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Courtesy Science FridayIt's Friday, so it's time for a new Science Friday video. This week,
"What is the future of sustainable architecture? Washington University's Tyson Living Learning Center in Eureka, MO, achieves the Living Building Challenge--a set of green guidelines that measure a building based on its performance. The building's architect Dan Hellmuth, of Hellmuth & Bicknese Architects in St. Louis, and Kevin Smith, associate director of Tyson Research Center, point out some of the Center's greenest features."
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A Forest of Fuel: Coming soon, to your gas tank!
Courtesy Stef Maruch
Move over, old, lame bio-fuels!
Algae! The wondrous plants that can grow easily in controlled conditions and whose needs are very basic for rapid growth is now being tested for use in bio-fuels. ExxonMobil, looking to expand and diversify their alternative fuel options will team up with Venter's Synthetic Genomics Inc. to conduct research on different types of algae to test their effectiveness as biofuels.
The so-called "first generation" bio-fuels caused problems globally when the price of corn (for corn ethanol) sky rocketed when it was being used for food and fuel . Though a small percent of corn (or other) ethanol is added to gasoline, it still has a huge effect on the market, and is therefore not the best long term solution to eliminating our addiction to oil.
The Future?: Someday...someday. Let's keep 'em crossed for a day when all houses are like this!
Courtesy Bjorn Appel
Many view bio-fuels as only a transitionary solution to the oil problem, hoping that a sustainable energy type (like solar or wind) may soon be widely available. Algae if successful as a bio fuel, it may be used for a longer period than the "first-generation" bio fuels because of how fast it can grow and how easy it can be to care for. It also isn't used for much else, not like corn anyway. Engineers are hoping to develop artificial environments for algae to grow in knowing that this is the only way to produce enough of the green slime to sustain our needs.
It is encouraging, in some ways, that a big business like ExxonMobil is getting involved because research will not be short funded. If there is a will, there is some green slime that can't wait to get in your car!
Capitalism saves the planet!
in Earth and Space Science, Scientific Inquiry, Energy Transformations, and Historic Perspectives
Money: it's a hit: Give the banker his props: rich societies pollute less and emit less carbon (per unit of energy used) than poorer societies.
Courtesy Steve Wampler
We’ve talked before about how rich cities also tend to be clean cities. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people in subsistence situations tend to scrabble for mere survival, without much regard to any other issues. Only after securing basic life necessities can they focus attention on externalities, such as the environment.
Now comes word that there is something of a linear progression going on:
the richer you are, the greener you are.
As their wealth grows, people consume more energy, but they move to more efficient and cleaner sources — from wood to coal and oil, and then to natural gas and nuclear power, progressively emitting less carbon per unit of energy. This global decarbonization trend has been proceeding at a remarkably steady rate since 1850, according to Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University and Paul Waggoner of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
The professors argue: “If the energy system is left to its own devices, most of the carbon will be out of it by 2060 or 2070.” All thanks to the free-market system, and the wealth that it brings to us all.
Money…it’s greener than you think!
More Fun than Screwing in a Light Bulb
Tired of being told over and over again to recycle or to buy compact fluorescent bulbs? Conserving energy and reducing waste is important, but it's not always the most exciting way to help the planet. Or is it...?
This Earth Day you can combat your boredom and reduce your carbon footprint with one of these cool Do-It-Yourself projects from the website Instructables. Some are harder than others, but all of them are possible with a little time and elbow grease.
-Recycle old computer parts and keep them out of the landfill
-Turn an ordinary exercise bike into an energy bike
-Plant a garden...no green space required!
-Make a water retaining and filtering 'Rain Garden'
-Collect and reuse water with a rain barrel
-Build a double decker drum composter
-Make a five dollar solar thermal water heater
-Build this quick and easy bike trailer
-Make a boat out of recyclables and trash
-Use heat from your television or computer monitor to dry food
-Recycle water bottles into an algae bioreactor
Got other Earth Day project ideas? Share them here! Or better yet, upload your own instructions to the Instructables website and help other people have a fun and functional Earth Day everyday!
National Walk to Work Day: A chance to dust off those walking shoes and save gas!
Courtesy Pedestrian Council of Australia: ABC MarketingFor some of us, it's been a while since those walking shoes have seen the light of day. So get them out, dust them off, and lace them up because tomorrow is National Walk to Work Day!
