I would like to show you a really new and useful technical solution, which help us would be better in the energy management. This idea came from a research group in the University of Michigan. The point of the solution that the solar panel try to filter the ultra-violet and the close infrared rays, which come from the sun. Only the transparent sheet cannot generate energy. Actually, a transparent solar panel is something of an oxymoron (it includes two elements which appear to be contradictory). Solar cells, specifically the photovoltaic kind, produce energy by absorbing photons (sunlight) and converting them into electrons (electricity). The function of this sheet just transmit the rays to the edges and there are some solar panel, which already can utilize it. So it seems like a simple window (you can see it on the pictures), but on the other hand this producers for us free energy day by day. Because of the transparency we can use it on the mobile phone without any other appurtenances as well. One of the biggest problems of smart phones currently is the low battery life. In addition, the customers need of increasingly thinner phone. As a result, the most of marketers have to work under pressure. Use of conventional solar cells phones by no means a new idea, but unfortunately not practical, however, a few companies have for some time working on a solution. The unit in the picture is an extremely thin and transparent solar cells, which can then be integrated into the mobile display, which will not be striking. There is only problem with it, that basically nowadays the most of advanced computer have got at least 18-25% effectiveness, but this device works with only 1% effectiveness in Michigan. The professionals already try to find a solution for this problem. I really hope, that this article was interested and useful for you, and maybe it will be used soon. Reference: http://hvg.hu/tudomany/20140824_teljesen_atlatszo_igy_nez_ki_az_uj_napele I would like to write about cost reduction and the environmental protection. Nowadays, thinking environment is very important. Seas are being contaminated and the air is being polluted. However it seems like that everybody is just using energy without thinking about the cost and impact on the environment. In Hungary utilities such as water, electricity, gas, etc. are very expensive. I know developments are always cost a lot of resources, but if we could convert to energy saving houses we could save a lot of money. There are lots of European Union Contests that can support sustainable developments and are accessible to the society. For example: My ingenious father once thought that, we should harvest the rainwater, because it rains a lot. We have a big water tank, we can collect the rainwater in it and we could use it to flush the toilet and for washing. In addition rainwater is perfect for irrigation and car washing. By harvesting the rainwater the cost of our water usage dropped by 60%. “Solar energy is the technology used to harness the sun's energy and make it useable. Today, the technology produces less than one tenth of one percent of global energy demand.” [1] People usually use the solar energy for heating water and it can helps to electric grids. That’s why the next step was to harvest the solar energy. It would be nice to use less energy to produce hot water. We are lucky because our house is south-facing. Thus the roof is perfect for collectors. We can try to minimize the consumption of electricity. Near the collectors there are a lot of places on the roof where we can set up solar panels too which are not only to help in the household machines energy supply but also help in heating of the house with a built-in air-water heat pump. If we have solar panels which produce electricity and we will be able to substitute heating from gas furnace to heat pump which doesn’t produce any emission. After these steps gas is only used for cooking which means much less consumptions and emissions. With the initiation of gas heating, the gas consumption declined by 80%. With the appliance of the solar panel our energy usage dropped down to 39%. If we calculate everything, before developments we had to pay ~ 206 € / month, and now it costs just ~71 €. This is the 34,4 % of previous cost. Moreover investment costs returns in 8-10 years, and if we have an EU or governmental aid, this will be less. All in all if we don’t regret the money for the development, we not only save money, but also we protect the environment. Less gas emission protect the air and we can save fossil fuels if we use renewable energy sources. by Eszter Vonyik References:
[1] http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/solar-power-profile/ [2] https://www.google.fi/search?q=solar+panel&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIv-m_8tK4yAIVJHdyCh3g4Q5M&biw=1366&bih=631#tbm=isch&q=solar+collector&imgrc=649DBgTCfrPT-M%3A [3] drawn by Eszter Vonyik As we all know, renewable energy sources are the new big thing. With current energy consumption levels, we can not keep using unrenewable sources for long. Wind power is one of the good new energy sources that has very low environmental impacts. Of course there are environmental impacts from the production of the windmills but the usage is emission free. Images of wind turbines in Finland
