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Te Drives

NEW CARS
When a car, truck or motorcycle is produFion-
ready, PMs auto editors are there r. Our
editors and professional drivers take you behind
the wheel, teing handling, acceleration and the
high-tech innovations in new vehicles long before
you can buy them. Whether were roaring through
laps on the race track, canyon-carving or hypermil-
ing on the highway, well tell you everything the
automakers did rightand what they got wrong.
popularmechanics.com/automotive

ELECTRIC HYBRIDS
If theres an eleFric vehicle on the roadwhether
two-, three- or four-wheeledchances are weve
driven it. Re prototype plug-in Toyota Prius, the
Ford Fusion Hybrid, the 100-mpg eleFric Hummer
and plenty more high-tech vehicles have faced our
road tes. Check back for more on how the late
eleFric and hybrid eleFric vehicles hold up in
real-world driving. popularmechanics.com/phev

LONG-TERM RELIABILITY
Sometimes even a 300-mile drive isnt enough to
reveal every detail on a new car or truck. Rats
why PMs auto editors have a eet of vehicles that
we submit to year-long reliability tes. Check in for
weekly comments and full quarterly updates.
popularmechanics.com/longtermtecars
 James B. Meigs EDITORIAL
Editor-In-Chief BOARD OF
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Design Director Michael Lawton Managing Editor Michael S. Cain
POPULAR MECHANICS is
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Senior Editor, Science Jennifer Bogo
Associate Photo Editor Michele Ervin
Senior Editor, Technology Glenn Derene BUZZ ALDRIN
PRODUCTION
Detroit Editor Larry Webster Assistant Managing Editor Emily Masamitsu Apollo 11 astronaut;
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4 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM


PM LETTERS
Beyond Survival
3e OKober Self-Reliance
Issue was simply excellent. 3e
ories and messages are a
wake-up call for all of us to
improve our skills and become
more self-sucientwhether in
building a shelter, growing food,
surviving natural disaers or
simply doing projeKs around
the home. I also thought your
emphasis on coordinating
eorts noteworthy. Teamwork
is of paramount importance if
we are to triumph over the
challenges of our modern world.
BOB K ARD
SAN DIEGO, CA
Your ory 3e EleKric Cold-
Beer Gadget Te proves ju
how materialiic we are as
a societyin a crisis situa-
tion, mo thoughts would be
toward nding a way to main-
tain creature comforts and not
on ways to survive. But, Dad,
Im bored! Oh? Well, kick up
that generator and wae a
limited resource like gas.
3is article should not have
been in this issue. Survival is
not about comforts, its about
maintaining life.
SCOT T R ANDALL
IRON RIVER, MI
6 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
I am a long-time subscriber
to POPULAR MECHANICS, but I
have never before read your
magazine from cover to cover
with as much intere as I did
the OKober issue, Beyond
Survival. I reside in California
and have an earthquake shed
I S S U E
lled with supplies, including a
ZpW tent, water, sleeping bags and
a portable radio. Your survival
issue will be added to my kit.
Readers
responded to
3ank you from a dedicated
self-reliance PM reader.
themesfrom
JIM FREEMAN
xing old machines
to surviving natural RICHMOND, CA
disaers.
Extraordinary Skills
I recently read 3e Rules of
Survival and was inspired
by all the ories of ordinary
people surviving incredible
disaers. One, however, hit
particularly close to home: I
spent many weekends at the
Little Sioux Scout Ranch in
Iowa, where a troop survived
a tornado in 2008. As an
adolescent, I praKiced many
of the skills that those scouts
Write to Us Include your full name, address and phone number, even if
what you correspond by e-mail. Send e-mail to popularmechanics@hearst.com.
do you All letters are subjeJ to editing for length, yle and format.
think? Subscribe Please go to subscribe.popularmechanics.com.
had to call upon a,er the
disaer. 3e boys are a tea-
ment to a program that has
withood the te of time in
preparing ordinary boys to be
extraordinary men under the
mo extreme circumances.
CH RIS KOSLOSK Y
TOPEK A, KS
Forget the Landll
I very much enjoyed your
ory 3e Soul of an Old
Machine about the movement
to repair and x rather than
discard produKs. I too enjoy
the challenge of xing
something, even if ju for the
satisfaKion of accomplishing
the task. Recently I helped a
neighbor diagnose a problem
with his 30-year-old wood
splitter. 3e co of replacing
the worn pion seals was ju
$4 plus some replacement
hydraulic uid. Bottom line:
We saved $1500 and a lot of
space in the landll.
BILL L AMMERS
OCALA, FL
In bookores this month:
Extreme Fear: &e Science of
Your Mind in Danger, by PM
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS ECKERT/STUDIO D
contributing editor Je Wise.
Based on reporting that
originally appeared in PM,
real-life ories of death
and survival enliven this
exploration of the brains
fear response.

72 Anatomy of
a Plane Crash
A jet ying from Rio de
Janeiro to Paris vanishes
without a trace. How can
inveigators prevent a
similar tragedy if the cause
remains unknown?
PM looks for answers.
BY JEFF WISE
90 The New
Wildcatters
As Americas petroleum
heartland, Texas isnt
known for being environ-
mentally sensitive. But
its oil-boom, get-er-done
attitude could make clean
energy take o.
BY JENNIFER BOGO
qq
PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON FULFORD
80 So You Want to
Buy a Netbook
Ris 2-pound wonder com-
bines a desktop computers
funSionality with a laptops
take-along convenienceat
a fraSion of the price. We
disseS features to help you
nd the right mini machine.
BY SETH PORGES
98 Are Green
Jobs for Real?
Green jobs have become
known as the x-it-now
Band-Aid for some big eco-
nomic quandaries. But will
Earth-friendly careers ick
around long enough to
make a laing impaS?
BY JOE P. HASLER
Photo illustration of an Airbus 330 commercial passenger airline. Original photograph by Doug Ball.
P M F E A T U R E S /// D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9
VOLUME 186 NO. 12
82 Run Silent, 88 The Guerrilla
Run Sleek Mechanic
With its unprecedented Our in-house MacGyver, auto
speed and maneuverability, editor Mike Allen, shares his
the Super Falcon submarine 20 favorite quick-x secrets,
promises to reveal under- from making a fuel injeSor
water worlds to scientis out of a Bic pen to a jury-
and amateur explorers alike. rigged fencepo remover.
BY MARK SCHROPE BY MIKE ALLEN
Dan Templeton,
dire%or of the Wind
Energy Technology
program at Texas
State Technical Col-
lege, in the nacelle
of a 2-megawatt
DeWind turbine.
POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 9
 qq P M D E PA R T M E N T S

q
q
M

22 44 pm do-it-yourself

q

105 110
Bantamweight Homeowners
Slugfe Clinic
PM puts some Using the right
serious pressure on hardware to
seven 12-volt maximize the hang
lithium-ion drills time of heavy wall
in a te to crown art. Plus: -e
2010 the be portable proper way to inall
powerhouse. a snow fence;
LEED-certied
53 green remodeling.

q


115 Saturday 118 Car Clinic

Mechanic Buyer beware
Own a classic car? cheap, low-quality
Keep its engine oshore brake
purring even discs. Plus: Fords
longer by Sync syem
maering a pair deciphers Check
of age-old arts: Engine lights;
replacing the dealing with a gaso-
ignition points and line/diesel mix-up
setting the timing. at the pump.

q

125 Digital 128 Digital

Sketchbook Clinic
Put that pencil Can cellphones
PMs crack automotive department
p downdrawing on handle extreme
tes and evaluates more than 100 a PC is as easy as cold? We lock six
new cars and trucks everyy model year.
y sketching on paper. models in a subzero
Heres the be of the beor at With the right chamber and dip
lea the ones they couldnt break. equipment and a them in liquid
little artiic skill, nitrogen to nd
you can make a out. Plus: -e easy
digital maerpiece. way to Auto-Tune.
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y L O C O G R A F I X ( M O U S E )

qqq7

 q
88 MacGyver Tips /// 53
Auto Awards /// 98 Truth
About Green Jobs /// 72
Anatomy of a Plane Crash
/// 31 25 Great Gadgets ///
105 Drill Driver Showdown
qq
 q
13 Supermans Velcro 31 2010 Wish Li 70 -e New
e toughe hook-and-loop Two dozen mu-have toys, Machine Age
material on earth. Plus: NASA tools and tech items. Plus: Some experts say comput-
gures out how to levitate Wireless sound syems ers will soon surpass the
mice; can Bill Gates conquer endure our Abusive Lab Te; intelligence of the human
hurricanes? sci--worthy tech that you brain. Glenn Harlan Reynolds
can buy today. explores the implications.

q!q How to Reach Us 4 / Letters 6 / This Is My Job 136

10 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 `F
`F E
F

NEWS + TRENDS + BREAKTHROUGHS

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+ Americas produFion of biodiesel, fuel derived
from plants and animal fats inead of petroleum,
is reeling from changes in the market. Soy and
animal-fat prices have risen, oil prices have fallen, and the
European Union has levied taris on U.S.-made biodiesel.
o Rese forces have helped shutter dozens of biodiesel
plants, including those owned by GreenHunter Energy, the
`
v nations large operator. Re Environmental ProteFion
Agency mandates that a growing percentage of alternative
energy options be blended into conventional vehicle fuel,
vF vE vo vn v@ vW vZ* but biodiesel produFion may fall short of the laws 2010
*2010 number proje.ed by
targets. ProduFion is expeFed to rise in 2011, thanks
U.S. Department of Energy partly to federal grants and loan guarantees.

HOT TIMES IN STEAMY controlled bur of producing a small year, the Navy will
THE CITY SUBMARINE underwater sound. explosion of eam attempt longer-
+ Its well-known CHAT LINE Using a mix of and a 220-decibel diance experi-
that cities are an + Researchers at lasers that emit sound pulse. A ments that could
average of 6 the Naval Research slightly varying sequence of these enable one-way
degrees Fahrenheit Laboratory have frequencies of ashes turns communication
warmer than the gured out how to light, the process the water itself from aircraH
surrounding focus laser beams superheats a small into a speaker. to submerged
countrysideand to produce a area of water, Within the next submarines.
the dierence can
be as high as 22 F.
But a team of
European
scientis wanted German engineers have
to know how
reet width, green
developed an extreme hook-
spaces and air and-loop faener made of
pollution ae; spring-eel alloy that can
temperature. support loads of 50 pounds per
<e scientis square inch and endure tem- A JOINT TEAM
gathered radiation peratures of nearly 1500 F. FROM ENGLAND
and temperature AND CHINA
data from sensors
Despite this exceptional
SEQUENCED THE
on the ground, toughnesstypical Velcro can
Y CHROMOSOME
in airplanes withand about 8 pounds per OF TWO MEN
and on NASA square inchthe produ\, called WHO WERE SEPA-
satellites to Metaklett, can ill be opened
measure RATED BY 13
dierences
and closed by hand. Research- GENERATIONS
between Athens ers at the Technical University of AND COUNTED
and its suburbs. Munich developed it for use in THE GENETIC
<e team is now high-ress applications like DIFFERENCES.
examining the data cars, space syems and MOST OF THESE
for trends; building facades. MUTATIONS HAVE
European
NO INFLUENCE ON
emergency
planners will use APPEARANCE OR
the ndings to HEALTH, BUT
better position SOME CAN CAUSE
ambulances during DISEASES.
deadly heat waves.

POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 13

 Battery
Charge Er Up It takes more than ju a vehicle to convince
consumers to adopt ele4ric cars. Recharging their
e several-
hundred-pound
THE WORLDS MOST batteries has to be as easy as lling up a tank of gas. pack, powered by
AMBITIOUS ELECTRIC CAR Israel-born entrepreneur Shai Agassi, the founder of the lithium-ion cells
C O M P A N Y W I L L R E LY O N like those in
artup company Better Place, is relying on robotic
R O B O T I C S TAT I O N AT T E N D A N T S laptop computers,
T E C H W A T C H

T O C H A N G E B AT T E R I E S . quick-change ations to swap out depleted batteries for mounts ush with
BY MICHAEL BELFIORE fresh ones in the ele4ric cars he is servicing. Drivers will the bottom of the
enter a ation when their battery pack gets low and have car. Better Place
will own the
the battery replaced faer than it would take to rell a batteries along
gasoline tank. When ele4ric cars are more aordable and convenient than with the
gas cars, consumer adoption will tip the market, Agassi says. Better Place infraru5ure for
servicing them.
proposes building a network of curbside charging ations where owners can
top o their vehicle batteries. Agassis idea generated $300 million in venture Plug
capital and sparked international intere: Cities in Israel and Denmark hope Like ele5ric cars
to have the r robotic change ations running in 2011, and the company currently on the
market, the Better
aspires to expand operations to Auralia, Canada, Hawaii and California in Place model has
2012. In late September, Better Place signed a deal with Renault-Nissan to an ele5ric plug so
put 100,000 ele4ric vehicles on the road in Israel and Denmark by 2016. that drivers can
top o at curbside
charging ations.

So,ware
GPS-enabled
so9ware in the
car alerts drivers
when theyre
running low on
battery power
and dire5s them
to the neare
quick-change
ation along
their route. e
so9ware could
also interface
with future power-
monitoring
technology to
feed power from
parked cars
back into the
ele5rical grid.

I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y L O C O G R A F I X

wN4QM
L#VG?qq
s#sNYV

1 2 3
An automated syem accesses the battery beneath the car.

1. Re driver swipes a card to aFivate the syem, then drives into the change
ation. 2. A robot quickly releases the battery pack from the undercarriage and
exchanges it for a new one. 3.Time from drive-in to drive-out: 1 minute 30 seconds.

14 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 nuclear warheads before anyone In response, the single command.
onto a B-52 noticed. /e top Pentagon decided /e Global Strike
V?zkqq THE AIR FORCES
NUCLEAR RESET bomber, believing brass relieved four in OHober 2008 to Command takes
them to be ocers of their consolidate charge of the
Sometimes a unarmed cruise commands and responsibility for ICBMs this month
single bad day can missiles. /e nukes decertied 65 its eet of in Barksdale, but
T E C H W A T C H

reshape an entire were missing for airmen from handling nuclear-capable mo of the
military service. /e 36 hours, ying nuclear weapons, bombers and nuclear-capable
U.S. Air Force was from Minot Air but the Air Forces land-based B-2 and B-52
humiliated in late Force Base in poCold War intercontinental bombers will trans-
2007 when North Dakota to negleH of its balliic missile fer to the new
aircrews unwittingly Barksdale Air Force nuclear missions missions under the command in
loaded six live Base in Louisiana, had been exposed. watchful eye of a February. J.P.

Re F-35s Aiming weapons from a

Deadeye
AEROSPACE DESIGNERS GIVE THE
JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER A SAPPHIRE-
PANELED GEM OF AN AIMING
S Y S T E M . BY JOE PAPPALARDO
ealth aircra+ like the F-35 is
not easy. 6e infrared sensors used
to nd targets in the air and on the
ground need a 360-degree view, so
they mu hang outside the airframe.
However, the shape of any exterior
hardware produces a telltale
signature on enemy radar, so
Lockheed Martin engineers put the
targeting optics in a multifaceted
sapphire ruGure jutting out of the
fuselage under the aircra+s nose.
6e material is the same as you nd
in a supermarket checkout bar-code
scanner, says Don Bolling, Lock-
heeds business development
manager for the eleGro-optical
targeting syem (EOTS). From the
outside, the beveled shape of the
damage-resiant panels will reeG
radar in meaningless patterns, in the
same way the airplanes other
surfaces are shaped to defeat enemy
tracking. Inside, a focal-plane array
produces two kinds of infrared
images: high-resolution images for
targeting, and less diinG search
and track images to follow diant
objeGs of intere. For both applica-
tions, EOTS engineers used midwave
infrared frequencies that cleanly pass
through the sapphire panels. 6e r
ight of Air Force F-35s with the full
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y L O C O G R A F I X

load of mission-critical syems is

scheduled to take o in late 2010.

q

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+ Allows airplane
q
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+ Diode-pumped laser + ConneFs the sensor + Measures the to see ground + CorreFs
nds the range of to the airplanes + Passive sensors reeFed laser to troops or another unwanted
targets and desig- central computer. turn to capture gauge diance. aircraXs targeting movement while
nates and guides thermal images of lasers. tracking targets.
smart weapons. targets.

16 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 

q
Forensic
scientis use
inse&s to
eimate the time
of death of
T E C H W A T C H

recovered
corpses, but State is creating a
researchers have prole of the
begun to realize dierent odors
they can also be produced as a
trained to nd corpse decays by
bodies. Inse&s monitoring
can be cheap and euthanized pigs
exible alterna- kept under varying
tives to cadaver environmental
dogs. Researchers conditions. <ey
at the University are recording the
of Georgia have types and
trained wasps to amounts of
dierentiate chemicals
minute quantities released over the
of putrescine and course of three
cadaverine, weeks. <ey plan
chemicals to correlate the
released by chemical proles
decaying bodies. with changes in
the phases of
q

qq inse& a&ivity in
q q corpses to
Researchers are improve accuracy
also seeking to in determining
replicate the skills time of death.
of cadaver dogs by
creating a portable q
ele&ronic device q!q
q
that is pro- Decomposition
grammed with the can cause forensic
chemical prole of experts to seek
odors released by alternatives to
decaying bodies. A DNA. When other
Death Match team at Penn methods fail,
inveigators can
R E S E A R C H E R S W I L L U S E A N Y S T R AT E G Y, E V E N T R A I N I N G I N S E C T S , match the serial
T O L O C AT E A N D I D E N T I F Y C A D A V E R S . BY AMBER ANGELLE numbers on
silicone brea
Forensic scientis work with law enforcement to locate and identify implants, dental
proheses and
corpses at crime scenes and in the wake of disaers. Forensic teams
titanium hips with
typically rely on highly trained cadaver dogs that are expensive to maintain. DNA or records from the
dental records are then used to determine a recovered bodys identity. Although manufa&urer.
these well-honed methods are considered the gold andard, forensic experts are Some dental
pieces are even
faced with scenarios where these conventional tools are impraBical, as when the inscribed with the
body is badly decomposed or buried by debris. Cese new tools are being developed. owners name.
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y L O C O G R A F I X ( M O U S E )

NASAs Levitating Mice + Researchers at NASAs Jet Propulsion

Laboratory seeking ways to udy the eeBs of weightlessness on aro-
nauts have succeeded in levitating small mice using a 17-tesla magnet. Ce
magnetic eld is so rong that it aeBs the water in the animals tissues,
prompting a repulsive magnetic force that suspends the rodent in the air. It
takes a superconduBing magnet operating at minus 456 F to oat a
10-gram mouse within a 2.6-inch bore, which is kept at room temperature.
Ce magnetic eld is applied evenly to keep the mice hovering in place, and
scientis say rodents acclimate to the te in about 4 hours. Lessons
learned could prevent aronaut bone deterioration during long missions.

22 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y T R A N S L U S Z E N T

 Bill Gates, Bill Gates has dominated the so,ware indury, become
one of the wealthie men in the world and remade his
Hurricane Hunter image as a maer philanthropi. But can he op a hurricane?
Gates, the chairman of Microso,, is eering company funds
GEEKY IDEAS BECOME HOT
C O M M O D I T I E S AT A R E S E A R C H to Intelle?ual Ventures, a private company that buys and
T E C H W A T C H

S H O P O P E R AT E D B Y S O M E O F T H E licenses patents and inventions. Gates himself participates in

W O R L D S W E A LT H I E S T I N V E S T O R S .
BY BRIAN THEVENOT
the rms brainorm sessions. Next on the li: killing hurri-
canes. Warm surface water fuels big orms, so Intelle?ual
Ventures proposes to suppress them by dumping cool water
from massive oating bowls of unspecied size, deployed by
airplane in front of a orms path. It would take a water
surface temperature drop of 4.5 F to diminish a hurricanes
force, says Kerry Emanuel, professor of atmospheric science
at MIT, and hundreds of bowls would have to be deployed over
hundreds of miles. I a?ually dont think its feasible, says
George Mellor, a Princeton professor who envisioned a similar
syem years ago. But its worth researching, and, hey, if Bill
Gates is inveing

INTELLECTUAL VENTURES Employees: 500-plus Funding:

$5 billion in venture capital from inveors (including MicrosoV)
Revenues: Company ocials told a newspaper earlier this year it
has made more than $1 billion in licensing fees since inception.

computer-guided purchased the

OTHER IDEAS laser can track the entire patent
FROM GATESS ight of individual portfolio of
IDEA FACTORY mosquitoes, and Transmeta, a
diinguish trailblazing
harmless males manufaFurer of
from biting females low-power
Mosquito Laser by measuring the microprocessors.
Defense frequency of their Transmeta was
Researchers at a wing beat. Crucially, purchased in 2009,
recently opened the laser beam is but the company
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T E C H W A T C H

1. Live-Action
Plate
Emmerich filmed
actors and a limo
with a Panavision
Genesis camera in
front of a 750-foot-
long, 42-foot-tall
blue screen.

2. Matchmove
CG artists
identify points in
s?4Lq4wRswj?

the plate that can

1 be tracked over all
frames of a shot.
Using that informa-
Apocalypse How tion, software
calculates the
DIRECTOR ROLAND EMMERICH GIVES exact movement
INSIDE TIPS ON HOW TO DESTROY THE
of the original
live-action camera
W O R L D O N F I L M . BY ERIN MCCARTHY
and re-creates that
movement inside
2 the computer.

Roland Emmerich is no ranger to cinematic 3. Scene

disaer. Re direFor froze New York City in 8e Day Assembly
When the
A"er Tomorrow and blew the White House to bits in
elements of a
Independence Day. So he wasnt sure about direFing 2012, scene are finished,
out Nov. 13. Re movie is based on the idea that the end of the set is
the Mayan calendar on Dec. 21, 2012, portends a global assembled in the
apocalypse. When I realized how much disaer was computer; VFX
3 artists do a test
involved I got a case of cold feet, because Ive done that, render to make
you know? he says. So I said, Okay, Im going to make this sure all the
the mother of all disaer movies. elements work
More than 100 artis created 2012s 1300 visual correctly.
eeFs (VFX) shots, including volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, 4. Final Shot
oodsand a massive earthquake that rips California Frame by frame,
apart. In this 3-minute sequence, failed science-Fion assets undergo
writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) drives through Los 4
render passes for
light, shadows and
Angeles as the city crumbles around him. In the pa, more. The virtual
Emmerich might have lmed on location and swapped in assets and live
CG crumbling buildings, but that approach didnt make elements are
sense for 2012 because every edice had to be deroyed. composited on the
plate, giving the
Inead, artis at Uncharted Territory built a 3D photoreal-
appearance of a
iic version of several city blocks using 60,000 high- single shot that
dynamic images as a reference. Ren they made every has been
mailbox, tree and building shake and crumbleand each photographed live.
item had to be researched to see how it would behave.
As animators molded the virtual city, Emmerich was
lming his aFors in front of a blue screen. He put the aFors
on a shaky oor, an 8000-square-foot eel platform on
airbags. Special-eeFs coordinators jiggled the bags with
ON THE WEB >
pneumatic pumps to inspire authentic reaFions from the
aFors. It was the mo complicated scene we created,
Re shots above represent only a few eps of the visual eeFs
Emmerich says. And its one of my favorites. process. For a gallery of 2012s VFX work from art to nish, plus
an interview with direFor Roland Emmerich on the science behind
the movie, visit popularmechanics.com/2012movie.

