You must have heardof an energy crisis. This crisis refers to the rate of depletion of non-renewable resources of energy. Non-renewable energy resources cannot reproduce on their own and they take a lotof time to get replenished. The rate of depletion of these resources is greater than the rate of their replenishment. As a result, a time will come in future when inhabitants of the earth will have no non-renewable energy resource to back up their day-to-day energy needs.This makes just one part of the whole scenario. Rapid consumption of energy resources has effects other than the sustainability of these resources. Drilling and mining of different finite resources of energy results in environmental pollution. This pollution can be in any form. It canbe air pollution, land pollution, and water pollution.Some scientists argue that fuels of carbon origin are impossible to exhaust in full. They will remainusable to provide energy in one form or another. Others argue that these resources will diminish with time.Important energy resources in the form of fossil fuels are coal, gas, and oil. Out of these, oil has been proved as the most efficient and most valuable resource in the field of energy.However, continued use of these fuels is contributing to the most dangerous environmental problem which is global warming. Drilling of oil poses a greater threat to the environment than the mining of coal mines. The machinery used and the procedure implied in oil field drilling is a lot more sophisticated than mining in a natural scenario in coal mines. This results in an environmental impact of drilling when it is compared with coal mining.There can be a number of threats these oil drilling projects pose to wildlife. Studies have shown that wildlife migration routes have changed due to the development of oil and gas fields. Moreover, this aspect of life on earth is affected by a change in the level of noise in the environment that has resulted from these fields.Oil spills have unavoidable consequences in the development of the oil field and have been hazardous to the environment. These oil spills create long-lasting effects on the health of individuals living on the planet.Due to the huge demand of energy, oil, and gas fields' development and maintenance has become inevitable. This means increased number of oil fields. Toxic chemicals from these fields, haze, and dust make an intensively adverse effect on the environment. In some areas of America, these wastes make the air so polluted that it has converted into ozone at ground level.To supply the everyday demand of energy, new projects are being initiated. These projects mean increased use of sky-high machinery, which in turn disrupts the scenic view of the sky at nights.The contribution of methane to environmental pollution is also very important. This gas is 84 folds more harmful to the environment than othergasses that are produced from oil drilling. This gas helps in global warming by trapping more heat.The good news is that there is a natural way to address poor indoor air quality. Here at EMK Marketing LLD we have found Himalayan Salt Lamps to be very beneficial to purifying air. The dust, pollen, smoke, and pet dander collect with moisture in the air. When these droplets come in contact with the heated Himalayan Salt Lamps, they are destroyed as a result of being dehumidified. It will develop negative ions that enhance your mood and sense of well being. The wide variety of cleansing salt crystal lamps can be found athttp://www.himalayansaltlampsplus.com.Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/expert/E._Kenney/2249417
Showing posts with label clean energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clean energy. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
Study Helps Explain Sea Ice Differences at Earth's Poles
A NASA/NOAA/university team led by Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, used satellite radar, sea surface temperature, land form and bathymetry (ocean depth) data to study the physical processes and properties affecting Antarctic sea ice. They found that two persistent geological factors -- the topography of Antarctica and the depth of the ocean surrounding it -- are influencing winds and ocean currents, respectively, to drive the formation and evolution of Antarctica's sea ice cover and help sustain it.
"Our study provides strong evidence that the behavior of Antarctic sea ice is entirely consistent with the geophysical characteristics found in the southern polar region, which differ sharply from those present in the Arctic," said Nghiem.
Antarctic sea ice cover is dominated by first-year (seasonal) sea ice. Each year, the sea ice reaches its maximum extent around the frozen continent in September and retreats to about 17 percent of that extent in February. Since the late 1970s, its extent has been relatively stable, increasing just slightly; however, regional differences are observed.
Over the years, scientists have floated various hypotheses to explain the behavior of Antarctic sea ice, particularly in light of observed global temperature increases. Are changes in the ozone hole involved? Could fresh meltwater from Antarctic ice shelves be making the ocean surface less salty and more conducive to ice formation, since salt inhibits freezing? Are increases in the strength of Antarctic winds causing the ice to thicken? Something is protecting Antarctic sea ice, but a definitive answer has remained elusive.
