Solar Sustainability

Charge your gear with the power of the sun.

People are starting to look up to our fuel situation, up to the sun. Gadgets of all different applications are being made with built in solar panels to charge greenly and freely. 
Here’s some of the more interesting inventions out there that use solar panels to charge.

A thumb drive of up to 2 gigs contains a small solar panel which displays the remaining memory, and solar powered portable mp3 players in the works. See them here on engadget.com

More practically, Justin Thomas on Treehugger.com describes how he uses a $20 solar charger bought on eBay to charges all his portables, a few lamps and a surround sound stereo system.

Solar paneled messenger bags and laptop cases keep eco-friendly in style. Read about messenger bags here, and here for the solar laptop case that charges.

With your solar panel case, you could get a biodegradable solar power laptop by iUnika to match. Check out the sustainability on this baby.

Even cars are on a move to use renewable energy sources. SEV (Solar Electric Vehicles) has created a “solar suit”, a solar charging system for hybrid vehicles. The SEV system charges the hybrid car’s batteries and lengthens drive times in electric mode.

And that’s just a tiny fraction of all the solar powered gadgets out there, giving a promising look in to the future of solar power.

-Tristia VanNiekerk

You be the Judge: Pros and Cons of Renewable Energy Sources

You Be the Judge: Pros and Cons of Renewable Energy Sources

Nuclear Power

Pros 

-Can help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 128 million tons per year 

-Nuclear power plants are now much safer and efficient than earlier plants.  

Cons 

-More expensive compared to other energy sources 

-Have environmental impacts like the creation and release of heat pollution, radiation, and other contaminants that have been linked to an increase in cancer rates

Solar Power

 Pros 

-Unlimited supply of this energy source, along with the availability of being all over the world, and not just in certain places.  

Cons 

-The reflective panels used to absorb the sun’s energy can be blinding to passing traffic, so it will need to be located where there is no traffic, or very little.  Either or, it’s a driving hazard. 

-Solar power is not continuous; so when the sun sets, the energy source is gone until the sun rises again the next day.  To offset this drawback, there needs to be some type of storage devise, which will cost a lot of money for being a new technology.

Wind Power 

Pros 

-Very clean renewable energy source  

Cons 

-Unreliable and its strength relies on the local weather 

-The equipment is also very expensive compared to other energy sources

Hydro power
 

Pros 

-Hydro power plants help reduce the emission of 530 million tons of carbon annually 

Cons 

-The creation of dams disrupts habitats by flooding large areas behind the dam which reduces the water flow downstream.

Ocean Power

Pros 

-Nonpolluting and renewable  

Cons 

-The energy plants needed to harness the oceans energy reduces the tidal range, tidal current flow, as well as alters sea levels which result in the possible endangerment of migratory fish and wildlife species.

Biomass

Pros 

-Readily accessible 

-Inexpensive 

-Clean form of energy  

Cons 

-Removes the nutrients and other beneficial residues from the soil which can lead to the exhaustion of natural resources through deforestation. 

 

By Andrew Kim

For more information:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13512/the_pros_and_cons_of_renewable_energy.html?cat=58

Economic model sees coal in our future

While looking over a journal article for another class I realized that the content is extremely relevant to the topic of fuel balance. The article, “Oil and natural gas prices and greenhouse gas emission mitigation” can be found in the journal Energy Policy. This article discusses the economics behind increasing oil prices and the potential increase in renewable energy investment and production that can result. The researcher sees two main possibilities occurring in the face of rising hydrocarbon prices, either we begin using more coal which will increase our CO2 emissions, or we will use coal with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), nuclear and wind power. The primary force driving these outcomes in the model is the factor of climate policy. The researcher models three scenarios, one in which oil and natural gas prices are at the low end of future estimates, one in the middle and one at the high end. These prices drive our decision making, and as such our primary method for mitigating CO2 emissions will be natural gas with CSS if prices remain low, but without strong climate policy, our energy supplies will come largely from coal which would greatly increase CO2 emissions. Thus climate policy can balance out the economic forces that would drive us toward using huge amounts of coal in the future. By supporting climate policy such as the efforts to implement a cap and trade system, you can help to guide the economic forces towards investment in renewable energy and reduction of CO2 though mitigation of coal consumption.  