This has been a national holiday since 2004 when the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson declared the first National Walk to Work Day. The idea behind the day was to draw attention to our need to get out and get in shape. But with today's ever-flucuating gas prices and difficult economy, we can find new reasons to celebrate the health concious holiday. We can choose to walk to work to help our waistlines and our wallets!
However if you're like me and live a sizeable distance from your workplace, check out these compromises:
- Take a bus with a stop a bit farther away from your house/apartment or work
- Take the bus to work then walk home
- Take a walk during lunch
- Take a 30-60 minute walk later in the day or this weekend
- Ditch the elevator and take the stairs for the day
So whatever the reason, spend at least 30 minutes walking tomorrow!
The new I-35W bridge: now bigger, stronger, and greener.
Courtesy anjouwuEver stand on a sidewalk and wonder about the concrete beneath your feet? Where did it come from, and how did this hard grey material get to be pretty much everywhere? Though you may not think about it at all, concrete is used more than any other building material in the world. In fact, concrete is so ubiquitous that the production of concrete contributes 5% of the world's human-caused carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.
Add it all up and it starts to look like concrete is more than just the stuff of sidewalks and building blocks. Concrete is a V.I.P. (which is how I like to refer to Very Important Polluters).
While concrete is a huge contributor of CO2, it also has loads of potential to be an innovative and important "green" material that helps us to build stronger and more environmentally friendly roads, bridges and buildings. This really great article from the New York Times science section explains the basics of concrete chemistry, and how new concrete mixes are being developed that are not just stronger and better for buildings, but that also can scrub carbon from the air.
Here in the Twin Cities we have our own example of cutting-edge concrete in the I-35W bridge, which was built to replace the bridge that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people. You might not realize it as you pass over this bridge, but it's made of many different mixes of concrete, each developed to do a particular job.
Some of the concrete in the I-35W bridge was mixed and cured (that's what they call the hardening process) to be strong and stable, others to resist the road salts and other effects of weather and climate in Minnesota. The wavy concrete sculptures on the bridge even scrub pollutants from the air, In fact, they stay white because of a chemical process that uses the sun to help break down staining pollutants. Who knew concrete could be so fascinating?!
More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Concrete
(Disclaimer: I stole the title of this post from the original article. Hey, if imitation is a sincere form of flattery...) Anyway, the Italian town of Torraca (population 1,200) is the first place on Earth to be entirely illuminated with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of incandescent lighting. Lots of other cities around the world are following suit.
Though they're more expensive to buy up front, LEDs are much more energy efficient than old-school light bulbs, and they last a LOT longer.
"Potential energy savings, however, appear to hold more sway with cities and building owners than cost. After all, some 22 percent of all electricity use in the U.S. is devoted to lighting, according to the U.S. Department of Energy—and switching to LEDs could save $280 billion by 2028. In fact, researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., estimate that replacing incandescents with LEDs could save $1.83 trillion in energy costs globally over the next decade and eliminate the need for 280 1,000-megawatt power plants."
Sustainability is one of those words that seems to have appeared overnight and is suddenly everywhere in our popular conscience, from car commercials to advertisements for laundry soap to political promises and mantras for personal wellness. How can so many different people use the same word to describe all sorts of things? What does sustainability mean anyway?
Scientific American has just published a really great list of their Top 10 Myths About Sustainability to help us all sort these questions out. Here, for Science Buzz readers, is a quick summary:
Myth 1: Nobody knows what sustainability really means
Scientific American points out that the 1987 Brundtland commission report gave a definition for sustainable development that still works today. It amounts to what every second grade teacher already told you, "Don't take more than your share." Despite lots of different specific uses for the term "sustainability," most people mean pretty much this same thing.
Myth 2: Sustainability is all about the environment
Actually, the conversation about sustainability really began with an effort to find ways to raise the standard of living in poor nations to something comparable to what we experience in most parts of the US and other wealthier countries. Because that standard of living is tied directly to the environment, it makes sense that the sustainability movement would grow out of these interwoven conversations.
Myth 3: “Sustainable” is a synonym for “green.”