To tackle this cryospheric conundrum, Nghiem and his team adopted a novel approach. They analyzed radar data from NASA's QuikScat satellite from 1999 to 2009 to trace the paths of Antarctic sea ice movements and map its different types. They focused on the 2008 growth season, a year of exceptional seasonal variability in Antarctic sea ice coverage.
Their analyses revealed that as sea ice forms and builds up early in the sea ice growth season, it gets pushed offshore and northward by winds, forming a protective shield of older, thicker ice that circulates around the continent. The persistent winds, which flow downslope off the continent and are shaped by Antarctica's topography, pile ice up against the massive ice shield, enhancing its thickness. This band of ice, which varies in width from roughly 62 to 620 miles (100 to 1,000 kilometers), encapsulates and protects younger, thinner ice in the ice pack behind it from being reduced by winds and waves.
The team also used QuikScat radar data to classify the different types of Antarctic sea ice. Older, thicker sea ice returns a stronger radar signal than younger, thinner ice does. They found the sea ice within the protective shield was older and rougher (due to longer exposure to wind and waves), and thicker (due to more ice growth and snow accumulation). As the sea ice cover expands and ice drifts away from the continent, areas of open water form behind it on the sea surface, creating "ice factories" conducive to rapid sea ice growth.
To address the question of how the Southern Ocean maintains this great sea ice shield, the team combined sea surface temperature data from multiple satellites with a recently available bathymetric chart of the depth of the world's oceans. Sea surface temperature data reveal that at the peak of ice growth season, the boundary of the ice shield remains behind a 30-degree Fahrenheit (-1 degree Celsius) temperature line surrounding Antarctica. This temperature line corresponds with the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current front, a boundary that separates the circulation of cold and warm waters around Antarctica. The team theorized that the location of this front follows the underwater bathymetry.
When they plotted the bathymetric data against the ocean temperatures, the pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Pronounced seafloor features strongly guide the ocean current and correspond closely with observed regional Antarctic sea ice patterns. For example, the current stays near Bouvet Island, located 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the nearest land, where three tectonic plates join to form seafloor ridges. Off the coast of East Antarctica, the -1 degree Celsius sea surface temperature lines closely bundle together as they cross the Kerguelen Plateau (a submerged microcontinent that broke out of the ancient Gondwana supercontinent), through a deep channel called the Fawn Trough. But those lines spread apart over adjacent deep ocean basins, where seafloor features are not pronounced. Off the West Antarctica coast, the deep, smooth seafloor loses its grip over the current, allowing sea ice extent to decrease and resulting in large year-to-year variations.
Study results are published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment. Other participating institutions include the Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering at UCLA; the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle; and the U.S. National/Naval Ice Center, NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland. Additional funding was provided by the National Science Foundation.
NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.
QuikScat was built and is managed by JPL. For more information, visit:
For more information about NASA's Earth science activities, visit:
Last Updated: May 21, 2016
Editor: Tony Greicius
Tags: Earth, Ice, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Water
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Waste as a Renewable Energy Source
The enormous increase in the quantum and diversity of wastematerials generated by human activity and their potentially harmful effects on the general environment and public health, have led to an increasing awareness about an urgent need to adopt scientific methods for safe disposal of wastes. While there is an obvious need to minimize the generation of wastes and to reuse and recycle them, the technologies for recovery ofenergy from wastescan play a vital role in mitigating the problems. Besides recovery of substantial energy, these technologies can lead to a substantial reduction in the overall waste quantities requiring final disposal, which can be better managed for safedisposal in a controlled manner while meeting the pollution control standards.Waste generation rates are affected by socio-economic development, degree of industrialization, and