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This 250kW wave unit is being connected to the grid in South West Victoria in Australia in a few months. http://www.standard.net.au/sto...

Nice trick there, telling us the cost based on your "wage" - which to us is an arbitrary number.

For me, it's very concrete, believe me, but you don't expect to make public my payslip on /., do you? (all I can say, I'm not paid to the top of the industry, I enjoy a quiet life now).

How many monthly electricity payments did it cost you? How long before it pays for itself?

My estimations for the time to total RoI: between 5 and 6 years at the current rates on energy. But they do have a nasty habit to increase year after year in Australia so it may be shorter.
(they say that's because of network maintenance: I reckon their insurance premiums went up)

This story created something of a media sensation for a few days, with various stories of varying scientific relevance.

I have to say that it "arcs me up" to see the media treat this kind of simple science story with disdain and hype, trying NOT to understand and then explain the simple science involved.

Note that the original story, not the ignorant rewrite on rueters mentions only 30,000 volts and a mention of amps at the end. And in Australia, they are in late winter, this being the southern hemisphere.

So plenty of potential for walking leyden jars. Obviously this all is unpossible. Modern science tells us so.

Original Story

Freak static
By SARAH SCOPELIANOS
September 16, 2005

A DENNINGTON man was none the worse for wear yesterday despite having 30,000 volts running through his clothes.

Warrnambool firefighters were baffled after Dennington cleaner Frank Clewer unintentionally caused three Koroit Street buildings to be evacuated.

Last night fire officers said they remained puzzled about the incident in which carpet was scorched where Mr Clewer had walked.

Mr Clewer, 58, was jovial about his fiery experience but said the circumstances were hard to believe.

Soon to be made redundant from Nestle, he had arrived for a job interview that never quiet started.

He could only chuckle about the events which led to firefighters stripping him of his clothes and finding 30,000 volts running through his synthetic jacket.

"My wife has told me I'm not allowed to put on the electric blanket tonight and I'm going to have to lay off the surfing because I'll stun the sharks and we'll have fried flake in the bay," he laughed.

Fire crews were called to Karingal's office yesterday after staff heard loud cracking sounds and noticed the carpet was burnt in several places.

The "seriously weird" events began when Mr Clewer was standing at the office front counter when he heard a "mighty crack" before being led into a room to begin an interview for a carer's job.

Then staff noticed burn marks the size of ten cent pieces on the carpet and called the fire brigade.

Fire officers' investigations included removing carpet and evacuating surrounding buildings.

Mr Clewer spoke with them for about 20 minutes then went to the bank and a surf store before returning to his car at the Ozone car park.

There he found that a plastic bag used to protect his seat from water after surfing was badly charred beneath his feet.

Thinking staff at Karingal were experiencing the same "strange" happenings, which included electric zapping sounds, he returned to the Koroit Street building to consult fire officers.

"I was talking to them and I let out a crack. It is all too bizarre...and when I was getting inside my car after giving them my name and phone number, I let out another almighty crack and it was heard inside the building by the fire officers and inside the ABC studio."

Mr Clewer was given overalls to wear as fire officers used a device to check static electricity on him and his belongings.

The device measured a remarkable 30,000 volts on a synthetic zip-up jacket Mr Clewer had been wearing under a woollen jacket.

His jeans had a small burn at the knee.

Warrnambool fire officer Trevor Roberts said officers were baffled.

"We called Powercor, an electrician, and spoke to a technician from the ABC."

He said Mr Clewer's clothes were at no stage dangerous because they were low in amps which could be deadly.

This story was found at:

http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2005/09/16/112 6750111141.html

They took the original article, embellished it, introduced some basic inconsistencies... ..and half the newspapers in the world will do the same to the reuters article tomorrow :(

original: http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2005/09/16/112 6750111141.html

The Original article is much clearer. They called an electrician.

Reuters just made some shit up and made the story look even more like bullshit than it already was.

Note that this is a Reuters embellishment.

The original story:

http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2005/09/16/112 6750111141.html

Did not confuse current and voltage.

It still sounds like bullshit though.

> Getting into his car certainly would have - even if the car were carbin-fiber,
> the key would be metal and the distance short enough for an arc to occur.

From what is probably the source article:
http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2005/09/16/112 6750111141.html

"[...] returning to his car at the Ozone car park.
There he found that a plastic bag used to protect his seat from water after surfing was badly charred beneath his feet."

They mention amps in what looks like the original story: http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2005/09/16/112 6750111141.html

Which gels with the Standard article, which says an ABC technician was consulted.

http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2005/09/16/112 6750111141.html

If it's a hoax, it's fooled a lot of people.