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| Update by liquidtear | Just busy with regular office work and stuff. So I have not been updating the site for a while. If anyone wants to write a few articles contact me via this site.
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| The Non-Renewable Energy by liquidtear | "... the lack of economically available coal could seriously effect the counties in the next 20-50 years" (result of study from two Appalachian coal dependent counties)
We use different sources of energy to light our homes, watch television or cook our favorite dishes. Energy sources are classified into two categories : 1. Renewable 2. Nonrenewable energy. Most of the energy we use are from non-renewable sources. Nonrenewable energy such as natural gas, coal, petroleum and uranium takes millions of years to form. The result will be one day these sources will become too expensive to harvest. With an increase of population world wide our needs for more energy is increasing.
picture taken from http://www.eia.doe.gov
The truth is, we may not have to wait for too long before we find ourselves in trouble.
According to http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1034
Studies on sociological and economic effects of coal development, depletion, and dependency have been completed in two Appalachian coal dependent counties: Pike County, KY; and Boone County, WV. These studies suggest that the lack of economically available coal could seriously effect the counties in the next 20-50 years.
(Article released on 10/24/1998) - U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Now we have nothing worry about right ? Because the U.S has the "largest resource for coal" -_-;
Now here is another story, let's talk about oil. There is a big case study done in http://peakopps.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html if you are interested to do more research. Here are a few graphs that may interest you.
For now the price of oil has gone down. Some say that people are trying to save money and driving less, so the demand for oil has gone down and so has its prices. So we can all relax right ? And the next time ... we can start talking about drilling holes in Alaska again. The global warming might help melt some of inches of ice from there too !
One of my senior colleagues Peter in New Jersey jokingly said, where's Al-Gore's promise of global warming ! I thought by now I could grow banana plants in my back yard in winter. Well, one day when the money keeps running from our pocket, and we can spend even less than we are today perhaps we really need to find ways to grow banana plants in our back yard.
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| The Bathtub Effect by liquidtear | What is it ?
The bathtub effect is in essence, some of our “drains” for removing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere have already started clogging and can’t easily be unclogged.
According to an article from NY Times:
"Basically, the atmosphere is like a bathtub with a partially opened drain. Carbon dioxide from burning fuels and forests is flowing in twice as fast as it is being absorbed by plants and the ocean, and some of those 'sinks' are in fact getting saturated, it appears, meaning that the “drain” is clogging a bit."
picture taken from http://i.treehugger.com
For example, according to an article from The Guardian titled "Sea absorbing less CO2, scientists discover"
"Scientists have issued a new warning about climate change after discovering a sudden and dramatic collapse in the amount of carbon emissions absorbed by the Sea of Japan.
The shift has alarmed experts, who blame global warming.
The world's oceans soak up about 11bn tonnes of human carbon dioxide pollution each year, about a quarter of all produced, and even a slight weakening of this natural process would leave significantly more CO2 in the atmosphere. That would require countries to adopt much stricter emissions targets to prevent dangerous rises in temperature."
Corinne Le Quéré, an expert in ocean carbon storage at the University of East Anglia, said: "We don't think the ocean is just going to completely stop taking our carbon dioxide emissions, but if the effect weakens then it has real consequences for the atmosphere."
Back to the NY Times, it states
In a tub, this is a recipe for a flood. In the climate system, Dr. Sterman says — echoing many climate scientists — it is a loud message that a prompt start is needed in curbing and then cutting emissions if you want to cut the chances of passing dangerous thresholds. He recently wrote a Policy Forum paper in Science reviewing his and other research on widespread misunderstanding of this kind of risk, including a 2007 study he was a co-author of in which 84 percent of 212 M.I.T. participating grad students drew curves for proposed emission trends that would result in concentrations continuing to climb.
“The erroneous belief that stabilizing emissions would quickly stabilize the climate supports wait-and-see policies but violates basic laws of physics,” Dr. Sterman concluded.
