Nature Network - Recent topics from Energy and Environmental Technology

"Apparent" cost of a human life (0 replies)

Pradeep Indrakanti — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:07:21 -0000

I wrote a small article on my blog about this.

Are we taking lesser risks on the job in 2008, compared to 2003/4 ? Does dollar depreciation mean that employees are taking lesser risks to carry out their job functions? Why should the perceived value of a human life decrease with time? The world is currently enjoying record levels of overall prosperity, at any point in its history. The notion that a statistical human life is worth lesser now, compared to 2003/4 needs some explanation.

Resource Conservation & Game Theory (4 replies)

Pradeep Indrakanti — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:54:43 -0000

I recently blogged on the similarities between the cooperation needed to conserve resources and avoid price spikes to the most optimal outcomes predicted by game theory when all the players cooperate among themselves.

Things to note here are that the free market still sets the prices for these resources, only that the cooperation will (hopefully) result in better allocation of resources. Any comments?

Upcoming Summit in Cambridge: "Entrepreneurship for a Zero Carbon Society" (0 replies)

Li Kim Lee — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:18:01 -0000

A friend just mentioned this upcoming event which might be of interest to group members i.e. the 1st International Summit on Policy, Technology and Investment: Entrepreneurship for a Zero Carbon Society. It takes place in Cambridge University 22-24 September and will cover a wide range of topics including technology, policy, entrepreneurship and investment, with an impressive list of confirmed speakers.

'Nano' in the environment (1 reply)

Nick Wigginton — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:02:14 -0000

Hey all,
I just posted a discussion question over in the ‘Nanotechnology’ group here about the impacts of nanomaterials and their release into the environment. Feel free to join in the discussion—it should be a good opportunity to interact with researchers that don’t necessarily have an environmental focus.

My 20 Challenge at Penn State (Earth Week) (0 replies)

Jeffrey R. S. Brownson — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:08:11 -0000

In the effort to increase awareness for energy efficiency at a large educational institution, Penn State will be holding the My 20 Challenge next week. The event will kick of with Earth Day (Sunday, April 20), and students and employees are encouraged to do what they can to reduce their energy consumption by 20% over the week.

Sound interesting? They also have their own network page to post forum discussions and images. However, it seems they didn’t quite do an effective job of advertising the event. The only two people registered is me and my colleague (no students as of yet). I’m hoping the students will pick up on it and join in during the week—and I’m sending off email notes to encourage the process.

Nature commentary says IPCC underestimates tech change needed to lower GHG levels (1 reply)

Corie Lok — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:11:03 -0000

This week’s Nature has a commentary by Roger Pielke Jr et al that question the IPCC’s assumptions of how much stabilization of greenhouse gas levels will occur automatically through technological advances, without additional climate-change policies. They argue that the IPCC’s reference scenarios assume too much stabilization of emissions through technology alone, which could lead to climate change policies and other measures that won’t be aggressive enough to effectively lower emissions.

Accompanying this is a news article that gives responses from other prominent people in the field, including some IPCC folks. Some agree with the commentary and some don’t.

Read through the articles and post your responses here. Do you agree with the commentary? What sorts of policies will we need to deal with rising greenhouse gas levels?

Redwoods vs solar panels (1 reply)

Pradeep Indrakanti — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:05:00 -0000

Here is a link to my blog posting on comparing CO2 reductions from redwood trees and solar PV panels.

“A CNN article on the conflicts between growing more trees and getting lesser sunlight for solar panels was interesting. Some bare facts:

1. Mark Vargas, who owns solar panels (an investment of 70,000 (2001 USD)) contends that his neighbour, Treanor’s redwood trees are blocking sunlight for his solar panels 2. After 6 years, a judge cites CA’s obscure sunlight availability law to rule in favor of Mark Vargas. 3. As alternate energy sources become more mainstream, many experts predict that conflicts similar to this case, will happen.”

Who wants to be a moderator? (0 replies)

Jeffrey R. S. Brownson — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:44:25 -0000

The notice board didn’t seem to grab anyone’s attention, so I’m asking you all as a special favor:

Would someone volunteer to help moderate the E&ET Group and forum? PLEASE?

We’ve got a growing group with lots of new ideas that could be great for discussion. Bring your ideas to the front of the queue and be a positive force for new technologies and energy topics.

