Image via Wikipedia

There are folks who champion Thorium as the safest nuclear energy.  I’ve written about it in the article “Can Thorium Be The Only One Element That Energizes The World Of The Future?” — and now there is Bill Gates who champions depleted uranium to be used in new nuclear technology which he said it would be the safest nuclear energy yet.  He also said this new nuclear technology requires no human intervention and it is still going to be safe.  You can read Huffingtonpost’s article “Bill Gates’ China Nuclear Reactor Project: Microsoft Co-Founder Aims To Develop Safer Version” for more details on Bill Gates’ pushing for new nuclear technology which requires depleted uranium.

Source:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/bill-gates-china-nuclear-reactor-project_n_1134359.html

Related articles

• Bill Gates working with China on new nuclear reactor (mercurynews.com)
• Bill Gates touts Chinese nuclear reactor (bizjournals.com)
• Bill Gates Going Nuclear With China (mashable.com)
• Bill Gates talks to China about developing new kind of nuclear reactor (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Bill Gates and China in discussions over new nuclear reactor (guardian.co.uk)
• Bill Gates in talks with China National Nuclear Corporation for Terrapower nuclear reactor (nextbigfuture.com)
• Bill Gates, China jointly developing nuclear reactor – CBC.ca (cbc.ca)
• Bill Gates Discussing New Nuclear Reactor With China (online.wsj.com)
• Bill Gates talks with China about developing new kind of nuclear reactor (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Bill Gates and China may build nuclear reactor (independent.co.uk)
• Can Thorium Be The Only One Element That Energizes The World Of The Future? (essayboard.com)

Image via Wikipedia

When it comes to the field of energy, I’m clueless and scare.  Just like most people, I know we need various sources of energy to power our economy and retain our ways of life.  Unlike the experts, most people and I do not understand the mechanics of the technologies that harness various sources of energy.  Nonetheless, in this day and age (i.e., the information age), it’s pretty hard to ignore the confusion mass of information which flows endlessly over the world through tubes and wires and the air (i.e., the Internet), and this confusion mass of information has abundant amount of useful information on energy that we can tune into so one day the world might just need to be saved by such information.

The confusion mass of information at now is clearly showing us that using the wrong types/sources of energy too much can lead to global warming.  Whether global warming was started out by humankind or just a natural phenomenon which meant to be repeated over the cycles of the many mega-annum, it really doesn’t matter at this point since scientists are suggesting that we might be ever nearer to so called the tipping point of global warming if we can’t stop releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmospheres.

The idea is to use energy sources that are producing cleaner energy and yet abundant enough so our country and people do not have to depend on someone else.  Depending on someone else for our energy needs can pose great risks to our nation.  Such risks can negatively affect the economy or military or the encompassment of all industries.  This is why promoting clean energy isn’t so simple.  We have to calculate the available means but yet be prudent with such means in ways that we can ensure there won’t be a situation where kamikaze would occur in our future, the future of our nation.

People have been suggesting that clean energy can be in the forms of wind, trapped heat within earth, water, and from the sun.  Totally workable!  Then there are folks who suggest even all of those sources of clean energy to be combined together, the world still won’t have enough of energy to sustain unless nuclear power is included into the list.  Then, then there are folks who say nuclear power is super dangerous and plain unhealthy.  Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster gives the more reasons why people are not so fond of nuclear technology.  Still, we have this one problem, the problem of global warming if we do nothing to improve the way we use our sources of energy.  So what should we do?

Here come a pinch of like minded folks who think nuclear power is the key, but they aren’t talking of nuclear power that relies on Uranium (92-U).  Instead, these folks promote something much safer and much much more abundant.  Have you heard of Thorium (90-Th)?  Scientists suggest that Thorium element is so abundant that we can find it to be in most rocks.  Well, I’m not sure if that is the fact, but if it is then I would be damn.  Well, if it isn’t, then I might have heard it wrong somehow.  But, in any way we look at, Thorium technology is being promoted as safer nuclear technology where it won’t go exploding (i.e., Kaboom Kaboom) if something goes wrong.  Some scientists suggest that instead of exploding when something goes wrong, Thorium nuclear technology might just have the waste to be drained away safely.