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| The Most Useful Stand Alone Solar Appliances by liquidtear | Though the technology and efficiency of "grabbing" solar energy might be improving, as a stand alone appliance solar energy is not sufficient to run your fridge or heater it might have its use in smaller appliances. Here is a few by rating.
1. The Solar Outdoor Light
According to National Geographic "The most useful stand-alone solar appliance is probably the solar outdoor light, which charges during the day and shines at night. If you have a garden or a yard, and you don't want to dig trenches for wires or pay bills to keep a light on half the day, solar outdoor lights are worth investigating. As with most solar, these lamps are not cheap, but pay for themselves in the long-term, although wiring and trench-digging can themselves be expensive."
Image from ecofriend.org
2. Water Pumps
Image from Solardyne.com
Solar Slowpump was developed by Windy Dankoff in 1983. According to their site ranchers, homeowners, government agencies and worldwide relief agencies have installed have bought their product in thousands.The "Dankoff Slow Pump" can run by using solar, battery or AC and can provide ranging from 200 to 2600 gallons per day through a vertical height of 450 vertical feet.
3. Radio
Solar Powered Radios or Hand Cranking Radios
According to sundancesolar.com, "Marconi, the inventor of the radio, would have never imagined these cool solar powered radios and hand crank radios!" and "Solar and wind-up radios are very handy for emergencies, just stick your solar radio in the sun during the day and it will give you sweet music or news all night! Or just crank the handle and give it the juice!"
Hmm ... I might get myself one of those. Their cover advertisements are showing a price range between $20 to $85.
or ... here is an article on how to make your own solar radio !! http://www.makeitsolar.com/science-fair-ideas/12-solar-radio.htm (great idea for those who are in school and want to show off for a science fair project)
[i]A battery powered radio converted to a solar powered radio with solar panel at the back[/i]
4. Solar Cooking ?
Now here is an interesting video of Solar Cooking !! No gas, no electric ! As long as there is sunshine you can cook with an alternate to fire.
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/energy-environment/solar-cooking.html?fs=environment.nationalgeographic.com (video link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBLj1jJ7nEY (youtube video) with details how it works.
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| Hyperion Power Generation by liquidtear | This is an article that was pointed by my supervisor from work, George Grodentzik. An article from ZDNET titles, "A Micro Nuclear Reactor in your Garden ?" claims of having a $25 million dollar cost which can power up to 10,000 homes in the U.S. and perhaps up to 60,000 homes in the developing countries. The two basic applications of the "HPG" will be able to produce electricity and provide a supply of clean water.
Definiion : Hyperion's "nuclear in a box" technology are about the size of a typical backyard hot tub, and are able to generate 70 megawatts of heat energy, or 27 megawatts of electricity from a steam turbine – enough to power 20,000 homes. The nuclear battery is sealed and buried at the generation site, and taken back to the factory for refueling every five years. The reactor unit’s size is supposed to bring down capital costs 30% and operating costs 50%
picture taken from http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/
HPG's website quotes : Think About It: "Global warming. Dependence on foreign oil. Infrastructure vulnerable to natural and manmade catastrophes. Undrinkable water, poverty, disease, social unrest. Hyperion, nuclear power and the many benefits it offers: clean, emission-free, affordable energy — was only available from large, expensive nuclear power plants that took 10 years or more to build. And, many locations that could have benefited from nuclear power were not appropriate — the land was not available or the population was not large enough to warrant a huge power plan."
picture from http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/
Perfect for moderately-sized projects, Hyperion produces only 25 MWe — enough to provide electricity for about 20,000 average American sized homes or its industrial equivalent. Ganged or teamed together, the modules can produce even more consistent energy for larger projects. NOTE : A different source quotes 27 M We
So what is the technical side of all this ? Neither ZDNet's article on HPG's main site explains the technical details of all this. Curious, I ended up doing a little more research. A small wiki article, though I could not find the source sounded about right. It states :
"The design is notable for the use of uranium hydride (UH3) enriched to 5% U-235 as the nuclear fuel, rather than the usual metallic uranium or uranium dioxide that composes the fuel rods of contemporary light water reactors. In fact, within the application, the contemporary "rod" based design with fuel rods and control rods is completely omitted from the proposed reactor design in favor of a "tub" design with passive heat pipes conducting heat to the heat exchanger running through the "tub" of granulated uranium hydride.
