Category: Technology

Views of science and technology from around the world

Five-Years Ago (01-November-2012) — New Jersey.

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath:  Day 3.

Many trees and wires were down. The power had been out for several days. Those with gasoline emergency generators were out of luck when they ran out of gas — the gas stations if you could get to them didn’t have emergency generators to run the pumps. One of the lessons learned. Now many gas stations have auxiliary power. I still had a bit of propane in my RV to run the generator, however food in the fridge and freezer in the house was going bad. I was cooking outside on a charcoal grill. Images from that day taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera.


One-Year Ago (10-October-2016) — New Jersey

Home Renovation — Installation of Solar Panels

The team to install the solar panels on my roof arrived. It only took a few days to install the panels and DC/AC inverter. It a lot more time before the building inspector approved the work to cross-connect the power generated by the sun to my house electric panel. To date, the solar panels have generated 65% of the electricity that I have consumed. I have also received nearly $1,600 in SREC credits which more than covers the 35% of the electricity I had to pay PSE&G. For two months this summer, I produced more electricity than I consumed.

Solar Panel Installation. Leica T camera and 18-56 mm lens (David J Mathre)
Solar Panel Installation. Leica T camera and 18-56 mm lens (David J Mathre)

 


One-Year Ago (06-October-2016) — New Jersey

R2D2 with Bokeh

It was a rainy day, and the R2D2 USB port got loose. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 56 mm f/1.2 lens (ISO 200, 56 mm, f/1.2, 1/40 sec).

It was a rainy day, and the R2D2 USB port got loose. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 56 mm f/1.2 lens (ISO 200, 56 mm, f/1.2, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)
It was a rainy day, and the R2D2 USB port got loose. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 56 mm f/1.2 lens (ISO 200, 56 mm, f/1.2, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)

Monday (21-August-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Astronomy in New Jersey. Partial Solar Eclipse.

Happy Eclipse Day! Some home renovation issues kept me in New Jersey for the eclipse. I set up a Nikon D810a camera with 45 mm f/2.8 lens and a 20 stop neutral density filter to take images every 4 minutes from just before the eclipse started. Unfortunately, clouds moved in just before the maximum (~78% coverage). The sun and moon reappeared shortly thereafter. The following image is a composite over the 160 minute period of the eclipse. The eclipse also reduced the amount of electricity produced by my solar panels. The two graphs show the hourly production of electricity for the day before the eclipse and during the eclipse. You can see a significant drop when the moon was blocking the sun. My brother Hans was in Tennessee with his family to observe the total eclipse. He sent me an image that he took with a Nikon D3 camera and a 200-400 mm f/4 lens and TC-E II 2.0 teleconverter at totality.

Partial Solar Eclipse in New Jersey. Composite of forty images taken with a Nikon D810A camera and 45 mm f/2.8 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 45 mm, f/16, 1/250 sec) and a 20-stop neutral density filter. (David J Mathre)
Partial Solar Eclipse in New Jersey. Composite of forty images taken with a Nikon D810A camera and 45 mm f/2.8 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 45 mm, f/16, 1/250 sec) and a 20-stop neutral density filter. (David J Mathre)

 

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Total Solar Eclipse in Tennessee. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 200-400 f/4 telephoto zoom lens with a TC-E II 2.0 teleconverter (ISO 200, 800 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). (Hans K. Mathre, Hans K. Mathre)
Total Solar Eclipse in Tennessee. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 200-400 f/4 telephoto zoom lens with a TC-E II 2.0 teleconverter (ISO 200, 800 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). (Hans K. Mathre)

Thursday (10-August-2017) — New Jersey

Home Renovation.

The well drilling company arrived early this morning to drill two holes for a closed-loop geothermal heat pump. The heat pump will replace my oil furnace, oil hot-water heater, and air conditioner. One more step to reduce my carbon footprint.

Two wells being drilled for a closed loop geothermal heat exchange pipe. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 23 mm f/2.8 or 11-23 mm lens. (David J Mathre)
Two wells being drilled for a closed loop geothermal heat exchange pipe. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 23 mm f/2.8 or 11-23 mm lens. (David J Mathre)


Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.