Scientists suggest that United States has knew about Thorium for more than thirty years, but the technology was never promoted and developed since the military wants to make bombs.  Well, they say that, and I’m not sure if that is true.  Perhaps, thirty years ago Thorium wasn’t so easy to work with, but now it isn’t the case?  Anyhow, the video right after the break suggests that Thorium is much safer source for nuclear energy, to be energized the world thousands of years to come.

I do have an inkling feeling deep down that as technologies gets so proficient, there will be large group of people who do not want to promote proficient technologies for the fear of being less profitable.  I don’t think it’s the case for all technologies, because some technologies are more profitable when proficiency matters.  In the case of energy though, I fear that proficiency isn’t a welcoming element!  Let just hope there are enough folks who push on to accomplish energy proficiency so there will be a day when global warming won’t even be worthy enough to creep into humankind’s energy conversations.

Source:  http://gizmodo.com/5859214/could-one-element-power-the-entire-planet

Related articles

• The Thorium Dream: An Investigation of the New Nuclear Power (theatlantic.com)
• Thorium: The Nuclear Power We’ve Never Known (Video) (treehugger.com)
• Could One Element Power the Entire Planet? [Watch This] (gizmodo.com)
• What is thorium and how does it generate energy? (guardian.co.uk)
• What are the top 4 reasons for developing thorium technology (wiki.answers.com)
• Thorium – the safer nuclear power? (thetruthiswhere.wordpress.com)
• Thorium – the safer nuclear power? (rt.com)
• Thorium advocates launch pressure group | Duncan Clark (guardian.co.uk)
• India plans ‘safer’ nuclear plant powered by thorium (guardian.co.uk)
• Thorium advocates launch pressure group (climateinsight.wordpress.com)

The magic for Gemasolar to keep on going throughout the night, when the moon shines romantically up high and the stars naughtily light up the sky in shapes of astrological beasts and what not, is that it has a backup giant thermal energy storage (i.e., thermal battery) in a shape of a tall, vertical tower which stands in the middle of the plant.  This giant vertical shape thermal storage tower stores molten nitrate salt tank, and then huge amount of gigantic, high quality mirrors that surround the tower would beam rays of solar energy onto the top of the tower to generate enough heat so the steam turbines would be activated.

In a nutshell, the molten nitrate salt would store enough heat to drive the steam turbines throughout the night time.  According to Gizmodo, Gemasolar can power up to 25,000 homes and reduce around 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide that got released into the atmosphere per year.  To know more about Europe’s first solar plant which runs 24/7, please check out the video on Gemasolar right after the break.

I don’t know enough about solar technology in general to know better, but I be bold even though I might be so wrong!  I think it would be better to erect buildings to support mirrors such as Gemasolar that surround Gemasolar-like thermal storage towers so the environment can be enhanced with architectural aesthetic and practical applications such as housing and the like.  Why not construct buildings of relevant sections of towns and cities in circles of mirrors and thermal storage towers in the center of each such architectural circle to create free energy for everyone.  I be darn, even the tower could be useful somehow such as a hotel in a shape of a skyscraper which also acts as a giant thermal storage tower.  Nonetheless, such architectural marvels need to be safe so the inhabitants won’t have to worry about health risks!  What do you think?

Source:  http://gizmodo.com/5848411/the-worlds-first-solar-plant-to-generate-electricity-even-at-night

E-waste is multiplying everyday as we continue to abandon a year or two year old electronic products so we can gobble up new ones that come out yesterday or so.  Before most e-waste end up in the landfills, these abandon electronic things tend to collect dust in closets and garages.  Eventually, to free up the space of closets and garages, people have to discard their e-waste in landfills.