Wind is never-ending and wasting a perfectly good energy source is frankly quite dumb. In Finland we have to import a great amount of energy just because of our low energy production and that costs a lot of money. With more windmills we can cut down on energy import and we can gradually lower the usage of power plants. So why aren’t there that many windmills? Well, windmills are most productive where there is a lot of wind. That means mainly on the coast of Finland and maybe on the hills in Lapland. Constructing humongous wind power plants all around the coast is not the prettiest option and the locals don’t really like looking at these huge white rotation turbines. The biggest downside to windmills is then the noise. Windmills with greater efficiency can not be too close to housing as the noise is already harmful. With only one smaller efficiency windmill the nearest housing can’t be closer than 2km. The noise problem aside, I believe wind power is a good energy source. Of course the energy production isn’t as efficient as power plants but at least wind power is not consuming all the unrenewable sources and it isn’t polluting the air or the earth. Constructing wind power plants isn’t with out it’s faults but what is? Arsenic (As) is naturally occurring element of the earth crust, which is widely distributed in the environment. Not a lot of people know that it is the most dangerous element that could be found in groundwater. In volcanic regions and in the occurrence of arsenic ores, the soil may contain a lot of arsenic, on this territory flora and fauna are affected. In humid climates some compounds of arsenic easily reach nearby ponds through grounds water, because of its high solubility in H20. Also, arsenic can get into the groundwater by contact with hazardous waste. In production As is used as a wood preservative, in special kinds of glass, in dyes, metals, drugs and paints. So as its usage is quite spread, incorrect utilization of waste from the factories could be a reason of water pollution. So the sources of infection could be: the drinking water (taken from the well), the food crops, for which the infected water was used as irrigation, and also food, prepared using polluted liquids. The big problem is that it’s impossible to realize that you are drinking water contains an elevated concentration of arsenic, because contaminated water does not acquire any particular flavor, odor or color. This environmental problem should be named “natural disaster”, as the amount of drinking water is increasing every day, it causes the decreasing of the groundwater level and Soil erosion, because of that amount of As in waters goes up. Have a glance at the countries, which are affected by Arsenic, it’s clearly shown on the picture below. Fortunately, there is one way to interpret the level of arsenic in your well water; you could test it in the commercial laboratory, not the easiest way, but it works. However, the symptoms of regular poisoning of water containing arsenic could be: frequent stomachaches, nausea, diarrhea, decreased insulin and the development of diabetes. If such symptoms were noticed among your family, it’s highly recommended to check the water for arsenic. If elevated level of this dangerous component were found in your well water, for you it is better to substitute it to bottle one. But this (well) water still could be used for bathing and washing clothes, without concerns. Luckily it is not a desperate situation, several ways for removing the arsenic from water are widely used by companies, and they lead to harmless concentrations of this dangerous element. To sum up, I recommend you to pay more attention to water, which you use, "be careful" = "be healthy"! Environmentalism has never been more en vogue, as it is considered the future of our society is to turn to “sustainable” options when it comes to consummation. However, because of economic reasons, both medical industry and consumer society often choose to skip information about the true health and environmental effects of what they have to propose in spite of proven facts. Out of the many aspects available to explore, today’s pick will be meat-eating. Enjoying a good steak with friends does not seem that big of a deal, right? Well, you will be surprised of what that good moment can actually do to your body: not only has it been proven that increasing the meat intake in healthy people (while still keeping the same amount of calories) has led to significant weight gain (Vergnaud AC. et al., 2010), but also it has been associated with colorectal cancer (Bernstein AM et al. 2015), due to the methionine content, a carcinogen amino acid present in cooked meat (Campos FG et al., 2005), type 2 diabetes because of the high fat content of meat (Pan A et al, 2011 and Diabetes UK, 2010), coronary heart disease and strokes (Micha R et al., 2010). What will you tell me then? “Look, all researches show proven facts about red meat’s disastrous effects, but there’s nothing there about lean and healthy meats such as chicken!”… I am sorry to bring it up but chicken is not as healthy as it seems: indeed, chicken not only has shown to be correlated to an increased body weight (Twito T et al., 2011), but also it has a high probability of contracting/transmitting the adenovirus-36 (Dhurandar NV, 2001), which is associated with obesity (Almgren M et al., 2012 and Dhurandar NV et al., 1997). “Come on, you just have to decrease the quantity”… Sure, but knowing that calorie restriction triggers binge-eating, I guess better solutions could be found (Pankevich DE, 2011). If only that was all… but unfortunately, meat eating has also a lot of environmental side effects that cannot be ignored. First of all, water consumption is the most flagrant: to produce as simple as 1 kilogram of beef, it requires a minimum of 15160 liters of water (GRACE Communication Foundation n, undated), while 1 kilogram of wheat requires 1350 liters (The Global Development Research Center, undated). Considering that on average, Europeans consume 65 kg of meat per