You don’t like biofuels for water consumption: why?

Solar energy is too expensive: which technology, there are many, and not all produce electricity?

How big are offshore wind turbine blades (many meters) and how do we test them for mechanical failure?

How much more expensive is carbon dioxide sequestration compared to a decentralized PV network?

Why don’t we talk about microgenerator power systems: why does the grid make this challenging?

What new technologies are out there to use light and power to split water for hydrogen?

My house consumes heat and electricity like nobody’s business: how can reduce my power demand and make my home as efficient as a new laptop?

So many things to talk about: we may just need help starting the conversations with another moderator. Thank you for your attention everyone.

Cheers,
Jeffrey

Fruits and Biofuel ? (12 replies)

Rachel Paiva — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:16:12 -0000

Hello!!

I´m doing a research about Biofuels made of fruit or vegetables or any product related to these plants.

I would like to know if there are any articles or any other research going on in this subject ? Does anyone know how to find this kind of information??

thanks a lot!!

Rachel (Brazil)

Solution to Energy and Climate Crises? (1 reply)

Ferreira, Fabio A. S. — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:37:53 -0000

In the developed world, conservation and energy efficiency will remain for the next several decades the most important thing the world can do to get on a sustainable energy path. Developing countries, such as China and Brazil, need to leapfrog well past what we did in the West, like in the U.S., where we have sprawling suburbia and long commutes.
The report “Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future” , addresses the challenge of bringing modern energy to everyone, while reining in global emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Currently, according to the International Energy Agency, the world is on a path to a 40 percent increase in oil-burning alone by 2030 that will lead to a concomitant rise in CO2 emissions of 55 percent.

What you think about it?
What is the best solution?
Open all comments

Intriguing stories (0 replies)

Brian Clegg — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:58:18 -0000

I’m a member of the Nature Network community, and an author of popular science books, most recently The Global Warming Survival Kit.

I’m currently researching a book with the working title of The Naked Planet, which looks at deceptive aspects of environmental thinking. So I’m looking for both examples where an action appears to be green, but isn’t really, and equally for non-obvious things we can do (like the low energy search engine) that really do have an impact.

If anyone knows of any interesting stories, whether on the small personal scale or at corporate/government level that fit this brief it would be wonderful to hear them.

Climate Change talks on Second Nature (0 replies)

Bronwen Dekker — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:42:04 -0000

Just a quick, and perhaps rather belated note, to let you know that there is a series of lectures on Climate Change on the Second Nature island of Second Life. Two have already taken place, and there will be another two next week.

This is a good excuse to create an avatar and make your way to Second Nature.

Quoting from Joanna’s blog...

“To co-incide with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali next week, we will be holding a special series of events in Second Life.
The UN conference runs from the 3rd – 14th of December, and over that fortnight, Second Nature will play host to a range of speakers including Dr Simon Buckle, Director of Climate Change Policy at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change ; Dr Tara LaForce, Imperial College on her research on carbon capture and storage and George Monbiot, Guardian columnist and author of Heat: How to stop the planet burning.”

“Tues 4th Dec, 6pm GMT, 10am PST, SLT
Tara LaForce, Imperial College, on her research into carbon capture and storage
Thurs 6th Dec, 6pm GMT, 10am PST, SLT
Professor Euan Nisbet, Royal Holloway College, London
Tues 11th Dec, 6pm GMT, 10am PST, SLT
Dr Simon Buckle, Director of Policy at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change
Thur 13th Dec, 5pm GMT, 9am PST, SLT
George Monbiot, Guardian Columnist and author of Heat: How we can stop the planet burning”

enesearch.com - Is this true?? (2 replies)

Mike Grim — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:56:24 -0000

I was having an arguement with a co-worker, actually it turned into more of a friendly bet. He told me to use www.enesearch.com as my search engine because each “darker” Google search instead of the bright white version helps save energy.

To be specific he said 15-20 watts per search on a CRT monitor. I don’t think it’s that much considering a search takes 30 seconds to a minute to finally go to the page you are looking for…

Anyone know the real answer??

Power fluctuations (0 replies)

Jeffrey R. S. Brownson — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:10:29 -0000

New electric power connected to the electrical grid from wind and solar PV sources have a challenge to overcome: they fluctuate.