climate. Generally, the greater the economic prosperity and the higher percentage of urban population, the greater the amount of solid waste produced. Reduction in the volume and mass of solid waste is a crucial issue especially in the light of limited availability of final disposal sites in many parts of the world. Although numerous waste and byproduct recovery processes have been introduced, anaerobic digestionhas unique and integrative potential, simultaneously acting as a waste treatment and recovery process.Waste-to-Energy Conversion PathwaysA host of technologies are available for realizing the potential of waste as an energysource, ranging from very simple systems for disposing of dry waste to more complex technologies capable of dealing with large amounts of industrial waste. There are three main pathways for conversion of organic waste material to energy – thermochemical, biochemical and physicochemical.Thermochemical ConversionCombustion of waste has been used for many years as a way of reducing waste volume and neutralizing many of the potentially harmful elements within it. Combustion can only be used to create an energy source when heat recovery is included. Heat recovered from the combustion process can then be used to either power turbines for electricity generation or to provide direct space and water heating. Somewaste streams are also suitable for fueling a combined heat and power system, although quality and reliability of supply are important factorsto consider.Thermochemical conversion, characterized by higher temperature and conversion rates, is best suited for lower moisture feedstock and is generally less selective for products. Thermochemical conversion includes incineration, pyrolysis and gasification. The incineration technology is the controlled combustion of waste with the recovery of heat to produce steam which in turn produces power through steam turbines. Pyrolysis and gasification represent refined thermal treatment methods as alternatives to incineration andare characterized by the transformation of the waste into product gas as energy carrier for later combustion in, for example, a boiler or a gas engine.Biochemical ConversionThe bio-chemical conversion processes, which include anaerobic digestion and fermentation, are preferred for wastes having high percentageof organic biodegradable (putrescible) matter and high moisture content. Anaerobic digestion is a reliable technology for the treatment of wet, organic waste. Organic waste from various sources is composted in highly controlled,oxygen-free conditions circumstances resulting in the production of biogas which canbe used to produce both electricity and heat. Anaerobic digestion also results in a dry residue called digestate which can be used as a soil conditioner.Alcohol fermentation is the transformation of organic fraction of biomass to ethanol by a series of biochemical reactions using specialized microorganisms. It finds good deal of application in the transformation of woody biomass into cellulosic ethanol.Physico-chemical ConversionThe physico-chemical technology involves various processes to improve physical and chemical properties of solid waste. The combustible fraction of the waste is converted into high-energy fuelpellets which may be used in steam generation. Fuel pellets have several distinct advantages over coal and wood because it is cleaner, freefrom incombustibles, has lowerash and moisture contents, is of uniform size, cost-effective, and eco-friendly.Factors affecting Energy Recovery from wasteThe two main factors which determine the potential of recovery of energy from wastesare the quantity and quality (physico-chemical characteristics) of the waste. Some of the important physico-chemical parameters requiring consideration include:*.Size of constituents*.Density*.Moisture content*.Volatile solids / Organic matter*.Fixed carbon*.Total inerts*.Calorific valueOften, an analysis of waste to determine the proportion of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur (ultimate analysis) is done to make massbalance calculations, for both thermochemical and biochemical processes. In caseof anaerobic digestion, the parameters C/N ratio (a measure of nutrient concentration available for bacterial growth) and toxicity (representing the presence of hazardous materials which inhibit bacterial growth), also require consideration.Significance of Waste-to- Energy (WTE) PlantsWhile some still confuse modern waste-to-energy plants with incinerators of the past, the environmental performance of the industry is beyond reproach. Studies have shown that communities that employ waste-to-energy technology have higher recycling rates than communities that do not utilize waste-to-energy. The recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous metals from waste-to-energy plants for recycling is strong and growing each year. In