year (Santini F et al, 2014). Think about how much water could be saved if this number was reduced by half. Moreover, if one thinks that around 40% of the grain produced worldwide is used to feed livestock instead of humans, it is awakening and makes one think twice about your consumption choices, especially if one thinks about how many people could be fed with that amount of grain, at a relatively cheap price (Cornell University, 1997). Those agricultural productions also release a lot of manure, which, by reaching water, eutrophicates rivers and lakes and causes the death of many species (World Resources Institute, undated). In addition, in the agricultural production locations, fossil energies are needed to maintain “essential” conditions, then for animal waste collection and treatment of fermentation, as well as for the transport of animals to slaughterhouses, for the slaughtering itself and then for the manufacture of the final products. This leads to serious damages to the environment as most of the products used contribute to greenhouse effects and damages the atmosphere (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, undated). The ethical side of livestock production is also important. No need for long descriptions; only pictures are enough to depict the living conditions of the animals which are raised for slaughter. Most of the animals are raised in crowded conditions and do not have a proper space to develop, they are fed with antibiotics and are slaughtered in inhuman conditions. In the end, I hope, I could convince you that meat-eating is not the best thing for your body and for the environment. Even though I would be glad if many of us would stop eating meat completely, good choices could start by decreasing your meat consumption. Thus, you could positively impact the environment and then take one step closer to what is true environmentalism. What is more, you could contribute to boycotting animal suffering, which is unneglectable. Gaëlle Thomas References:
By Alexandra Gorbatova Hydroelectric dams create differences in water level by blocking river’s stream. During the times when energy consumption is the highest, water is allowed to pass through the dam, spinning the turbine and converting energy from mechanical to electrical. Production of electricity using hydroelectric power stations is one of the most environmentally sustainable approaches, but it has its disadvantages. A paper published by Quintero J. D. and Ledec G. in November 2003 discusses potential advantages and disadvantages of dams. According to the research, the advantages include flexibility – regulated generation of power only when it is needed, lower costs compared to the other ways of generating “green” energy, low level of carbon dioxide emissions compared to combustion of fossil fuels and industrial applications – a hydroelectric dam can generate electricity not only to power populated regions, but also industrial structures. Despite all the advantages of large dams mentioned above, there are some serious disadvantages to consider. Some of the most serious issues to consider are the following: methane emission from reservoirs, risks of failure, siltation, altering natural flow regimes, water temperatures and alternation of fish migration pathways. In a way, the negative aspects of hydroelectric dams are interconnected. Sediments might overfill the reservoir making it useless and increase a risk of flood and failure. Methane emissions, siltation and effects on river’s ecosystem are the issues directly related to the environmental sciences and are not to be overlooked. So why, considering all the risks and disadvantages, do companies decide to continue dam construction? On “China Three Gorges Corporation” website it is possible to find only the benefits of the project, not the drawbacks. The benefits of the Three Gorges dam are very significant for the area: clean cheap energy, improving water and weather conditions, flood control and improvement of navigation capacity between cities connected by Yangtze River. The main disadvantages include harmful impacts on river ecosystem, but according to the data provided by the company, there is a significant technology advance helping to decrease sedimentation. Also the company takes into account environmental aspects, such as protection of valuable and rare species and improving water quality. Thus a conclusion can be made that not all hydroelectric dams are equally harmful to the environment and river ecosystems. Some of them are of a great importance. Hydroelectric dams: the way of the future or the road to damnation? So which one is it? There are some general approaches suggested in Hydropower Reform Coalition of how the current and potential negative impacts of dams can be minimized, such as changing the times of power production, so that the water flow will be as close to the natural flow as possible, maintenance of water level to prevent shoreline erosion and vegetation from flooding, advancement in technology, providing pathways for fish migration and other alternative habitats for growth and artificial maintenance of oxygen and nutrient level in a river. By taking such measures and considering all the harm that a hydroelectric dam can cause to the environment, it is possible to create a very efficient and clean power source with minimized risks and harm to ecosystems. Sources:
Bangqi Hu et al. Hydrology and Earth System Science: Sedimentation in the Three Gorges Dam and the future trend of Changjiang (Yangtze River) sediment flux to the sea. 2009. Barnes an Hays. Dams: Impacts, Stability and Design. April 2009. China Three Gorges Corporation. Three Gorges Project. Last read 21.02.2015. http://www.ctgpc.com/introduction/introduction_a.php FWEE (Foundation of Water and Energy Education). How a hydro project affects a river: changes to the ecosystem. 2015. Last read 21.02.2015. http://fwee.org/environment/how-a-hydroelectric-project-can-affect-a-river/changes-to-the-ecosystem/ Hydropower Reform Coalition. Modernizing hydropower. 2015. Last read 22.02.2015. http://www.hydroreform.org/abouthydro/modernizing-hydropower International Rivers. Environmental Effects of Dams. 2054 University Ave, Suite 300, Berkeley, CA 94704-2644, USA. Last read 20.02.2015. http://www.internationalrivers.org/environmental-impacts-of-dams The quality of air is now once again a popular topic for discussion. A big German car manufacturer has been manipulating car emission test results, in order to be able to sell their cars as environmentally friendly and efficient. So, how is the air quality doing in our cities? The quality of air is determined by measuring the amount of harmful particles in the air e.g. small particles, ozone, nitric oxides, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxides and hydrocarbons. Almost all particles originate from different sources, so one can’t really be affected by to all of them through simple actions. It is very important to understand the origins of these emissions, so one is able to minimize one’s footprint. The main sources of these bad guys are listed below. Emissions originate from different sources, for example road, sea and air traffic, wood burning (!), industrial- and energy production and long range transport of particles. The long range particles originate elsewhere, but because of the fine size and weight, they travel long distances. One can’t really affect the amounts of these directly. For example large forest fires cause a lot of fumes which travel over land and seas. (Ilmanlaatu 2015). The situation becomes rather hazardous here in Finland during springtime. On top of other emissions and fumes, all of the rough sand used to keep roads non slippery is revealed after snow melts. That combined with the traffic it leads vast amounts of dust. It causes breathing problems to sensitive people and exercising near the roads of heavy traffic is not recommended during that time. What could be done to prevent this or mitigate the effects of this? (Ilmansaasteiden terveyshaitat 2015).
What is the source of all air pollution ultimately? Of course everything! To really affect the amount of pollution produced, we need to consume less overall. The production of stuff requires energy, energy leads to fuel consumption and fuel combustion causes emissions... Author Iiro Jalava References
Ilmanlaatu. 2015. Ilmatieteenlaitos. Read 24.11.2015. http://ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/teematietoa-ilmanlaadusta. Ilmasaasteiden terveyshaitat. 2015. Helsingin Seudun Ympäristöpalvelut. Read 24.11.2015. https://www.hsy.fi/fi/asukkaalle/ilmanlaatu/tietoahengitysilmasta/Sivut/Ilmansaasteiden-terveyshaitat.aspx. Forests are cut down for many reasons every year in the world. One of the reasons is to make the land available for other uses. 7.3 million hectares of forest, which is roughly the size of country of Panama, are lost each year according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in one hundred years at the current rate of deforestation. As this is one of the most important environmental issues globally, it is also a great problem for Turkey, which has a remarkable diversity of wildlife, due to its wide variety of habitats and unique position between three continents and three seas. ISTANBUL THIRD BRIDGE CONSTRUCTIONIstanbul is a very special city with its geographical position and nature habitats. The forests in the north of Istanbul have a great chance to increase prosperity for the city and its inhabitants.Because they increase the city’s air and the quality of life. They include basins of the rivers that used for city’s drinking water requirements. These forests also has an important place in bio- diversity and is one of the world's most important bird migration concentration areas. But is that enough to fill one’s pockets? The third bridge and road construction already started in 2013. The trees are being cut at a speedy rate to make way for the third bridge and the highway that will connect the new bridge. According to the official data, 19.6 kilometers of the road and 17.8 kilometers of merging roads will pass through the forest. A width of 110 meters is being cleared for the road. According to calculations based on these measures, 1,610,000 trees will be cut when the bridge is complete. It is said by the project owners that the bridge will greatly reduce the traffic. But according to experts, this project will rather create traffic outside their own and will only lead to other construction activities around. The new construction will cause the destruction of heart of Istanbul. It was supposed to serve transit traffic, which is in total the share is even below three percent. Therefore, the project can only be called as a rant project. Construction YardSince the very first days, many people and organizations started campaign against these arbitrary projects. With the third bridge,highway and third airport contructions; the result will be irreversible, as many people believe. Those people want their concerns to be heard. This time, it is people’s duty to be a breath for them. ARTVIN’S BELOW IS MORE PRECIOS THAN UNDERNEATHCerattepe/Artvin is located in northern part of Turkey. It has been 20 years since the mine prospectors fixed their eyes on the place that is the world’s one of the oldest and richest by it’s flora.Currently in the area many