26 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 vZq popular mechanics
is years guide to
the be holiday gi3s
has a little for you, and
a little for everyone
else. For you: the be
new tools and gear, a
look at sci- tech that
you can buy today and
an unforgiving lab te
of wireless sound
syems. For them:
family-friendly toys
and games that you
can enjoy, too. (All
right, so its kind of all
for you. We wont tell.)
BY SETH PORGES

Powermat Home & Office Charging Mat $100

Cellphones, that have been company claims Powermats
iPods, cameras ... placed on the pad. its going to build adapters
the charging cords Re result: Re the tech direFly ($30 to $40
for all that number of wires is into tableswe apiece) allow it
gadgetry add up. knocked down to recently saw a to charge phones,
Powermats one (the power demo of a futuriic cameras, MP3
charging mat uses has to come kitchen where players, portable
magnetic induFion from somewhere). appliances draw game syems,
to wirelessly power But the be is power from headsets and
up to three devices yet to come. Re the counter. GPS devices.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY LEVI BROWN POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 31

 

M 

Transmitting low-bandwidth music around the

house is easy. But the massive amount of data needed
to send high-denition digital video through the air
makes it a challenge. New technology now makes it
possible to cut the HDMI cord and beam hi-def video
direBly to your TV from a cable box or Blu-ray player.
Ee end game: a completely cable-free house. Wireless
high-denition technology is being built direBly into
vZ some new TVs, and it can be found today in the
Dell Latitude Z Laptop (starts at $2000), which uses
an add-on receiver to give monitors the ability to pick
up the PCs high-denition transmission.
popular
mechanics

On the
Cusp

Our guide to sci--worthy next-gen

technology that you can pick up today.
3D-enabled TV

3D shutter glasses rapidly

black out alternating
lenses, allowing each eye
to see a dierent image.

3D emitter

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y J M U C K L E / S T U D I O D ; I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y G A B R I E L S I LV E I R A
t M

q 
Re 3D home switching screen, In the pa two
theater is catching allowing each eye years, projeFors
up to the multiplex. to eeFively see have shrunken to
Shutter glasses a dierent image. palm-size portables.
such as the Nvidia Re 3D eeF Reyre called pico
3D Vision Kit comes from projeFors, and mo useful
($200) work by showing the same Texas Inruments, for party tricks,
blacking out one scene to each eye Microvision and but the techs
eye at a time, from a dierent 3M each have takes tipping point
60 times per perspeFive. Lots of on the tech, which will likely come
secondso fa you current games can can be found in from its conver-
dont notice it. An be played in 3D, and gadgets such as the gence with exiing
infrared emitter so_ware from iPod-attachable devices. Nikon
syncs these ashes companies like DDD WowWee Cinemin already has a
with a quickly can convert any Swivel ($350). camera out with a
o-the-shelf DVD For now, these built-in projeFor,
into 3D live, as it battery-powered and cellphones
vp@ plays. Ju make projeFors may be arent far behind.
sure you have a 3D-
compatible display.

32 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 e much-hyped new Rock Band release
eschews a scattershot set li for a ne
focus on the Fab Four. e result: a cross-
generational romp through music hiory
thats sure to get some unlikely family
vZ members to pick up plaic inruments
The Beatles: and drum, rum and sing along with the
Rock Band mo beloved band of all time. Call it catnip
$60 for game,
$250 for
for Beatlemaniacs, and perhaps the only
limited-edition popular game this year that works equally well as a
instrument bundle mechanics giD for dad or the kids.
New York 8e replicas of the inruments are spot-on.
based band It was awesome rocking on Pauls Hofner bass.
Dujeous come Alex Apex Gale, Dujeous bass player
together to te and PM copy editor
out e Beatles:
Rock Band. (From
le3, Mas D, Apex,
Tomek and Mojo.)

P H O T O G R A P H B Y J M U C K L E / S T U D I O D ; I L L U S T R AT I O N ( T V S E T ) B Y G A B R I E L S I LV E I R A

tp@

34 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 1
vZ

popular
p p r
mechanics
ics
iic
ccss

2
6

Z v t F E o
Dyson Milwaukee M18 Sony Casio Exilim Redington CPX Microsoft Zune
DC31 Vacuum Cordless Band PlayStation 3 EX-FS10 Series 6-Weight HD ($219 for 16 GB,
($220) Saw ($400) 120 GB ($350) Flyrod ($300) $289 for 32 GB)
System ($300) and Redington
Dysons new hand Hard falls on A 30-frames-per- RISE Reel ($160) Re 3.3-inch OLED
vac features two concrete are one of Sonys PS3 ju second bur mode display on
power modes: the mo common took a cut in price makes this the Re 9-foot rod MicrosoIs
scaled back for causes of death for and sizeits now fae compaT balances power and attempted iPod
longer battery life, band saws. a third slimmer, camera ever, and nesse with a Touchkiller is one
or turbocharged Milwaukees new uses a third less the be pick for spirally wrapped of the be-looking
for tough jobs. 18-volt lithium-ion- power and is $100 goal kicks, graphite layup, mobile screens
powered cordless cheaper than gymnaics ips while the fully weve ever seen.
cutting tool is earlier versions. and other machined aluminum And when paired
designed high-speed aTion. reel features a with an optional
specically to midsize arbor that dock, the player
Fp@ survive such spills. gobbles in line with can pump HD
each handle crank. video direTly to
your TV.

36 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 As more schools cut shop class, is toolbox
its increasingly up to parents and birdhouse
are two beginner-
to teach hands-on skills. Red level proje/ kits
Toolboxs beginning woodworking from Red Toolbox.
proje? kits come with easy-to- More advanced
follow dire?ions and precut pieces proje/s include
of wood. Intermediate and soapbox-derby-
Red Toolbox advanced proje?s hone a young yle go-karts, a
Birdhouse carpenters measuring, cutting and model catapult
$27 drilling skills. Even if the inruc- and art decoyle
tions are a bit too brief at times, shelving. (Anwen
Classic Herbert-Lewis,
Toolbox thats ju an opportunity to ep in le:, PM contribut-
$28 and show a kid how its done. ing editor Davin
Coburn and Lilah
It was fun using a drill for the r Herbert-Lewis.)
vZ time to build the birdhouse.
Anwen Herbert-Lewis, daughter of PM
senior art dire?or Peter Herbert More Red
Toolbox proje,s
popular
mechanics

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y J M U C K L E / S T U D I O D ; I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y G A B R I E L S I LV E I R A

Ep@

38 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 vZ

popular
Abusive
mechanics Lab Test
the tes
q Mq 
q q
  

We placed the How far can the How ressful
transmitters and wireless signal was setup?
receivers in travel through a 7q Truly
separate rooms, xture-lled home? plug-and-play. Pop
with a phalanx of We walked the the USB transmit-
interference- receivers down a ter dongle into a PC
causing devices concrete-lled and the reaming
e average home is lled between them (see apartment building begins.
with wireless signals, all bouncing diagram below). to see. 7q Setup
around in the same limited 7q Re only 7q Re speaker took a lot of time
spe8rum space. is can foil syem to fail this got almo three and ddling. But
a wireless sound syem te completely ories from the once ready, the
trying to transmit tunes around interference ruined transmitter before syem is a snap to
the house, but some setups handle the signal. breaking into atic. control via an
interference better than others. 7q At r, 7q Once iPhone app or
the signal was again, the sound remote control.
We teed three syems, including completely blocked. called it quits ju 
7q
q
two designed for multiroom use, But we switched shy of three oors Almo as easy to
again a grueling wireless trac channels and got down. use as the Bose,
jam. Heres how they fared. clear, rich sound. 
7q Yep, and eortlessly
BY SETH PORGES 
7q
q three ories was expandable.
What interference? the limit. 7q Bose
7q
q 7q
Soundca Rree-way tie
bottom line

Re Bose is a pra[ical (if pricey) one-speaker solution. But if your house

is full of interferenceor you want a multiroom rigopt for the Sonos
or SoundCa. Re Sonos is more feature-lled, the SoundCa simpler.

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y J M U C K L E / S T U D I O D ; I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y G A B R I E L S I LV E I R A
Bluetooth iPhone
headset
cordless
phone
Wi-Fi router
baby
monitor
microwave

op@
Sonos Soundcast Bose
($1000 for multiroom starter bundle) SpeakerCast ($400) SoundLink ($550)

40 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 e Yooar
package comes
with a green screen,
a camera and so.-
ware for inserting
yourself in movies.
Twelve short clips
are included. Others
can be purchased
for $1 to $4a price
that could quickly
add up for repeat
cuomers.

Animal House

P H O T O G R A P H B Y J M U C K L E / S T U D I O D ; I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y G A B R I E L S I LV E I R A
Hollywood wizards use green screens to transport
a4ors to diant planets. Now, you can use the same vZ
tech to enter classic lms. Sit in front of Yooars green
screen and read your lines o a computer monitor. Ae
program uses a camera (included) to digitally insert you
in place of Brando or Hanks, allowing you to go mano a popular Yoostar
mano with some of lms mo memorable chara4ers. mechanics $170
Completed clips can then be shared on Yooars site.
Aink of it as Guitar Hero for the movies.
I especially liked being put into the toga party in Animal House.
Its classic! It made me feel like one of the Deltas. Oliver Dunbar,
le?, with brother Evan, sons of PM executive editor David Dunbar

np@

42 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 1

vZ

popular
mechanics

v E
Mypressi Twist Samsung
Espresso Maker DualView TL225
($170) Camera ($350)
Ris travel-friendly Self-portraits have
espresso maker never been easier,
3 uses o-the-shelf thanks to a second,
nitrous-oxide front-facing LCD
cartridges to screen on this
prepare the 12-megapixel,
coeeno power 4.6x-optical-zooming
plugs needed. compaF camera.

t o
4
Bosch SPS10 MSR Flex 4
4-Volt Pocket System Cookset
Screwdriver ($60) ($160)
What this -size Ris campsite
6 7 lithium-ion 4-volt cooking set packs
mini driver lacks in two pots and
power it makes up enough plates and
for in portabilityit insulated mugs for
weighs ju a a hungry group of
pound, making it four or more into a
ideal for small jobs backpack-friendly
Z such as hanging need bundle.
5 piFures and
Mountain Boy assembling n
6-Foot furniture.
Toboggan ($200) Benchmade 585
F Mini-Barrage
Re extra-large Knife ($120)
end curl on this Ardica Moshi
all-family toboggan Personal Power For easy one-
is big enough to System ($145) handed opening,
hold an adults give this 2.9-inch
foot, and its Ris lithium-ion folding knifes ambi-
basswood nish is battery pack slips dextrous thumb
elegant enough to unobtrusively ud a nudge, and
be displayed in the inside compatible an internal spring
o-season. jackets (like those does the re.
from Mountain
Hardwear, piFured)
to keep wearers
warm and charge
@p@ their gadgets via
a pocket-based
USB cord.

44 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

 ;B?<74L:<9G:H<78
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2010

e year 2009 may have been a tumultuous one, but despite bankruptcies
and near bankruptcies, engineers ill developed some of the
be cars weve ever seen. American icons have returned, a wave
of new hybrids is pointing the way to a more ecient future, and

compa> cars are proving small can be cool. We know, because q
PMs auto department has spent the pa year evaluating new

M

cars and trucks around the world. Teing cars is not only serious


business, its seriously fun too. Each year, we gather our ndings
q

and debate, sometimes quite passionately, which 10 cars, trucks

and technologies are the mo signicant. He winners are
presented herein the Automotive Excellence Awards for 2010.





by the editors

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y L E A N D R O C A S T E L A O POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 53

2010

 M
qq
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!

J^[
<ehZ
<#'+&
HWfjeh
BF Goodrich o-road tires. specically tuned any interate, the Raptor
looks tough enough to run Xe powertrain is ill pure internal-bypass Fox can cruise over yard-deep
raight down the Baja F-150, with a 320-hp Racing shocks. Xeres gullies as if they were
Peninsula, race across the 5.4-liter V8 linked to a nothing exotic about how speed bumps at a
Mexican mainland and six-speed automatic, the Raptor moves over Wal-Mart. Amazingly,
then continue roaring though an exclusive pavement. But the thrills while all of the SVTs
down through South 400-hp 6.2-liter Boss o-road are mighty changes are designed to
America until it plows V8 will soon become an indeedthe truck is aid the Raptors o-road
across AntarFica. It is the option. Engineers absolutely magical. ability, they dont exaF a
mo extreme high-speed widened the F-150s track Whoops, whoop-dees and toll in truck utility. Xe
4x4 pickup ever produced. by 7 inches with new whoop-dee-doos all get Raptor is rated to tow
It looks simply ferocious upper and lower control swallowed up by the 6000 pounds and carry a
with its swollen anks, arms. Xe lower arms are Raptors suspension with maximum payload of
aggressive ance, visibly chamfered like a casual disdain. At speeds 1020 pounds. A truck
rugged suspension pieces skidplate, so rocks can that would lead to jail that works as hard as it
and thumping 35-inch-tall slide underneath without time when praFiced on plays? Sign us up.
hanging the truck up. To
allow the Raptor to glide
Fords Special Vehicle Teamthe same engineers who devel-
Ford over obacles and take oped the Mustang Shelby GT500transformed the F-150
the punishment of hard pickup into the most capable high-speed 4WD truck ever
landings, the Special produced. The Raptor team tuned the suspension on a brutal
Vehicle Team (SVT) chose 62-mile loop in a remote part of the California desert.

Off-Road
Ability

<#'+&
H7FJEH
BASE PRICE: $38,995

++ Popular Mechanics
Test Driven

54 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

2010

q q ! 
qq

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<[m
YWhi
Z[d[
[Y_[dj same planetary continu- rating. Toyotas hybrid

travel like the Toyota
Prius. And the Prius has
been the mpg leader
a title it has earned yet
again with its 2010
model. A low (0.25)
coecient of drag is
where the eciency
arts, but the real secret
is in the renements to
Toyotas hybrid syem. faer. Consequently, it
Re 1.5-liter engine has
been replaced with a
torque-rich 1.8-liter unit
that ill operates with
the late-intake-valve-
closing Atkinson cycle.
More low-end torque
means the engine doesnt
have to work as hard. Re
hybrid syem uses the
Fuel
Efficiency
Toyota
FH?KI
BASE PRICE: $22,000
++ Popular Mechanics
Test Driven
ously variable transmis-
sion (CVT) as before, but
with a new twi. Re extends beyond the
main eleQric motor drive
was downsized and
produces less torque (153
lb-a versus 295). But a and intelligent parking.
reduQion gearset that Yet its the driving
conneQs it to the gearbox dynamics that make the
allows that motor to spin Toyota appealing to a
wider audience. Ris is the
makes 80 peak hp, 13
more than before. Re
nickel-metal-hydride
battery pack has a more
eeQive cooling syem
too, which allows peak
output to rise from 25
kilowatts to 27. And now,
nally, Prius owners can
hit an EV button and
cruise for about a mile
locked in eleQric drive. On
a recent te, the car
delivered a thriay 52 mpg
in the cityeven better
than the EPAs 51-mpg
syem remains the
benchmark. But the tech
drivetrain with optional
solar ventilation,
radar-based cruise control
r Prius thats aQually
fun to drive.
Technical
The Prius, with Innovation
its 50-plus-mpg
capability, is the
most fuel-efficient
car in America. And
Toyota will raise
that bar within
two years. The
plug-in version
Lexus
for 2012 will have
an electric-only
H;CEJ;

range of 12.5 miles JEK9>
thanks to lithium-
ion batteries. 7i
WkjeceX_b[i
accumulate more and more
advanced eleQronic
funQions, how do you
control them? Newer
syems attempt to access
nearly every automotive
funQion with a single-point
controller. And every
rategy has had draw-
backsexcept for Lexuss
new Remote Touch. Ris
haptic syem works ju
like a computer mouse: You
guide an arrow on the cars
main screen and click a
button at the controllers
base with your thumb to
make a seleQion. It oers
subtle but eeQive force
feedback to let the operator
know when the cursor has
crossed to a dierent
funQion or onto a virtual
button. And you can dial in
exaQly the amount of
feedback you want. Ris
brilliant syem is the
solution weve been waiting
for. Remote Touch is only
available on the Lexus
HS250h and RX 350.

56 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

2010

q qq

Hyundai

=;D;I?I
9EKF;
BASE PRICE: $22,750

Fun to
Drive

Hyundai has transformed its imageand its carsin an amazingly short time.
The Genesis sedan, introduced last year, proved the Korean company could produce Hyundais big V8 is not
Lexus-level luxury. This years Genesis Coupe shows that Hyundai can deliver an availablebut the 306-hp
exceedingly fun-to-drive sports coupe. V6 and the six-speed
automatic is good for
>okdZW_i
d[m
=[d[i_i
result is a sports coupe to press harder into each sub-six-second sprints to
Coupe returns rear-wheel- that can fend o cars corner, driving the tires 60 mph. A 210-hp turbo
drive handling dynamics coing thousands more. right up to the edge of four-cylinder is a less
to budget-minded In faI, when we teed a their capability. Ris is a expensive and rather
enthusias. Sporty cars Genesis Coupe again an car designed for canyon compelling alternative.
in this Hyundais price Inniti G37, the Hyundai carvingespecially when Re Genesis Coupe is
range are usually hot-rod nearly matched the Inniti equipped with the Track more than ju a sleek,
versions of front-wheel- in every performance package, which includes fun-to-drive sports
drive econoboxes. measure, and did so for 19-inch wheels with coupe. Its proof that
However, Hyundai $15,000 less. Re chassis summer tires, Brembo Hyundai has developed
adapted the rear-drive feels taut and controlled, brakes, sport-tuned world-class design,
Genesis platform for this with eering responses suspension and a engineering and car-
alluring drivers car. Re that encourage the driver limited-slip dierential. building expertise.

++ Popular Mechanics
Test Driven

58 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

2010

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Workhorse

Ford

JH7DI?J
9EDD;9J
BASE PRICE: $21,475

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default vehicle for plumbers,
contraFors and delivery
drivers has been the full-size
van. Re pressures of the
economy, ever-increasing
urban congeion and the
uFuating price of gasoline
could move them to smaller
rigs like the Transit ConneF.
Re size is ju right, with a
low, at oor that can be
loaded through any of the
three cargo doors. Powered
by a thriQy four-cylinder
engine driving the front BMW ))+Z
wheels, the van returns Luxury BASE PRICE: $43,900
22 mpg city and 25 on the
highway, is low enough to
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slide into many garages and
can handle a 1600-pound luxury might describe eortless, its tantaliz-
payload. Reres also Fords automotive qualities ingly fun. And this diesel
Tool Link, a syem that quite dierent from what model ts right in with
builds RFID sensors into the we imagine today. When the re of BMWs
van so that at the press of a sedate and sensible fuel 3 Series lineup, oering
button the driver can see an sippers dominate the uid, organic eering and
inventory of all the tools automotive landscape, a chassis that encourages
aboard. Re Transit ConneF you to press on ju as
luxury could dene the
could also be a fun utility
truck for the outdoor ability to produce sports hard as the road and your
enthusia135 cubic feet car acceleration with bravado will allow. Yet
can hold an awful lot of exemplary fuel economy. this BMW rides comfort-
camping gear. Re BMW 335d is ahead ably and absorbs
of that curve. Under potholes with a muted
the hood is a twin- thump. Luxury cars
turbocharged 3.0-liter dont have to be
inline six-cylinder diesel, one-dimensional. Re
with a mammoth 425 335d blends luxury,
lb-Q of torque that can performance, fuel
return solid mileage. In economy and fun into one
faF, on a recent 390-mile very rewarding package.
PM te, we saw 33.6
mpg. It takes only one
brief prod of the right
pedal to know the BMW
has an incredible motor.
Re rush of torque is not
++ Popular Mechanics unlike an old-school
Test Driven
big-block V8s. Reeling in

60 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

2010

q


After a painfully long eight-year hiatus, the Chevy Camaro returns packing V8 power and V6
efficiency wrapped around classic sheet metal pulled forward into the 21st century. The design cer-
tainly pays homage to the past, but the muscular lines of this Camaro are modern and fresh.

Chevrolet 97C7HE
BASE PRICE: $22,245

ranks that will almo

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car design, especially a
sporty one, depends on
its ability not ju to turn
heads, but to inspire an
almo primal lu in
everyone from a college
kid to his grandfather
hitting all the age groups
in between. Re new
Camaro does ju
thatand its become
one of the few cars
outside the supercar
always elicit a conversa-
tion at the gas pumps.
Under the watch of GM
design boss Ed Welburn,
Chevy imagined the new
Camaro as a thoroughly
modern take on the 1967
original. And it looks
amazingly close to the
2006 concept car. GM
engineers somehow
avoided the compromises
that tend to dilute a
designers original vision
as it makes its way into
produXion. Re inset
front grille and the
Design
outboard round head-
lights oer a real link to
that r Camaro, yet the
big wheels and taut
proportions perfeXly
convey 21-century
muscle. Good design
extends to the interior
too: Re view through the
windshield is 1960s cool,
yet its the subtleties that
make this car feel so
right. Of course, a Camaro
wouldnt feel right at all if
there wasnt some
serious repower under
the hood. Re top-dog
SS models have a big
422-hp 6.2-liter V8, and
even the base cars
receive a potent V6 that
returns 30 mpg highway.
Re real triumph is that all
the Camaros perfor-
mance and intelligent
design can be had for ju
a tick over $20,000.
Rats a bargain.

