Refitting the Sustainable Bedroom
Posted on October 3, 2009
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When making a slow and steady sustainable replacement of the wasteful and toxic items in your home, pay special attention to the bedroom. While most bathrooms are hotbeds of water waste and some downright frightening things in tubes, you actually spend far more time in the bedroom.
The first step is to replace any incandescent light bulbs if you haven’t already. They are far more useful as room heaters than light sources. If you have an old carpet in the bedroom, you may want to very seriously consider ripping it up to reveal hardwood floors beneath. If there’s no treasure to be found under your toxic, mouldering carpets, you may want to consider having renewable and strong bamboo flooring installed.
Your pillow is also another cost effective change you can quickly make. The foam that most pillows are made out of is little more than oil nougat cut to a shape. Feather and grain pillows provide a far more sustainable and less toxic sleeping experience.
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Fighting Back Through Drought Years
Posted on October 2, 2009
Filed Under Climate Change | 2 Comments
In some places climate change has taken the form of lost summers, floods and hurricanes. In other places, the rain has been very stubborn about falling at all. This is especially worrisome in areas that have never needed summer irrigation before.
Retrofitting an entire company with the irrigation equipment previously reserved for very high value crops is not an option given current and is likely to effect future commodity crop prices. When growing maize for a gas tank, for instance, it doesn’t make sense to waste valuable water and resources when crop insurance allows you to simply till it under and wait until next year.
However, irrigation in one form or another might become a practical necessity in the Mid-west, just as it has been for a very long time in the arid West. Homeowners and farmers alike need to compete for water during drought years. As has been evidenced by conditions during the 100-year drought that has continued for several years in Australia, extreme droughts can bring on some very unusual behaviors in the local wildlife as well as the populace.
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Everyone is Coming to the Oil Party, and the Keg’s Loosing Pressure
Posted on October 2, 2009
Filed Under Alternative Energy, Sustainable Development | Leave a Comment
There has been a tremendous rise in the amount of petroleum used since the early 20th century. Worldwide use of this single commodity has increased exponentially as populations in the less developed world have greatly expanded and made their own demands upon the supply. However, the party of cheap energy may be over just as some of the poorest nations on Earth are just getting ready to join in.
The estimations for when the US would reach it’s peak of production were actually very accurate. There has been much speculation about just how soon this will happen or if it already has. Discoveries certainly have not kept pace with demand and estimates of reserves made by oil producing countries can be taken as very rough estimates, only. Even if the peak in production were yesterday, that would mean that only half the damage that can be done to the atmosphere with carbon dioxide emissions has occurred. The goal of sustainable development is to get off the oil habit well before that keg runs dry.
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Darkness Ahead-The Quest For Sustainable Power
Posted on September 27, 2009
Filed Under Alternative Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Issues, Green Power, Nature, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Sustainable Development, Wind Power | Leave a Comment
A looming danger is ahead, darkness everywhere, no electricity, no oil. What happens to us when the oil runs out? Can you imagine nothing to fuel our cars, airplanes, tractors, a decline in farming, a decline in food production? The future seems gloomy, everybody’s predicting that humanity itself will fall into decline. The richer countries siphoning off crops from third world countries to create bio-fuel; the third world countries slowly fading into hunger. We need to find sustainable power and we need it fast; our very existence depends upon it.
Solar Power
When we think of alternative energy resources, solar power immediately comes to mind. Evidently, when we talk of solar power, we speak of harnessing the suns god given energy. This solar energy is transformed into electric current with the use of photovoltaics, concentrating solar power and other various technologies, which are currently in the developmental and experimental stage. Solar energy works well for domestic electricity supply.
Wind Power
Employed for ages, with remnants of its bygone past still evident in Northwestern Europe, the Wind Mill is making a come back. The best thing about the power of the wind, is that it can never be depleted. It is natural, all around us and all we have to do is construct wind farms and then everything’s done. Economically utilizing the power of the wind makes sense. It literally has no maintenance or overhead costs.
Hydroelectricity
Tropical countries use hydroelectricity as their source of power, using the waters gravitational force, which comes from a high source. This is a great alternative for energy, it is a whole lot cheaper and it is environmentally safe, because hydroelectric plants do not emit dangerous substances into the air, nor the waters. It is pure nature. Fossil fuel driven power plants, emit dangerous gases into the air, while plants that are hydroelectrically driven are proven to emit a much lesser degree of greenhouse gas.
Nuclear Energy
Another source of alternative energy is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy, together with other kinds of nuclear technology can harness energy. Nuclear reactors, can generate steam energy by heating the water, thus converting water into steam and then converting the steam into electricity. Nuclear energy is widely used in vessels and ships from all over the world.