drilling proses are going on. In 2012 Cengiz Holding, which has a bad reputation with their litigation proces, got warrant for a project in the area. But this year, the local administrative court canceled the environmental impact assessment report. After few months, the same project got permisson from General Directorate of Forest. Following these events, with the support of ‘Union of Turkish Bar Association’ and ‘Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects’, 61 lawyers and 760 claimants pressed a charge. This is the biggest environmental lawsuit in Turkish law history. The number of chopped trees only for this copper mine project’s underground production is 50.300. For the large field ctivities of project this number will increase, which was not included on the reports. Today, the locals are guarding on the site and worried that operators can cut down trees in the middle of the night. Locals guarding on the site.COAL PLANT ON OLIVE FIELDSYırca/Soma is a small village located in western Turkey with most of its people making their living from olive cultivation. Not longer than after the coal mine disaster in Soma, urgent decision of expropriation of olive fields to build a coal plant caused a reaction by locals.Near the village, other two coal plants are already active and cousing health problems. People brought this new project to trial on September 2014. Before the state council’s ruling, the field was hedged by a company. After 52 nights of guarding by local people, a brawl accured between constractor’s private security and locals.After that, More than 6,000 olive trees were cut down in one night on 7th November 2014. Just after few hours, the council of state stoped the project. With this decision the on-going project was canceled in Yırca. According to the environmental impact assessment report, if the project was to be completed, some 200 cubic meters of mostly pine trees would have eventually been cut down too. The legal battle on the urgent expropriation decision of the location of the plant ended with a rare victory for locals and activists. However, the autherized people are accused by locals that no one defended their rights and protected their fields in this incident. Early this year, people from all around Turkey started to help Yırca villagers to plant their olive trees again.Starting on October 2015; Greenpeace Turkey, which were with the people right from beginning, will build solar energy panels for the village with the collected money from their campaign. Olive trees cut down by Kolin Construction.Locals victory posing after the council of state’s decision.ReferencesIstanbul Third Bridge Construction Gürhan Savgı.Mega construction projects drive deforestation in town.Today's zaman.Last Update 14.06.2013http://www.todayszaman.com/national_mega-construction-projects-drive-deforestation-in-town_320652.html Gold and copper mine projects in Artvin Black Sea higlanders form 3 km human chain against gold, copper mine project. Hürriyet Daily News. Last updated 22.07.2014. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/black-sea-highlanders-form-3-km-human-chain-against-gold-copper-mine-project.aspx?pageID=238&nid=69449 Locals protests mines in northern Turkey, tension rises with gendarmerie. Hürriyet Daily News. Last updated 09.07.2015 . http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/locals-protest-mines-in-northern-turkey-tension-rises-with-gendarmerie-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=85219&NewsCatID=340 Report of Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects about Cerattepe in Turkish. Released on December 2014. http://www.tmmob.org.tr/sites/default/files/cerattepe.pdf Power plant project in Soma Company detemines new area ‘without olive trees’ for power plant construction in Yırca.Dogan News Agency.22.04.2015. http://www.dha.com.tr/company-determines-new-area-without-olive-trees-for-power-plant-construction-in-yirca_914969.html Ruling on power plant project in Soma olive grove ‘leaked to company’. 09.11.2014.Hürriyet Daily News. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ruling-on-power-plant-project-in-soma-olive-grove-leaked-to-company.aspx?pageID=238&nID=74087&NewsCatID=340 MELİS TERZİ
Look at these two funny characters. Seems like they are stoning in waste. Even though we do not pay much attention, but much staff and especially plastic are thrown away. Senseless to deny that humanity lives in the era of plastic. Although sometimes its role is not understood that fully, there is a great dependence on this material. Plastic is defined as synthetic or semi-synthetic organics and today we have a great variety of plastic kinds with special features and properties. This blog post is about daily used types. The absolute product leader in plastic production is a bag. Low-density polyethylene or LDPE (number 4) is the source. Regardless its popularity it is still not approved on topic of health safety. The sad fact about LDPE is that it is not widely recycled. However furniture items, garbage cans are just a few products of reused low-density polyethylene. Since the production of plastic bags goes only in ascending direction, there is a great need of finding a recycling technology or alternative material. Another example of highly consumed plastic is PET, number one in a triangle (polyethylene terephthalate). Drinking bottles and jars for enormous amount of products are made from it. Its color is transparent and it is well known for absorption of products’ flavor stored inside. Fortunately, PET is widely recycled and the final product is impressive: fiber for clothes, bags and so on. Picture 2 represents the life circle of a PET bottle. PICTURE 2. Life cycle of PET bottles (www.bannercreations.com)
