Due to an anomaly in the basic design of the hotel power system, both the primary and the backup power cables were placed in the same duct-work, thus preventing electricians from working on the down system while the backup was operating. This sounds like some kind of joke - a routine more appropriate for a Bellagio comedy club act, rather than successfully powering the hotel. Not funny for hotel finances - an estimated loss of $3 million for each day closed. This large building could have been powered by Mr. Sumaruck's system, to reflect a huge cost savings.
More at Bellagio - http://www.powerefficiency.com/pdf_Bellagio_Escalator.pdf (Editor's note: Link does not work) for a description of an experiment in cost saving done at the Bellagio Hotel showing a, "37.14% average power savings and an estimated yearly cost savings of $2,131.70," for two of their escalators.
For a more detailed explanation, go to environmentalleader.com http://www.enviornmentalleader.com/2007/10/18/how-efficient-is-your-escalator/ (Editor's note: Link does not work) where they refer to the Bellagio test case, saying that E-Save Technology showed, "The system can improve the efficiency of electric motors by 15-35 percent."
Pete gave a hearty laugh, and told me, "The Variable AC Drive was invented in 1972 to run AC motors to increase efficiency - some people claim a 50% effectiveness - they're proud of that." he smiles, but "I am the only person in America who can get motors to run at 100% efficiency," (all the time). Mr. Sumaruck has more than 30 patents pending.
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/4168455/description.html Variable Speed AC Drive invented by Katsuji Soeda, patent filed June 8, 1972, issued April 9, 2004 for "Speed Control System for A.C. Series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commutator_(electric) Motor."
For a good explanation, another company who does something similar to E-Save: http://www.joliettech.com/variable-speed-drive_faq.htm This company says, "If you are not using VFD's (Variable Frequency Drive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable-frequency_drive) you are wasting energy and throwing money out the window."
Pete Sumaruck's power production system operates at 100% efficiency - it never gets hot and can operate indefinitely, or as he says, "30 years," which is the standard lifetime of a new building.
Power outages again - One storm and (presumably) a few fallen trees can take down a world capitol. The drama is best shown on http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1226828/Eerie-evening-Brazil-power-outage-plunges-future-home-Olympics-late-night-blackout.html A must click to this link, if only to view the photography; the first picture will stay with you forever.
The above article refers to the massive power outage in Brazil on Nov. 10, 2009, which, "left tens of millions of people without electricity across most of the country's wealthy southeastern region." Chicago Tribune, Nov. 12, 2009. "Power outage isn't cause for alarm, Brazil says." President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters in Brasilia, "We didn't have a failure in the generation of energy, we had a problem in the transmission line." So said, but that doesn't make the lights come on any faster.
Government officials report the outage was probably caused by a heavy storm downing "three transmission lines" carrying power from the hydroelectric plant at Itaipu Dam - the largest such plant in the world and 2nd largest dam in the world, 2nd only to Three Gorges in China. The dam is on the Parana River, which acts as a border between Paraguay and Brazil. The plant services 20% of Brazil's power and 90% of Paraguay's power.
"The power system lost 17,000 megawatts after the massive plant went offline, possibly because of a storm. The director of the dam said it had lost its entire hydro-electric output." BBC News, Nov. 11, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8353878.stm tells Wikipedia "50 million people were affected."
Blame game - Brazilian politicians and government officials are very sensitive to criticisms of their energy infrastructure, what with the Olympics set for 2016. "Latin America Herald Tribune" says, "Authorities at the dam said in a statement that the hydro plant resumed normal operations at around 6:AM local time Wednesday and that 18 of its 20 generators were producing 10,450 megawatts of power," (at full power, 17,000 megawatts). That would mean that the power outage lasted 8 hours when government sources stated it was only 2 hours.
Brazil does not want the fault placed on the dam. Officially, Brazilian Mines and energy Minister Edison Labao (is that really his first name?) said, "the problem could have been caused by atmospheric problems of high-intensity storms - or a disconnection between the plant and its transmission systems." per dailymail.co.uk, "strong storms uprooted trees near the Itaipu dam just before it went offline could be to blame."
When I hear this, my first thought is that a few trees falling in a storm could not disable a huge country like Brazil.
Paraguay blames Brazil and the dam for the power failure at a time when both countries are thinking about complexities and additional strains on Brazils' infrastructure building up to the future. "President da Silva announced that Brazil has committed to spending more than $14 billion to prepare for the upcoming 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics," according to Suite101.com at http://paraguay.suite101.com/article.cfm/itaipu-dam-paraguay-and-brazil-opympics-2016
No one wants to use the "S" word though many in the media are using the word "hackers." The Daily Mail (with the great photographs) says, "The blackouts came two days after CBS's "60 Minutes' Reported that several past Brazilian power outages (2005 and 2007) were caused by computer hackers." The CBS program aired Nov. 8, while the 2009 outage was Nov. 10.