Geothermal Power
Geothermal power is the heat that is being amassed down below the earth’s surface. This is another way of making conventional power than that of fossil driven plants, which are very costly. This power, is very feasible and also another environmentally friendly alternative source of power, driven by nature itself.
One big geothermal plant, can power up to one whole urban community, supplying all the power it needs while a small geothermal plant, can power up a small village and small buildings. One good thing about natural sources such as this one, is that a geothermal power plant does not harm the air, or the ozone layer, because they do not emit poisonous gasses while in operation.
Using any of these alternative power sources can help us and the earth as well. They are cost effective and they are much less harmful to the earth. Using bio-fuel and using alternative power sources, can be a way to save the earth and this is the future of our world.
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Sustainable Solutions for Human Health Concerns
Posted on September 25, 2009
Filed Under Climate Change, Sustainable Development | Leave a Comment
One of the secondary effects of climate change is an increased pressure from infectious disease. This is partly due to the migration of disease vector insects from warmer climates into formerly temperate zones. The yellow mosquito, which can carry malaria, is one example, as its range appears to be expanding.
A decrease in the amount of international shipping, especially air flight, will help with the pressures from introduced non-native species, as long as shipping remains as well regulated as it is now. If shipping became unregulated to the point that rampant smuggling was bringing goods instead of drugs across maritime borders, potentially devastating bugs could get loose, as was the case in an outbreak of cholera in Mexico, earlier this century.
Much of the focus on sustainable health care is on prevention rather than cure. This means encouraging healthy eating habits and plenty of exercise, as many HMOs and other health “partnerships” are doing. In Canada where government policies drive the national health care system, change can be slower, but anyone can make common sense lifestyle and diet changes to reduce your need for health care.
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The Changing Energy Sector and Investment Opportunities
Posted on September 23, 2009
Filed Under Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Development | Leave a Comment
Thankfully, the discussion about climate change and the challenge of preventing it isn’t all doom and gloom. There are some legitimate opportunities to make some real money at a time when it may get scarce for a great many people. The wants and desires of people change according to the amount of discretionary income they have to work with. Being ready to meet a massive consumer demand when suitable technologies are found to reduce carbon emissions and petroleum dependence will be golden.
Renewable energy is perhaps the most obvious sector to consider investing money, or a little bit of yourself in. This includes the cheap and convenient generation of solar, wind and geothermal power, to name a few. Sustainable development also forsees climate change threats to the fresh water supplies of many places, so water conservation in the form of landscape consultancy or miserly fixtures for retrofitting is also sure to be a growth industry in the 21st century.
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Life Without Sustainable Power
Posted on September 21, 2009
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What happens when the oil prices and production costs get too high? What if our fossil fuel supply runs out? What will happen then? Actually, to fully appreciate sustainable power, these aren’t the only questions we should ask. Perhaps we should inquire: Where does 20% of our electricity supply come from? How are far off towns furnished with power? You see sustainable energy is not just for the future, it is here, it is now.
The Real Deal
The thing about sustainable energy is that it arouses debates from politicians, NGO’s, advocates and opponents, who all have certain grounds for saying that sustainable power either works, or that it is a bad thing after all. Perhaps we should begin by defining what sustainable power is. When we say sustain, it means to support, uphold, to keep from falling. So when we say sustainable power, it means energy with unending resources. In the case of today, sustainable energy means the endless resources from a power supply without the harmful effects on the environment.
Its Not Sustainable It’s the Alternative
In all reality it is not sustainable energy that precipitates the conflict. It is the “alternative source” of energy that is the root of all things that create conflict. A lot of people argue that alternative energy resources, are simply too new a resource, fuelled by technology, for them to be really said to be safe.
What is more, some authorized people on the matter of energy say, that alternative energy resources are simply not powerful enough to cope with the demands of the world. No matter which way we argue, alternative energy resources are part of sustainable power and sustainable power means, that humans live on as a species; we’re not supposed to die out, or else it would be useless for us to look for ways to improve ourselves. After all, isn’t the future the reason for our continued quest to be better and more environmentally aware?
It’s Here, There, Everywhere
Alternative energy resources derived naturally, have been employed as early as the time of the pharaohs. Today alternative energy resources are scattered all around the world. From the richest countries to the third world nations. In northwestern Europe, wind farms are abundant. The Philippines, New Zealand, Kenya, Iceland, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, and even the United States make use of geothermal plants to supply a portion of their electricity. Hydropower, is very popular in the US and in china and is used to generate enough electricity to power small towns and help power the enormous electrical consumption cities like Las Vegas.
Its Now and It Can’t Be Denied
If you think that the earth is already polluted and in peril, then imagine what if thousands of years ago, our ancestors all used fossil fuels and burned coals for every energy need they had? History says, that with every development and discovery man makes, the earth gets polluted every day. So there must have been that one thing that slowed it down a bit.