White bottles for milk and juice are also commonly met. HDPE or high-density polyethylene (number 2) is thicker than PET. Majority of this plastic is used in the food industry, but also in chemical as a container for soaps and detergents. After recycling it is almost not used for food production because of poisonous content possibility form the first usage. However, HDPE is useful at home and secondary plastic can be found as fencing and lumber. The recycling process is long and energy consuming. Five steps can be distinguished. The ball kicked off with collection and transportation to recycling units, after which the waste is sorted. Usually the specific plastic types are delivered separately. Here the codes are useful. It is worth noticing that in most cases plastic is sorted according to color as well. Then goes chipping. Machine shreds material into small pieces which are washed with alkaline detergent afterwards in order to erase all remaining dirt and paper labels. These four stages were preparatory. Pieces of plastic are melted down and this melted plastic is formed into thin tubes by an extruder machine. Tubes then are cut into smaller parts and then the pellets are ready. Now the plastic is recycled and new one can be produced References: The Different Types Of Plastics And Their Classifications. Quality logo products. https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/lib/different-types-of-plastic.htm Recycling plastics. All-recycling-facts. http://www.all-recycling-facts.com/recycling-plastic.html HemicellulosePlants, as well as animals, are made of individual cells. One big difference between the two types of cells is that plant cells have a stiff wall while animal cells have a softer membrane. This wall has a building block called hemicellulose which can be used in production of bioplastic. This kind of plastic is perfectly environmentally safe to the point of being edible. This plastic requires the hemicellulose that can be extracted from spruce. It is under development and the technology could potentially be used to replace some preservatives in foods as well as product packaging. Hemp PlasticHempseed oil has long been known for its usefulness as plastic, among other things. For an example the first ever Ford car was actually made of hempseed oil and in fact ran on hemp oil as well. The plastic is bio-degradable, durable and light-weight. In fact, Mr. Ford demonstrated the properties of the plastic by hitting it with an axe, leaving nothing but a slight dent where similar thickness steel performed much worse. This plastic requires hempseed oil to be extracted from hemp seeds and stalks via cold compression. The plants are specifically bred to be most beneficial for industrial use, i.e. no psychoactive effects and a high yield of plant matter. Mr. Ford abusing his car. Hemp PaperHemp paper is produced from industry-purposed fiber hemp, as hemp plastic. It could be used to replace contemporary paper made from cellulose extracted from trees. This has numerous benefits to the environment for various reasons. The biggest benefits are bigger yield and no need for bleaching, as hemp paper doesn’t get yellow. The yield is arguably the biggest benefit. Hemp has a bi-annual crop, which means that you get a yield every 6 months. Compared to trees which take decades to grow it is a huge improvement in efficiency. The effect on the ecosystem with hemp are also smaller, because the plants are cut more often. The logistics are also simpler, as hemp is far easier to transport. The chemical bleaching is an important point as well. Hemp paper doesn’t get yellow like regular paper. That makes chemical bleaching obsolete. This has a large impact on the ecosystem, because there is no spillage. ConclusionIn conclusion, there are already many eco-friendly alternatives for paper and plastic. In widespread implementation these alternatives would have a great benefit for the effort to preserve the environment and regrow what has been lost. ReferencesHEMP PAPER Raw With Life. 2010. http://www.hempplastic.com/ BIO PLASTICS Innventia. 2012. http://www.innventia.com/en/About-us/News1/Birch-provides-renewable-plastic-raw-material/ HEMP PAPER Hemphasis. 2004. http://www.hemphasis.net/Paper/paper.htm Joonas Sandman
What is the source? A very long time tested method, but forgotten nowadays by all the population. A method called cold fusion is a science concept which could be the key element for opening the world to a cheap, clean, sustainable and low energy demanding reaction. The importance of this type of energy is mostly because the atmosphere is polluted by our alternatives, such as fossil fuels, nuclear reactors and etc. The other sources which are environmentally friendly, like wind turbines, solar chargers and etc. are unfortunately producing small amounts of energy resulting in a poor efficiency. What is its principle? Not a high percentage of our population is familiar with the principle of this nuclear reaction. But what if this reaction already exists somewhere else? The answer is yes, and the clear example for it would be our stars in the universe, which exist only because this type of energy is present. In practice, the principle of the reaction is about passing a so called Coulomb’s barrier to “fuse” two nucleuses into a heavier one. The Coulomb’s barrier is a scientific term which describes the natural activity of protons to repel from two different elements in order to keep the nucleus stable. The key element during this reaction is hydrogen (pictures 1 and 2) which interacts with metals such as nickel and palladium. Where could it be used?