++ Popular Mechanics
Test Driven

62 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM

2010

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crossover became
synonymous with rugged,
car-based utility wagons,
Subaru had the Outback.
To many, that original
1995 Outback was the
r real crossover,
blending the be
attributes of an SUV with
the nimble handling of a
traditional car and the
capability of Subarus
rally-bred all-wheel-drive
expertise. Wis late
model only widens that
capability envelope.
Riding on beefy tires, and
with a suspension tall
enough to produce a
Hummer-humbling
Subaru
EKJ879A
BASE PRICE: $22,995
++ Popular Mechanics
Test Driven
66 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
q
! q

8.7 inches of ground clear- Kia
ance, the Outback is not
a corner carver. Inead,
the Outback is a
IEKB
sweet-natured wagon BASE PRICE: $13,300
with poised road manners
Small cars dont have to compromise functional-
that scrambles eort- ity or performance. The Kia Soul is a fun, sporty
lessly along dirt roads and compact at a very reasonable price.
up some pretty dicult
trails. With the wheelbase
retched over the
previous versions,
rear-seat comfort is
subantially improved.
Fold that seat down, and
the Outback can swallow
71.3 cubic feet of
camping gear, gardening
supplies or pinewood
planks. Subaru owners
are determined to wring
every la ounce
Value ?ji
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of value from their
moniker aaually matches
purchasestheres plenty its personality. But for
of value and versatility in the Kia Soul, the name ts.
this new Outback. Sure, its one of the lea
expensive new cars on the
market, but it packs quite a
lot of subance into that
Versatility bargain-basement price tag.
Inside, the materials used
are one solid notch above
the class. Kia oers two
engines. We prefer the more
potent 142-hp 2.0-liter inline
Four that comes andard
on Sport models. We Soul
Sport is surprisingly fun to
drive. We rm suspension
and robu motor make
short work of switchbacks.
And yet, on a recent
300-mile fuel-economy
marathon te drive, the Kia
Soul Sport returned a very
solid 31.2 mpg. When three
teers piled into the back
seat they found plenty of
comforteven on longer
trips. And with those
seats folded, the Kia can
handle 53.4 cubic feet of
cargo. When you back
up the head-turning
yling with grin-inducing
performance and a
mode price, youve got
one very smart buy.
2010

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J^[
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ckiYb[ down the quarter-mile. perfe` ally to that designers employed a

car wars have a new Re eering is quick, light cue-ball shiaer and the dea hand, including small,
superpower to contend and devoid of slop. Ris well-dened gates it subtle details like
with: the Muang Shelby condent handling wasnt engages. Re brakes are itched-in seat ripes
GT500, the badde of all achieved by sacricing always reassuring, and and an aggressive chin
Muangs. Ris 540-hp the visceral thrill we want the pedal is close enough spoiler. Sure, the
reet terror will rocket in a ponycar, either. Ford to the throttle for easy GT500s near $50,000
through the quarter-mile has quieted the super- heel-and-toe work. And price is in Corvette
in ju 12.6 seconds charger, so the burbly V8 somehow lurid, sideways, territory. But this is a
trouncing its Detroit exhau is more audible. tire-smoking burnouts thrill ride thats worth
competitors by a wide Re twin-plate clutch is never, ever get old in this every penny. Is this
margin. Even better, now much lighter and it car. Part of the magic the be Muang ever?
Fords Special Vehicle engages smoothly, a here is in the details. Re Oh yeah.
Team made sure the
GT500 icks to the
corners and ops like a
proper sports car. Re
chassis is wonderfully
competent and makes it
ju as fun to attack the
back roads as it is to tear

Performance
Ford

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BASE PRICE: $47,175

The GT500s menacing maw gobbles air to feed a hungry, supercharged

5.4-liter V8. This is old-school Detroit muscle, yet the Mustang offers a level
of refinement previous hot Fords have lacked. The GT500s chassis is more
sophisticated than any Mustang in the cars 46-year history.

++ Popular Mechanics
Test Driven

68 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM


THE NEW MACHINE AGE
> B Y G L E N N H A R L A N R E Y N O L D S
> I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y N AT H A N H UA N G
or some time now, futurists have
F
been talking about a concept called
the Singularity, a technological jump
so big that society will be transformed.
If theyre right, the Industrial Revolu-
tionor even the development of agri-
culture or harnessing of firemight
seem like minor historical hiccups by
comparison. The possibility is now
seeming realistic enough that scien-
tists and engineers are grappling with
the implicationsfor good and ill.
When I spoke to technology pio-
neer and futurist Ray Kurzweil (who
popularized the idea in his book
The Singularity Is Near), he put it this
way: Within a quarter-century, non-
70 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
T H I N K I N G A H E A D
FUTURISTS SAY THE
SINGULARITYWHEN
C O M P U T E R S O V E R TA K E
HUMANSIS COMING.
W H AT H A P P E N S N E X T ?
biological intelligence will match the
range and subtlety of human intelli-
gence. It will then soar past it.
Even before we reach that point,
Kurzweil and his peers foresee breath-
taking advances. Scientists in Israel
have developed tiny robots to crawl
through blood vessels attacking can-
cers, and labs in the United States are
working on similar technology. These
robots will grow smaller and more
capable. One day, intelligent nanoro-
bots may be integrated into our bodies
to clear arteries and rebuild failing
organs, communicating with each
other and the outside world via a
cloud network. Tiny bots might
attach themselves to neurons in the
brain and add their processing
powerand that of other computers
in the cloudto ours, giving us men-
tal resources that would dwarf any-
thing available now. By stimulating
the optic, auditory or tactile nerves,
such nanobots might be able to simu-
late vision, hearing or touch, provid-
ing augmented reality overlays iden-
tifying street names, helping with face
recognition or telling us how to repair
things weve never seen before.
Scientists in Japan are already pro-
ducing rudimentary nanobot
brains. Could it take decades for
these technologies to come to frui-
tion? Yesbut only decades, not cen-
turies. The result may be what Kurz-
weil calls an intimate merger
between the technology-creating spe-
cies and the technological evolution-
ary process it spawned.
If scientists can integrate tiny
robots into the human body, then they
 NANOROBOTS FLOATING AROUND IN YOUR
BLOODSTREAM COULD KEEP YOUR
CORONARY ARTERIES FROM CLOGGING,
BUT THEY ALSO COULD RELEASE DRUGS ON
COMMAND, MAKING YOU, SAY, LITERALLY
LOVE BIG BROTHER.

can build tiny robots into, well, every-

thing, ushering in an era of smart
matter. Nanobots may be able to
build products molecule-by-molecule,
making the material world look a lot
like the computer worldwith just
about everything becoming smart,
cheap and networked to pretty much
everything else, including your brain.
Its almost impossibly futuristic-
sounding stuff. But even that scenario
is just the precursor to the Singularity
itself, the moment when, in Kurzweils
words, nonbiological intelligence
will have access to its own design and
will be able to improve itself in an
increasingly rapid redesign cycle.
Imagine computers so advanced that
they can design and build new, even
better computers, with subsequent
generations emerging so quickly they
soon leave human engineers the
equivalent of centuries behind. Thats
the Singularityand given the expo-
nential acceleration of technological
change, it could come by midcentury.
But Is It for Real?
It seems like a tall order, but lots of
people think that such predictions are
likely to come true. I asked science-
fiction writer John Scalzi about Singu-
larity issues and he pointed out that
the Skype video we were using to chat
would have seemed like witchcraft a
few centuries earlier. Profound tech-
nological changes once took millen-
nia, then centuries, and then decades.
Now they occur every few years. The
iPhone and pocket-size 12-megapixel
digital cameras would have seemed
amazing a decade ago. Web browsers
are only about 15 years old. People
(including my wife) have computers
implanted in their bodies already, in
the form of defibrillators, pacemakers
and other devices.
Still, Im describing a world in
which nanotechnology makes us
(nearly) immortal, in which robots
can make almost any object from
cheap raw materials (basically, dirt)
and in which ordinary people are
smarter than Einstein thanks to brain
implantsbut still nowhere near as
smart as fully artificial intelligences.
Thats a world thats hard to imagine.
And what we do imagine can sound
either good or bad. On the upside,
whats not to like about being super-
smart and healthy, with access to most
products essentially for free? On the
downside, could always-on links from
our brains to the computing cloud
lead to Star Treks ber-totalitarian
Borg collective or something equally
scary? And, what happens to those
computer-brain interfaces and nano-
bots when theyre taken over by the
descendants of the Conficker worm?
Now theres an argument for strong
antivirus software.
Dramatically enhancing human
capabilities for good, alas, also means
enhancing human capabilities for
evil. Thats something famed com-
puter science professor and writer
Vernor Vinge warns about: technol-
ogy that could, as he wrote in his
novel Rainbows End, put world-killer
weapons into the hands of anyone
having a bad-hair day. Then theres
the mind-control problem. Nano-
robots floating around in your blood-
stream could keep your coronary
arteries from clogging, but they also
could release drugs on command,
making you, say, literally love Big
Brother. Knowing what we know
about human history, do such abuses
seem terribly unlikely?
Of course, the problem may never
come up. Vinge, who originated the
Singularity idea, has written about
why it may never arrivethough hes
betting the other way. So what can we
do now to affect how things turn out?
Some people are trying. The Foresight
Institute has published guidelines for
developing nanotechnology, such as
a ban on self-replicating nanobots
that function independently (poten-
tially turning the whole world into
more nanobots, something known in
the trade as the gray-goo problem)
and sharp limitations on weapons-
related nanotech research. Research-
ers in artificial intelligence are work-
ing on guidelines for producing
friendly AI that would be well-
disposed toward humans as part of
their programming, thus foreclosing
any pesky robotic world-domination
ambitions. NASA, Google and others
have even started something called
the Singularity University to study
ways to avoid problems while still
reaping the benefits. Some have sug-
gested that we ought to go slow on the
so-called GRAIN technologies (Genet-
ics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence
and Nanotechnology). Sun Microsys-
tems Bill Joy has even called for
relinquishing some technologies
he sees as dangerous.
But I wonder if thats such a good
idea. Destructive technologies gener-
ally seem to come along sooner than
constructive oneswe got war rockets
before missile interceptors, and bio-
logical warfare before antibiotics. This
suggests that there will be a window of
vulnerability between the time when
we develop technologies that can do
dangerous things, and the time when
we can protect against those dangers.
The slower we move, the longer that
window may remain open, leaving
more time for the evil, the unscrupu-
lous or the careless to wreak havoc. My
conclusion? Faster, please. FC

POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 71

PAG E 7 2
POPULARMECH ANICS.COM

ANATOMY OF A
PLANE CRASH

THE AVIATION INDUSTRYS SAFETY RECORD HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER,

BUT THE MYSTERIOUS LOSS OF AN AIRLINER IS CHALLENGING
EFFORTS TO PREVENT TRAGEDIES BEFORE THEY HAPPEN.

BY JEFF WISE
INFOGR APHIC BY A XEL DE ROY

NATAL

RECIFE

8:19 pm 9:30 pm
On May 31, at 7:30
pm, Air France 447 AF 447 contacts air AF 447 passes
leaves Rio de Janeiro controllers in over the city of
on an 11-hour flight to Recife, Brazil. Natal, on the
Paris. After 3 hours in Atlantic coast.
the air, the Airbus
330 plunges into a
wall of towering storm
clouds looming
350 miles off the
Brazilian coast. The
airplanewith 216
passengers and
12 crew members
onboardnever
emerges.
 SEVEN MILES ABOVE THE EMPTY EXPANSE OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN,
s Paris
on May 31, 2009, an Air France A330 passenger jet cut through the midnight darkness. The plane
had taken off 3 hours earlier, climbing from Rio de Janeiro on a northeast heading, its navigation
computers hewing to a great-circle route that would take the flight 5680 miles to Paris.
At 10:35 pm local time, one of the co-pilots on the flight deck radioed Atlantico Area Con-
Crash trol Center in Recife, Brazil, and announced that the plane had just reached a navigation way-
Site
point called INTOL, situated 350 miles off the Brazilian coast. The waypoint lay just shy of the
s Rio de Janeiro Intertropical Convergence Zone, a meteorological region along the equator famous for intense

The airplane flies through a small storm,

but its radar cannot detect a far more
violent, multicell system lurking beyond.
At peak intensity, the thunderstorm soars 55,000 feet
more than 3 miles above AF 447 and 45,000 feet
buffets the airliner with updrafts
40,000 feet
approaching 70 mph.

ST OR M NO T
TO SC ALE

10:30 pm 10:35 pm 11:10 pm 11:1111:12 pm 11:1311:14 pm

An automatic messaging
AF 447 reaches AF 447 radios system onboard AF 447 The flight control Speed-limit Loss of backup
INTOL GPS final verbal transmits a torrent of computer receives settings shut down. instruments that
navigation message (to text messages via unreliable sensor Safeguards that measure pitch angle
waypoint. Atlantico Area satellite to the airlines data; in response, help pilots prevent and velocity. Loss of
Control Center): headquarters in Paris. autopilot rudder damage all internal reference,
Air France The 24 encoded texts, disconnects. now fail. including heading,
Four Four Seven, reported in just 4 vertical speed,
thank you. minutes, provide clues flight-path vector and
about the flights final position. Last
moments. transmission: a
vertical speed
advisory, triggered
when the cabin drops
faster than 30 feet
per second.
 PAG E 7 4 DECEMBER 2009

ANATOMY OF A PLANE CRASH

thunderstorms. Staff at Atlantico acknowledged the trans-
mission and received the airplanes reply: Air France Four
Four Seven, thank you.
It was the second time within the past 12 hours that the jet,
F-GZCP, had crossed this stretch of ocean, having flown the
Paris-to-Rio leg with only 2 hours to refuel and load passengers
before departing again. Such was the lot of the four-year-old
long-haul plane: a repeated cycle of flight and turnaround, as
rhythmic and uneventful as the phases of the moon. But the
routine was about to be broken.
After receiving AF 447s transmission, Atlantico asked for
the estimated time it would take the aircraft to reach the TASIL
waypoint, which lies on the boundary of the Atlantico and the
Dakar Oceanic control areas. At that point communication
would pass from Brazil to Senegal. AF 447 did not reply. The
controller asked again. Still, there was no reply. The controller
asked a third and fourth time, then alerted other control cen-
pour la Scurit de lAviation Civile
(BEA), the French equivalent of the
United States National Transportation
Safety Board. By 8 am, French authori-
ties officially reached what had become
a grim, unavoidable conclusion: Air
France 447 had disappeared.
VA NISHING W ITHOUT A TR ACE
is not supposed to happen in this day
and age. The globe is crisscrossed by
constant ship and air traffic. A constella-
tion of satellites orbits overhead, and
communication is nonstop. Yet, for a
few days in early June, it seemed that the

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y G E T T Y I M A G E S ( A I R F R A N C E TA I L F I N ) , A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S ( F L I G H T 4 5 9 0 ) , I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y D O G O
ters about the lapse. impossible had happened. Air France
According to the flight plan filed by AF 447, the plane should 447 and the 228 people onboard were
have crossed into Dakar Oceanic at 11:20 pm, at which point simply gone. There was no distress call
the flight crew would have made radio contact with Dakar to or wreckage; there were no bodies.
A search party confirm their position. They didnt. They also failed to contact Within hours, the French govern-
from the Brazilian
navy recovers the Cape Verde controller, whose airspace they were supposed ment deployed a search-and-rescue
the large physi- to enter at 12:43 am. As time went on, controllers along the air- airplane near the TASIL waypoint. Over
cal clue in the
Air France 447
crafts route began to worry that the problem was more than the next few days a flotilla of ships
myery: the tail just a communications breakdown. and aircraft arrived to assist the search
n, which likely By 3:47 am, the flight should have appeared on the radar operation, including a French nuclear
broke o the
airplane when it screens of Portuguese air traffic controllers. It didnt. An hour submarine and a research vessel with
hit the water. later, Air France contacted the Bureau dEnqutes et dAnalyses an unmanned deep-water submersible
that were dispatched to
find the flight data recorder,
or black box.
Yet for days nothing was
found. The only clues to
the planes fate were auto-
matic messages that the
onboard maintenance com-
puter transmitted by a
datalink system called the
Aircraft Communications
Addressing and Reporting
System (ACARS). The sys-
tem transmits text mes-
sages via satellite to ground
stations, which then for-
ward them on landlines to
the intended destination. In
just a 4-minute span, the
system had broadcast 24
reports to Air Frances dis-
patch center in Paris, each
concerning problems with
 BUILDING A SAFER
AIRPORT

Flight 4590
July 2000

AT 2:42 PM ON JULY 25, 2000, Air France 4590 roared down

runway 26R at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris,
bound for New York with 109 passengers and crew onboard. As
the supersonic jet accelerated for takeo, it ran over a 17-inch-long
strip of titanium that had fallen o the thrust reverser of a recently
departed DC-10. Re metal shredded one of the Concordes tires,
and the ying pieces ruptured and ignited a fuel tank. Re plane
crashed 2 minutes later, killing all onboard and four people on the
ground. Investigators found the runway was unchecked for
12 hours before the crash. Re accident highlighted a paradox:
Some of the worst threats to aviation, including debris, vehicles
and other aircrag, are located on the ground.

1. Broadcast Tower 2. Cockpit Digital Maps 3. High-Frequency Radar

Re FAAs Airport Surface DeteFion Equipment-X
integrates data from an inbound planes GPS
unit and the transponder signals from ground
vehicles and other planes in the air to generate a
continuously updated map of all airport trac.
Remote towers capture and relay information
from airplanes in ight. ASDE-X, which alerts air
trac controllers to an impending coniF, is
already in use at 20 U.S. airports; the FAA plans
to inall it in 15 more by 2011.
Paper maps keep pilots out of
trouble, but they need to be
updated regularly. Digital maps
of airports and the surrounding
areas are more easily amended
to include new obacles and
infraruFure. Pilots carry
laptop-size computers called
EleFronic Flight Bags that plug
into the cockpit navigation
syem. New EFBs alert users to
update maps using Wi-Fi.
DeteFors use sensitive radar with
wavelengths as tight as a
millimeter to spot debris as small
as a bolt that could cause crashes;
some syems have cameras that
compare images to a database of
common objeFs, diinguishing
grass or paper from more
dangerous obacles.
4. Runway Status Lights
Modern versions of runway
lightswhich guide pilots,
particularly at night or in bad
weatheraF like trac lights:
Red means a runway is in use;
green means a runway is clear for
takeo, landing or crossing.

2
 BUILDING A SAFER
COCKPIT

Flight 255
Augu
1987

NORTHWEST 255 had just taken o from Detroit on Aug. 16, 1987, when it began
rocking side to side. Re plane clipped a building and caught re before sliding under a
railroad embankment and two highway overpasses (right). Re crash, which killed all 154
onboard and two bystanders, occurred because the MD-82s pilots did not extend slats
on the leading edge and aps on the trailing edge of the wings to generate extra liU. Re
manufacturer recommended that airlines modify their MD-80 cockpit checklists; U.S.
carriers did so, but not all foreign carriers. In 2008 a Spanair MD-82 crashed in Madrid
because of a similar mistake, killing 154showing that failure to modify procedures in
response to crashes, close calls and government advisories can cost lives. Here are
other changes in the cockpit that reduce chance of pilot error. MARK HUBER

1. Make Two-Person
Altitude Calls
To prevent planes from
dropping below assigned
altitudeswhich increases the
risk of midair collisionsthe
co-pilot sets the altitude, called
pointing, and the pilot
conrms that it is corre`.
2. Retract Speed Brakes
Failing to retra` speed
brakespanels that increase
wing-surface areain an
aborted landing means an
aircraU cant climb quickly. Many
airlines require co-pilots to
verify speed-brake atus if the
plane misses a landing.
3. Know Speed Limits
Flaps, which are extended to
allow airplanes to remain aloU
at slower speeds during takeo
and landing, can suer motor
damage if they are deployed
while the airplane is traveling
too fa. In addition to memoriz-
ing these speed limits, co-pilots
at some airlines are required to
call them out as the airplane
prepares to land.
4. Confirm Spoiler
Deployment
Like speed brakes, spoilers are
wing surfaces that diminish liU
and are needed during landing,
when an airplane mu quickly
shed speed. It is the co-pilots
job to conrm that spoilers
have been deployed during a
landing to prevent the plane
from overshooting the runway.

Enhanced and synthetic vision syems (le)) blend GPS information with a topographical database to create a
moving digital map of unseen terrain and hazards.

2
3

4
 POPULARMECH ANICS.COM
subsystems onboard the aircraft.
At 11:10 pm, about 35 minutes after
AF 447s last verbal communication,
the system sent a message that the auto-
pilot had disconnected. Seconds later,
it reported that the flight control system
was unable to determine the aircrafts
correct speed. Subsequent messages
cited a cascade of other malfunctions.
At 11:14 pm, the final message reported
that the airliners cabin either had
depressurized, was moving with high
vertical velocity, or both.
ACARS messages are transmitted in
a dense alphanumeric code and are
used for airplane maintenance, not real-
time monitoring of flights by dispatch
centers. When investigators realized
that the plane was lost, they scrutinized
the messages. The story the transmis-
sions told was tantalizing, but inconclu-
sive. Did the error messages suggest a
fault in the sensors, or was the flight
management system somehow fatally
corruptedperhaps because of a midair
lightning strike?
The absence of clues causes con-
cerns that reach beyond the AF 447
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SAM CHUI (COCKPIT), MELANIE STENGEL/CORBIS (FLIGHT 255)
investigation. Was the crash a result of
pilot error, an unexpected breakdown of
vital equipment or a combination of
both? Without answers, there is no way
to guarantee that another airliner wont
suffer the same fate.
ALL THE ATTENTION GIVEN TO A
crash like Air France 447s can obscure
an important truth: Commercial air
travel is incredibly safeand getting
safer. In 2008, the U.S. fatality rate was
fewer than one death per nearly 11 mil-
lion passenger trips. This impressive
record is the result of more than a cen-
tury of incremental improvements that
have been amassed through painstak-
ing forensic analysis.
After each plane crash, investigators
study the wreckage, analyze flight data
and examine clues regarding flight con-
ditions. Once they have determined a
PAG E 7 7
ANATOMY OF A PLANE CR A S H
cause, they often help create recommendations that prevent
the problem from recurring.
The FAA is determined to cut the already minuscule airliner
fatality rate in half by 2025. With this in mind, the agency
recently developed a new approach to make safety improve-
ments. In 2007, it began working with airlines to sift through
the masses of data that planes record about their normal flight
operations, looking for safety improvements that could pre-
empt accidents before they happen, instead of learning these
lessons after a plane crash occurs.
The sophistication of aircraft makes this strategy possible. Were
Modern planes are studded with environmental sensors that having
record flight conditions, while other sensors constantly assess many fewer
the health of the airplanes subsystems. This information is fed accidents,
to a central computer, forming a network that resembles the
but the ones
neural system of a primitive organism. At the end of each flight,
we do have
are being
maintenance crews can easily download the data for analysis. caused by
Airlines have been using this information to improve their threats that
safety performance since the early 90s, but two years ago the are much
FAA began collecting these records as part of its Aviation Safety harder to
Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system. detect, says
This year, the FAA opened the Accident Investigation and Jay Pardee,
Prevention Service to scrutinize the ASIAS data. Were having the director
many fewer accidents, but the ones we do have are being of the FAAs
caused by threats that are much harder to detect, says Jay
new Accident
Pardee, the director of the new office. As an example of the kind
Investigation
and
of problem that ASIAS data could prevent, consider Comair Prevention
Flight 5191, which was scheduled to take off from Lexington, Service.
Ky., in August 2006. Thinking they were on 7000-foot Runway
22, the pilots failed to get their aircraft airborne before they ran
out of asphalt on the runway they were actually on3500-foot
Runway 26. The airplanes wheels clipped an airport perimeter
fence and the plane plowed into a grove of trees 1800 feet from
the end of the runway. All 47 passengers and two of three crew
members were killed. After the accident, the FAA reviewed 25
years of data and discovered that 80 commercial aircraft
around the country had either taken off or tried to take off from
incorrect runways. Nobody connected the dots, Pardee says.
Following the AF 447 disappearance, other Airbus 330
operators studied their internal flight records to seek patterns.
Delta, analyzing the data of Northwest Airlines flights that
occurred before the two companies merged, found a dozen
incidents in which at least one of an A330s airspeed
indicators4-inch-long, pressure-sensing pitot tubes located
on the fuselage under the cockpithad briefly stopped work-
ing. Each time, the flights had been traveling through the
Intertropical Convergence Zone, the same location where Air
France 447 disappeared.
In the case of the Northwest A330s, the pitot tube malfunc-
tions had been brief and harmless. But what if a severe version
of the problem had struck Air France 447 amid more unforgiv-
ing circumstances?
 BUILDING A SAFER
AIRFRAME