When people use the term "green" they often mean it as the opposite of "artificial" - a position that has served environmental activists well in the past. But sustainability as a concept requires that we consider technologies that may fall outside of the traditional dichotomies of natural / artificial, for example, nuclear energy or electric cars.
Myth 4: It’s all about recycling
The article reminds us that while recycling is important, it is just one piece of the puzzle.
Myth 5: Sustainability is too expensive
This myth is the one I've heard the most, and according to Scientific American, it contains at least a grain of truth. It costs money up front to retrofit existing buildings and systems, but in the long run, sustainability will save money.
Myth 6: Sustainability means lowering our standard of living
We will need to learn to do more with less, but in terms of resources, not innovation.
Myth 7: Consumer choices and grassroots activism, not government intervention, offer the fastest, most efficient routes to sustainability
The most efficient route to sustainability will most likely involve a mix of these different strategies. Scientific American points to some recent developments in the auto industry as evidence of what happens when we get this wrong.
Myth 8: New technology is always the answer
During his political campaign, President Obama mentioned the energy savings that could be gained by properly inflating car tires. For this he was ridiculed by his opponents in the Republican Party. But he was actually right. There are solutions that do not require fancy new technologies. Conservation and more efficient use of existing technologies can go a long way toward sustainability goals.
Myth 9: Sustainability is ultimately a population problem
While all environmental problems are in some way a "population problem" the solution is more complex than this myth suggests. According to the article, it makes the most sense to focus on using resources wisely.
Myth 10: Once you understand the concept, living sustainably is a breeze to figure out
Even if we know what it means, sustainable practices require a complete analysis of costs and benefits over time. The article points to the example of corn-based ethanol, which at first might seem like the answer to our oil addiction, but upon closer examination has plenty of environmental and social impacts of its own.
The lesson here seems to be that while sustainability is simple in concept ("don't take more than your share") it isn't easy to enact the changes needed to be sustainable, as individuals or as a collective society. BUT, I would add one last myth to the list,
Myth 11: Sustainability is too difficult to understand, and will be even harder to realize
Nothing is too difficult to understand, but lots of things are hard to realize, especially if you sit around complaining about how hard and difficult it is instead of trying to understand and act. History shows us that we can meet HUGE challenges if we put our individual and collective efforts behind making changes. There was a time when something as far-fetched as flying to the moon may have seemed too difficult and hard (so why bother?). But people put their heads together and eventually figured it out.
Now it's our turn.
Zipingpu Dam: Upriver from the town of Dujiangyan, Sichuan, China.
Courtesy TaylorMilesScientists suspect that last year’s devastating earthquake in China may not have been a natural disaster. A nearby dam may have weakened fault lines and spurred the magnitude-7.9 quake.
The Zipingpu Dam is only 3.4 miles from the epicenter of the May 12, 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province. This quake killed 80,000 people and left 5 million homeless. Although the area exhibits a lot of seismic activity, an earthquake of this magnitude is unusual.
Water in the Zipingpu Dam
The Zipingpu Dam is one of nearly 400 hydroelectric dams in the area. It rises 511 feet high and holds 315 million tons of water. US and Chinese scientists believe that the weight of the water increased the direct pressure on the fault line below. This volume of water would exert 25 times more pressure annually than is natural. Additionally, water seeping into the rock acted as a lubricant and relaxed the tension between the two sides of the fault line. Since the reservoir was filled in 2004, the water caused a chain of ruptures culminating in this massive earthquake.
Worldwide impact on green energy
Sichuan province is the epicenter for more than just a powerful earthquake. It is here that most of China’s hydroelectric power is generated, an integral component of its renewable power plans. The area also produces much of the world’s wind turbine equipment. The infrastructure will take months or years to repair.
Before the quake, China admitted to major flaws in the country’s 87,000 dams. The earthquake damaged other dams and power stations and several major reservoirs were drained to prevent their dams from failing.
Making what is believed to be its first pass through our solar system, Comet Lulin will be passing by Earth tonight at its closest point to us on its celestial voyage. Full details are here from National Geographic. Despite its close tracking tonight to our planet, about 38 million miles, you'll still need to use a telescope or binoculars to see it. As a new comet, Lulin has just started to burn the frozen chemicals that make up its composition on this pass around the sun, giving astronomers a rare chance to see what happens with a brand-new comet
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