According to the video below, Europe has the first solar plant in the world that generates energy 24/7. It means this solar plant will generate power even the sun goes to sleep. They call this plant as Gemasolar, and it took $410 million to build it.
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?
Every year, many of us have to have the greatest and latest gadgets or else sadness will ensue. It’s like an addiction. Certain addictions can be harmless, but many are harmful. How about the addiction of having more electronic gadgets? It’s harmful in a very subtle way which in the long run will affect many people in many ways. It’s all boiling down to electronic waste which also can be called as e-waste.
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%.
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.
Wanting going green so bad, we’re going gross. Gross in a way that’s nasty but yet objectively achieve the reduction of CO2 emissions by whatever percentage a human can poop. Yes, you heard me right, poop as in going to the bathroom and doing that thing. So what on earth am I ranting on about? It’s about a motorcycle with a toilet, allowing the rider to poop to create fuel. Poop more equates to more fuel for the vehicle to travel farther.
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…
A wholesaler in the energy market is teaming up with University of Delaware to form a new company which aims to bring electric cars that allow car owners to sell back the surplus of electric generation to the power companies. How are they going to do that is beyond my knowledge, but these folks seem to be pretty sure that they can bring this technology to the mass very soon. According to professor Willett Kempton, who came up with the concept, says that 30% of all the cars in the United States use this technology will be able to produce the same capacity of all electric generation within the United States. It’s a bold claim, but I like it.
Can broadband power a clean energy future for United States? According to Huffingtonpost’s article “Broadband Can Power Clean Energy Future,” a new report, Building a 21st Century Communications Economy, suggests that the more people are connecting to broadband the better it’s for a country in terms of economy and environmental benefits. Several good examples are people shop online, go paperless billing, work at home, teleconference rather than driving to meetings, and so on.
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!
NPR has a piece on professor Yang Yang of UCLA, lead researcher in charging devices with LCD displays, and his team of researchers claim that they have discovered a way to allow LCD displays to recycle energy and recharge devices using solar power at the same time. Don’t underestimate this technology, because any device with LCD display can be recharged by using solar power. Furthermore, this same technology allows devices to use solar power and other energy means more effectively since the LCD screen features a function which devices can recycle energy effectively, consequently leading to using less energy than ever before even though technically the devices can demand the same or even more energy as usual. The challenges for profesor Yang Yang and his team of researchers are not to downgrade LCD image quality and how to bring their discovery to the market effectively so the mass can take advantages of this new discovery/technology. Check out the link below to play the audio or read more about professor Yang Yang’s project.