addition, numerous studies have determined that waste-to-energy plants actually reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that enter the atmosphere.Nowadays, waste-to-energy plants based on combustion technologies are highly efficient power plants that utilize municipal solid waste astheir fuel rather than coal, oil ornatural gas. Far better than expending energy to explore, recover, process and transport the fuel from some distant source, waste-to-energy plantsfind value in what others consider garbage. Waste-to-energy plants recover the thermal energy contained in the trash in highly efficient boilers that generate steam that can then be sold directly toindustrial customers, or used on-site to drive turbines for electricity production. WTE plants are highly efficient in harnessing the untapped energy potential of organic waste by converting the biodegradable fraction of the waste into high calorific value gases like methane. The digested portion of the waste ishighly rich in nutrients and is widely used as biofertilizer in many parts of the world.Waste-to-Energy around the WorldTo an even greater extent than in the United States, waste-to-energy has thrived in Europeand Asia as the preeminent method of waste disposal. Lauding waste-to-energy for its ability to reduce the volume of waste in an environmentally-friendly manner, generate valuable energy, and reduce greenhousegas emissions, European nations rely on waste-to-energy as the preferred method of waste disposal. In fact, the European Union has issued a legally binding requirement for its member States to limit the landfilling of biodegradable waste.According to the Confederationof European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP), Europe currently treats 50 million ton of wastes at waste-to-energy plants each year, generating anamount of energy that can supply electricity for 27 million people or heat for 13 million people. Upcoming changes to EU legislation will have a profound impact on how much further the technology will help achieve environmental protection goals.A Glance at Feedstock for Waste-to-Energy PlantsAgricultural ResiduesLarge quantities of crop residues are produced annuallyworldwide, and are vastly underutilised. The most common agricultural residue isthe rice husk, which makes up 25% of rice by mass. Other residues include sugar cane fibre (known as bagasse), coconut husks and shells, groundnut shells, cereal straw etc. Current farming practic
The Plastic Plan: Energy from Plastic Bottles
If we try to get rid of plastics altogether from our lives, we know that it is quite impractical. So what is the nextbest thing? We can recycle plastic in such a manner that it is economical and produces clean and green energy for our utilization. Industrial designer Chris Allen has come up with an imaginative answer to the problem of plastic litter. He named his project as ‘The Plastic Plan.’ This project needs millions of plastic bottlesalong with their caps. We can procure these plastic bottles from landfills and carbon-intensive recycling plants. The next step is to convert these plastic bottles into thousands of cubes that can float on the ocean surface. Now after having thousands of similar these cubes can be joined together to form an offshore structure. This structure’s size is akin to three football fields. These structures are stacked one on top of the other.Now at least we have done one good deed i.e. removed those plastic bottles from the landfills. Now they are floating on the sea surface and they areready to be utilized as energy producing and storage platform. The core idea is that now an elevated reservoir of recycled material is ready. Nowwe can use clean and green energy devices such as solar, solar electric pump, wind, wind turbine pump, or wave/current powered pumps and mount them on this base. The goal is to pump sea water 30 meters or more into the reservoir. Water is pumped into the reservoir by hundreds or thousands of clean energy pumps. Now the same water is released a large ‘dam’ sized hydroelectric turbines at the foot of the platform. This process uses the fluctuating energy produced by many small solar, wind, wave pumps and converts it into a much stronger more reliable clean energy. Electricity thus produced will be strong enoughto be cabled to shore. From there this electricity can be transported to the existing power grid.The plan helps in reducing the plastic waste and uses it to create a type of dam on the ocean. It also deals with the issues of a decline in water levels in dammed rivers. Chris Allen finds the Gulf of Mexico offshore of New Orleans as the perfect location for the first cluster of islands. Chris Allen believes if we will be able to harness properly and at a scaleno one ever thought of, this project may provide answer to the escalating energy crisis and fuel the world with clean, zero-emission energy.