From the way

the floor
of the Flight 3268
May 2009
crews rest AT LAST, ON JUNE 6, THE MULTINATIONAL SEARCH
compartment effort began to find evidence of the crash. The Brazilian mili-
had buckled, tary recovered bodies and debris floating approximately
French 40 miles north of the last automatic Aircraft Communications
investigators transmission. Over the next two weeks, search vessels retrieved
determined 51 corpses from a stretch of ocean 150 miles wide, along with
that the
fuselage hit bits of wreckagea section of the radome, a toilet compart-
the water ment, part of a galleythat collectively added up to less than
more or 5 percent of the aircraft. The largest single piece was the tail
less intact, fin, marked with the distinctive blue and red stripes of the
belly first, at French national carrier.
a high rate The most important piece of the wreckage, however,
of vertical remained missing. More than a month after the plane went
speed. down, despite the joint efforts of the French and U.S. navies,
the black box still hadnt been found. Given the huge search
area, the ruggedness of the undersea terrain and the depth of
the water (up to 15,000 feet), locating the recorder, let alone
retrieving it, was proving to be an enormous task. Once the
units acoustic pinger passed its 30-day certified life span, the
chances of recovering the black box became virtually nil.
Without the boxs data, the only physical evidence of the
airplane available to investigators was the mangled wreckage.
From the way it had been deformedin particular, the way the and can make it pitch into an uncon-
floor of the crews rest compartment had buckled upward trollable nose-dive. Flying too slow can
French investigators determined that the fuselage hit the water cause a plane to stall.
more or less intact, belly first, at a high rate of vertical speed. AF 447s flight crew, disoriented in
Added to the ACARS messages and the satellite weather data, the storm, uncertain about their speed
the evidence began to conform to a possible scenario. and buffeted by turbulence, could eas-
By 10:45 pm, 10 minutes after the last radio transmission, ily have taken the A330 outside its flight
the plane hit the first, small storm cell in the Intertropical Con- envelope. The fact that they didnt
vergence Zone. Fifteen minutes later, it hit a larger, fast- transmit a mayday would seem to indi-
growing system. And then, just before its last ACARS transmis- cate that whatever happened to them
sions, the plane hit a whopper, a multicell storm whose roiling happened quickly, says William Wal-
thermal energy rose more than 3 miles higher than AF 447s dock, a professor of safety science
altitude. Buffeted by turbulence, near the heart of a strong at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univer-
thunderstorm, the pitot tubes froze over. Lacking reliable sity in Arizona.
speed indicators, the airplanes computerized Flight Manage-
PHOTOGRAPHS BY TORONTO SUN

ment System automatically disengaged the autopilot, forcing

the co-pilots to fly the airplane manually.
Without autopilot, the pilots had no envelope protection
restrictions, which are designed to keep the pilot from making
control inputs that could overstress the aircraft. This is par-
ticularly dangerous for airliners at high altitudes. The thin air
demands that airplanes fly faster to achieve lift, but they still
must remain below speed limits. Flying too fast can create a
phenomenon known as mach tuck, when supersonic shock
waves along the wings shift the aircrafts center of pressure aft
WITHOUT MORE DATA, THIS KIND
of scenario can never be verified com-
pletely. But the global aviation commu-
nity has already taken steps to prevent
another accident like AF 447. Within
days, Air France replaced pitot tubes on
its Airbus planes with ones made by
another company, and in July Airbus
PASSENGERS USUALLY FEEL RELIEF when their plane touches
down. But those peering out the windows of Colgan 3268 this
May were horried to see a wheel rolling away from their airplane
during an otherwise routine landing. Re end of an axle in a wheel
bearing snapped as the Q400 Bombardier screeched across the
runwayand as a passenger shot a cellphone video (leF) of the
chilling event. Re airplane safely landed on its remaining tires.
Investigators found that the wheel bearing failed aFer it overheat-
ed during the landing. Wheel bearings are just a few of thousands
of parts that endure the stress of repeated takeos, ights and
landings. Maintainers and designers constantly adopt new
materials and inspection devices to prevent heavily stressed parts
of planes from failing during ights.

1. Wheel Bearings
Wheel bearings support the
entire weight of the aircraft
on a surface area of a few
square inches, and during a
landing they accelerate from
0 to 2000 rpm in less than
1 second. Ball bearings made
from new ceramic formulas can
better resist the temperature
changes and physical stresses
of these conditions.
2. Wing Spars
Stress on the wing is borne by
the spars. Boeings 787
Dreamliner is the r civilian
airplane to use carbon compos-
ites to form spars, but designers
added extra metal faeners to
ien the wings aFer tes
showed they couldnt handle the
FAAs maximum aerodynamic
load limits. As with other
composite parts, crews use
ultrasound to seek early signs of
failure. Resin-lled nano-
rucures embedded in the
material could patch cracks as
soon as they form.
3. Wing Skin
Wings endure high pressures
while generating liF; ress on
the wings metal skin tends to
4. Fuselage Skin
inates and deates the body
peak in areas where the wing this ress. Engineers under-
connecs to the fuselage. Wing and metal fatigue, but new
skin is inalled in panels held materials like carbon compos-
together with faeners. Every ites pose unique safety issues.
hole or deformation that Maintenance workers use
interrupts the skin makes it ultrasound and other non-
more susceptible to cracking, invasive scanners to nd
so maintenance crews inspec deformations and fracures
areas around the faeners with inside composite materials.
ultrasound equipment for signs
of weakness. Researchers at
Sandia National Laboratories
are designing paper-thin
pressure sensors that
continually monitor for cracks.
Aluminum fuselages are built
to handle changes caused by
cabin pressurizationwhich
of an airliner as much as a
quarter of an inchbut tension
ress ill spreads across the
entire fuselage. Windows,
doors and rivet holes magnify

advised other airlines to do the same.
Three months later the FAA turned the
recommendation into a regulation.
To be sure, the pitot tubes are not the
definitive cause of the crash. Even if they
had failed, that alone should not have
been enough to bring down an airliner.
As in virtually every fatal air crash, what
doomed AF 447 was not a single mal-
function or error of judgment, but rather
a sequence of missteps that crash inves-
tigators call the accident chain. Theres
always a series of events, the FAAs
Pardee says. That means there are mul-
tiple opportunities to intervene and
break that accident chain.
In the case of AF 447, the error chain
included the co-pilots decision to fly too
close to severe thunderstormsbad
weather that several other pilots, flying
similar routes that night, had chosen to
give a wide berth. There were certainly
other links in the accident chain that
pushed AF 447 beyond its limits. But
unless the black box is found, we may
never identify those links. And that means safety officials might
never learn the full lessons of the disaster. To prevent a similar
loss of forensic evidence, executives at Airbus say they are now
studying alternatives to physical black boxes. It is feasible to
create a system that could broadcast not only text messages
like ACARS but comprehensive data about the status of every
aircraft, in real time. The aircraft would continuously transmit
data to VHF stations within a radius of 125 miles, or by satellite
if the plane is farther away.
Airliners in flight could one day stream all sorts of high-
speed data, sharing information directly with one another. It
would be a network in the sky, says Bob Smith, chief technol-
ogy officer at Honeywell, which manufactured AF 447s ACARS.
Aircraft could pass not only information about their location
and where theyre headed, he says, but whole data sets. An
airliner over Seattle could send its weather radar picture to a
plane inbound from Dallas. And the guy from Dallas could pass
it along to five other aircraft. Military aircraft already use a
similar system; it is not clear if civil aviation will adopt it.
The disquieting truth is that we dont really know precisely
what happened to Air France 447, and perhaps never will. The
same links in the accident chain could someday take down
another unlucky airliner. If they do, improved technology
might provide investigators with the data they need to make
sure that the next time is the last time. FC
  ! 
  !

photograph by gregor halenda

By Seth Porges

The netbook formula is simple: Take one ordinary notebook, strip out some of
its processing power, shrink its size by a little and reduce the price tag by a lot. And
while early models lacked the ability to handle anything much more demanding
than a Web page or a text document, new netbooks cram performance once
reserved for full-size laptops into 2-pound packages costing around $250 to $500.
These machines arent designed to serve as your primary PC, but they are ideal as
low-cost, low-mass secondary systems for carrying on a plane or around the house.

A. Operating
System
Microso[s 8-year-old Windows XP has found a second wind powering low-co net-
books, and the new Windows 7 was designed with netbooks in mind. Ju avoid
Windows Via if you canthe bloated OS can overwhelm netbooks low-power pro-
cessors. Open-source devotees may also opt for a Linux netbook, although these are
becoming less common. And sorry, Apple fans: no Mac netbooks ju yet.

B
POPULARMECHANICS.COM

C. Central Processing Unit

B. Keyboard
Although some newer models cram in full-size key-
boards, the small size of mo netbooks necessitates a
shrunken typing spaceusually 10 to 20 percent
smallerwhich can cause discomfort for people used
to larger layouts. Be sure to test out any keyboard
before you buy to make sure you nd it comfortable.
|
DECEMBER 2009
Re mo common netbook congurations currently
involve 1.3- and 1.6-GHz versions of Intels power-
ecient Atom processor. Ris is plenty of power for
the simple applications netbooks are designed for, but
future models will see faer speeds. And competitors
such as Nvidia now oer netbook-targeted chipsets
that aim to oer superior graphical performance. Mo
users should avoid anything slower than 1 GHz.

Most of the major wireless carriers now sell dirt-cheap subsidized

What about netbooks (they typically go for about $200, though weve seen them
those sell for basically nothing during promotions). The catch: The
machines come with long-term contracts for expensive mobile data
subsidized planstypically $40 to $60 per month, on top of your other phone and
netbooks? Internet bills. Meaning that an almost-free netbook can suddenly cost
an extra $1400 over a two-year contract. Our advice: If you want
take-anywhere 3G network access, stick to a separate 3G modem. The
80

monthly fees will be the same, and it wont be tied to one computer.

D. Screen
Connectivity
E. Wireless
Most netbooks have
D either 8- or 10-inch Expe[ built-in Bluetooth
screens, although some and Wi-Fi (card pi[ured),
are as large as 12 inches although many netbooks
(anything more is a cant take advantage of
full-edged notebook) or faster 802.11n Wi-Fi
as small as seven. Set- speed. Some netbooks
tling on a screen size is also have optional inte-
a balancing act: Large grated 3G network con-
displays are easier to nectionsa potentially
read, but they co more, appealing proposition
and hurt portability and considering the devices
battery life. t a k e - a n y w h e re s i z e .
Expect to pay an addi-
tional $40 to $60 per
month for the service.

Reader
F. Card

Mo netbooks favor SD
memory-card slots over
space-consuming optical
drives (which are usually
offered as an add-on
external accessory).
aese slots make it easy
to upload ju-shot digital
photos. Larger 16 and
32 GB SD cards allow for
expandable memory.

G. Battery
Netbooks have smaller
screens and less power-
ful processors than full-
size laptopsand bat-
tery life benets. Some
models claim 12 hours
H per charge, but anything
more than four is excel-
lent. To ay slim, many
netbooks use batteries
that protrude from the
machines rear.

F
I

J. Storage
J If you plan on storing a
E large library of media,
opt for the largest hard
drive you can afford
current netbook models

H. RAM
I. USB

have 250 GB or more of
storage. But if you just
want a netbook for surf-
The more random-access memory (RAM) a netbook Netbooks usually have fewer USB ports than full-size ing the Web and writing
has, the better it will be able to handle heavy-duty notebookstypically one to three. One useful feature documents, solid-state
applications. Top-shelf netbooks currently come with to look out for: Some models allow users to charge drives , which hold less
up to 2 GB of DDR2 SDRAM, but 1 GB is enough for other gadgets through a USB port, even while the net- data but are more dura-
mo applications (its also the minimum amount of book is in sleep modeso you can charge a phone or ble and potentially faer,
RAM required to run Windows 7). MP3 player while the computer is ashed in a bag. may be preferable. FC
 Ten in the morning is a late start for the Super
Falcon. For the past two days Ive strolled down
to the pier at dawn, just as the fog begins to roll
off Monterey Bay, to watch as crewmen peel back
a collapsible garage to reveal the winged sub-
mersible and prepare it for the water. But the
Super Falcons rigorous workout has finally

e Super Falcon submersible uses its inverted wings to move

caught up with it. On their first dive, Graham
Hawkes, the subs designer, and pilot trainee Lee
Behel inadvertently tested its ability to navigate
kelp beds. The vessel had to be cut free of the
stalks by a safety diver. Then, they pushed its lim-
its with upset maneuversnear vertical dives
and 90-degree rollsthat resulted in a busted

through water like a plane through air.

F > E J E = H 7 F >
8 O
9 > K 9 A
: 7L ? I
prop and broken rudder. The whole idea was to
find any weak points, and we did, Hawkes said
as he replaced plastic rudder fittings with stron-
ger metal components. This was a good thing.
Still, it meant that Hawkes had to drive 250
miles round-trip from Monterey, Calif., to his
8O
C7HA
I9>HEF;

P OPUL A R M E C H A N I C S . C O M | DECEMBER 2009 83

 A. Cockpit
Flight Controls
workshop north of San Fran-
cisco to get new prop bladesan B. Pressure
Hull
errand that took until 3 am. But
because todays my day to get
behind the controls, Im all for
getting the submersible in top
working order.
Like Behel, Im here at the
Coast Guard pier in Monterey for
flight schoola training course
for prospective Super Falcon
pilots. Behel has a bit more flight
experience than me, however:
He used to fly F-4 Phantom jet
fighters for the military. Its not
surprising that he was drawn to
the Super Falcon, since the two C. Foldable
Wings
craft share many of the same
design principles. Long and D. Propulsion
thin, with a tapered nose, the Syem
Super Falcon has rear horizontal
stabilizers, two large tail rudders
and dual acrylic cockpit cano- e Super Falcon
has ngertip
pies. It also has inverted wings, y-by-wire controls
which turn the aeronautic con- for pitch, roll and
yaw. A digital
cept of lift upside down, allowing the sub to literally heads-up display tence). Two of his bubble-hulled Deep Rover subs
fly through the water. Whereas conventional subs combines were used by James Cameron for his Aliens of the
rely on ballast, the Super Falcon descends as for- navigation and vital Deep documentary.
dive data.
ward speed creates a pressure differential between But after launching the first Deep Rover, Hawkes
the top and bottom of the wings. Free of ballast, the had a nagging feeling. I remember sitting on a rock
sub is positively buoyant, which dramatically Conventional subs in Halifax Harbor thinking, we can do better than
require circular or
increases safety. Lose power and the vessel auto- spherical hulls to this, he says. While aviation advanced swiftly and
matically floats to the surface. withand water consistently over the past centuryyielding highly
Once the Super Falcon has been repaired, the pressure. e Super maneuverable craft that can fly faster than the speed
Falcon uses a
crew hitches a custom-built trailer to the back of a cuom isotropic of soundprogress on undersea vehicles had been
Toyota Land Cruiser and I climb into the subs rear glassresin matrix slow. As a result, submersibles still worked like the
composite that can
cockpit. Hawkes goes over the controls and life- be shaped to aquatic equivalent of hot air balloons, creeping
support systems with me, then climbs into the front. accommodate the around the oceans at the pace of a jellyfish.
As the acrylic canopies descend over our heads, the human body. Hawkes wanted to explore the concept of moving
world outside goes eerily silent. All I hear is the more efficiently through the ocean and create a sub
intercom chatter between Hawkes and dive supervi- A set of inverted that would grant unprecedented access to everyone
sor Dirk Rosen. Then, a slight jolt. The SUV shifts wings allows the from tourists and legislators to marine biologists.
sub to y through
into reverse and slowly backs us into the water. the water and dive Soaring underwater, he decided, would take wings,
without balla. and so he founded Hawkes Ocean Technologies
When on land, the
(HOT), a skunkworks dedicated to building the
9>7BB;D=;H
:;;F
wings can fold up
for easy transport. Deep Flight family of winged submersibles. The
Graham Hawkes is to ocean exploration what Burt prototypes began to take shape at HOTs research
Rutan is to private space travela relentless inno- Powered by 24
facility, based at a marina in Richmond, Calif.
vator who challenges the accepted wisdom in his 4-volt lithium- The Super Falcon, the fourth in the series, has its
field by inventing around it. He began his career phosphate roots in one of the most ambitious undersea explora-
batteries, the 7-hp
in the 1960s as a civilian ocean engineer, working eleLric motor is tory missions in modern history. In 2005, Hawkes
on underwater vehicles for the British Special mated to a teamed up with adventurer Steve Fossett to create a
Forces. For the next two decades, he designed sub- 24-inch-diameter sub that could be piloted to the deepest part of the
prop that
mersibles for the oil industry and for scientific generates 508 oceana spot in the Pacific named Challenger
research. Some of those vessels found their way pounds of thru. Deep, 36,201 feet below the surface. Fossett agreed
into movies. Hawkes piloted one, the Mantis, in to fund the sub, named Deep Flight Challenger, in
the 1981 film For Your Eyes Onlyright into the hopes of setting the world record for a solo dive. But
side of James Bonds rig (at the directors insis- two years into the project, he plummeted from the

84 DECEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

sky over Nevada in his single-engine Bellanca Super
Decathlon. Ownership of the Challenger passed to
Fossetts estate when he died. But the technology
developed for the Challenger still belonged to HOT.
As it happened, Hawkes got the opportunity to
use that technology twice more: He was midway
through constructing his own Super Falcon when
venture capitalist Tom Perkins contracted him to
build a submersible that could operate from his
Maltese Falcon, one of the largest sailing yachts in
the world. One Super Falcon was delivered to Per-
kins in November 2008; the other Hawkes finished
and kept. The subs diverged from the Challenger in
two significant ways: They carried two people
upright, as opposed to one prone. And to avoid the
extreme cost of building a hull
to handle great depth, the team
used a much cheaper and easier-
to-fabricate composite of their
own design, called Sea Glass 11.
The Super Falcon is rated to a
depth of 1000 feet, but future
iterations can be designed to go
as deep as desired, and plans for
such subs are already under way.
J ; I J
< B ? = > J

The inside of the Super Falcon is
tight, but comfortable enough.
Seating is recumbent, and my
legs straddle a carbon-dioxide
scrubber that, along with an oxy-
gen control at my right shoulder,
keeps air in the pressurized hull
breathable. Each of the two in-
line piloting positions has a full set of controls
the throttle is to the left, and on the right is a finger-
tip fly-by-wire joystickbut Hawkes, in the front
position, has the master controls. Our eyes are just
level with the chop as we cruise away from the
launch; then Hawkes takes us down and we are
enveloped by murky green water. Away from the
waves and weekend boaters, the underwater atmo-
sphere is peaceful, and for a moment it feels as if
we are floating motionless.
Hawkes coaches me on how to read the heads-
up displaywhich has an artificial horizon similar
to an airplanes instrument panelthen gives me
control. Piloting the sub by joystick is as intuitive as
a video game, but orienting myself in the watery
gloom is difficult and Hawkes warns me that Im
listing to the right. I correct the trim, then glide us
gently back to the surface, where Hawkes takes the
controls and puts my gentle wobbling in the water
into perspective. He takes us down abruptly,
descending so steeply its disconcerting. The water
around us goes quickly from blue to dark green
and, finally, to brown as we reach 50 feet.
PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG ADESKO
We could, in theory, be down here awhile. The
Super Falcon has a 29-mile range and can run
5 hours between battery charges. Its top speed is
12 mphnot fast by land-speed standards, but
positively sports-car-like for submersibles. It can
glide and bank like a dolphin, even, Hawkes sus-
pects, perform barrel rollsthough I was sadly not
the guinea pig for that maneuver.
The Super Falcons ability to move like marine
animalsand keep up with themmakes it valu-
able for everything from ecotourism to scientific
research. Nobody has had a sub that can go that
fast, says John McCosker, chair of aquatic biology
at the California Academy of Sciences. McCosker
would like to use the Super Falcon to follow white
sharks. It could help us get a bet-
ter understanding of how they
track prey prior to attack, he
says. Plus, there may be behav-
iors we dont even know about
that we could only see by hanging
out with these animals.
But getting the Super Falcon
close to sea creatures is more
than a matter of speed. Hawkes
worked to minimize the subs
electrical fieldsharks, for
instance, have electroreceptors
that can detect even minute
disturbancesand make it hum
along as quietly as possible. He
also kept lighting to a minimum.
The bright lights used on con-
ventional subs, while necessary
for some jobs, can scare away
Graham marine life. If weapons-grade emissions are com-
Hawkes at ing from the lights, Hawkes says, youre only
Hawkes Ocean
Technologies going to see the stuff thats deaf, dumb and blind.
workshop in Eventually, the team hopes to add a range of
Richmond,
Calif. /e
advanced technologies to the Super Falconsonar
Super Falcon to detect obstacles, hydrophones to hear animals or
is the r boats before surfacing, and low-light cameras. The
produ4ion-
ready winged Super Falcons wings are already fitted with lasers
submersible. that can alert the pilot to obstructions a hundred
feet or more ahead. Future subs may also have addi-
tional thrusters for hovering, as well as a robotic
arm to collect scientific samples.
In the dark water, I try toggling on the Super Fal-
cons lasers, but Hawkes tells me the subs batter-
ies are too low. Turn that switch off and hang on
were coming straight up, he says, and we shoot
toward the surface. We breach suddenly, popping a
third of the sub out of the water. As I catch my
breath, I hear Rosen over the radio. Hes concerned
that sailboats are coming into the area and wants
to tow the Falcon back to the launch. Hawkes tells
him to hold off. Were doing one more, he says,
and no one argues. After all, its his vehicle. FC
POPULARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 85
 Liquor Fix
The Guerrilla Some of us
save money by

Mechanic using water for

windshield-
washer uid.
Naturally, the
By Mike Allen water should
be replaced
with a
premixed

20
winter blend
when cold
weather rolls
around. But
who thinks of
everything?
OUTSIDE-THE-TOOL- Heres the
BOX TIPS FOR scenario: Ve
water freezes.
GONZO REPAIRS You cant nd
the blue uid.
Illustrations by Dogo Inead of
waiting for
spring, you
remember that
Fuel Fuel Spray cheap vodka
works ne.
You dont have
any vodka,
Charge Vladimir? Try
methyl or
Attack isopropyl
Deeply alcohol, which
discharged car can be found
batteries can at mo
take days to hardware
charge with a Fuel Line Bic Pen ores. Even
conventional rubbing
charger, alcohol will do
because their in a pinch.
internal
resiance is Floating Feeling
high. Myth-
Buer (and PM Disintegrated float in the carburetor of your dune buggy? Make a fuel
contributing injector out of a Bic ballpoint. Gut the pen, leaving the plug in the top.
editor) Jamie Disconnect the fuel line from the carb, and push it over the Bics pointy
Hyneman
sugges using end. Strap the penvent hole facing downover the carb throat with a
a DC ick rubber band or a piece of wire. The gas
welder for a squirts out the vent hole. The engine will
few minutes to Demolishing a room for a home
Not Just a Digger

wake the run pretty well at half throttle. It wont idle, improvement projeR is a lot
battery up. Use and will run lean at full throttle, but at least easier with a tool commonly
the lowe amp youll be able to drive back to civilization. found in the shed: a square-nose
setting, and shovel. It removes ju about
back, and, if the Stuck Wheelo anything that a thin blade can
battery arts get under. Ve handle provides
to get hot, Kicked and hammered the wheel of your car, but it ill wont pop plenty of leverage to pull up
cease o the hub? Run the lugs back on and leave them two threads shy carpeting, tacks and all. If the
immediately. of tight, then lower your ride to the ground. Drive the car around blade is even a little bit sharp, old
the block while you simultaneously ab the brakes and shake the vinyl oor tile or linoleum liZs
eering wheel. Ve wheel and tire assembly will pop loose. Next, from the adhesive. Peel old
wire-brush the hub/wheel mating surface to clean up any quarter-round, wainscoting and
corrosion; use antiseize compound to prevent a recurrence. crown molding o the walls and
ceiling. Even crumbly old roof
shinglesnails and allpeel up
easily. Drywall doesnt have a
Clean the Clipper chance. Be yet, youve already
Free your lawnmower deck of dried grass by idling it for 5 minutes or so got a shovel handy for cleaning
while spraying water under the blade. No more putty-knife scraping. up aZer the demo is done.