Still not surprised? But did you know that cold fusion is a reaction which does not create any radioactive compounds and does not involve any of these during the production of energy? This is exactly what makes this type of nuclear energy to be so unique, because if it is safe, then you can apply that to any device that requires energy in order to operate. For example development of small fusion reactors might be a great alternative for all cars, this would ease the atmosphere pollution and stop the pumping of oil from our planet. How far are we now? Note that Tririum isotope is produced this way. So far, there is a huge on-going project in southern France for fusion reaction experimental purposes. The reactor is currently under construction, but it can already be known that the heart of the whole system will be San Diego’s General Atomics seven-story magnet, which weighs 1,000 tons. As for the reactor itself, the total amount of funds invested is $16 billion. Beijing (Picture 1), which is the capital city of China, located in the south-east of China. It is regarded as the political, education, and cultural center of China. Beijing has the area of 16.4 Km2. Permanent population of Beijing is 21.7 million in the year 2015(Shaxiren. 20145), and floating population is around 7.6 million. (People. 2014) Picture 1. Beijing (Wang, ND) What caused the air pollution? The mean reason which caused the air pollution is the daily life pollution. Due to the need for cooking, heating, and other daily life activities, the combustion of fossil fuels and other emissions are high. In addition, transport emissions of aircraft, ships, cars and other vehicles have significant influence on air pollution. Another aspect which contributes to air pollution is the industrial activity. There are a lot power plants, steel mills, cement plants and other large energy-consuming factories which consume huge amount of fossil fuels can cause air pollutant emission. Such as H2S, NH3, CS2, etc. Furthermore, the climate of Beijing also influences the air condition. Beijing's air pollution has a relationship with the domestic, industrial, mobile emissions, and the concentration changes of fine particulate matter also showed seasonality. For example, in the autumn and winter season’s conversion, pollutants spread more easily and accumulate to a higher concentration which is caused by the impact of wind, humidity and other conditions, so there would be higher possibility to cause haze weather. Air pollute condition in Beijing Air quality index (AQI) is a quantitative description of air quality situation index. The AQI of Beijing in 6 October, 2015 reached 364 which means the air quality is severely polluted. The primary air pollutant of Beijing is pm2.5. The regulation of daily pm2.5 concentration is 25µg/m3, but it can reach over 250µg/m3 in Beijing. And this is the mean cause of the phenomenon of Beijing cough. Picture 2. Comparison of Beijing air condition taking at two different locations
Refering to picture 2 above the left one was taken in the 70th anniversary of the victory of world anti-fascist war parade. And after the parade, the clear sky became foggy within one day. The mean cause of air pollution in Beijing is the excessive emission of pollutant by car and industrial production. If there are many people using bicycle or public transport like bus and subway, there is no doubt that the clear sky would come back to Beijing again. (Song. 2015) References People. 2014. Floating population in Beijing. http://bj.people.com.cn/n/2014/0618/c82840-21455593.html. Read: 28,09,2015 Shaxiren. 2015. Beijing. Baidu Baike. http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=S2arTcEJKiWzpQOtAXKDn0Nk4sA7e6irO08tKlJFS6TlndHJO75XE-TwbaQVgPKu57iG37ZJ50KXnHhBdPmYwpTXx7RI8MUUpfVRM38kPB3#5_1. Read:05,10,2015 Wang. X. ND. Beijing photographers association. www.bjpanet.com. Read:06.10.2015 Beijing municipal environmental monitoring center. 2015. http://zx.bjmemc.com.cn/web/index.aspx.Read: 06. 10.2015 Song. Y. 2015. Foggy come back to Beijing after parade. http://www.cankaoxiaoxi.com/china/20150910/933911.shtml Read: 05.10.2015 The whole world is about energy. At least from the human perspective. Energy is used everywhere in our daily lives, even human body needs energy for functioning. Basically energy flows through the planet. Human race has just learned how to use the energy on its own purposes, for example via engines that burn fuel and use the energy from it. Although, there is a price for human energy consumption: when it increases, the amount of emission usually does the same. The use of oil, natural gas and coal creates emissions, such as CO2. Besides of these, we have nuclear power that produces its own waste. Nuclear power has been taken as a “clean” energy source. It doesn’t directly affect on the atmosphere, but the radioactive waste will be serious problem in somewhere in the future. Already the incident of the Chernobyl (not to mention the Fukushima) showed us what the risks are. A lot of radioactive waste is waiting its final placement around the world. Deep underground in the bedrock is the last grave of the waste. Or at least the calculations say so, no one can predict precisely what happens in next hundred thousand years (infinity from human point of view) and even after that the waste isn’t totally harmful. What if I tell you that we might have a solution that is environmental friendly, now and in future? We have a possibility with substance called Thorium. And I say “might have” and “possibility” because nothing is for sure. The element thorium holds great invocation potential when we are looking for new energy sources, but it’s still poorly known. There might be risks that are still unknown, but more research is needed. One of the reasons for not using the thorium in energy production, is that it is an unfamiliar substance. Kind of twisted, I would say. If something is unfamiliar, do research. Other reason for not using it, is that use of uranium is easier and cheaper: thorium would need new reactors (old ones for the uranium aren’t suitable), and the whole production chain (mining, processing, and distribution) would have to be created from the beginning. That’s still not enough to convince me that we shouldn’t use thorium. There might be risks but the risks of the current nuclear power are extremely high. I would like to believe that it’s not just about the money. Nuclear power has one justification on its side: the risks are known. So, not much. The comparison between current uranium-based nuclear power and liquid fluoride thorium reactor might feel a bit difficult, so let me make it easier with the table below. It is also good to know that on the Earth, there are 3-4 times more thorium than uranium. There are already some fluoride thorium reactor prototypes in the world and more is coming in the near future. Energy industry is in a state of change and it’s interesting to see what part thorium is going to play in it.
