Sustainable Development: Investing in Safe, Renewable Energy

Fossil fuels propelled the industrial revolution over the last two hundred years which has brought wonderful advantages, comforts, and life-enhancing amenities, and some challenges as well. Development can be exciting and beneficial. It is important to look comprehensively at the costs associated with different methods of development because of the numerous options available in this day and age, so that enterprise can serve the greatest good.

Until the 1960′s and 70′s with the Clean Air and the Clean Water Acts, policy makers in America were not too concerned about the human and environmental costs of development. Bigger, better, faster were the concerns. During recent decades pollution and deforestation have become more severe and weather patterns more erratic so that the damage we do to nature can no longer be ignored.

Modern urban human life requires energy. Modern conveniences demand it. Taking this need for fuel into account, where will we get it? Well traditionally we have gotten it from oil, coal, and natural gas aka the fossil fuels http://carbonnationmovie.com/. We owe so many of our modern advancements to fossil fuels, and yet we must begin to wean off of them http://permaculture-media-download.blogspot.com/2011/02/power-of-community-how-cuba-survived.html.

Gigantic hydroelectric dams http://www.internationalrivers.org/node/4292 built on rivers destroying regions upstream and down (for example the Three Gorges dam in China http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9aU43suUvg&feature=player_embedded which displaced more than one million people) have also been used to generate electricity. Side effects of dams can be refugees, increased landslides and waterbourne diseases, and decreased biodiversity.

In recent decades nuclear power has been part of the energy picture as well. Despite scientific genius, nuclear power poses a serious problemhttp://www.ratical.org/radiation/IntoEternity/. Its byproducts like Iodine-129 can remain toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. Cobalt-60, another byproduct, is dangerous for only 5 years, but during that time close exposure to just 1 gram for a few minutes can be lethal. And there are over 430 nuclear plants worldwide http://www.beyondnuclear.org/human-rights/. Three Mile Island in 1979 in Pennsylvania was America’s biggest national nuclear accident that cost $975 million and 14 years to clean up and remove radioactive material. Other nuclear diasters include Chernobyl in 1986 in Ukraine, and Fukushima Daiichi in 2011 in Japan.

A review of nuclear energy policy around the world occurred after the Fukushima accident. Italy banned nuclear power. Germany decided to close all its reactors by 2022. Switzerland also decided to phase out nuclear at the end of the lifetime of its existing reactors (nuclear power plants have a 40 year max lifespan). And in September 2011, German engineering giant Siemens announced that as a result of the Fukushima catastrophe it would withdraw entirely from the nuclear industry and would no longer build nuclear power plants anywhere in the world. Australia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Malaysia, and Israel are all opposed to nuclear power. Another drawback of nuclear is that it increases the availability of nuclear weapons material because uranium is used for both nuclear power and weapons. Uranium mining http://www.chiptaylor.com/ttlmnp2665-.cfm is hard on the environment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhrWCGIlku4.

The US has created 70,000 tons of nuclear waste over the past sixty years, and no one can figure out what to do with it because it is so deadly. The most popular suggestion is to stick it in a mountain near Las Vegas called Yucca Mountain which would require 40 miles of tunnels. The US has at least 108 sites designated as areas that are contaminated and unusable, sometimes many thousands of acres, due to nuclear power.

In examining the fossil fuels- oil, coal, and natural gas- there are a number of reasons why they are not sustainable http://www.blindspotdoc.com/. They are all found underground and must be mined or drilled for which can be quite disruptive http://www.crudethemovie.com/trailer-and-photos/.Their supplies are finite, meaning there will come a time when we have taken all there is to take out of the earth http://www.postcarbon.org/. And getting them requires that we displace people (often not compensating them for the loss of their land) and demolish ecosystems http://www.globalissues.org/article/86/nigeria-and-oil.

In any endeavor there is always a margin of error, and when an error occurs with technology used to extract or transport these fuels, the results are devastating, like the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 in Alaska and the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The Chilean mining accident in the coal mines of Copiapo in 2010, and the coal mine explosion in Montcoal, West Virginia in 2010 illustrate the dangers in mining for coal http://www.coalcountrythemovie.com/. Examples of natural gas accidents are the 2010 pipeline explosion in San Bruno, California and the 2004 pipeline explosion in Ath, Belgium http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/.

Countries are recognizing that they can address these problems by investing in renewable energy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DflgducmN4. Sustainable energy is the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Improving both sources of energy and energy efficiency are the goals, plus creating lots of green jobs, and more localized, small-scale power generation so there is less dependence on monopolies and less energy used in transport of fuel and electricity. Green jobs http://www.bootsontheroof.com/about-us are especially satisfying because people do not have to compromise their conscience, contaminate their environment, or sacrifice their health in order to work http://www.solarenergy.org/womens-program. Application of renewable technologies adds to the diversity of electricity sources and, through local power generation, increases the adaptability of the system and its resistance to central shocks.