-Damen King  


PSU students can get the article here: http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V2W-4WNPDP0-2&_user=1694017&_coverDate=11/30/2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=full&_orig=search&_cdi=5713&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000054237&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1694017&md5=b838f802919c6e9e2f77957cded306a9#secx6

Happy Daze

Until now I and most of my classmates has done their best to post articles that promote and make the best of the current situation that we all live. Unfortunately the majority of the articles that I find are much more grim and it is impossible to ignore the future of Human life on planet earth. The promotion of individual restrictions on consumption and energy use is simply not going to effect anything seriously enough to matter. The socio-political nature of our lives in the "first" world must change dramatically NOW to have any real impact on any realistic scale. The article that I am posting goes in depth to explain that

"A four-degree C overall increase means a world where temperatures will be two degrees warmer in some places, 12 degrees and more in others, making them uninhabitable.

It is a world with a one- to two-metre sea level rise by 2100, leaving hundreds of millions homeless. This will head to 12 metres in the coming centuries as the Greenland and Western Antarctic ice sheets melt, according to papers presented at the [UK international climate science] conference [recently held] in Oxford.

Four degrees of warming would be hotter than any time in the last 30 million years, and it could happen as soon as 2060 to 2070.[1]"

 With our worlds top scientists making claims like this it has become unbearable to ignore, and even harder for anyone to simply say that we all can make a difference. In reality here at home, the US government is doing everything it can to  secure more fossil fuels in Iraq when to make life habitable we must cut our use in half!

As Clive Hamilton, Charles Sturt Professor of Public Ethics at the Australian National University, points out in "Is It Too Late to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change?", "It is clear that limiting warming to 2ºC is beyond us; the question now is whether we can limit warming to 4ºC. The conclusion that, even if we act promptly and resolutely, the world is on a path to reach 650 ppm and associated warming of 4°C is almost too frightening to accept. Yet that is the reluctant conclusion of the world’s leading climate scientists. Even with the most optimistic set of assumptions — the ending of deforestation, a halving of emissions associated with food production, global emissions peaking in 2020 and then falling by 3 per cent a year for a few decades — we have no chance of preventing emissions rising well above a number of critical tipping points that will spark uncontrollable climate change."[2]

sorry,

this is the article (http://www.energybulletin.net/node/50697) long but worth it PLEASE READ

The Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics

Every few months the Greenpeace website publishes a study of the greenest electronics companies. These companies are rated from 1 to 10 according to their environmentally sustainable practices versus the demands of Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics. The demands are that electronics companies 1.)"Clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances, 2.) Takeback and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete, 3.) Reduce the climate impacts of their operations and products."

It turns out there’s a lot of very harmful and poisonous substances used in the making of our Nintendo and Microsoft products. Electronics often contain many hazardous chemicals and metals like mercury and lead, which both cause serious hazard to children and pregnant women even if there's very little exposure. These chemicals and metals can leech into groundwater, infecting the land and water supplies.

Greenpeace is comparing our major manufacturers to show which companies are using safer products and allowing you the consumer, to easily recycle that broken monitor from the 90’s or that old cell phone.

Nintendo was in last place with 1.4 points out of 10, and CO2 emissions on the rise. Tsk Tsk. That’s a pretty pathetic score for a company that puts out revolutionary games and game systems. Nintendo seems to be lacking some serious corporate social responsibility.

Nokia was in first place, with 7.5 points. Pros included an extensive take-back program to recycle or properly dispose of used phones. However, despite Nokia’s efforts to advertise the service to customers, their recycle rate is only a sad 3-5%.

Apple is rated at 4.9 points, given the most points out of the companies rated for safe use of toxic chemicals areas, but lower scores on waste and energy criteria.

Read the full article here, on Greenpeace's website.