According to the aforementioned patent application, the reactor design in question begins producing power when hydrogen gas at a sufficient temperature and pressure is admitted to the core (made up of granulated uranium metal) and reacts with the uranium metal to form uranium hydride. Uranium hydride is both a nuclear fuel and a nuclear moderator; apparently it, like other nuclear moderators, will slow neutrons sufficiently to allow for fission reactions to take place; the uranium-235 atoms within the hydride also serve as the nuclear fuel. Once the nuclear reaction has started, it will continue until it reaches a certain temperature, approximately 800 degrees Celsius, where, due to the chemical properties of uranium hydride, it chemically decomposes and turns into hydrogen gas and uranium metal. The loss of neutron moderation due to the chemical decomposition of the uranium hydride will consequently slow--and eventually halt--the reaction. When temperature returns to an acceptable level, the hydrogen will again combine with the uranium metal, forming uranium hydride, restoring moderation and the nuclear reaction will start again.
This makes the reactor a self-regulating, dynamical system, as with a rise in temperature, nuclear reactivity will substantially decrease, and with a fall in temperature, nuclear reactivity will substantially increase. Thus, this reactor design is self-regulating, meltdown is impossible, and the design is inherently safe.
The only hazards are those of all nuclear materials, namely those of radiation, but this is significantly mitigated by the fact that the reactor design is intended to be buried underground and only dug up for refueling every five years, at which point, assuming proper safeguards are used, exposure to radioactivity is a comparatively trivial concern. Spent fuel is also a concern, but this is mitigated due to certain technologies and advantages that make the design in question's used fuel more suitable for nuclear recycling. In particular, the patent application for the design indicate that using a thorium-based fuel cycle instead of a uranium-based one with this type of reactor will allow far greater recycling potential than presently is found in standard used fuel."
For those who want to do more reading :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Power_Generation (technical specs)
http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com (HPG's main website)
http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1089 (zdnet's article with interview quotes)
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| Biofuel from Algae - a Solution to meet our needs for Fossil Fuel ? by liquidtear | "... if I grow an acre of corn, I can grow 18 gallons of oil per acre per year, algae can go up to 20,000 gallons of oil per acre per year"
Algae fuel, also called algal fuel, oilgae, algaeoleum or third generation biofuel, is a biofuel from algae. Compared with second generation biofuels, algae are high-yield high-cost (30 times more energy per acre than terrestrial crops) feedstocks to produce biofuels. Since the whole organism uses sunlight to produce lipids, or oil, algae can produce more oil in an area the size of a two-car garage than an entire football field of soybeans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyoKTbxerpQ
picture taken from www.planktos-science.com
With oil price increasing, people are looking forward for alternative sources of energy. Biofuel from other plants such as corn can give rise to food crisis and takes more space to produce to meet demands of consumers. Algae unlike the rest is a different matter. There can be much interest in using algae for making vegetable oil, biodisel, bioethanol and other forms of biofuels.
According to an article in en.wikipedia.org "The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (40,000 square kilometers), which is a few thousand square miles larger than Maryland, Belgium. This is less than 1/7th the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000"
In addition algae takes carbon dioxide currently available in the atmosphere; and releases oxygen. So if they were burnt the carbon dioxide going back to the atmosphere is what it would have consumed to make "it's" oil and maintain environmental balances. Perhaps we may be looking at a permanent solution to one of the world's major problems ? Time can tell.
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