Solar http://www.thesolarfoundation.org/ and wind power http://www.awea.org/ are the world’s fastest growing energy sources. Leading renewable energy companies include First Solar, Q-Cells, Sharp Solar, Suntech, Gamesa, and Vestas. There are economic, social, and environmental benefits to renewable energy http://www.siemens.com/entry/cc/en/#/newzealand. Also wave power from the coastal ocean is being developed by companies like Aquamarine Power and Pelamis Wave.

Over 400 manufacturing facilities across America make components for wind turbines, and 37 states now have installed at least some utility-scale wind power. The Roscoe Wind Farm in Texas is the largest wind farm in the US  http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/solar-wind/4338280?page=2. Shepherds Flat Wind Farm in Oregon, which Google is helping to build, will be the largest wind farm in the world when completed in 2012. As of 2011, 83 countries around the world are using wind power on a commercial basis.

Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is the name given to nine solar power plants in California’s Mojave Desert, which were commissioned between 1984 and 1991. SEGS is the largest solar plant of any kind in the world.

More than 1.5 million homes and businesses currently use solar water heating in the United States. Compared to those with electric water heaters, Florida homeowners with solar water heaters save 50 to 85 percent on their water heating bills http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/index.php.

The global available solar energy resources are 3.8 YJ/yr (120,000 TW). Less than 0.02% of available solar resources are sufficient to entirely replace fossil fuels and nuclear power as an energy source. Solar cell production increased by 50% in 2007, and has been doubling every two years since http://cleantechnica.com/2011/05/29/ge-solar-power-cheaper-than-fossil-fuels-in-5-years/.

Sustainable biofuels are a great idea too, and can be made from things like algae http://www.oilgae.com/, sewage http://www.magnegas.com/index.html, and used vegetable oil http://www.lovecraftbiofuels.com/. Algae grows fast and has the added bonus of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Finding a way to convert excrement into energy takes care of its disposal as well!

In airline news, more than 200 flights within Europe on Air France/KLM are expected to fly by burning used-cooking-oil biofuel. United Airlines launched its first flight, the ‘Eco Skies test flight’, powered with algae biofuel on November 7, 2011. Virgin and Alaska Airlines are also using jet biofuels, as is the US Military. The US Military has ventured into solar and wind as well http://cleantechnica.com/2012/03/21/u-s-army-gets-its-first-solar-powered-microgrid/!

Sushi and Sustainability

I love sushi, and I am an environmentalist, but I never really saw the two as opposing forces. I ordered what I wanted off the menu, and I go to the farmer’s market, carry my tote instead of using plastic bags, and recycle. A recent National Public Radio article made me question the unity between the environmental lifestyle and my sushi habit. It really bothered me, because I love sushi too much to cut out of my life, but I want my life to live in harmony with the environment as much as it can. Ultimately, while overfishing is a huge issue, after a bit of research, I found a middle ground to still enjoy sushi and respect the environment.

The article directed me to a video, “The Story of Sushi,” showing tiny figurines depicting fishermen, fish, processing plants, and sushi restaurants. Corporate fishers on large boats catch the majority of fish using unsustainable practices . For example, they catch marine life indiscriminately and discard what they should not be catching, cannot process, or do not have license for. This discard is given the euphemism “by catch.” For each pound processed for food, five pounds are thrown out as “by catch” . Oh, it’s just a “byproduct,” not a giant environmental concern for the sustainability of the ocean, environment as a whole, food source, and economy. No big!

The worst part is that I don’t think I’m exaggerating the issue. The UN Food and Agriculture scientists found that nearly 80% of the fish worldwide are “exploited” and their populations are or will soon be depleted if fishing methods are not altered, giving the fish a change to repopulate.

The video, made by Bamboo Sushi in Portland, Oregon, advertises sustainable sushi, but adds that many current restaurants advertise as sustainable but aren’t. Bamboo Sushi is the “fist certified” sustainable sushi restaurant certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, and works with partners like the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

While a sustainable sushi restaurant may not be around the corner from the office, the Monterey Bay Aquarium provides an easy to use “Sushi Guide” downloadable from their website at http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_sushi.aspx. Using this simple guide, which documents the “best choices,” “good alternatives,” and sushi to “avoid,” I can now eat good sushi and still keep my conscience clean. Do your part! Download the guide and tell friends about it in person or through social media. It’s easy to print out and keep folded in your purse or glove box for when you decide to dine at a sushi restaurant sustainably.