88 DECEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

 Mechanical Advantage
Rules
Got a bunch of fencepos to remove? You can
dig em up with a shovel, hu, pu. Better yet, get of
a big pipe wrench and clamp it to the base of the
po about 8 inches above the ground. Now use a
Thumb
oor jack or ju a scissors jack under the head of
the wrench to li- the poseven if theyre Need a
anchored in concrete. shim?

The Running of the Wires

Tere are times when a length of conduit Te thick-
outretches the sh tape. Ten what? nesses of
Tie some monolament shing line some common
around a small sponge ball or a wadded- items:
up plaic bag, then u it into one end Po-it note
of the conduit. Attach a Shop-Vac to the 0.004 inches
other end and ick the switch. Within Credit card
seconds, the sponge or bag is drawn 0.030 inches
through the conduit and into the vacuum.
Now use the shing line to pull the wires. Lost the
feeler
gauge?
Bakers Secret Beverage-
Have you
ever strug-
5
Uses for:
Coming Unglued
can lid
0.014 inches
(typical
Got some le-over gooey adhesive from ignition-point
gled to fill a AEROSOL CARB CLEANER that Grateful Dead icker on your new gap)
transmis- used minivan? Carb cleaner dissolves it Jumbo
sion on a and wont damage the paint, unless paper clip
your car is coated with old-fashioned 0.040 inches
transfer case lacquer inead of modern enamel.
or other Cleanup in Bay 4
That Sucking Sensation No scale
hard-to- Its not ju for cleaning carburetors handy?
reach reser- anymore. It makes a perfeF solvent Is a vacuum leak somewhere under- 1 gallon
for mo anything around the shop. hood causing that idle misre? Use of water
voir? Since Spray some on a icky gasket or on carb cleaner to nd it: Spray a quick 8.4 pounds
space is so gasket sealer residue to make shot around the intake manifold. As the 1 gallon
tight, fun- scraping a lot easier. cleaner is sucked into the leak, the lean of gas
mixture is enriched, momentarily 6.2 pounds
nels are Mounting Issues raising the idle speed. Short pus 1 gallon
useless. Try Trying to mount a tubeless tire but narrow the search. of diesel
this: Fill a cant quite get the bead to seat so Get Me Outta Here 7.2 pounds
quart zip- you can inate it? A 2-second shot of
lock freezer carb cleaner, followed by a ick of Door locks gummed up by years of No ruler?
your lighter, literally blows the beads pocket lint, especially if someones Quarter
bag with onto the rim, allowing you to air up been lubing with 3-In-One oil (which 0.955 inches
lube, and cut normally. Warning: Were not traps dirt)? Bla carb cleaner into in diameter
a quarter- responsible for singed eyebrows or the key slot to remove the glop, then Credit card
pinched ngers. lube with nonicky graphite. 3 38 x 2 18
inch off one inches
corner. 1-inch box
Youve just wrench roughly
12 inches long
made the
automotive Dusting for Oil Leaks Cant find
equivalent of Matt Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcra , came up with this: Chase oil leaks the
a pastry bag, by cleaning the engine, and spraying a generous coating of foot powder in the area of measuring
the leak. Run the engine for a minute or two, and any fresh oil will soak into the white cup?
used for powder, leaving a noticeable ain. 12-ounce
decorating soda can
cakes. Now 1.5 cups
you can Oil container
Leak Foot Powder
cap holds
squeeze lube about an
up or over ounce
into the fill Spray-
paint cap
hole from 4.5 ounces
almost any
angle.
 Clean Energy Update

The New

Photographs by Jason Fulford

Wildcatters
Texans oil-boom attitude could put the
state in a surprising positionleading
the charge to alternative energy.

By Jennifer Bogo

Driving along Broadway in Sweetwater, Texas, one

could justifiably assume the city is on its way down, not its
way up. Cobwebs crowd the windows of abandoned store-
fronts, and peeling signs hang from cracked facades. It is
only after I pull up to the mayors office, pausing to study
the street more carefully, that I notice a real clue to the
citys changing fortunes: The blond stone building is neatly
sandwiched between Craig A. Johnson, Independent Petro-
leum Landman, and Evans Enterprises, Your source for
wind turbine maintenance solutions.
Greg Wortham, the mayor of Sweetwater, is a compact
man who, contrary to his West Texas roots, speaks quickly
and easily, offering more information than is asked. As we

Dan Templeton stands on

the nacelle of a 2-megawatt
DeWind turbine in Sweetwater,
Texas. Four of the worlds five
biggest wind projects are in
Sweetwaters Nolan County.

POPULARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 91

leave downtown in his silver Ford Escape Hybrid, he
points to one low-slung building after another. Thats a
British company, Altezza. They work on the outside of the
blades and towers, like spacewalkers. That building had
been vacant for a dozen years, easily. This is General
Electrictheres 150 workers there. It used to be a Coca-
Cola storage facility. At one point, a quarter of all GE tur-
bines in the world were built here. Northwind moved into
that one; it held a company that made deer blinds.
Along the narrow state road, warehouses evolve into
wide-open plains where Black Angus cattle meander
among the bases of sleek white turbines. I have to crane
my neck in order to take them in. When the blades revolve
to 12 oclock, the turbines stretch to a height twice that of
the Statue of Liberty and sport a wingspan greater than a
747s. As I peer out the window, Wortham identifies tur-
bine models the way a bird-watcher ticks off species: The
nacelles of Mitsubishis appear to have two eyes and a
mouth on the back, he tells me. Siemenses have a tail fin
and are long and sleek like a bullet; General Electrics are
shaped like a breadbox and Vestas turbines are cut across
the bias with a clean diagonal line.
The irony of this scenario in a state better known for its
drilling rigs is not lost on Wortham. If you picked 50
states, plus D.C., and
asked anybody in the
U.S. to rank all 51 [for
wind power], Texas
would be somewhere
around Mississippi, he
says, at the bottom.
ince the Spindletop
gusher inspired the
first wave of wildcatters
in 1901, Texas has had
a history of going all
out in the energy busi-
nessbut not in ways
that are necessarily
friendly to the environ-
ment. If Texas were a countryand Texans love to remind
you that it once was a sovereign republicit would rank
seventh in carbon-dioxide emissions: Its economy
accounts for more than a quarter of total U.S. natural gas
production and oil refinery capacity, and its residents con-
sume up to three times as much energy as residents of
neighboring states.
If it were a country, Texas would also rank sixth in wind
power, after Germany, the U.S. as a whole, Spain, India and
China. While U.S. wind-power capacity grew by 43 percent
in 2007, in Texas it rose by 57 percent. All told, the states
92 DECEMBER 2009
POPULARMECHANICS.COM
turbines now produce more than
8300 megawatts of electricity, enough
to power about 2 million homes;
nearly 3000 are produced in Sweet-
waters Nolan County alone. In com- Wind and Cotton
parison, Vermont produces 6 mega-
watts; Oregon, 1408. Even California Because there are so many
generates just 2781 megawatts from landowners here, nobody
gets rich out of this deal,
wind power, and it built its first wind says Cliff Etheredge (left),
project nearly three decades ago. whose son Scott farms
And that is the curious paradox of cotton on land in Roscoe.
Texas: While seemingly more virtu- Its just a small, steady
ous states labor over environmental income. If you take care of
it, itll put your kids through
impact assessments, Texans see a college and help pay debts.
business opportunity and grab it Its certainly a stabilizing
and so could very well end up leading influence on the economy.
the nation in clean energy. In Texas,
because we dont care about the envi-
ronment, were actually able to do
things that are good for the environ-
ment, says Michael Webber, assistant professor of
mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Aus-
tin. Its the most ironic, preposterous situation. If you
want to build a wind farm, you just build it.
On private land, wind developers simply make a deal
with landowners and pay them a royalty. But theres no sit-
ing review process for wind farms on state lands, either.
Plus, the states boundary extends 10.3 miles from the
coast, a stipulation made by Sam Houston, Texass presi-
dent, before the republic joined the United States in 1845.
Federal waters off all other coastal states begin 3 miles
offshore, which means wind projects beyond that point
such as Cape Wind, which was proposed for Nantucket
Sound in Massachusetts in 2001fall under the jurisdic-
tion of the Minerals Management Service.
If youd like to build a wind farm off the coast of
Texas, you only have to deal with the Texas General Land
Office, and were a very eager leaser, Jim Suydam, the
offices press secretary, says. My boss is a Texas Republi-
can. Hes an old Marine lieutenant colonel who carries a
gun in his boot. But youll find no bigger proponent of off-
shore wind power, because he sees it as a vital part of a
diversified revenue stream for public education.
Offshore oil and gas production have contributed
$6 billion to the Texas Permanent School Fund since it
was established in 1854but that source of income wont
rise forever, Suydam says. So this summer the Texas Gen-
eral Land Office signed two offshore wind leases with
Houston-based Baryonyx; they were the states sixth and
seventh. When the company goes into production, the
state will take a cutand resell the power. Its different
than in California, where its all about carbon emissions,
Suydam says. Here its all about making money.
Heat rises. So inside the cramped nacelle of a
2-megawatt wind turbine, 260 feet above the West Texas
plains, its easily 100 Fhot enough to give the gearbox a
mirage-like haze, to cause my fingers to fumble clumsily
 Carbon The Sunrise Ridge Algae pilot plant takes advantage of a copious resource:
Recycling carbon dioxide. The gas is siphoned from the top of a stack at the Hornsby
Bend Wastewater Treatment Facility in Austin, then pulled through a series
of demisters and compressors (below). The CO2 percolates into reactors
downslope where it feeds algae, later processed into biofuel.
with simple carabiners and to make the last few rungs of a
narrow steel ladder feel interminably long. But just 10 feet
higher, thermodynamics change. A strong, cool breeze
blows steadily through the rope tethering me to the top of
the hub, around the carbon-fiber blades that taper off into
the blinding sun. I shade my eyes and look to the horizon:
Neat rows of turbines spin steadilyan alternative energy
crop thriving in Americas petroleum heartland.
Dan Templeton pops his head and shoulders up
through the hatch to triple-check that my harness is
clipped in. As a wind technician, he has climbed hundreds
of such towers; his rangy body can go from 0 to 300 feet in
about 10 minutes. This job has a certain romance to it
because youre working at such
heightstheres some perceived
danger, says Templeton, who now
runs a program to train future tech-
nicians at Texas State Technical
College in Sweetwater. This fall, 250
students were enrolled. Its really
not that dangerous, he says, but for
your typical country boy who likes to
work outside and with his hands, its
the perfect job.
This year in Nolan County, the
wind industry directly employed
more than 1300 people. Some, like
Bryan Gregory Jr., a third-generation
potash miner, answered an ad in the
paper and learned skills on the job.
Wind has taken very good care of me and my family, he
says. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. Now
Gregorys doing the hiring as a project manager at Bluarc
Management Group, a renewable energy asset manage-
ment firm. In wind, our guys are cross-functional, he
says. They do everything from IT networking to mainte-
nance to electrical and mechanical troubleshooting to
crane work. This year, wind also provided Nolan County
with more than 800 construction jobs.
Up until 2000, the only economic development for 10
or 15 years was prisons, Mayor Wortham told me. Wind
power took off after Texas passed a renewable portfolio
standard in 1999, mandating that utilities generate 2000
megawatts of renewable energy by 2009. Coupled with a
federal renewable-energy-production tax credit, turbines
suddenly began to look profitable to wind developers and
to communities like Sweetwater. While driving me
around, Wortham pointed out Highland High School
both the old part, built in the 1930s, and the new $8 mil-
lion facility that will soon replace it. Property taxes on
wind energy have poured more than $30 million into
Nolan Countys economy, and in 2005 the population
finally stabilized after a decades-long decline.
Roughly 11,000 people live in Sweetwater, where rust-
brown pump jacks have long supplemented ranching
income. Eight miles due west on Interstate 20 sits the cot-
ton capital of Roscoe. It has about 1300 residents and half
as many wind turbineswhen the fourth phase of the
Roscoe Wind Complex was completed this summer it
became the largest wind project in the world. Initially,
developers were reluctant to build turbines on farmland
because it involved negotiating with so many landowners.
So five years ago, retired cotton farmer Cliff Etheredge
organized family and friends into one group, under one
contractthen paid for his own anemometer tower and
took the data to a developers door.
This is the first time most of these landowners ever
had a chance at a steady income, says Etheredge, who has
since started his own business as a wind developer.
Because theres not enough rain to recharge groundwater
for irrigation, agriculture is touch and go. Until recently,
wind was a tremendous negative
because it robbed us of our mois-
turethe evaporation rate here is
many times greater than our rainfall,
he says. Now were able to sell the
wind. And its a real blessing to us.
he Sunrise Ridge Algae test
farm sits deep within the Hornsby
Bend Wastewater Treatment Facility
in Austin, past mountains of fresh,
dark Dillo Dirta compost made
from treated sewage sludge and yard
clippingsand just downslope from
a pair of hulking anaerobic digesters.
It looks less like a startup company
than a squatters camp. Sheets of
black plastic, crisscrossed by PVC pipes and rubber tubing,
cover the ground. Sara Norris, the 24-year-old supervising
engineer, greets me at the plastic storage shed that serves
as the lab. As I mentioned, she says, its very low-tech.
Slim and suntanned, with hair swept back into a long
brown ponytail, Norris leads me over to a row of flat,
100-square-meter bags called helioreactors. The algae
inside soak up the sun, doubling in number every other
day. You can step on them, Norris tells me as she strides
onto their surface in black work boots. Theyre really
hardy. I follow. Its only after warm water seeps through
the permeable fabric and swirls around my exposed feet
that I think about whats inside: a mixture of nonpotable
wash water and a nitrate- and phosphate-rich fertilizer,
processed from sewage sludge. The algae love it; so, appar-
ently, do the flies buzzing around my ankles.
A rancid smell wafts from the direction of the digest-
ers, where bacteria break down the wastewater, forming
methane and carbon dioxide. The plant burns the gases
off in a stack. When you combust methane, it produces
[even more] carbon dioxide, and we use that to feed our
algae and modulate the pH in our bags, Norris says. After
D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 95
POPULARMECHANICS.COM
a few days, the algae is harvested and settled in a tank,
where it becomes a deep-green pesto-like paste. Then its
dehydratedfor now, in propane dryers rigged from old
filing cabinetsand the resulting algae crackers, which
look like sheets of nori, are loaded into a catalytic ther-
molysis unit off-site. A chemical conversion process turns
Algae to Biocrude
the algae into crude bio-oil, which can be run through the Sara Norris, a San Antonio native and mechanical engineer,
existing energy infrastructure of refineries and pipelines. supervises a pilot plant for Sunrise Ridge Algae, which grows
A really critical part of algae as a viable fuel or energy algae in flat, white helioreactors containing wastewater. Con-
verting the algae to fuel can help clean up both air and water
source is that youre able to get things for free, like nutri-
pollution, she says. Algae just made sense to me.
ents and carbon dioxide, Norris says. Texas produces 676
million metric tons of CO2 a year, so the opportunities to
site algae plants are almost endless. Norris rattles off likely
candidates: cement plants, oil refineries, even cattle feed-
lots. The stoichiometry, or the math behind the chemis-
try, suggests that for every ton of algae you produce you
consume one and a half tons of carbon dioxide, she says.
Algae operations can squeeze value from another copi-
ous Texas resource: brackish water. The dusty town of
Pecos, in the southwestern corner of the state, used to be
cotton countrybut with only 9 inches of rainfall a year
and saline aquifers, the surrounding fields have long
since dried up. Today, saltwater algae swirls like pea soup
in open raceways behind a Texas AgriLife Research Sta-
tion run by Texas A&M University. Its a traditional agro-
nomic society here, but algaes a plant too, Mike Foster,
the stations director, says. If we can show the growers
that this is going to work, theyll be the first ones to try it.
Several hurdlessome biological, some technologi-
calstill need to be cleared. At Pecos, for example, scien-
tists are looking for an algae species that can withstand
temperature swings ranging from blistering to freezing.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, mean-
while, are experimenting with more efficient ways to
extract oil from algal cells. But the payoff has the potential
to be huge: Conservatively, algae can produce between
2500 and 5000 gallons of fuel per acre per year; soy pro-
duces 50 and corn, 250. If successful, Texans will effectively
leapfrog first-gen biofuels to those poised to turn a profit.
But the states real strength in the clean-energy
economy might lie in its entrenched dirty one. The Energy In other words, biofuels may have to come through
Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates that U.S. Texas one way or another. And oil companieshedging
biofuel production reach 36 billion gallons a year in 2022; their bets against future carbon regulation and declining
only 15 billion gallons can come from corn-based ethanol. productionhave already begun to nudge open that door.
But while cellulosic ethanol and algae companies have BP, Shell and Chevron have all backed companies working
sprung up from Boston to California, few have made it past on cellulosic ethanol and algae-based biofuels. This July,
the pilot-plant stage of 10,000 or so gallons a yearlet even the leviathan Exxon announced a $600 million
alone to the commercial phase of tens of millions. Texas, investment in Synthetic Genomics, a biotechnology com-
on the other hand, has more than 26 refineries already pro- pany engineering algae to continuously produce oil.
cessing 7.4 million barrels of petroleum a day. When youre a small company and just trying things
The biggest thing people fail to understand about out, youve got to be as cheap as you can be, Sunrise Ridge
energy is the scale, UTs Webber says. We understand Algaes CEO, Norman Whitton, sayseven spiking helio-
scale. We have scale of resource and scale of industry. If reactors with Perrier for a quick fix of CO2 when necessary.
you want biofuels that satisfy 10 percent of our nations Were trying to pioneer technology, he says, but we
fuel consumption, which is required with the Energy know that in the long run, in order to be even remotely rel-
Independence and Security Act, how are you going to pro- evant, its going to take an awful lot of investment.
duce and move and blend them? Energy, in the end, is Last year, the gross domestic product for Texass oil
about steel in the ground. and gas industry was $200 billion. Were the headquarters
of the energy industry of today, Texas state representative
Mark Strama says. That should be our biggest competitive
advantage at being the headquarters of the energy industry
of tomorrow. He adds: California has Silicon Valley, bil-
lionaires who made their money in technology who see
renewable energy as the next Internetand those guys are
putting their money where their mouths are. What would
totally eclipse all of our competitors is if the fossil fuels
industry would say, Were going there. the country with 528 megawatts of grid-tied solar, followed
With nearly 12 percent of the worlds silicon-processing
capacity, Texas, as it happens, has a Silicon Valley of its
own. Dallas-based Texas Instruments invented the inte-
grated circuit in 1958, and central Texas has since grown
into a world leader of semiconductor chip manufacturing.
As a result, you have thousands of people who know how
to lay microcircuitry on glass, which is basically how chips
are made, Steve Taylor, a senior manager of corporate
affairs for Applied Materials, says. And thats the same
concept for solar.
The fastest growing market for chip-based products
cellphones, BlackBerries, laptops and iPodshas moved
to Asia, taking semiconductor manufacturers with it. But
the talent pool that remains behind in Texas is, in effect,
already partially trained to work in a solar factory. We
have a huge market for solar panels, and we have a lot of
empty space to put the panels out there, Taylor says. If
Texas takes the initiative, it could be a center for not only
solar-panel installation, both rooftop and utility scale, it
could also create solar manufacturing jobs here.
Applied Materials makes equip-
ment for manufacturing microchips
in Austin and flat-panel displays else-
where. Three years ago it used that
expertise to begin making equip-
ment for thin-film solar panels,
which it sells to factories overseas. So
far theres only one factory making
solar panels in Texas, and it begins
production this December. Austin-
based HelioVolt uses a thin-film
technology too, but with copper
indium gallium selenide (CIGS) as
the semiconductor instead of silicon.
The company coats 2 x 4foot sheets
of glass with CIGS to form circuits,
rather than discrete solar cells. These
photovoltaic integrated circuits can be used for curtain
walls, rooftops or ground-mounted solar installations.
Texas has already proven that it can deploy a large-
scale renewablewind. Soon, it will also have the trans-
mission lines to handle power from solar as well. Texas is
the only state besides Hawaii and Alaska to have a self-
contained electrical gridregulated by the Electric Reli-
ability Council of Texas, not the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commissionand the Public Utility Commission recently
approved a $5 billion expansion to the windiest areas of
the state. (T. Boone Pickens has delayed his plan to build a
wind project in Pampa until these lines reach the panhan-
dle.) Plus, solar could provide power during the day when
electrical demand is highest and wind is at its weakest.
According to the National Renewable Energy Labora-
tory, by developing less than 1 percent of its total land area
for solar, Texas could generate enough electricity (without
energy storage) to satisfy the states 2007 demand for more
than 300 million megawatt-hours. So far, California leads
by New Jersey (70), Colorado (36) and Nevada (34). Less
than 5 megawatts of solar power are grid-tied in Texas.
But the states streamlined regulatory system could
vault Texas to lead in solar power too. For example, this
summer San Antonios utility signed a contract with Tes-
sera Solar for a 27-megawatt project in West Texas; the
first units are expected to come online by the end of next
year. That pace stands in stark contrast to Tesseras expe-
rience in California, where the company signed a contract
for an 850-megawatt project in 2005 and only recently sub-
mitted the 5000-page impact assessment. While the scale
of the two projects is vastly different, it is similar to
another moment in the two states history, such as when,
in 1999, Texass 30-megawatt Delaware Mountain Wind
Farm began operations on a Culberson County ranch.
Texas didnt build small wind projects for long.
The wind boom in Texas has been due, in part, to basic
mechanicsturbines are a time-tested technology. Solar,
by comparison, is still relatively immature. The flip side
is that the potential for solar to come down in cost is much
greater than that of wind, B.J. Stanbery, HelioVolts chief
strategy officer and founder, says. In
fact, the price of solar panels has
already dropped 40 percent since last
year. So what happens when you
have a cost-effective business oppor-
tunity in Texas? Stanbery asks.
Well, we move in and take over.
ext to the northbound lane of
I-35 in Austin sprouts unusual land-
scaping: a row of 16-foot-high sun-
flowers with photovoltaic panels
cupped like high-tech petals over
welded steel stems. Brewster
McCracken takes the next exit and, as
we pass a shopping center, points out
a green-built Home Depot and a
solar-powered Chipotle restaurant. Then, as we drive
deeper into Mueller, a 711-acre mixed-use development on
the site of Austins old municipal airport, a control tower
rises into view above a horizon of tightly packed homes.
CONTINUED ON P A G E 1 3 0
D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 97
POPULARMECHANICS.COM
 Clean Energy Update

Are Green Jobs

for Real?
by Joe P. Hasler

From pure optimism to extreme skepticism, few contem-

porary buzzwords elicit such polarizing emotions as green
jobs. Proponents say these jobs will ease not only unemploy-
ment but also climate change and the nations dependence
on foreign oil. Skeptics question the sustainability of green
jobs and the governments ability to identify game-changing
technologies. By some counts, we can look forward to 5 mil-
lion green jobs; by others, any surplus will be far outweighed
by a net loss of jobs in other fields.
The first step in cutting through the hype surrounding
green jobs is simply to define them. Some workers, such as
energy auditors and solar-panel installers, have plied their
trades for decades. But even jobs in emerging fields, such as
smart-grid and electric vehicle development, repurpose age-
old professions such as electrician, mechanic and engineer. If

Students in Texas
State Technical
Colleges Wind
Energy Technology
program learn the
basics of ele1ric-
ity, mechanics and
hydraulics, dire1or
Dan Templeton
says. And, of
course, safety.
 All ates have green jobs. But the Clean Energy
Economy report, released by the Pew Center on the
Green
Jobs
Geography
States in June, attempts to determine how they are
diributed across the country and where they
demonrate the greate growth. Eis map shows
ME
u 6000 green jobs
eight ates in which the percentage of green jobs u 0.85% of total
exceeds the national average. Some are long-time jobs u 2.34%
clean-tech baions, while others are green uparts annual growth
seizing on abundant renewable-energy resources. An aged housing
ock means jobs
in weatherization
and energy
auditing. Maines

MN weern ridge is
home to four large
wind farms,

OR ID
u 20,000 green
including Stetson
jobs u 0.64% of
Wind, which

OH
total jobs u 1.38%
u 19,300 green u received $40
4500 green jobs annual growth
million in imulus
jobs u 1% of total u 0.63% of total
A growing number money. Plus, a
jobs u 4.77% jobs u 10.11% u 35,200 green
of small, eco- University of Maine
annual growth annual growth jobs u 0.56% of
friendly manufac- professor says the
total jobs u 0.85%
Oregons Turbine manufac- turers based in the ates 3500 miles
annual growth
Employment turer Nordic Twin Cities produce of windy coaline
Department Windpower items as varied as In 2002, Ohios could generate
projeFs green jobs recently received nontoxic cleaning Department of 5000 megawatts
will increase 14 a DOE loan supplies, Development and 15,000 jobs.
percent from 2008
to 2010, largely
from organic
guarantee to
expand its plant at
Pocatello, which
CO
u
17,000 green
suainably
sourced cabinetry
and high-eciency
launched a grants
program to rapidly
expand the ates
farming and is also home to HVAC syems. Re fuel cell indury.

