Newsletter - Archive  Dec 16, 2009

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P.O. Box 620700                                                   Riki Intner                                                                   Dave Hyman 

Woodside CA 94062-0700                                District Governor                                                       Club President

                                                      http://wpvrotary.org                                          

Regular Meeting                                                                             December 16th, 2009

7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Wednesday with breakfast by Encore Performance Catering, fellowship, project updates and an interesting speaker from the community.  The last Wednesday of some months we meet at 6:00pm at a local restaurant for hors d'oeuvres and a no host bar and meeting new people.  Please check our website calendar for details. 

Morning meetings:  Guild Hall, Woodside Village Church, 3154 Woodside Road, Woodside, California  Guests are not only welcome but encouraged!

This Week's Program:  Folger Barn Update 

Susan Lang and Rob Flint will give an update on the Folger Barn Restoration Project which is now well under way.  Photos too!

Last  Week's Program:   (courtesy of Last Week Editor, Dean Babcock) 

Kenneth Broome spoke to us about his endeavors in the world of hydroelectricity.  Ken has been involved in this world for 15 years.  He first came up with the idea of forming a low velocity jet in a low head stream when he was in a sail boat.  He has been involved in patent negotiations resulting in issuance of U.S,. Patents 5,440,175 and 6,208,051 for a “Water Driven Turbine Unit” and a ““Water Driven Turbine Assembly.”  He was recently the recipient of a $95,000 grant from the State of California for a project to demonstrate the efficacy of generating electric power from these many available sites.

            Ken’s objective in his design is to capture both the static and dynamic energy in the stream flow and raise the efficiency of generation from the current 35% to 85%.  The last significant improvement in water turbine design was by Lester Pelton in 1895. Ken’s demo project will be performed at Thermolito, near Oroville, CA.  There are over a hundred sites in California that would be suitable for one or more of Ken’s turbines.  The dams controlling these waters were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and are operated by the U.S. Reclamation Service.  These agencies respond to water conservation and flood control requirements and have not been responsible for satisfaction of electric power needs.  Implementation of water turbine generation at these water control sites would go a long way towards covering California’s increasing need for electric power.

Next Week's Program:   Happy Holidays!  Next regular meeting in January 6th 2010

Club News:  Your roving editor is spending the holidays in Guatemala with a side-trip to Machu Picchu, Peru.  Follow this link if you want to follow along with photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfuetsch/sets/72157622867070795/ For those of you who have been to Antigua and seen the building of "Casa Broccoli" I can report that Jackie, now 14, has started her own informal school for village children.  She reads stories to an ever increasing number of local children, many of whom do not go to school because of poverty.  Santa Claus is giving her some educational materials and story books. 

Coming Events:

Next Board Meeting:  Tuesday, January 5th, 7:30am, Church Library 

Christmas Cooking Baking Party:  December 16th. Encore Performance Catering

Rotary Means Business:  Wednesday, January 6th, 2010, 5:30 pm Encore Performance Catering

5150 District Assembly:  Saturday, March 27th 2010, Redwood High School, Larkspur

District Conference:  San Francisco, April 16-17, 2010, www.rotary5150.org

Announcements:   Have you had a look at the Rotary International website lately for what is going on in Rotary's world?  www.rotary.org   How about finding out about what is going on in the district?  www.rotary5150.org