So what is the problem with throwing e-waste in landfills?  As I read, I notice the complaints of health risks that are associating with having e-waste to be leached away in landfills and having e-waste to be recycled in unsafe manners.  Many toxic elements (e.g., lead, cadmium, mercury, americium, sulphur, BFRs, beryllium oxide) come from e-waste that are not appropriately contained can be health hazardous to humans.

Let see how health hazardous it is for lead to be leaked into our environment through possible routes such as air, soil, water, food, and consumer products.  Quoting directly from Wikipedia, lead can be dangerous to human health as how it’s described below:

Lead poisoning (also known as plumbism, colica Pictonum, saturnism, Devon colic, or painter’s colic) is a medical condition caused by increased levels of theheavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems. It interferes with the development of the nervous system and is therefore particularly toxic to children, causing potentially permanent learning and behavior disorders. Symptoms include abdominal pain, confusion, headache, anemia, irritability, and in severe cases seizures, coma, and death.  Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning

Quoting directly from Wikipedia, Cadmium poisoning can be dangerous to human health as how it’s described below:

Acute exposure to cadmium fumes may cause flu like symptoms including chills, fever, and muscle ache sometimes referred to as “the cadmium blues.” Symptoms may resolve after a week if there is no respiratory damage. More severe exposures can cause tracheo-bronchitis, pneumonitis, and pulmonary edema. Symptoms of inflammation may start hours after the exposure and include cough, dryness and irritation of the nose and throat, headache, dizziness, weakness, fever, chills, and chest pain.

Inhaling cadmium-laden dust quickly leads to respiratory tract and kidney problems which can be fatal (often from renal failure). Ingestion of any significant amount of cadmium causes immediate poisoning and damage to the liver and the kidneys. Compounds containing cadmium are also carcinogenic[citation needed].

The bones become soft (osteomalacia), lose bone mineral density (osteoporosis) and become weaker. This causes the pain in the joints and the back, and also increases the risk of fractures. In extreme cases of cadmium poisoning, mere body weight causes a fracture.

The kidneys lose their function to remove acids from the blood in proximal renal tubular dysfunction. The kidney damage inflicted by cadmium poisoning is irreversible. The proximal renal tubular dysfunction creates low phosphate levels in the blood (hypophosphatemia), causing muscle weakness and sometimes coma. The dysfunction also causes gout, a form of arthritis due to the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joints because of high acidity of the blood (hyperuricemia). Another side effect is increased levels of chloride in the blood (hyperchloremia). The kidneys can also shrink up to 30%.

Other patients lose their sense of smell (anosmia). Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_poisoning

Quoting directly from Wikipedia, Mercury poisoning can be dangerous to human health as how it’s described below:

Toxic effects include damage to the brain, kidney, and lungs.[1] Mercury poisoning can result in several diseases, including acrodynia (pink disease)[2], Hunter-Russell syndrome, and Minamata disease.[3]  Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning

Mercury: found in fluorescent tubes (numerous applications), tilt switches (mechanical doorbells, thermostats),[38] and flat screen monitors. Health effects include sensory impairment, dermatitis, memory loss, and muscle weakness. Environmental effects in animals include death, reduced fertility, slower growth and development.  Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste

Americium is known to be carcinogenic.  To put this in another way, Americium can cause cancers.

Quoting directly from Wikipedia, Sulphur can be dangerous to human health as how it’s described below:

Sulphur: found in lead-acid batteries. Health effects include liver damage, kidney damage, heart damage, eye and throat irritation. When released in to the environment, it can create sulphuric acid.  Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste

Quoting directly from Wikipedia, BFRs can be dangerous to human health as how it’s described below:

BFRs: Used as flame retardants in plastics in most electronics. Includes PBBs, PBDE, DecaBDE, OctaBDE, PentaBDE. Health effects include impaired development of the nervous system, thyroid problems, liver problems. Environmental effects: similar effects as in animals as humans. PBBs were banned from 1973-1977 on. PCBs were banned during the 1980′s.  Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste

Quoting directly from Wikipedia, Beryllium Oxide can be dangerous to human health as how it’s described below:

Beryllium oxide: filler in some thermal interface materials such as thermal grease used on heatsinks for CPUs and power transistors,[41] magnetrons, X-ray-transparent ceramic windows, heat transfer fins in vacuum tubes, and gas lasers.  Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste

Many developed countries acknowledge the health issues that are associating with e-waste, and so these countries have laws that restrict or ban the importation of e-waste from abroad.  Although many developing countries know the health issues that are associating with e-waste, these countries somewhat lack in regulations to prevent the importation of e-waste.  China passed law to prevent the importation of e-waste, but the law was and is ineffective from stopping the massive illegal importation of e-waste.  A YouTube video below shows desperate Chinese who work for very little money in recycling e-waste factory of sort — these folks confront with health issues and problems that are responsible by the unsafe handling of e-waste.

Europe has proposed a law that requires big electronic retailers (including online retailers) to accept e-waste from consumers.  To know more about this law, check out the article “New EU Proposals on E-waste to Help Consumers Recycle.”

In conclusion, e-waste is health hazardous when recycling or disposing e-waste improperly.  E-waste can grow faster, because electronic market has become ever more competitive.  More electronic products come out at faster pace, and prices for these products have become very affordable.  These changes encourage consumers to acquire more of newer electronic products at faster pace, giving way to filling up the landfills faster with abandoned e-waste.  Without wanting to accumulate e-waste, developed countries tend to illegally ship e-waste to developing countries for unsafe e-waste recycling and handling.  To solve the e-waste problem, we need to promote the use of greener electronic products (i.e., friendlier to the environments).  Perhaps, even that will not be able to cut back the disposable of e-waste, but at least greener e-waste (i.e., less toxic) will be somewhat safer to humans.

Sources:  http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/electronics/the-e-waste-problem/where-does-e-waste-end-up/, http://www.pcworld.com/article/241060/new_eu_proposals_on_ewaste_
to_help_consumers_recycle.html#tk.rss_news, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Electronic_waste, http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-e-waste, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning, http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Lead_poisoning, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_poisoning

According to Gizmodo, Toilet Bike Neo will take a tour of 500 mile trip from Kyushu to Tokyo.  TOTO, the maker of this toilet motorcycle, wants to promote an agenda of reducing CO2 emissions by 50 percent in the next six years.  It’s a great agenda and all, but it’s just gross!  LOL…

Source:  http://gizmodo.com/5845671/this-poop+powered-toiletcycle-is-touring-japan-in-october

Source:  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110927/BUSINESS/109270337/UD-NRG-team-tap-vehicles-energy?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Local

I don’t know the factual statistic of the claim from Building a 21st Century Communications Economy report, but I do think having a strong broadband nation will help bring about several benefits in relation to economy and environmental benefits.  With this being said, I’m not sure broadband can be a major catalyst for going green.  People are going to drive more when they feel like it, because people have choices.  Some people won’t do teleconference, because they prefer face to face kind of meetings.  The energy which requires to run the foundations of broadband and information industry might not be small in energy footprint.

Nonetheless, I think faster and stronger broadband can somewhat be a boon to an economy.  Faster and stronger broadband certainly will encourage innovation in information field, ultimately might bring about a stronger economy; nothing is certain though since an overall economy depends on many more factors than just having a strong information industry (e.g., export, import).  With a stronger economy, a country then can easily spend some money in researching ways to bring about the environmental benefits (i.e., creating a greener economy).  But, nothing is certain!

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/21/139830561/solar-charging-phones-without-a-93-million-mile-cord

This special film uses special gel known as hydrogel.  According to the film below, hydrogel has been used inside diapers to retain moisture.  Since hydrogel is able to retain moisture efficiently, it is able to help the researchers to apply this knowledge to plant cultivation.

Sources:  http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/15/imec-japanese-company-lets-plants-grow-on-thin-films-instead-of-soil-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+
Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/science/now-diaper-technology-takes-on-a-desert.html