MA
jobs u 0.64% of
forery. Wind Hoku Materials ate is home to Rolls-Royce, based
total jobs u
1.98%
giant Veas is in a solar materials Mortenson in North Canton, is
annual growth
Portland, as is the manufaFurer. In ConruFion, the one of the 70-plus u
26,700 green
Bonneville Power eaern Idaho, Solix Biofuels, nations large members of Ohios
jobs u 0.69% of
Adminiration, wind farms Abound Solar and builder of wind Fuel Cell Coalition.
total jobs u 0.52%
which is develop- operated by Exergy Ascent Solar are all farms. And Xcel Once the glass
annual growth
ing ways to handle and Ridgeline located in Denver. Energy, motivated capital of America,
mass quantities of produce energy Re National by Gov. Tim Toledo has Gov. Deval Patrick
wind power. not only for Idaho, Renewable Energy Pawlentys pledge emerged as a called for the ate
but also for Laboratory in to reach 25 global center for to up its solar
California, Oregon Golden, Colorado percent renewable solar manufaFur- capacity to 250
and Washington. State University power by 2025, ing; 5000 jobs megawatts by
in Fort Collins and continues to have been added 2017and from

CA
u 125,000 green
the University of
Colorado in
Boulder lead in
develop wind farms
across the ate.
over the pa ve
years.
2007 to 2008
solar jobs doubled.
ConruFion
research and recently began in
jobs u 0.71% of
development of Boon on the
total jobs u 0.88%
clean-energy large wind-
annual growth
technologies. turbine teing
Between 2006 and facility in the U.S.,
2008, $6.6 billion which will likely
of venture capital attraF manufac-
poured into the turers to the ate.
ates clean-
tech artups.
Home-appliance
eciency
diagram by Kako

andards spurred
manufaFuring
jobs. And a
renewable
portfolio andard
requiring 33
percent renewable
power by 2020
has encouraged
growth in wind
and solar.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON FULFORD POPULARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 99

 Clean Energy Update

you count all the people working in clean energy, environmen-

tally friendly production, energy efficiency and pollution miti- Green
gationas the Pew Center on the States recently didand Jobs
discount the people indirectly linked to those fields, such as Case
Study
accountants, there were 770,000 green jobs in the U.S. in 2007.
(Nuclear energy also wasnt counted.) In contrast, there were
1.3 million people working in fossil-fuel sectors.
If measured against every job out there, green jobs account Wisconsin
for just 0.49 percent of employment. But Kil Huh, a project Weatherizer
director at Pew, says the sector grew rapidly from 1998 to 2007. e new hires in the weatherization
During that period the unit of the Central Wisconsin
overall economy grew Community A7ion Council
3.7 percent, while green (CWCAC) are a motley assemblage
jobs grew 9.1 percent. of recession refugees. A li of their
And according to the former professions reads like a
Economic Policy Insti- whos who of manly labors: auto
tutes Ethan Pollack, mechanic, carpenter, roofer,
plumber. Adam Faul inalled oors
green jobs tend to be
for 13 years. But in 2008 proje7s
durable and better- arted drying up and by 2009 he
paying. Green invest- was forced to look for other work.
ment results in a higher When the economy nose-dived, I
mix of production kind of went along with it, he says.
jobs, Pollack says, is spring, Faul came across a
and pushes against a job liing for the CWCAC, which
decades-long trend of was hiring six new technicians to
manufacturing jobs help low-income residents reduce
A technician makes solar panels disappearing and low- their energy cos. e technicians
at HelioVolts new fa*ory in are dispatched to homes, where,
paying service jobs tak-
Texas. /e company took advan- a7ing on recommendations from
tage of a workforce trained in ing their place. energy auditors, they inall
the semicondu*or indury. This initial robust insulation, clean furnaces, seal air
growth was fueled pri- leaks, change light bulbs and
marily by private investment. Ernst & Young, a firm that pro- replace inecient appliances and
vides strategic guidance for clean technology companies, windows. With his background in
found that as of June 2008, 301 companies in the sector had home renovation and experience
attracted $7.3 billion in venture capital. Although the reces- with power tools, Faul thought it
sion caused funding to drop nearly 50 percent in the first three seemed like an ideal new career.
months of 2009 from the same period in 2008overall venture Mo of the guys who
transitioned here from other jobs
capital decreased 61 percent, according to Pewthat early
had conru7ion skills, and they
boost may help green companies better weather the downturn. wanted to ay in that eld because
The clean energy economy was one of the few sectors that was they enjoyed the work, says Brian
better insulated, Huh says. Because of the increased spend- Bauer, who once inalled gutters
ing at the federal level, its recovery should be a lot faster. but now supervises the CWCACs
Roughly $84 billion of the $787 billion American Recovery four three-man weatherization
and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has been allocated to initia- crews. ere was no work leW for
tives, such as weatherization and battery research, aimed at them. Now theyve got able jobs.
stimulating green jobs. Already clean tech is showing signs of Faul, who arted in June,
revival. Ernst & Young found second-quarter venture capital in appreciates the ability, but nds
the work rewarding in another way
the sector was up 73 percent from the first quarter, thanks, in
too. It seems like were really
part, to confidence stemming from increased government making a dierence, like were part
support. Jen Stutsman, a representative for the Department of of a bigger pi7ure, he says. What
Energy, which is responsible for disbursing nearly $37 billion we do is hard, physical work, but to
in stimulus money, says a major goal of the Recovery Act was me it seems dierent. I dont
to catalyze private investors to make investments in projects consider it ju another job.

100 DECEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

 Clean Energy Update

Fuel Cell Engineer

Green Description: Focus on improving the eciency of fuel cells, which generate eleFricity
Jobs from hydrogen and oxygen, for both automotive and ationary applications like
Growing emergency power. Training: Bachelors degree (minimum) or maers degree
Fast (preferred) in chemical, eleFrical or mechanical engineering for research, design,
fabrication and teing. Salary: $50,000 to $85,000

Smart-Grid Engineer
Description: Develop eleFrical grids that can eeFively diribute power from
intermittent sources such as wind and solar, charge a eet of eleFric vehicles and
communicate through technology that enables homeowners to manage energy cos and
utility providers to avoid service disruptions. Training: Bachelors degree (minimum) in
syems, eleFrical or soZware engineering. Salary: $50,000 to $100,000

Wind Turbine Machinist

Description: Use machine toolslathes, milling machines and machining centersto
make gearboxes, shaZs, yaw drives and other precisely cut or drilled durable turbine
parts. Training: Vocational schools, technical colleges and apprenticeships; an easy
transition for workers in traditional manufaFuring jobs. Salary: $13 to $25 per hour

From high-tech research
and development roles to
blue-collar work in manufac-
turing and conru8ion,
green jobs run the gamut in
pay, education and job
description. Some require
years of schooling and
advanced degrees; many
others require only minimum
retraining, oAen provided on
the job or in brief but
intensive workshops.
Community colleges are also
rapidly retooling curricula to
oer associate degrees in
renewable energy syems.
Green Architects/Builders
Description: Design and conruF buildings that utilize suainable materials,
renewable energy sources and ecient plumbing, lighting and heating/cooling syems.
Training: ce Green Building Certication Initute oers Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation. Various cities and the National Association
of Home Builders have unique andards and certication as well. Salary: $50,000 to
$105,000 (architeFs); $10 to $30 per hour (builders)
Energy Auditor
Description: ConduF room-by-room visual examination of ruFures, examine utility
bills, locate air leaks with blower-door tes or infrared imaging, and then prescribe
measures to prevent energy wae. Training: To audit exiing ruFures, certication
from the Building Performance Initute. To assess new conruFion, certication
through the Residential Energy Services Network. Salary: $12 to $14 per hour
Photovoltaic Installer
Description: Mount solar panels on rooZop racks, congure DC-to-AC inverters and
wire PV syems to feed eleFricity to the grid or to operate as and-alone power plants.
Training: Private companies and technical schools oer intensive courses for
newcomers. ce gold andard for contraFors, eleFricians and those already in the eld:
A amp from the North American Board of Certied Energy PraFitioners, which also
certies professionals for solar thermal inallation. Salary: $14 to $28 per hour

they might not otherwise make now.
Yet some question the governments prescience when it
comes to selecting worthy projects. Kenneth Green, a fellow
at the American Enterprise Institute, cites the failed attempt
to supplant fossil fuels with corn-based ethanol as a prime
example of a taxpayer-backed swing-and-miss. The govern-
ment is not good at picking winners, he says. Richard Sylla,
an economic historian at New York University, points to the
Carter administrations attempt to promote solar power.
The government subsidized people to put up solar panels,
he says, and when the price of oil came down a lot of govern-
ment money was wasted.
But today, Sylla says, things might be different. Even
before the government came in, Wall Street and the venture
capital crowd were interested, he says. Maybe solar power in
the 1970s was premature, but 40 years later, it might work.
And Alex Klein, a research director at the consulting firm
Emerging Energy Research, says the difference between etha-
nol and this round of government intervention is that funding
is not confined to one nascent technology. Rather, the Recov-
ery Act moneyin the form of federal loan guarantees, grants
and tax creditsis spread across a broad range of technolo-
gies and companies. They seem to be conscious that if theyre
spending the taxpayers money, theyre not spending it on
projects that arent coming to fruition, Klein says.
To weed out duds, Stutsman says reviewers from within the
DOE, academia and energy fields carefully scrutinize potential
awardees. Just how many jobs those projects createand how
many will be long-termremains to be seen. For now, the
green workforce continues to be a tiny fraction of overall
employment, making only a slight dent in unemployment. But
with clean energy technologies advancing quickly, a genuine
green-collar economy may not be far off. FC

102 DECEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

 HANGING BIG PICTURES +
DAMP DUCTS + GREEN REMODELING

Bantamweight
Slugfe
WE TEST SEVEN CORDLESS DRILLS
THAT ARE LIGHTWEIGHTBUT HEAVY
HITTERS. B Y R O Y B E R E N D S O H N

How much cordless drill do you

need? Probably not as much as you
think. Weve seen continuous improve-
ment in small drill drivers, especially
since the introduRion of lithium-ion
battery technology. Se new crop of
12-volt drills looked promising, but
we wanted to know how well they
would hold up when we really leaned
on them. Theres only one way to
answer a queion like that. We gath-
ered seven drills with nearly identical
features. Sen we drilled holes with a
58-inch spade bit and drove 2-inch dry-

wall screws until the batteries gave

out. Heres our report.

PM editor Harry
Sawyers and two
other teers
bored 622 holes
and drove 1657
screws to te
cordless drills.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANJA HITZENBERGER POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 105

P M D I Y H O M E //// D R I L L T E S T
Number of 2-inch screws:
Number of 58 -inch holes:
BOSCH MAX LITHEON
PS30-2A
Price: $150
tF
WZ
what we liked
Flat-out screwdriving
capacity. Rats where the
Bosch really shines. It
performs as if Boschs
engineers took one of the
companys successful
full-size drills (tools that
have always done well
in our tes) and simply
scaled it down.
what we didnt
Its small potatoes (maybe
even nano potatoes), but the
Bosch needs a better grip
surface on its chuck ring, and
the two-speed slide switch is
a little i.
106 DECEMBER 2009
Best
Value
CRAFTSMAN NEXTEC
11812
Price: $90
vEF
@Z
what we liked
Low price and high perfor-
mance equal value. Rats
pretty much the CraTsman
in a nutshell. It turned in a
respeFable performance in
the drilling and driving tes,
and its easy to handle, with
good grip surfaces and a
nice, crisp clutch aFion.
what we didnt
Re aFion of the forward
reverse switch was a bit
icky. You can try switching
the drill from forward to
reverse and accidentally
leave the switch set
between the two. Hit the
trigger, and it feels like
youve got a dead battery.
| POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
HITACHI
DS10DFL
Price: $100
vF
@o
what we liked
Re Hitachi is a nimble little
drill, thanks to a handle
circumference thats almo
a half-inch smaller than the
other produFs. And like
full-size drill drivers, it has a
box-shaped battery
mounted on the end of its
handle, making it one of two
tools we teed that can
reliably and up. (Re other
was the Ryobi.)
what we didnt
If a drill as inexpensive as
the CraTsman can have a
single collar chuck that you
dont need two hands to
operate, so can this tool.
Hitachi should add one. Re
two-speed seleFor switch is
unnecessarily i and
uncomfortable to use.
pm do-it-yourself
yourselff
MAKITA
MAK
DF330DW
DF3
Price: $137
P
Zov
oW
what we liked
Ris was the only 10.8-volt
tool in the te. Its smaller
battery and motor result in
very nimble performance. Its
about a half-pound lighter
than anything else here, and
its very slim around the
handle at the trigger. And
while the Makita lacks the
overall drilling and driving
chops of the other drills, its
the be inallers tool. Its
perfeF for boring small
holes with a twi drill bit
and driving or removing
machine screws.
what we didnt
Re Makita lacks the
power of its larger
competitorsbut thats
more an observation
than a complaint.
P M D I Y H O M E //// D R I L L T E S T

pm do-it-yourself
Drill tes are

q
getting tougher to

Best
Overall
Number of 2-inch screws:
rews:
Number of 58 -inch holes:
s:
MILWAUKEE M12
2410-20
Price: $150
vEW
WZ
what we liked
Torque and speed. Re
Milwaukee has both, and it
works faer than anything
else, especially when armed
with the 58-inch spade bit.
Re extra speed helped
throw chips clear while the
torque gave it extra oomph
to twi the bit through wet
wood or areas near knots.
Everything about it sugges
it was designed for people
who work for a living. Its got
a big chuck with large
numbers, and a handy
lighted gauge that indicates
battery charge.
what we didnt
If youre like our teers, and
occasionally push the drill
with one hand on the back of
the housing, you cut down
on the airow to the motor
through the rear vent.
108 DECEMBER 2009
RIDGID FUEGO
R RYOBI ONE-PLUS
R82008
Price: $140
vno
@F
what we liked
If youve got a crowded
toolbox, this is your tool.
From the chuck to the back
of the motor housing, its
612 inches long, 1 inch
shorter than competitors.
And if youre the kind of guy
who leans on a drill, youll
appreciate the tools 250
in.-lb of torque, equaled only
by the Milwaukee. Rats
especially handy if you drill
and drive in pressure-treated
wood, hardwood or metal.
Finally, it had the easie-
turning chuck ring of the
seven tools in our te.
what we didnt
Like the Milwaukee, the
Ridgid vents air through the
rear of the motor housing,
and you can inadvertently
choke o airow by pushing
the drill with one hand
behind the motor.
| POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
q
judge because
cordless tools keep
getting better. All of
the produEs here
performed well
beyond our
expeEations. In
faE, the top of the
pack was almo
too close to call.
If portability and
screwdriving are
important to you,
HJP002K then these ubby
Price: $80 drills probably make
more sense than a
ZW@ larger tool. All of
Zv them t more easily
into a crowded
what we liked toolbox than do
We found the Ryobis their 18-volt (or
no-frills design kind of
even 14-volt)
counterparts. And
refreshing. It was the only as our tes prove,
drill without a speed-sele\or they are all relent-
switch. Its top speed was less drivers.
only 550 rpm, but it slogged Qe real ques-
along, drilling holes and tion in deciding
driving screws. Re few how much drill you
features it had were helpful. need is the size and
It was also the only tool with number of the
a magnetic bit trayand not
holes you bore, and
how quickly you
some wimpy thing, either. need to bore them.
Put a bit on that tray, and its We used a spade
there for good. bit for our te
what we didnt because it really
You need to use two hands resses the tool. If
to loosen and tighten the you drill small holes
chuck around a bit. Given the in hardwood and
advent of the single-collar soUwood (under
58-inch diameter)
variety, this is outdated.
using a twi drill
bit, any one of
these tools will
serve nicely. For big
holes, get a more
powerful drill.
by Roy Berendsohn

He Big PiKure
I want to hang a large picture in my living room but I cant
Q seem to nd heavy-duty hooks to attach to the frame. My
local hardware and art-supply stores dont have anything that
looks up to the job. My best idea is to drive two large eye
screws into the frame and hang the picture o a thick piece of
wire stretched between them. Will this hold?

A Theres a better way. Im con-

cerned that if the wire comes
that uses two beveled lengths of wood.
He top block is screwed to the hanging

 

I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y D O G O

loose from one of your screw heads,
the picture is going to come crashing
down, damaging itself and the floor
and maybe you, as well.
A more reliable method is to use the
time-honored French cleat, a system
objeK. He other half is attached to the
wall with wood screws. When you place
the top half of the cleat over the bottom
half, the piKure is locked rmly in posi-
tion. (See the illuration at right.)
To make the cleat, rip two pieces of

110 DECEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN BERMAN

 wood at an identical angle on a table
pm do-it-yourself
saw or, lacking that, using a circular saw.
Ae length of the pieces matches the
width of what you are hanging. For large
pi8ures, mirrors or cabinets, each cleat
should be at lea 2 inches wide and 34
inches thick, faened with 2-inch-long
No. 6 or No. 8 wood screws. Assuming
12-inch thick drywall, each screw would
penetrate 34 inches into the framing lum-
ber. Aats plenty of holding power for all
but the heaviest loads. Of course, if
youre sure theres no wiring or plumbing
running through the framing and you
have a truly heavy load to hang, you can
use an even longer screw. Ideally, the
bottom cleat should be attached to two
uds, with a pair of screws driven into
each. If thats not possible, you should
still have plenty of holding power by
attaching to one ud and using a couple
of hollow wall faeners at the opposite
end of the cleat.
One small drawback of the French
cleat is that it takes up at lea 12 to 34
inch of space behind whatever youre
hanging. To keep the obje8 from tipping
again the wall, attach a spacer block
to the wall or to the back of the frame.
Snowed In
Every year I put up a snow fence, and
every year it doesnt seem to do much
good. I ill get snow dri4s on my
driveway. Should I bother with the
fence again this year?
People oTen have the wrong idea about
snow fences. Aey dont prevent a driT
they ju make the driT form where you
want it to. A snow fence slows the wind
and causes the snow to drop to the
ground. If the fence is correctly posi-
tioned, the driT forms where its out of
the way and where it will do the lea
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHAD HUNT (CHRIS GRUNDY)
harm when it melts. Ae problem comes
when people place a snow fence close
to walks and driveways. Ais ju ensures
that the driTs form in the wor spot
right in the middle of the paved surface.
A rule of thumb for any snow fence:
Its diance away from the prote8ed
area should be roughly 35 times its
height. For a typical 4-foot-high fence,
thats at lea 140 feet away. Obviously,
if thats larger than the size of your yard
(and you cant put a fence on your neigh-
bors property) you should position it as
far away as possible. Also consider
planting a row of trees to take the place a public road where it could be hit by
of a seasonally inalled fence. Ae taller snow from a passing plow.
the trees grow, the more ee8ive they
become at blocking wind-driven snow. Discontinued Du8s
Leaving a gap between the bottom I recently changed my furnace and
of the fence and the ground causes the du0work from a downdra4 to an
drift to form farther away from the overhead heating syem. :e old
fence, dramatically increasing its eec- syem used du0s that ran through
tivenessthe gap prevents the fence the houses concrete slab oor. We
from being buried by the driT it creates. have a high groundwater table, and
For a 4-foot-tall fence, leave a gap of 6 sometimes the water penetrates the
inches or so. Make the gap taller if you slab and enters the du0s, so Id like to
are positioning the fence in an area with ll the unused du0s if possible. Would
tall grass and scrubby growth. expanding foam work?
Next, the fence should be at lea Groundwater is a lot like politics: Its all
several feet longer than the area its local. Regardless of the water table,
prote8ing, to keep snow from blowing you should take eps to reduce water
around the fence edges. Ais also helps problems around your house before
account for shiTs in the wind dire8ion, you tackle the du8s. Ae ground should
which range from 30 to 45 degrees. slope away from the house on all sides,
Finally, to prevent the fence from and downspouts should discharge as
being torn loose, faen it upwind of its far as possible from the foundation
pos, so the wind pushes the fence wall. Id say that would have to be at
again each po, rather lea 10 feet away. Also,
than pushing it away. To contact a foundation
prevent the fence from drainage company to
being knocked over, get an estimate for
brace the pos and sup- installing a perimeter
port the end with guide drain around the slab.
wires, especially if the With that taken care
end of the fence is near of, youre going to have
qq
drywall easier. Re show
Cool Inventions, Hot Cash picked a handful of the
mo promising
inventions. Re nalis
All of us have ideas upcoming Cool Tools will present their
for new or improved Inventors Challenge TV produFs to a panel of
tools. Some of us take special, which airs three judges that
the next ep and Ranksgiving weekend. includes PM contribut-
aFually build proto- Over 300 backyard ing editor Chris Grundy,
types. Ren the queion tinkerers entered the ho of DIYs Cool Tools,
is, to paraphrase Ralph conte. Re ideas ran and myself. Re winner
Waldo Emerson, how the gamut from the gets a cool 10 grand,
does one get a almo too simple (a exposure and, who
potentially better small tool-belt hopper knows, maybe a coveted
mousetrap to market that delivers nails to spot for his invention on
and reap the rewards? your hand) to a wild a home centers shelves.
Re DIY Network has contraption that claims LARRY WEBSTER,
one answer with its to make hanging ceiling PM Detroit Editor
qM
q