Sources: Ilmastotieto. 2011. Sulasuolareaktori - energiaa thoriumista. Read Oct. 2015. https://ilmastotieto.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/sulasuolareaktori-%E2%80%93-energiaa-toriumista/ Wikipedia. 2015. Occurance of thorium. Read Oct. 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occurrence_of_thorium Lake Baikal is located in eastern Siberia and is definitely one of the most beautiful natural wonders. Baikal is the deepest (1637m) and the oldest lake in the world, its age is more than 25 million years. It stores 20% of the world’s fresh water. Apart from these amazing features, Baikal is the cleanest and clearest lake with the biggest biodiversity. Just imagine, more than 2635 species of animals and plants are found there and 75% of them are not met anywhere else! Baikal is included in the list of Unesco natural heritage. And here you can see some pictures of its beauty, taken by Russian photojournalist Toroshev Victor Vasil’evich. As was mentioned before, Baikal is really a huge lake and it has a lot of inflow rivers and streams along which numerous inhabited localities are met (villages, small towns). Together, all these settlements dump around 15 million cubic meters of waste per year in rivers and later ends up in Baikal. Sewage treatment plants and industrial wastewater facilities in localities near Lake Baikal are either non-existent or have a very poor quality. And this is a very sad fact. The biggest inflow river Selenga, unfortunately, also contributes to the pollution of the clearest lake. Several wood-treatment and paper plants, metallurgical enterprise and power plant are built on its banks. A lot, isn’t it? Of course, wastewater is dumped into Selenga. And direct dumps are only one problem, because apart from wastewater these plants have emissions of SO2 and SO3 into atmosphere and later this causes acid rains in the neighborhood. As a result, water in the lake becomes acidic which affect flora and fauna of the lake. Agriculture and soil erosion also affect the quality of water in Lake Baikal. Nutrients that are used in fields are washed out by rain and get into the lake. And it leads to eutrophication - decrease in the amount of oxygen in water. And on the pictures below you can see dreadful consequences of the Baikal’s pollution. To solve some problem, first of all it is needed to find its source. And in the case with Baikal it is not only the people’s irresponsibility and negligence to the world’s natural heritage, but also several political aspects. Here it is important to say that Russia is divided into several Federal Districts. Let’s have a look at the map of Siberian Federal District where Lake Baikal is situated. As you can understand, the blue spot is Lake Baikal and it is between two regions - The Republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk region. None of the regions want to take responsibility of the pollution and that is why no money is allocated to the improvement of factories’ treatment facilities. Also ecological departments in regions do not want to make ecological monitoring and clean polluted areas. However, the problem is not only because of two regions, which can not divide spheres of influence, but also because of Central Federal District (the region with Moscow), which does not allocate enough money to Federal Districts that are behind Urals. That is why the regions are trying to save money and do not spend them on things which in their opinion are not important. Fortunately, people do understand that ecology in the region and condition of the unique lake is important and go to strikes and meetings to raise awareness about situation with the Baikal. And this is quite productive method because, people living in the region have achieved closing of the old pulp and paper mill, the specifications of which were terrible and could not be improved (the mill was built in 1967 and did not have significant developments and improvements since then).
To conclude, right steps are undertaken to save the unique natural heritage. According to interviews done by «Vedomosti» (Russia), treatment facilities of factories and plants will be updated by the beginning of 2018. Heads of the regions know about ecological problems and with the help of caring and initiative people the statues of the cleanest and clearest lake will be saved. http://www.ecoproblems.org/2009/01/blog-post_6374.html |
Want to be an author?Write for us and we will publish your writing right here on our blog! It can be about anything related to environmental engineering Archives
May 2019
Categories
All
|