-Tristia VanNiekerk

Styrofoam, Meet EcoCradle

If you’re like me and you buy a lot of electronics and gadgets online, you tend to build a sizeable stock of packing peanuts and those large, molded foam packaging bits. Styrofoam isn’t exactly green. It has a number of damaging aspects, including negative health effects and it does not biodegrade. Any degradation that actually does happen creates dangerous byproducts that contaminate the environment. It can be recycled, but the majority of polystyrene is not. I recently bought a Mac Pro, and the foam pieces are huuuuuge! As I unpacked my new behemoth I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about the amount of styrofoam I just consumed. Not that I don’t appreciate secure packaging, but there’s got to be a better option somewhere. After quickly contemplating what to do with the waste, I decided it best (easier and more convenient) to just stow the entire packing, cardboard and foam, in my garage – you know, just “in case” I need it later.

Right.

Ecovative Design may have discovered the solution to the Styrofoam packaging dilemma though! ED has developed EcoCradle, the Styrofoam replacement made from agricultural waste. It’s completely biodegradable. EcoCradle boasts “the same cushioning, strength, and protection as petrochemical based materials such as Styrofoam.” (ecovativedesign.com) You can toss this one into your garden or compost pile when you’re done with it though. Apparently they use agricultural waste like cottonseed and buckwheat hulls, and mushroom fungi to make it all stick together. The entire process, from the raw materials to the 100% biodegradable end, is completely eco-friendly. I’m not too excited about the fungi part, and the packaging looks a little gnarly (I can’t help but think of the fungus), but if I can just throw it in my garden when I’m done with it then I’m on board! It’ll be compost for my tomatoes long before the foam from my Mac Pro ever gets recycled or reused.

Kaitlyn Hill

http://ecovativedesign.com/ecocradle/

Some steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint and live a more earth friendly lifestyle

1. Don’t use the dryer:
a. I know this is kind of a challenge, especially if you’re in a particular region where it doesn’t have much sunshine to dry it outside, BUT whether electric or gas, less use of any energy to heat air to dry your laundry is LESS ENERGY consumed.
b. Do not dry towels, as they contain a lot of water.

2. Wash clothes with cold water
a. Hang dry your laundry maybe over a sink or a tub. I know this might be a hassle, but it will SAVE you some money in the long run as well as keeping it earth friendly.

3. Take mainly cold showers!
a.It’s actually healthier for you to take cold showers compared to long hot showers by boosting your immune system! Plus you SAVE energy so it’s pretty much a win/win situation IF you can handle it.

4. Replace any incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs or light emitting diodes
a. Bulbs are more expensive. Plain and simple, but replacing just one incandescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide and, because it lasts eight to fifteen times longer than an incandescent bulb, it will SAVE approximately US$30 over the course of its lifetime.

5. Use the microwave
a. They use a lot LESS ENERGY then conventional ovens and stoves.

6. Turn off your lights
a. When they aren’t being used, turn them OFF!

7. Regulate your home temperature
a. Rule of thumb, move your thermostat two degrees cooler in the winter and two degrees warmer in the summer.

8. Clean or replace air filters
a. At least once a month.

9. Use a dishwasher instead of washing dishes by hand
a. You actually use more hot water by washing dishes by hand. Oh yea, and try not to use the heated dry mode on your dishwater, kind of defeats the purpose, if you know what I mean.

10. Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth
a. You will SAVE roughly around 25 gallons of water a month.

11. Reduce water in your toilet sink
a. Putting a liter bottle filled with water in your toilet tank can SAVE 300 gallons per month.

12. Buy used furniture
a. Because there is a surplus of it plus it is often cheaper then new.

13. Unplug your electronics
a. Most electronics still use some energy even when they are turned off. The standby mode drains up to 10% of electricity used in most homes.

14. Use surge protectors
a. Instead of unplugging each electronic, you can just unplug one! Plain, simple and EFFICIENT!

15. Consider carpooling
a. Common sense!

16. Buy local products
a. Buy goods that were produced locally rather then transported across long distances.

By Andrew Kim