Intended to be the Leatherman of hammers, this
contender is split in two down its length and has a ratchet-
ing joint opposite the head. It unfolds to become a square,
a crow bar, and even a socket wrench.
POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 111
P M D I Y H O M E /// H O M E O W N E R S C L I N I C Q + A
to hire a professional to deal with the
du1s, and even then a pro would likely
have to improvise some kind of a solu-
tion, whether its lling the du1s with
polyurethane foam or pumping in
grout (a cement-based slurry, like thin
mortar) or simply capping their ends.
@ere isnt a good by-the-book solu-
tion to the problem of failed in-slab
du1s. To double-check this, I called
PM contributor Pat Porzio, a mechan-
ical engineer, plumber and ele1rician
whos an HVAC contra1or. Hes seen
all kinds of du1 syems in his day,
and cautioned that the du1s may be
a cementasbeos blend known as
Transite. In the old days, some guys
would simply hack a ragged hole in
the Transite wherever necessary to t
in a oor diuser. Obviously, if thats
the case, you want to cover the du1
openings as soon as possible, even if
its with nothing more than a piece of
carefully positioned plywood. You can
check whether the du1 is Transite by
snapping o a small piece near a du1
opening and sending it to a teing lab
in your area.
Regreen Is Very Green
Im a r-time homeowner, and Ive
seen a variety of environmental
rating syems applied to houses,
such as silver, platinum and gold, for
example. Im intereed in making my
home as eco-friendly as possible,
and Id like it to meet these guide-
lines. Where do I art the process?
Youre probably referring to green
conru1ion and certication guide-
lines under the Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED)
program. Thats a process in which
builders can have a third party certify
that a house or commercial building
meets a range of ambitious environ-
mental andards. LEEDs four levels
(certified, silver, platinum and gold)
are applied to new conru1ion or to
buildings that have been so com-
pletely rebuilt that they are essentially
new ru1ures.
Since youre talking about an exi-
ing ru1ure, your be bet is to look
pm do-it-yourself
into regreen guidelines. Regreen is
not a certication process. Inead,
its an extremely thorough guide for
remodeling contractors and home-
owners interested in improving all
aspects of a homes environmental
performance. @e guidelines are the
produ1 of a collaboration between
the American Society of Interior
Designers Foundation and the U.S.
Green Building Council (the nonprot
organization that created LEED certi-
cation and promotes it).
You can download the guidelines
at regreenprogram.org. @e document
is one of the be of its type that Ive
seen. In 164 pages, it covers topics
ranging from reusing kitchen cabinets
to opping air inltration through a
garage ceiling. Furthermore, it con-
tains numerous links to other sites
that can dramatically speed your
research into green remodeling.
Steam Ahead?
Would it be possible to repair heel
dents in my oak oor by placing a
damp cloth over them and using a
clothes iron on the high setting to
raise the wood grain? Ais technique
worked for me on wood paneling,
but Im concerned it might damage
the oors polyurethane nish.
Its possible you could raise a small
dent using the method you describe,
but it might do more harm than good.
@e combination of heat and moiure
can wreck a oors nish. I submitted
your queion to the technical advis-
ers at the National Wood Flooring
Association. Their verdict: Sand the
oor to take out the dents.
Red oak is a tough material and it
takes a lot of force to dent it. Yet as
tough as it is, it can be readily dam-
aged by high heels and other concen-
trated loads such as the feet of heavy
furniture. A variety of studies have
found that high heels produce a pres-
sure of several hundred to 2000 psi,
depending on weight and the surface
area of the heel. Concentrated in a
tiny heel, a womans weight is enough
to damage the hollow tubes that
 constitute the wood fibers. Picture
pm do-it-yourself
crushing a soda raw and you get the
idea. So, for arters, you may need to
renish the oor. ;en you can work
on banishing high heels from that
roomlet us know how that conver-
sation turns out.
Ice Out
Our house is only a few years
old, as is its refrigerator. We cant
underand why the icemaker
behaves so erratically. Weve had a
technician in to look at it, and he
cant nd a problem.
Im willing to bet the refrigerator is
conneDed to the kitchen sinks water
filter. Many refrigerators require at
lea 40 psi of water pressure in order
to make ice. ;e problem is that a lter
can cut that pressure subantially, as
much as 30 percent if its a reverse-
osmosis type or a clogged carbon l-
ter. When incoming water pressure to
the house is only 40 to 50 psi to begin
with, that will cause problems for the
icemaker. If your refrigerator has a
cold-water dispenser, you can te for
low pressure by timing how long it
takes to fill a typical drinking-water
cup. It should take no more than about
20 seconds or so.
Replace the water lter if you sus-
peD that its clogged, or consider buy-
ing a booer pump that will supply
the icemaker with water at the cor-
rect pressure. (Your refrigerators
owners manual should specify the
correD pump.) Likewise, if the manu-
facturer recommends against a
reverse-osmosis lter, youll have to
inall a new piece of supply tubing to
bypass the lter.
If the problem isnt a water lter,
check the saddle valve that regulates
water flow to the refrigerator. The
valve is a simple device that clamps
over the copper supply tube leading to
the icemaker. There are two types.
One, called a nonpiercing (or drill) type,
requires that a hole be drilled into the
supply tube before the valve is
inalled. ;e other is known as a self-
tapping saddle valve. It has a pointed
tip that punDures the tube. ;e hole
created by these self-tapping valves is
much smaller than the drilled hole,
says Chris Zeisler, a repair technician
with repairclinic.com, a Web-based
appliance-parts retailer. Thus, the
self-piercing valve is prone to plugging
from mineral or other deposits. ;ey
shouldnt be used in icemaker inalla-
tions. Replacing the valve with a non-
piercing or drill-type valve may well
solve the problem.
Crumbling Concrete
?e surface of my concrete driveway
is crumbling because of road salt.
Can I use a sealer on it to prevent
further crumbling?
;e condition you describe is known
as scaling, and before you slather on
the sealer, you should get some pro-
fessional advice from a local company
that specializes in concrete reora-
tion and nishing.
;at probably sounds like draic
advice for such a simple-sounding
queion, but theres good reason for
it. Exterior concrete is supposed to be
able to withstand normal de-icer
chemicals. When it doesnt, that could
mean several things, none of them
good: Either the concrete wasnt pro-
duced with an air-entraining cement
or a similar admixture, it wasnt prop-
erly finished, or it wasnt properly
cured. (Air-entrained concrete con-
tains micro scopic air bubblesas
many as 300 to 500 billion per cubic
yard, according to the Portland
Cement Association. ;e voids allow
ice crystals to form, then melt and
reform without damaging the con-
cretes surface.)
If the damage is spreading, and it
likely will, a concrete reoration com-
pany will know the be overlay to deal
with it in your region and climate, as
well as how to prepare the driveway
prior to applying an overlay. ;e reo-
ration experts may also recommend a
sealer to reduce water penetration
through the surface. FC
Got a home-maintenance or
repair problem? Ask Roy about it.
Send your questions to
pmhomeclinic@hearst.com or to
Homeowners Clinic, Popular Mechan-
ics, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY
10019-5899. While we cannot
answer questions individually,
problems of general interest will
be discussed in the column.
 REPLACING POINTS + AFTERMARKET
BRAKES + SYNC IS WATCHING

degree of difficulty 


Old-School
Ignition Tech





q

GOT A COLLECTOR CAR W I T H



IGNITION POINTS? HERE S H O W



TO REPLACE THE POINTS A N D

q

SET THE TIMING. B Y M I K E A L L E N

Ris Chevy V8 Its not a heap, dad. Its a clas-

uses an old-school
V I N TA G E E N G I N E S A N D V E H I C L E S C O U R T E S Y O F B L U E S K Y A U T O , B U D D L A K E , N . J .

sic. 7ats harder to juify when your

Kettering-yle
ignition diributor. classic muscle car wont art. Noth-
To set the timing ing like a high-compression V8 com-
aOer replacing the bined with a battery that hasnt seen
points and
condenser, youll
a charge for a month and a half to
need, no surprise, make for slow cranking. Add in the
an old-fashioned indifferent, low-energy spark and
roboscopic incorreN ignition timing caused by
timing light.
worn-out points, and youve got
an engine that wont reoh,
and wet spark plugs too.
Modern engines use
computer-controlled fac-
tory-preset self-adjusting
ignition syems that never
change their timing, have
no moving parts and never
need maintenance. Yay! A
generation ago, every teenager,

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHAD HUNT POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 115

P M D I Y A U T O /// I G N I T I O N

pm do-it-yourself
GVNsNYVq
zNs4L
every mechanic and a
lot of vehicle owners
underood the theory
and pra6ice of chang-
ing points and setting
the timing. Nonethe-
less, there are still
plenty of older vehi-
cles, outdoor power
equipment, boats and
tractors that need
periodic adjustment
or replacement.
?e diributor on
these older vehicles #ss?j|
performs two related
tasks. ?e r uses a
simple on/o switch,
the ignition points, to provide properly
timed pulses of 12-volt ele6ricity to
the ignition coil. In the coil, essentially
a transformer, its stepped up to
10,000 to 20,000 volts. ?en, the high-
voltage ele6ricity from the coil returns
to the distributor, where the rotor
inside parcels it out to the correct
spark plug to ignite the fuel/air mix.
?eres a lobed cam on the diribu-
tor shaJ that pushes on a small rubbing
block on the movable side of the points.
As the cam and diributor rotate, the
points open and close conantly. As
they close, current from the ignition
switch ows through the conta6s into
the coils primary windings and then o
to ground. This current generates a
magnetic field in the coils iron core.
When the points open a few degrees of
crankshaJ rotation later, the current is
interrupted, causing the magnetic eld
to collapse. ?is induces ele6rical cur-
rent into the secondary windings of the
coil, where the current is raised to
20,000 volts or more. ?e high voltage
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Kettering Ignition
Charles F. Boss Kettering was one of the founders of Delco, and the inventor of the
battery-point-yle ignition syem, r used by Cadillac in 1910. Wear, inaccuracy and
high maintenance have forced car manufaQurers to abandon this syem, replacing it with
computers and individual ignition coils for every cylinderand no points to wear out.
block, which conta6s the point cam, cylinder to force the pion down and,
wear, the ignition points clearance and subsequently, the wheels to move the
timing conantly change. AJer thou- car forward. The spark plug normally
sands of miles, the timing has shiJed res anywhere from 10 to 45 degrees
enough to ae6 performance, and the before the pion reaches TDC, to allow
ritual of changing the points and setting the fuel/air mixtures ame front to tra-
the timing becomes necessary. How verse the combuion chamber. It takes
oJen? Some vehicles need to have the a few milliseconds for the pressure in
timing adjusted as often as every the cylinder to build, and waiting until
10,000 miles to maintain peak perfor- TDC would make the pressure peak too
mance. High-revving engines will need late in the pions downward roke to
premium points with a high-pressure be mo ecient. Under some engine-
spring to keep the points from bouncing operating conditions, the advance
at increased revs. Some points assem- might adju the ignition timing to as
blies include the condenser, yet for oth- much as 45 degrees before TDC. Signs
ers, its a separate part. Condensers are of incorre6 ignition timing include hard
inexpensive enough that it makes no arting, spark knock, poor power, over-
sense not to replace them with every heating and decreased fuel economy.
DIAGRAM BY BRADLEY R. HUGHES

now travels over to the distributor,
where the rotor metes the high-voltage
pulses out to the corre6 spark plug.
All that current owing across the
points doesnt like to op suddenly, and
can initiate a small arc, which eventually
erodes the tungen conta6s. ?e con-
denser cushions that arc, making point
life much longer. But not innitely long.
As the conta6s and the plaic rubbing
set of points. ?ey should la as long as
a set of points, 20,000 miles at lea.
On Point
e fun"ion of the ignition sys-
tem is to re the spark plugs at the cor-
re6 time, ju before the pion hits top
dead center (TDC) on the compression
stroke, to ignite the fuel/air mixture,
thence producing high pressure in the
Advanced Timing
There are two main types of
advance mechanism built into the dis-
tributor. The first is the centrifugal
advance. A pair of bob-weights spin
atop the diributor shaJ, rerained
by small springs. As the engine speeds
up, centrifugal force pulls the weights
outward, which in turn makes the top

116 DECEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM

 MECHANICAL ADVANCE
Rese spring-loaded
counterweights move
farther out as the rpm
increase, advancing the
ignition timing. How much
advance and how early is
determined by the springs.

VACUUM ADVANCE
Vacuum from the
carburetor pulls on a
rubber diaphragm to
rotate the breaker
plate for extra ignition
advance at part-throttle.
Be sure both these
advance mechanisms
are working whenever
you replace points.

Setting Dwell

Changing the clearance in the points aeFs the

proportion of time the points are closed (dwell)
and the charging of the coil. A dwell meter is
needed to properly adju the dwell angle, which is
done with the engine spinning on the arter
motor or, on some engines, aFually idling.

of the split diributor sha1 advance.
Missing springs or a gummed-up link-
age can give too much advance too
soon, or none at all.
Similarly, a vacuum advance uses a
rubber diaphragm to advance or retard
the timing. Vacuum from the carburetor
pulls on one side of the diaphragm, pull-
ing the points around the distributor
and making the plugs re earlier. A leaky
vacuum line, a disintegrating rubber dia-
phragm or a icky breaker plate can
make the advance mechanism balky.
Inoperative advance mechanisms
can deliver too much or too little igni-
tion advance. Too much advance can
make the engine ping. Too little causes
power loss and overheating.
Inalling the new points and con-
denser is simple, and usually requires
no more than a screwdriver. Fe propor-
tion of time the diributors cam keeps
the points closed and open is referred
to as dwell angle. Adju the dwell angle
initially by using a feeler gauge. Mo
V8 American iron should be adjued
to 0.018 to 0.020 inches, while four-
cylinder engines, like early VWs, art
around 0.014 inches. Close is good
enough, because the only really accu-
rate way to set dwell is with await for
itdwell meter. Fe dwell angle should
be 30 to 35 degrees for V8s and 44 to
50 degrees for four-cylinder engines.
Check the shop manual for your car.
Attach the dwell meter to the coils low-
voltage leads and spin the engine with
the arter motor to check and trim the
dwell. Some cars have a small window
in the diributor to let you set dwell
with the car running, a real timesaver
because you dont have to crank the
engine with the starter, adjust the
points and check the dwell again.
Cleanup in Bay 4
Before you button up the diribu-
tor, clean the point contaTs of any oil
le1 behind by your feeler gauges. Con-
tamination will carbonize and become a
resiance where there should be only
metal-to-metal contact. I usually just
use the corner of a business card to
scrub any contamination o. Add a dab
of point-cam lube to the rubbing block.
Adjusting dwell also changes the
base ignition timing, so whenever the
dwell is adjued or the points replaced,
the timing will need to be adjusted.
Some engines call for vacuum lines to
be pinched off or disconnected, so
youll need to nd the correT timing
procedure for your engine in the shop
manual. Ill wait ...
Got the timing specs? Find the tim-
ing marks on the harmonic balancer or
on the ywheel. Use some contraing
paint or a felt pen to brighten the timing
mark. Hook the timing light to the No. 1
plug wire. Start the engine, and shine
the timing light at the timing marks.
Mind the whirling fan and the belts,
reminds my old-timer mechanic pal
Le1y. Fe robing light will op the
spinning pulley when the No. 1 plug res.
Loosen the clamp holding the diributor
down and slightly rotate the body of
the distributor to line up the timing
marks. Revving the engine slightly should
make the mechanical advance aTuate
youll see the timing marks advance
and retreat as the engine surges. Tighten
the distributor clamp, reconnect any
vacuum lines and drive. FC

POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 117

 pm do-it-yourself
by Mike Allen

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Watchers q
q
I needed new disc brakes for my car, but the
Q repair shop wanted so much money for the
parts alone, I went to the auto parts store up the
street and bought them myself. But when I showed
up at the shop to have them do the installation, the
manager took one look and refused to install the
brakes. He said they were poor oshore knockos,
and likely to kill me and my family. I was a little
annoyeduntil we both calmed down and he showed
me the dierence in the parts. Ie ones I bought were
much lighter, because the metal was thinner at
almost every spot. So I took them back. Ie parts-
store clerk said these were special lightweight
brakes, and would actually help me save gas. Iey
wouldnt refund my money, but would let me swap
them for a dierent set identical to the ones the
brake shop wanted to install, right down to the brand
on the boxand they wound up costing me more
than the brake shop would have charged me in the
rst place. Is it legal to sell these lightweight brakes?
118 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
qM!q
q

q
qq
Lighter
isnt better.
ett A Legal, yes. As to their being light-
weight, they certainly are. A good
idea? Probably not. There are increas-
Reducing the
mass of ca ing numbers of these offshore, low-
iron in brake
discs is one way
quality brake discs showing up on
to trim cos, shelves lately. They use less cast iron
but it comes at and have thinner flanges and fewer,
a reduFion in
brake perfor- thinner cooling vanes then the OEM
mance. equivalents. Brakes transform the
kinetic energy in your vehicle to heat. It
takes mass, in the form of that cast
iron, to capture the heat, and then sur-
face area to dissipate the heat to the
air. Less mass equals poorer brake per-
formance in high-speed stops. Fewer
vanes equals poorer performance in
sequential stops or on long downhill
grades. In both cases, thats bad, dude.
Ie failure mode here is when the fric-
tion material gets hot enough to boil,
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHAD HUNT
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P M D I Y A U T O /// C A R C L I N I C Q + A

forcing the pad surface to oat above
the iron discs on a grounds-effect
cushion of vaporized binder, leaving
you with a spongy pedal and no brak-
ing power. Extreme cases of over-
heating can boil the brake uid, leav-
ing you with no brakes until they cool.
Kere are a half-dozen manufaLur-
ers of brake discs in this country, and
more overseas, that make discs virtu-
ally indiinguishable in quality from
the ones inalled on your car the day
it was made. Stick to brand names,
and you should be ne. Saving money
on brakes somehow doesnt sound
like a good idea, especially when the
dierence is only 20 or 30 bucks. As
for saving gas because the discs are
lighter? I dont think so.
Slow Hand
Is there a way to repair a seatbelt
retra/or? I have a relatively new
pm do-it-yourself
SUV with seatbelts that are slow
to retra/. 1e belts require a little
help so that they dont get caught in
the door when we get out. Can they
be lubricated?
Ive xed a bunch of seatbelt retrac-
tors. Usually, they are gummed up by
lint, dog hair, and in one case what
seemed to be the majority of a bottle
of icky soda.
Warning: Do not attempt this if
your vehicle uses seatbelt pretension-
ers, which are more complicated, and
are, in some cases, driven by the same
kind of pyrotechnics as an airbag.
Remove the seatbelt retractor
from its mounting, which will proba-
bly mean removing some interior
trim. Dont remove the belts web-
bing, or you and the chance of let-
ting the whole thing unwind like a
cheap window blind. Clean as much
gummy lubricant and dirt out of the

qq!q

Sync Is Calling
Your car
What does that can send
light on my dash e-mail.
mean? You know, Kewl.
that Check Engine
light that only the
mechanic can decipher,
requiring a trip to the
shop and a $75 fee
ju to look? Either
that, or buying a scan feature called Vehicle ju a generic code for a
tooland then try to Health Report, then misre, and that your
gure out what Code Sync your Bluetooth car wont explode before
P0300 means in Earth phone and perform a you get home. Sync will
language. Fords 2010 Vehicle Health Report. If even volunteer to make
Sync syem, as well as the Check Engine light an appointment with the
syncing your iPod and comes on, Sync will send local Ford dealer for a
your phone to the car, you a quick e-mail repair. Sounds like ju
can short-circuit (sorry) detailing the problem in what I need to keep
all of that. All you need lay terms, letting you track of my wifes car
to do is aFivate a know that a P0300 is when Im out of town.
 mechanism as you can with a
pm do-it-yourself

toothbrush or some innocuous

cleaner such as Simple Green.
Solvents or harsh cleaners like
ammonia or detergents may
degrade the nylon webbing,
which would be bad. Lubricate
sparingly with silicone spray. If
the mechanism permits, you
may be able to lube with some
silicone grease or lithium
grease, but, again, avoid get-
ting any on the webbing. If you
feel really condent about tin-
kering with such a vital safety
syem, disassemble the whole
shootin match and wind a cou-
ple of extra turns into the clock
spring that operates the retrac-
tor. But if youve ever redone
the spring mechanism in a
lawnmower recoil arter, youll
avoid this at all cos.

