri. It takes over and takes you of a ride you don’t expect. Or does it? I think the satire works so well because it plays right into what many think might be the case with cars that drive automatically or controlled by voice, or essentially driven by any input other than what we do today. Over the top? Then you haven’t been using Siri much lately. To be fair, Siri has improved quite a bit. But, could it ever improve this much? That’s why this is called satire.

If you’re driving in the cold winter weather this weekend, keep in mind that there are brighter and warmer days ahead. Let’s just hope they don’t look and sound like this.

 

Steeri is The Driverless Car We All Think Might Happen is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

A low-cost means of producing hydrogen fuel — one that doesn’t result in the corrosion of the materials used, and uses nothing but sunlight and water — has been created by researchers at Stanford University.

The new silicon-based water splitter — essentially just a silicon semiconductor coated in an ultrathin layer of nickel — brings the commercialization of large-scale hydrogen fuel one step closer to reality, according to the researchers involved.

“Solar cells only work when the sun is shining,” stated study co-author Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford. “When there’s no sunlight, utilities often have to rely on electricity from conventional power plants that run on coal or natural gas.”

A better solution — according to Dai — would be to pair effective hydrogen-powered fuel cells with the solar cells.

Stanford University provides some background:

To produce clean hydrogen for fuel cells, scientists have turned to an emerging technology called water splitting. Two semiconducting electrodes are connected and placed in water. The electrodes absorb light and use the energy to split the water into its basic components, oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere, and the hydrogen is stored as fuel.

When energy is needed, the process is reversed. The stored hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen are combined in a fuel cell to generate electricity and pure water. The entire process is sustainable and emits no greenhouse gases. But finding a cheap way to split water has been a major challenge. Today, researchers continue searching for inexpensive materials that can be used to build water splitters efficient enough to be of practical use.

“Silicon, which is widely used in solar cells, would be an ideal, low-cost material,” stated Stanford graduate student Michael J Kenney, co-lead author of the new study. “But silicon degrades in contact with an electrolyte solution. In fact, a submerged electrode made of silicon corrodes as soon as the water-splitting reaction starts.”

To address this, the researchers have now turned to the process of coating silicon electrodes with ordinary nickel. “Nickel is corrosion-resistant,” Kenney explained. “It’s also an active oxygen-producing catalyst, and it’s earth-abundant. That makes it very attractive for this type of application.”

For the new research, a 2-nanometer-thick layer of nickel was applied onto a silicon electrode, and then partnered with another electrode and placed in a solution of water and potassium borate — light and electricity were then applied. After the application of light and electricity, the electrodes began splitting the water into oxygen and hydrogen — importantly, even after twenty-four hours the process was still continuing, with no noticeable signs of corrosion.

To further improve the process, the researchers then mixed lithium into the solution. “Remarkably, adding lithium imparted superior stability to the electrodes,” Kenney noted. “They generated hydrogen and oxygen continuously for 80 hours — more than three days — with no sign of surface corrosion.”

“Our lab has produced one of the longest lasting silicon-based photoanodes,” Dai stated. “The results suggest that an ultrathin nickel coating not only suppresses corrosion but also serves as an electrocatalyst to expedite the otherwise sluggish water-splitting reaction. Interestingly, a lithium addition to electrolytes has been used to make better nickel batteries since the Thomas Edison days. Many years later we are excited to find that it also helps to make better water-splitting devices.”

The researchers are now planning to follow this work up with efforts to further improve the stability and durability of the nickel-treated electrodes of silicon, in addition to improving the other materials used.

The new research was just published in the November 15th edition of the journal Science.

Low-Cost, Corrosion-Free Water Splitter Created From Silicon And Nickel was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

Originally published on the Lenz Blog.
By Karl-Friedrich Lenz.

Climate scientist Jim Hansen has written another open letter in support of nuclear energy as a solution to global warming. Thanks to this tweet by Barry Brook for the link.

If you want nuclear as part of the solution, you necessarily need to explain why renewable energy won’t be able to do the job alone. This particular open letter says:

Renewables like wind and solar and biomass will certainly play roles in a future energy economy, but those energy sources cannot scale up fast enough to deliver cheap and reliable power at the scale the global economy requires.

We’ll have to wait a couple of decades to see if solar and wind are able to provide for 100 percent of energy. Contrary to what Jim Hansen (not an expert on energy systems) thinks, I expect that this will happen. But we already know one thing for sure.

Solar and wind have scaled up enough already to make nuclear lose in the market place. Even with nuclear enjoying the benefit of insufficient levels of insurance (leaving the remaining risk for the taxpayer), it just doesn’t make economic sense any more to build new nuclear plants.

And if you decide to build a new nuclear plant today, it won’t be able to deliver energy until ten years later, and will then have to compete for a couple of decades against wind and solar at the much more reduced prices these technologies will have then.

In contrast, you can build a large solar project in a couple of weeks or months. I am not sure why that is “not fast enough”, but it is sure faster than nuclear by a factor of over ten.

Solar Deployment Is Faster Than Nuclear was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

The folks at My Alarm Center recently put together a pretty spiffy infographic on some of the awesome benefits of home automation, and what home automation technologies can do. Here it is:

Some of the facts that surprised me were that:

1. A light bulb can last 2.28 years (or 20 times) longer when dimmed 50%.
2. 56% of the average home energy bill comes from heating and cooling.

Of course, beyond the potential energy benefits, the other noted uses and benefits are also very cool. As far as other cool stats, I was also struck by the fact that:

1. People with home automation see home insurance savings of 20% (on average) or $1,154 a year.
2. 1.8 million home automation systems were installed in the US last year (far more than I would have guessed).
3. 12 million home automation systems are expected to be installed in the US by 2016.

It all makes sense. With the growth of smartphones and tablets, people are feeling more comfortable with such remote and sophisticated technologies. They are even coming to expect them. I can definitely see the home automation growth trend increasing fast in the coming years.

Any of you have experience with home automation technology, or any further thoughts on this side of cleantech?

Also see:

1. Smart Home Product With Quickest Return On Investment?
2. Honda Launches Smart Home Project
3. Neurio Sensor Makes Ordinary Homes Smart
4. Smart Homes, Smart Cities Markets To Double By 2017
5. 5 Smart Home Technologies That Save You Money

Home Automation Benefits (Infographic) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 other subscribers: RSS | Facebook | Twitter.

It's a top secret plan with a fittingly supervillain-esque codename: MUSCULAR. That tool, part of a partnership between the NSA and the UK's GCHQ, has been used to infiltrate Google and Yahoo data centers across the world, according to documents revealed by Edward Snowden and confirmed by sources at ...

I know Inhabitat has been posting a lot of scary stuff for Halloween, but this actually has nothing to do with the most frightening of holidays. An increasing number of baby showers now feature a “vagina cake”: a baked good that’s decorated in a way that vividly represents the act of childbirth. Obviously, vagina cakes are meant to be funny, but some, like the one pictured above, can elicit a shudder from the most experienced of mothers. Are vagina cakes hilarious and empowering, or dark and disturbing? Vote in our poll via the link below.

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Cats at several prisons world wide have been used to smuggle drugs and other banned items.

Rev. Richard Cizik and the nonprofit New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good have released a video message to President Obama calling on him to do more to protect public lands from destruction by private industry.