Engineer's small footprint leaves big mark on world

[babylonsister]

Kristin Butler, Staff WriterComment on this story


Jayant Baliga is a man of average size, but he probably has the world's smallest footprint.

Carbon footprint, that is.

Baliga, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at N.C. State, is the inventor of a power-saving switch that prevents 1.4 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year, at a cost savings of $300 billion.

And by saving 125 gigawatts of power each year, Baliga has offset the carbon footprint of 175 million people. You'd have to plant tens of millions of trees to achieve the same effect.

Now he may make big changes in the nation's electrical grid. He's a finalist for a National Science Foundation grant that would support research into how to deliver energy more efficiently.

Meanwhile, consumers already use Baliga's technology every time they turn on a television, power up a computer or switch on the air conditioning. Each year, 100,000 cardiac arrest victims are shocked back to life with his help, while, across the globe, Japanese bullet-train riders are whisked to work each morning because of his breakthrough.

more...

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1147698.html

[opihimoimoi]

1. Geeve um the NOBEL Prize.....

[BlooInBloo]

4. Is there a Nobel Prize for engineering?

EDIT: Subject typo.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. If there's not, there should be.

Science is going to provide alternatives, and politicians/leaders will have to change minds.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. That's what I'm say'n...

[bluesmail]

2. Geeve this one more recommend

[Schema Thing]

3. The logic behind this story, is exactly why it was bullshit to attack Al Gore

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Oh, don't get me started...

[Skidmore]

8. So where is this technology being used?

Does anyone know?

[opihimoimoi]

9. Its only been invented recently...not yet implemented...BTW. its a step

the results projected is 125 gigs saved...enough for 175 mil peeps...a dent in our 6.7 Billion on Earth

Better than nothing tho....we need more innovative and creative solutions to energy, global population, and climate change...

nothing dramatic on the horizon truly encouraging for optimism...and we are supposed to believe them Pubs have the answers?

[exothermic]

11. Nonsense. They've been used for years...you can buy them in any of hundreds of configurations here

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Cat=1376382;keywords=igbt;stock=1

[opihimoimoi]

12. Yup, I stand corrected....misread the article....he is working on improvements currently

still, the larger picture remains...that of the billions of tons Co2 being released yearly....

[exothermic]

13. I agree it was a great discovery/invention. They save a LOT of energy!

:D

[Canuckistanian]

14. The IGBT? Yeah, it's used everywhere

But I never knew it was designed by one person. How come I've never heard of him before?

[exothermic]

15. I would bet that not many people know who invented the transistor.

He was brilliant in some ways but actually was an asshole in many others.

[jberryhill]

16. There were three inventors

...and Bardeen and Brittain remained pretty cool guys.

[exothermic]

18. True. As far as I know they did.

:hi:

[Canuckistanian]

17. 3 people actually invented the transistor - Brattain, Shockley and Bardeen

It was Shockley who became the racist asshole (eugenics).

[exothermic]

19. Ironically, that is probably why he's the most remembered one.

How sick is that?
:shrug:

[exothermic]

10. Our golf cart uses them. It was made 12 years ago.

They're actually pretty ubiquitous...and you can buy them off the shelf for pennies. :D