By Emily Friedman

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Giant Battery Experiments Make Renewable Energy Sources More Feasible For Use In Power Grid

A large barrier to the implementation of renewable energy is the unpredictability of circumstances in which wind or solar energy can be harnessed . In times with clouds or no wind, “the grid,” or the electrical supply system, must rely upon other sources of energy. According to Joyce, an NPR journalist, the grid turns to natural gas plants for fuel. Coal and nuclear plants are considered a poor fit, due to the expenses of turning them on and off with little warning. Simultaneously, the sporadic usage of gas plants does not provide business for them to be financially successful. One long-term solution to this quandary is the creation and implementation of giant batteries, “systems that store excess power to be released as needed” .

In 2011, a group of scientists began developing one such giant battery. It is intended to be a new kind of fluid battery that ultimately would be able to provide power for 2,000 homes based upon “redox flow technologies—which converts chemical energy to electrical currents very quickly” . They have already created a two kilowatt battery that they ultimately plan to create a 20 megawatt-hour battery.

Similarly, there in several years, the company, Rubenius plans to build a giant “energy-storage facility” near the United States-Mexico Border, providing energy to both countries.

Meanwhile, the State Grid Corporation of China in conjunction with BYD car company created a “battery array” that can hold up to 36 mega-watt hours and is complete with a “smart grid transmission system” . This is the largest-scale renewable energy source based battery connected to an energy grid in the world and will be educational to the world as we observe the long-term results.

Regardless of when these giant batteries come out and how successful these prototypes are, they are clearly one strong option for the future of renewable energy and energy as a whole. The exciting technological advances and experiments will continue to astound us and transform our lives into more sustainable, environmentally sound lives.

By Emily Friedman

University of Florida Student Amanda Aschenbrenner paints a new pair of TOMS shoes at Style Your Sole, an event to promote sustainability amongst students. Photo: The Independent Florida Alligator

Oprah & Dustin Team up for Green

Dream of meeting Oprah? How about joining actor-extraordinaire Dustin Hoffman on set of his latest film? Thanks to Chartiybuzz’s sixth annual Chevy Chase Green Auction online, your wildest wishes could become oh-so-real. Celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Dustin Hoffman, Stephen Colbert, Dave Mathews Band, and Regis Philbin have teamed up to bring once-in-a-lifetime items and opportunities to the auction block. Proceeds benefit The GREEN Community Schools, who strive to create model GREEN schools and promote sustainability.

The Emerging Green Economy

With much green talk amongst industries and households, eco industry watchers are saying the world has officially entered an emerging green economy – a trend that will only continue to gain momentum, says eco-expert Kim Carlson.

U.S. Supermarket Trader Joes Ranked Worst Nationally (Again)

In the third edition of Greenpeaces seafood sustainability scorecard Carting Away the Oceans, more than half of the leading supermarket chains in the U.S. have made some sign of progress in increasing the sustainability of their seafood operations.

The World’s Greenest Museum

From a living roof to the natural lighting and ventilation system, the new California Academy of Sciences has implemented sustainable building practices that work in unison with nature — environmentally sensitive practices that are very much in tune with its mission to explore, explain and protect the natural world.

The San Francisco-based Academy is home to an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum, as well as world-class research and education programs.

Founded on the heels of the gold rush in 1853, it is the oldest scientific institution west of the Mississippi River, says Director of Exhibits and Programming Chris Andrews (below), who has been with the Academy since 2005.

“Its early members conducted the first comprehensive survey of the states flora and fauna. Over the past 156 years, its scientists have explored some of the most remote places on earth, from deep ocean trenches off the coast of the Gal�

What Exactly is Eco Tourism Anyway?

Besides having less of an impact on the planet when you travel, what exactly defines eco tourism?

According to the Centre for Ecotourism, Hector Ceballos-Lascurain created the term “eco tourism” in 1983 to mean “nature-based travel to relatively undisturbed areas with an emphasis on education.”

The term “eco” is a combination of three words environment, culture and oriented travel. The International Ecotourism Society says eco tourism can be defined as “responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of the local people”. In short, ecotourism is an insightful, mindful and participatory travel experience to natural and cultural environments, assisting the well-being of the local cultures and environments for future generations. Eco tourism, however, is different from nature tourism because it puts more emphasis on conservation, education, traveler responsibility and active community participation.

10 Ways to Experience Green in Mendocino

As the first county in the US to ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Mendocino has long been recognized as eco-friendly and environmentally-oriented. Mendocino County has been at it so long say some, they have actually advanced living in harmony with the earth to the point where being green doesn’t forsake luxury.

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