Electricity and Desalination from Wastewater
In most part of the world safe andclean drinking water is unavailable for daily consumption and industrial use. Currently to desalinate water two kinds of technologies are being used. First is known as reverse osmosis and the second is electro-dialysis. Both of these processes need huge amount of energy. A team of scientists from China and U.S.A are working to eliminate ninety percent of the salts from seawater or brackish water. They are also trying to generate electricity from wastewater. “Water desalination can be accomplished without electrical energy input or high water pressure by using a source of organic matter as thefuel to desalinate water,” reported in a recent online issue of Environmental Scienceand Technology.Bruce Logan, Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering,Penn Statetalks about the main highlights of the project, “The big selling point is that it currently takes a lot of electricity to desalinate water and using the microbial desalination cells, we could actually desalinate water and produce electricity while removing organic material from wastewater.”The team is putting its efforts on a modified a microbial fuel cell for desalinating salty water. Microbial fuel cell is a device that cleverly utilizes naturally occurring bacteria to convert wastewater into clean water and producing electricity in the process.Currently they are testing the theory and not trying to do something on commercial scale but practical results are quite encouraging for the team.Logan explains the purpose of the whole experiment, “Our main intent was to show that using bacteria we can produce sufficient current to do this. However, it took 200 milliliters of an artificial wastewater — acetic acid in water — to desalinate 3 milliliters of salty water. This is not a practical system yet as it is not optimized, but it is proof of concept.”A distinctive microbial fuel cell has two chambers. One chamber is filled with wastewater or other nutrients. The second chamber has water. An electrode was inserted in both the chambers. Naturally occurring bacteria becomes active in the wastewater, devours the organic material and generateselectricity.Later on the research team modified the microbial fuel cell by adding a third chamber between the two existing chambers. They also put certain ion specific membranesbetween the central chamber and the positive and negative electrodes. The ion specific membranes permit either positive or negative ions to pass but not both. Now they place salty water to be desalinated in the central chamber.About 35 grams of salt per literis found in seawater and brackish water contains 5 grams per liter. We know that salt dissolves in water and beaks down into positive and negative ions. When the bacteria start consuming the wastewater they also ionize thewater. They release charged ions in water known as protons. These protons cannot get through the anion membrane. Therefore the negative ions move from the salty water into the wastewaterchamber. What happens at the other electrode? Protons are being consumed so positively charged ions move from the salty water to the other electrode chamber. This way water is desalinated in the middle chamber. The desalination cell discharges ions into the outer chambers. This perks up the efficiency of electricity production compared to microbial fuel cells.Logan is explaining how to kill two birds with a single stone, “When we try to use microbial fuel cells to generate electricity,the conductivity of the wastewater is very low. If we could add salt it would work better. Rather than just add in salt, however in places where brackish or salt water is already abundant, we could use the process to additionally desalinate salty water, clean the wastewater and dump it and the resulting salt back into the ocean.”Though this method has some problems we can hope that the research team will tackle those in recent future.
Getting Biofuel from the World’s Garbage
There is plenty of garbage on this planet; in fact there is so much garbage that many developed countries are trying to dump their garbage on the lands of lesser developed countries, at a fee of course. But does dumping garbage on other places solve the problem? On the contrary it spreads pollutions and diseases. In fact it is more dangerous to dump garbage in the less developed countries (because there are neither technologies available to process it nor enough awareness). Even creating landfills wastes precious resources.Rather than having to dump, what if garbage can be used to generate power?Global Change Biologyhas published new research that claims replacing gasoline withbiofuelfrom processed garbage could cut global carbon emissions by 80%. A dream come true, isn’t it?Great strides are being made inthe field of creating biofuels buta galling problem is that the biofuel production causes food shortage. Additionally, farmers are adopting controversial techniques and methods to increase their production and rather than helping the climate,it is harming it.But garbage is abundantly available, fortunately or unfortunately. Second-generation biofuels like cellulosic ethanol obtained from processed urban waste may the sort of solution that kills two birds with one stone (just an expression, throwing stones at birds and killing themis bad): take care of the garbage and produce fuel.According to the study author Associate Professor Hugh Tan of theNational University of Singapore, “Our results suggest that fuel from processed waste biomass, such as paper and cardboard, is a promising clean energy solution.”He further says, “If developed fully this biofuel could simultaneously meet part of the world’s energy needs, whilealso combating carbon emissions and fossil fuel dependency.”Data from theUnited Nation’s Human Development IndexandtheEarth Trendsdatabase wasused to arrive at an estimate ofhow much waste is produced in 173 countries and how muchfuel the same countries annually require.The research team has calculated that 82.93 billion liters of cellulosic ethanol can be produced by the available landfill waste in the world and the resulting biofuel can reduceglobal carbon emissions in the range of 29.2% to 86.1% for every unit of energy produced.“If this technology continues to improve and mature these numbers are certain to increase,” concluded co-authorDr. Lian Pin Koh from ETH Zürich. “This could make cellulosic ethanol an important component of our renewable energy future.”
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