What’s the problem? Electricity doesn’t wait for the fluctuations, and when the power they delivery hits a low (even for a few minutes), something else like a internal combustion generator needs to kick in, ramp up quickly, and deliver electricity until the renewable low comes back up. This is a problem because it really adds on to the cost of installing and maintaining these renewable sources.

Does anyone out there in NN-land have information on new technologies that are helping with this challenge? I’d love to hear about it.

Article on zero-emission racing cars (3 replies)

Matt Brown — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:32:09 -0000

I just posted an interview with Greg Offer of Imperial College, who is developing a fuel-cell-powered racing car that can accelerate faster than a Porsche. Might be of interest to members of this group.

How broad should one define and "environmental technology"? (1 reply)

Jeffrey R. S. Brownson — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 22:21:30 -0000

OK, so we’ve had a recent polling of energy alternatives. Thanks to all for the contributions (and feel free to add more!).

Now, we’d like to hear from you about your thoughts of what environmental technology means to you. We’re not looking to draw a line in the sand, just give us your impression of how the word strikes you and how it can be effectively applied.

Possible examples:

—flourescent light bulbs,
—water purification systems,
—no-water flushing toilets,
—solar energy devices,
—fuel cells,
—recycling technologies,
—filters/scrubbers on coal exhaust stacks,
—hybrid electric vehicles?

Also, is there a contradiction in the application some technologies that exclude them as environmental technologies? Let the discussion begin!

National Grid Promotes Conservation - $9.99 Powercost Monitor (2 replies)

Allan Stevenson — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:50:47 -0000

Hey everyone, just wanted to give you a heads up that National Grid also has promo on. Their customers can get a powercost monitor for only $9.99. I ordered one today. They look like great little devices and I would certainly like to save 20% on my energy bill. The website I ordered from was www.save-electricity.ca .

I think it is very important to be efficient and conserve as many resources as possible. Global warming is real and it is happening now. We all need to do our part and I think this is a great way for many people to get their feet wet.

Cheers,

Allan

Thermoelectrics, anyone? (1 reply)

Jeffrey R. S. Brownson — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:29:28 -0000

One of those undercurrents in the physical sciences that keeps popping up is thermoelectrics. And I’m just fascinated with it!

Thermoelectric materials (e.g. Bi₂Te₃) and devices link heat exchange to electricity production. Electricity from waste heat—wow. Yet another way to think of effective energy implementation. Or, by coupling materials together with electrical input, one can produce thermoelectric cooling and make a solid state refrigerator (or cool your microchip processor down).

Care to elaborate more on thermoelectric devices, anyone?

The board game: Funkenschlag (3 replies)

Bronwen Dekker — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:21:21 -0000

In the original post of this forum, Jeffrey asked the question: “How would you get more people discussing the links between energy and the environment?”.

While I obviously do not have an absolute answer to this question, one of my favourite board games ‘Funkenschlag’ (or Powergrid in English) was the starting point for a conversation on energy sources and power plants on one of our gaming evenings.

Let me tell you a bit about the game.
The aim is to supply power to the largest number of German cities/towns.

You buy power plants that use different starting materials: coal, oil, rubbish or uranium each of which resource also needs to be bought.

As you can see, as the power plants become more efficient they cost more. The final, and most expensive, power plant is something magical and futuristic that requires no starting material. :)

There is an added twist that the resources are finite and the price increases as they become more scarce.

FREE PowerCost Monitor - National Grid (6 replies)

John Dailey — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:42:35 -0000

Every since reading about Viridian Electricity Meter contest in WIRED magazine in 2001, I’ve wanted one. Except that the designs were all imaginary. It seems there’s now an Newfoundland company that can sell me what I want: a device to monitor my actual energy usage in dollars and cents and empower me to save $.

“With a PowerCost Monitor you can tell at a glance how much electricity your home is consuming – moment-to-moment and in total. This is the advantage of real-time feedback on your electricity. Why wait for your electricity bill when you can see what you are spending on electricity as you spend it! Tests in Ontario and elsewhere have proven that householders who use real-time feedback can reduce electricity use by as much as five to 20 per cent.”

Best of all, it seems that you don’t even need an electrician to install these units: they strap over top of both electromechanical and electronic meters.