Remember the great smog of London, where over 8,000 people died? Well that happened because they were experiencing unusually cold weather, so they in turn consumed and lit up more coals, thereby polluting the air with smog. If alternative energy resources were never used, we wouldn’t even be here today. So be thankful and be a supporter, not only in words but in action as well.
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The Real Bio-Tech Threat to Biodiversity
Posted on September 20, 2009
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What has been missing from the debate over biotechnology in the form of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is a reasoned assessment of the true potential benefits and dangers from these lab creations. Sustainable development seeks to use all the tools at the disposal of farmers and engineers to seek out a best-fit solution to the challenges of the 21st century.
In the case of commodity crops, the use of GMOs does result in the use of fewer pesticide applications in a conventional system. What that statement fails to take into account, is the use of energy intensive inputs that is required to grow crops in that same conventional system. Moreover, one of the greatest threats from GMO crops is not often addressed: what happens when GMOs escape the confinement of their fields? Maize, for instance, is a wind-pollinated crop that is capable of spreading pollen 50 miles a day in a stiff wind. With plenty of stiff winds being likely in the future, this threat to the centers of crop biodiversity that traditional plant breeders rely upon is lost to GMO contamination.
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Spreading Deserts and Measures to Stop Them
Posted on September 18, 2009
Filed Under Climate Change, Sustainable Development | 2 Comments
The chaotic weather that typifies the direct impacts of climate change can lead to weather that is far too wet just as well as weather that is far too dry. There is no longer a happy medium. As a result of this and unsustainable development practices, many areas are facing the threat of rapid and irreversible desertification.
Few places is this more apparent than in parts of China that have witnessed the expansion of the Gobi desert into formerly productive agricultural regions. Even with a massive effort to stop the spread of the sands, years of poor rainfall are enough to thwart these efforts. Sustainable development is just as much about changing practices so that such changes are less likely to occur as well as cutting the carbon emissions that make the climate increasingly chaotic in the first place.
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Solar Energy – A Sustainable Power Is Harnessed
Posted on September 16, 2009
Filed Under Alternative Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Sustainable Development | 1 Comment
Since ancient times the sun was considered as a source of energy: spiritual and otherwise. It is a sad fact however, that only 10% of solar energy is actually used. Perhaps if we were more aware of its use and its capacity as a sustainable power then we woule be able to use and promote solar power more easily.
The Beginning of All Things
Unbeknown to a lot of people, solar energy is actually the source of numerous sustainable powers like radiation, waves and wind. Solar energy has many uses, it can give us light, heat, promote cooling and it can be harnessed through technology to power many things, like, equipment for cooking, distillation, hot water, and disinfection.
Technology and The Sun
As we all know heat produces immeasurable amounts of energy. This energy has to be aided by technology, in order to be converted into something that is usable by mankind. There are two types of solar technology, passive solar energy and active solar energy. A classification between the two depends on how the heat from the sun is harnessed and channeled into ordinary things powered by electricity.
Active Solar Technologies use solar (photovoltaic) panels, combined with solar thermal collectors, which are then channeled through mechanical or electrical equipment. Passive solar technology is merely a technique which captures the suns useful rays; for example a skylight.
Electricity From The Sun
We are all familiar with the term “solar panel”; solar panels convert the heat from the sun into actual electrical current with the use of what is called the photoelectric effect. Concentrated solar power produces insurmountable energy. In fact it was greatly utilized during the time of the Ancient Chinese Civilization.
To concentrate the power of the sun, a series of mirrors and lenses are used in order to focus the light in one area, thereby producing a single beam. There are a lot of technological advances out there that concentrate solar energy in order to produce a concerted amount of power, they are: the solar power tower, the parabolic dish and the solar trough.
Dilemma, Solution, And Economics.
The primary concern of the use of solar energy as a sustainable power, is that there is no sun during the night. Modern times require continuous supply, that is why storing solar energy is a key component of solar technology. Thermal storage systems can store solar energy. Newer scientific discoveries also paved the way for thermal mass storage systems, which vary storage capacity and function by storing more energy during off peak times and varying supply throughout peak consumption periods.
It usually takes a crisis for people to actually look at alternative possibilities and like with almost everything else, solar energy began getting attention after the 1979 oil crisis and the 1973 oil embargo. In fact, solar technology first appeared in the eighteen hundreds. In the past solar energy as a sustainable power was a dream, which could not be realized due to the expense of the technology needed to use it.
Today, with the rising costs of electricity, the volatile oil prices, and its degenerating source, have paved the way for solar energy once more. The conscientious environmental welfare has prompted companies to manufacture affordable solar technologies and sell them commercially. Indeed, it is a fact that solar technology is expensive, but this is only for the purchase of the equipment needed to get you started. In the long run, however, if you calculate the savings that you will eventually make , you are actually getting a bargain.
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