Cheap Insurance
I have a 1998 New Beetle TDI
(diesel) that had its Check
Engine light come on. A VW
dealer found a ru-frozen
waegate rod. He lubed it
and moved it back and forth.
However, he said the problem
would probably come back.
Since the part is not available
separately from VW, I would
have to buy the entire
turbocharger. Inalled, that
will run a whopping $2200. Is
there a way of getting only
the oending part and
replacing ju that? Will
running the engine this way
damage anything?
The wastegate bleeds off
excess exhau from the turbo
to keep the intake-manifold
pressure from getting too
high. Just because the part
isnt available directly from
VW doesnt mean its unavail-
able. Hunt around for the part
inead of ju believing what
the dealership tells you. And,
frankly, freeing up and oiling a
moving part once every 10
years sounds like the cheape
solution. Maybe, if you lubed
this part annually with a
P M D I Y A U T O /// C A R C L I N I C Q + A
pennys worth of Nevr-Seez, it wouldnt
freeze up again.
Will not fixing this damage your
engine? Depends. If it sticks open,
dumping the wastegate all the time,
youll have little power. If it icks closed,
you could overboost the engine and
melt or break a pion.
Lights O
My Ford Explorers battery was drawn
completely dead by the interior lights
when someone le7 the door ajar for a
full week. Can I jump-art my Explorer
with cables and drive 100 miles
without damaging the alternator?
I have been warned that the alternator
will be damaged.
I know, I know; weve all jump-arted
cars many times and havent damaged
anything yet, right? On the other hand,
the large amount of current needed to
operate late-model cars with eleKric
fuel pumps, fuel injeKion and gobs of
electricity-consuming accessories is
daunting. Thats why most cars have
100-amp or larger alternators. Running
all that u while trying to resuscitate
a really dead battery can make an alter-
nator overheat. Black, crispy wiring =
bad. Alternator manufacturer Bosch
warns that alternators can indeed be
damaged this way. A decent charger is
less than a new alternator.
To reduce the current your poor
alternator is going to have to produce
to charge that battery, Bosch
and Irecommend charging the battery
3 to 4 hours with a proper battery char-
ger before arting the car. If thats not
feasible, do this: Start by hooking up the
jumper cables to the two batteries and
letting them chat for a half-hour or so.
Dont run the engine on the donor car.
Wis will put at lea some charge into
the dead battery. Wen art the donor
car and let it run at fa idle for 10 to 15
minutes to add some more charge.
Now art the dead car, but turn o as
many accessories as you can. Speci-
cally, dont use the air conditioning,
headlights, rear-window defroers or
any other high-power devices until the
car has been driven for a couple of
122 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM
hours. Drive, if possible, on the freeway,
or at least avoid stop-and-go traffic.
Youll be better o with the engine spin-
ning and the alternators cooling fan
spinning along rapidly to keep the alter-
nator from frying itself. Start saving
money in the cookie jar for a new bat-
tery. Deep-discharging a flooded-cell
lead-acid car battery like yours, even
once, will permanently damage it.
Torque to Me
I am changing the front ruts on my
05 Ford Explorer. Xe manual says I
need to torque the bolt that mates the
rut to the lower control arm to 258
7-lb. I looked everywhere for a big
enough torque wrench. It looks like all
the torque wrenches peak at 250 7-lb!
I also researched impa\ wrenches,
and they have the torque required, but
I wonder if theyre accurate.
An impaK wrench is not an acceptable
way to torque anything, even a lug nut.
Were are larger torque wrenches, but
youd need to go to an
`nEf
auto parts store or an
industrial supply house.
For serious torquing, they
make gear-driven torque
multipliers that can
increase the torque value
on the wrench by as
much as eightfold. Of
course, thats overkill for
your job. I would ju set
the torque wrench to
ZFf
250 d-lb, and give it one
tiny twi more ader the
click. For that matter, the
dierence between 250
and 258 ft-lb is about
3 percent, and I doubt
the wrench calibration is
closer than that.
Not faidious enough
for you? Lets try this. Put
an open-end crowfoot on
the end of the torque
wrench instead of a
socket, which will extend
the wrench about three-
quarters of an inch. My
half-inch torque wrench is
about 14 inches long from the center of
pm do-it-yourself
the drive to the pivot on the handle.
Adding the crowfoot will multiply the
torque by 14.75/14, or a little more
than 105 percent. Measure your crow-
foot and wrench to find the specific
multiplier for your application. If you
were to make or buy an extension that
moved the torque wrench back exaKly
14 inches, then the torque on the bolt
would be exactly double what the
wrench is set to. Sometimes, I ju use
a combination wrench as a torque mul-
tiplier. Do the math to gure what you
need to dial up on the wrench to
achieve the correK faener torque.
Diesel Woes
I own a 2009 Jetta TDI like your
long-term te car (in the Augu 09
issue). I too had the experience of
purchasing contaminated fuel. I fueled
up my car with diesel and as I was
leaving it sounded like I was dragging
chains. By the time I went to exit the
service ation the car was nonfunc-
tional. I had it towed to the neare
VW dealer and was told that I had
contaminated fuel. But, unlike your
te car, I had to pay $450 to have the
fuel syem ushed out.
Gasoline burns far more rapidly than
diesel, and the chain-like noise you
heard was detonation, similar to the
ping you get in a gas engine running on
low-oKane fuel. Continued operation
under these conditions could damage
your engine, so be glad it shut down
right away.
Obviously, somewhere along the
diribution chain, gas got mixed with
diesel fuel. Wat gas ation owes you
$450 and the co of the tow. You, and
a lot of other people who pumped fuel
from that tank. Call whatever ate or
county agency regulates gas ations
in your area and complain. Wen call
your attorney. FC
Got a car problem?
Ask Mike about it. Send your ques-
tions to pmautoclinic@hearst.com or
to Car Clinic, Popular Mechanics, 300
W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019-
5899. While we cannot answer ques-
tions individually, problems of general
interest will be discussed in
the column.
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 FROZEN CELLPHONES + SNOW
L E O PA R D + i P H O N E AU TO - T U N E

Digital
Sketchbook
THE TECHNOLOGY TO TRANSLATE
YOUR DOODLES TO PIXELS IS
SURPRISINGLY AFFORDABLE AND
ACCESSIBLE. BY ANTHONY VERDUCCI

Drawing, that medium of pencils,

pens and paper, would seem to be
the la great analog art. Traditional
sketching is a taBile experience that
doesnt translate well to a mouse.
But take the mouse out of the equa-
tion and replace it with a digital pen,
and drawing on a computer becomes
a surprisingly intuitive experience.
Pen-based user interfaces are
almo as old as computing itself, but
professional graphic artis all swear
by one technologythe Wacom tablet
and pen. Wacom makes a variety of
pen and tablet interfaces, from $2000
21-inch rotating tablets with integrated
screens to the small, consumer-friendly
Bamboo CraP, which sells for $130.
Ive used Wacom tablets both pro-
fessionally for photo retouching and for
my hobby, creating cartoon creatures,
for years, but the fundamentals of the
STUDIO D

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS ECKERT POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 125


P M D I Y T E C H /// D I G I T A L D R A W I N G
pen interface take only minutes to learn.
A Wacom tablet intera6s with an elec-
tromagnetic resonance pen that the pad
can dete6 from up to a half-inch away.
You can control the onscreen cursor by
hovering above the pads surface. To
draw or sele6 an option, ju trace or
tap on the pad. Ce tablet senses both
pressure and dire6ionality, so it can digi-
tally mimic the chara6er of your roke
from the gentle scratches of a pencil to
the thick, heavy lines of a paintbrush
dragged across a canvas. Newer Wacom
tablets, such as the Bamboo CraH, are
two-nger touch-sensitive, meaning you
can use the device as a digital drawing
pad as well as a trackpad replacement
for a mouse.
Ce second part of the artiic equa-
tion is soHware. No two artis have
the same yle or technique, and ju as
analog artis work in acrylics, water-
colors, oils or inks, digital artis have a
broad tool set of art programs available
to them. Pro art soHware is enormously
capable, but can get expensive and eye-
glazingly complex. Adobe Photoshop
($700), for inance, has artiic tools
that go way beyond its core photo-
manipulation functionality. Corel
Painter ($500) digitally mimics the pro-
cess of using traditional media such as
oil and pastels. And Autodesk Maya
($3495) is sophiicated 3D modeling
soHware. But any of these programs
can take years to maer.
For newbies, many of the same com-
panies that make pro software also
have lower-priced programs such as
Adobes Photoshop Elements ($100),
Corels Painter Essentials ($100) and
Sketch Pad ($120), and Autodesk
SketchBook Pro ($100). These are
easier to learn and far friendlier to the
wallet. (Wacom tablets generally come
with two free art soHware downloads,
so some of these programs can be had
for no co.) Ce soHware that ts your
yle is be discovered through experi-
mentation. Download trial versions of
soHware before you buy.
Mo of these programs have a fairly
similar logic and set of tools. Ce con-
cept of layering, for example, is perva-
126 DECEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM
qq
qq
pm do-it-yourself
!qq

The Layered Look
sive. Drawing and editing images in lay-
ers is like having innite levels of tracing Digital artwork is created through a
layering process. Each layer renes the one
paper to compose your image with. You
below it, like tracing paper. 0is ru2ured
can draw a rough sketch on the bottom drawing process allows much more
layer, then progressively rene it and exibility and room for experimentation.
add color in successive layers (see Ce
Layered Look). As you work, you can
turn individual layers on and o, allow- Zq
ing you to experiment without losing
your previous work. Dont like your char-
a6ers hands? Turn that layer o and
try drawing a set of lober claws.
Palettes of tools such as paint-
brushes, pencils, chalks and airbrushes Ce base layer is for
are common to mo soHware; colors brainorming with a
can be mixed on screen and brush sizes light-colored pencil tool.
Use the space to rough
and shapes dialed in to your specica- out multiple ideas.
tion. Some soHware even allows you to
specify the chara6er of the paper or
canvas you are working on. Ce more v
you explore each program, the more
fun6ionality youll discover. And you can
use different programs in tandem. A
drawing arted in Painter Essentials
can be opened in Photoshop Express,
where you can tinker with new ee6s. Pick out your be ideas and
Once you art experimenting, youll redraw them into the next
nd plenty of options that are easy in layer. Rene the details of
your subje6 and decide on
the digital world but would have been your point of view.
painaking or even impossible in the
physical world. For inance, you can
take a digital photo, import it as a t
source layer in Painter, trace over it and
end up with a photo-accurate illura-
tion. (If you dont want to import the
photo digitally, lay a printout over your
tablet and trace dire6ly over it.)
Any miakes are easily erased, and Add another layer under-
as you work, you are conantly creat- neath the sketch layer for
ing scenery, chara6ers and other ele- color. Experiment with
various brushes and
ments that you can cut and pae into tools to add texture.
new work. For my creatures, I have a
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y A N T H O N Y V E R D U C C I
library of perfe6ly executed alien heads,
serpent eyes, claws, hooves and various F
antennae that I go back to all the time.
When you get good enough, you
can print your work dire6ly to canvas
using online services such as Canvas
On Demand or Canvas People, and
then put them up for sale at etsy.com. On the uppermo layer,
Or you can make T-shirts and mugs trace over your sketch with
and sell them at cafepress.com. Ju
the pen tool to create a
solid outline. Add in ne
because youre an arti doesnt mean details like wrinkles,
you have to arve. FC shadows and highlights.
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by Seth Porges

Be Cellphone Slight
Freeze Te screen
dimming. 10 What the
cold can
I live in a cold climate. do to your
Q Can my cellphone get
damaged if I leave it in a car
Some
phones
phone

or bag on a frigid day? experienced

battery
problems. 10
A People tend to assume that
extreme cold and mobile devices
just dont mix. After all, cold tempera-
tures can freeze liquid-crystal displays Several
and slow the chemical reaction that models
gives lithium-ion batteries their charge. shut o. 20
But bringing phones into the cold is
unavoidableif youve ever gone skiing,
or you simply live in Chicago, youve Serious
battery
certainly spent hours in a freezing envi- and LCD
ronment with nothing more than a layer problems. 3
30
of denim or a jacket pocket to shield your
phone from the chill.
ExaSly how cold can a phone get
before it ops working? We decided to All phones
40
to
find out. For help, we called up our rendered
friends at Environ Laboratories, an envi- inoperable. 5
55
ronmental teing facility in Minneapolis
used by the defense, aerospace and
technology industries to simulate
extreme conditions. We gave Environ a
sample of six phones from various
manufaSurers. Bese models were the
type of commodity phones that service
providers o`en give away for free with
new contraSsnone was billed as rug-
gedized or designed to withstand
extreme temperatures. Environs job
was to freeze the gadgets in a
temperature-controlled chamber (low- minutes before bringing the tempera- none of the phones had any real prob-
e possible setting: minus 100 F) until ture down by 10 degrees. We repeated lems down to minus 10 F, when the
all six phones stopped workingno this incremental temperature drop low-battery indicator popped up on one
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y D O G O

matter how much cold that required.
In other words, we decided to push
these phones way beyond the limits of
their design parameters and warranties.
Beginning at 40 F (the equivalent
of a brisk autumn evening in New Eng-
land), we let each phone run for 30
every half-hour until the phones opped
working. Once a phone died, we gave it
one la dash of mercy by bringing it
back to room temperature to see if
warmth could revive it.
Other than minor hiccups (slight
screen dimming, slow key response),
Samsung, despite the faS that it had
recently been charged. At minus 20, the
same phone shut o (plugging it in and
turning it on quickly revived it), and the
displays of some of the other phones
were dicult to read.
Thirty below is where the real

128 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS ECKERT

 55 called it quits. Even then, ankfully, Apple has published a li
pm do-it-yourself

the screen still turned of known problem programs on its web-

It took four dunks in liquid nitrogenand a hard
throw to the oorto nally kill our Motorola Krzr.
fun began, with ve of the six phones
experiencing serious battery or LCD
problemsthe display on a Nokia
became an unreadable block of blue,
while bizarre bars polluted another
phones screen.
Another 10 degrees, down to minus
40, and all but one of the phones was
rendered inoperable. The last phone
anding, an old Motorola Krzr belong-
ing to a PM aer, aOually remained
functional until about minus 55 F,
when its battery died.
Remarkably, none of the damage
appeared to be permanentall it took
was a return to room temperature to
bring all of the phones back to life.
Still, were electronic sadists, and
we werent going to let our access to
Environs environmental teing facility
and its vats of liquid nitrogengo to
waste. Sure, the coldest temperature
ever recorded on earth was ju minus
128.6 F (and the continental U.S. has
never dropped below minus 70) but we
couldnt resi nding out how our tough-
e competitor could handle a dunk in a
minus 314.7 F bucket of liquid nitrogen.
Amazingly, the Motorola phone sur-
vived multiple dips in the coolant. e
sub-sub-sub-zero swims caused its
L A B O R AT O R I E S ( F R O Z E N P H O N E )
on when the phone was site (check under Support). So while
plugged in (although it you probably have nothing to worry
was unreadable), and, about compatibility-wise, its a good idea
amazingly, the audio ill to check this li before upgrading, ju
worked. Some keys even to make sure that nothing you rely on will
appeared to produce a be put out of commission.
response.
e results were reas- Automatic Auto-Tune
suring, if not aonishing. Im into making my own music and
e bottom line: Alaska have tried using Auto-Tune so6ware to
residents might endure modulate my voice to sound like T-Pain
some screen problems or Kanye We. Trouble is, the
or short-lived batteries so6ware seems fairly complex. Is
on cold days, but nothing there an easier way of doing it?
a warm room couldnt Auto-Tune soFware has long been used
cure. And if our phone can handle by recording artists to nail wayward
repeated swims in one of the colde liq- vocal tracks to a precise pitch. But
uids on earth, yours can surely survive a cranked to the max, the soFware has
day on the slopes without worry. the intriguing (and potentially annoying)
ability to make people sound like musical
Leopard Spots robots. (You might recognize it from
I want to upgrade my Mac to the new Chers Believe, which was one of the
Snow Leopard operating syem. Will r hits to make large use of the eeO,
all of my exiing applications be and nearly all of Kanye Wes 808s &
compatible with the new OS? Heartbreak album was recorded with it.)
e new Mac OS X version 10.6, better Still, it can be fun to tinker with Auto-
known as Snow Leopard, is a sort of Tune, especially if youre tone-deaf, like
guerrilla update. Its inexpensive (users me. The easiest way to play with the
can upgrade to it for as little as $29), and eeO: a new iPhone app, appropriately
does virtually nothing to change the look called I Am T-Pain. Load up the $3 app,
and feel of your computer. In faO, mo sing into your phones mic, and the pro-
of its changes are under the hoodit gram does the re. FC
uses several gigabytes less hard-drive
space than its predecessor, and it should Got a technology problem?
help your whole syem run a bit faer. Ask Seth about it.
While most existing programs will Send your questions to
pmdigitalclinic@hearst.com or to
work ju ne on Snow Leopard, a hand-
Digital Clinic, Popular Mechanics,
ful have experienced problems (at lea in 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY
their current iterations). When you inall 10019-5899. While we cannot
Snow Leopard, your computer will auto- answer questions individually,
problems of general interest will
matically move these applications to a be discussed in the column.
new folder called Incompatible SoFware.
Popular Mechanics (ISSN 0032-4558) EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING Red Oak, IA 51591. Please enclose AS A SERVICE TO READERS,

your mailing label when writing to us Popular Mechanics publishes

battery to shut down, but once the
phone was warmed up, it came back to
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life with no visible damage. We even
dropped the frozen phone to the oor
from hip height. And although we
expected it to shatter, the fall barely
caused any damage. In faO, it wasnt
until we dunked the Krzr in the liquid
nitrogen four times, and then forcibly
threw it to the ground, that it finally
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POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM | DECEMBER 2009 129

 e New Wildcatters
( C O NTINUED FRO M P A G E 9 7 )
Though only partially built out, the
specs for Mueller, a partnership
between the Catellus Development
Group and the city of Austin, are
already impressive. Mueller includes
the worlds greenest hospital, more
than 75 acres of parkland and 13 miles
of bike trails and sidewalks connecting
550 homesa quarter of which are
affordable housing and all of which
have been built to Austin Energys
green building standards. The master
plan includes native prairie to seques-
ter carbon, a reclaimed water system
for irrigation, a town center, a chil-
drens museum and housing and
employment for 10,000 people.
But McCracken sees an even more
ambitious vision playing out here
that of a solar-powered energy Inter-
net. He is the driving force behind the
Pecan Street Project, a nonprofit dedi-
cated to making Austin a laboratory for
smart-grid technology. In the home of
the future, you will be able to look at an
app on your phone that tells you what
your energy usage is, what its costing
you and how it impacts your preset
electric budget, McCracken says.
Youll be able to see what individual
appliances, whether the refrigerator or
air conditioner, are costing you in real
time. And youll be able to control
that. Utilities will be able to take
advantage of the same software to mea-
sure and manage energy flow.
As a demonstration site for the
Pecan Street Project (pending federal
stimulus funding), Mueller would link
1000 residential meters, 75 commer-
cial meters and plug-in-vehicle-
charging stations on a microgrid, test-
ing technologies such as energy storage
as well as business models like rooftop
solar leasing. Its technically challeng-
ing, but so is the Internet, where you
have millions of computers feeding
into servers and distributing it out,
McCracken says. The big advantage
we have is the extent to which this is
now a technology strategy. Were a very
entrepreneurial state. And we have
some regulatory flexibilities and a busi-
ness culture thats been really condu-
cive to the high-tech sector.
130 DECEMBER 2009 | POPULARMECHANICS.COM
Besides partners like the University
of Texas and the Environmental
Defense Fund (EDF), the Pecan Street
Project has attracted private compa-
nies, including Microsoft, Intel and
IBM, that will be able to test their own
technologies in a real-world setting
without the approval of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission. They
see smart-grid deployment as some-
thing that is going to go into their mar-
kets, so they really want to find out how
this all works, John Baker, chief strat-
egy officer for Austin Energy, says.
Austin Energy is municipally owned
and vertically integratedits board is
the city council and its customers are
its shareholdersso the utility has
Thats where Texas
thinks were big dogs.
Texans do things
differently. Were inde-
pendent and some-
times that gets
in our way.
G R E G WO R T H A M ,
M AYO R O F S W E E T WAT E R
been able to take the long view on alter-
native energy: It has led the Pecan Street
Project, established the countrys first
green building standards, distributed
smart meters and pushed auto compa-
nies to develop plug-in vehicles. State
leadership has not been nearly as pro-
gressive. The legislature meets for only
140 days every other year. This year,
despite bipartisan support, only one of
50 bills with solar incentives passed
before the session ended; the legisla-
ture meets again in January 2011.
I think were a little schizophrenic,
James Marston, the director of EDFs
Texas office, says. We know wind
worked and we got some jobs, but were
not as aggressive as Colorado or New
Mexico or even Michigan [on renewable
energy], and were missing out.
On that point, Sweetwaters
Wortham agrees. Thats where Texas
thinks were big dogs, he says. Tex-
ans do things differently. Were inde-
pendent and sometimes that gets in
our way. When a major wind turbine
manufacturer considered sites in Texas
for a factory, Wortham says, the state
let towns sell themselves. Its like The
Apprentice, he says. It slides a little
package across the way. Pennsylva-
nias governor promoted the entire
commonwealth as a site and got that
factorywhich led to others.
Last December, before the 2009 state
legislative session began, I had break-
fast with McCracken and representative
Strama. McCracken was characteristi-
cally cerebral but optimistic. Gesturing
over a plate of huevos rancheros, he
painted a new picture of South Lamar
Street, which is the heart of South Aus-
tinthe funky soul of our city. Instead
of lube shops, used-car dealers and gas
stationsbusinesses serving the exist-
ing energy economyhe described the
future of South Lamar under a distrib-
uted electrical system, one that will
open up the economy to green-collar
jobs and lots of small, local entrants.
We can totally screw this up,
Strama said, kicking back in his chair
from the heavy wooden table. The
energy industry is going to evolve. It
can either go the way of the evolution
from radio to television, where the
existing broadcasters saw change
coming, invested in it, and led the
change. Or, he said, it can evolve the
way we went from TV to the Internet,
where those guys didnt see change
coming, and a couple of kids in a
garage in California built a company
bigger than all of them.
With clean energy poised to become
the biggest economic opportunity
since the oil boom, that is whats at
stake for Texas. FC

 


For advertising rates call Angela Hronopoulos (212) 649-2930, fax: (646) 280-2930.
 THIS
IS
MY
JOB


qq

DARYL SMITH
LOCATION:
NEW HAVEN, CONN.
AGE: 48
YEARS ON JOB: 23

1. Didymium Goggles
1 Smiths lenses, made from the
metallic elements praseo-
dymium and neodymium, lter
out wavelengths of visible and
6 UV lightlike yellow sodium
areto help Smith see.

2. Cradle Burner Smith

arts with ordinary glass
3 tubes and rods as his raw
materials, made from the same
borosilicate glass as andard
lab inruments. 9is U-shaped
series of torches lets him bla
heat evenly from six dire:ions.
2
3. Lathe 9is lathe allows
Smith to evenly heat or make
a clean cut around a tube. 9e
jaws can also hold a piece
in place while he melts and
attaches another to it.

4. Gas At 4100 F, a natural

gasoxygen ame melts mo
5
of the materials Smith uses.
But if the nal produ: needs
4
to withand very high temper-
atures, he uses tougher pure-
quartz glass and switches to
a hydrogenoxygen ame that
reaches 5250 F.

5. Carbon Forming Tools

Molten glass wont ick to
pure carbon, so the tools
Smith uses are made of
graphite, which heats up so
quickly that it matches the
temperature of the glass and
minimizes thermal shock.

6. Vacuum System 9is

Daryl Smith didnt set out to cuom-build radiation dete:ors. syem lets Smith conrm that
A=er choosing glass blowing over graduate school, he spent years a nished piece is airtight. He
runs a small Tesla coil over the
working for pharmaceutical and chemical companies; becoming a glass blower at Yale Univer- inruments surface; if theres
sity allowed him to use his old-fashioned cra= to create ate-of-the-art scientic tools. Now a leak, the charge will take the
he gets all sorts of reques: alterations to andard equipment, designs for prototypes, even path of lea resiance and
jump to the hole.
glass rods for a dete:or that went into CERNs Large Hadron Collider in Europe. Qe machine
reveals radiation emitted by charged particles traveling faer than the speed of lightthe
equivalent of traveling backward in time, according to Eineins theory of relativity. I tell
people Im making a time machine, Smith says. ANDREW MOSEMAN

136 DECEMBER 2009 | POPUL ARMECHANICS.COM PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN BERMAN