UWW310 Technology & Sustainability

Dr. Nocera an M.I.T. Professor creates a sustainable energy source using sunlight to split hydrogen and oxygen the can be fed into fuel cells to make electricity

The Passive house concept is starting to catch on in the States, but has been growing in popularity in Europe for over a decade. The goal is "super efficiancy" in new and retrofit construction.

Using smart power strips can help save electricity by turning off devices that don't need to be on. Good example: when your computer is turned off, so should your printer and speakers plugged into it!

Kill-A-Watt's are a good tool to determine what appliances in your house are using the most energy. It is also a good tool to determine what appliances are using electricity when OFF.

This is an article from the Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition. It speaks about the growing concerns that our world faces today regarding the industrial food system. These concerns are addressed by the European Union, comprised of 27 nations. There is a call for major changes in policy regulations and some of the changes needed are with product manufacturing and regulation. There is an urgent need for sustainable food systems and the EU is addressing these social, economic and health concerns on a global level. There are 4 parameters to consider here and those are the physical world, the physiological world, the social world, and the cognitive world.

A consumers guide from MSN's Real Estate webpage. Options for home use in mind, MSN offers three categories of best in show. Most efficient, most innovative, and best bang for the buck have examples of photovoltaic solar panels.

Americans are familiar with with utilizing solar energy to heat water filled tubes for domestic hot water. Spain has laid claim to the world's first molten salt solar energy plant. Nearly 3,000 mirrors track the Sun, reflecting its rays at a centralized tower. Said tower raises salt, an already bountiful resource in Spain, to a temperature high enough to melt it. Amazingly, salt withholds its temperature rather well, emitting heat for nearly 15 hours past liquefaction. This heat is utilized for energy production.

An Australian company has proposed a massive non-polluting power plant in Arizona. Utilizing a technology first implemented in 1903, this project would include building the world's second tallest structure. In essence, it's a massive conical greenhouse, funneling its rising heated air through power producing turbines.

Solar Energy isn't just about soaking up the sun's rays to put power into a space or the grid. This article, albeit brief, gives a few examples of some interesting applications of our Sun's radiation.

Not only is it important to find and implement new sources of abundant and hopefully renewable energy sources, it's necessary to conserve what is being produced. Electricity for light has long been massively inefficient. Our incandescent lightbulbs are in essence the same technology Edison introduced. LEDs are the next wave of electrical lighting, improving in lumen output, spectrum of light, and probably most important for its success, cost.

A really cool video of how Denmark, one of Scandinavia, and Europe's smallest countries is making the best of a trashy situation. On site visits give excellent insight into Denmark's power producing, rubbish incineration program.

Look at recent transportation technology in the shipping field. Panama's Canal is expanding, resulting in a new generation of Post-Manamax sized shipping vessels. These ships are utilizing new technology to increase energy efficiency and long haul costs.

A local example of another Midtown retail pop-usp store, this one has embraced and marketed its sustainable advantage. Although the existing commercial space didn't result in a LEED Commercial Interior rating (LEED CI), it did prove the ease of basic energy efficient upgrades. NFL's store implemented a cladding upgrade resulting in a $1 per square foot energy saving.

BBC News presents a video on the expansion of Hong Kong's electrical vehicle movement. As one of the worlds densest urban population's, a proven implementation of successful electrical car program and infrastructure could prove replicable.

Itemized sponsored webpage shedding light on a few of the basic questions about green technology. Topics include explaination of green tech, hows it's used, alternate energy sources, and further growth. A highly technical example, with an excellent resource list.

Article from the BBC News webpage discusses and identifies how renewable energy sources are helping Britain, and the United Kingdom. Covers new business in the field, job growth statistics, and public opinion.

This article talks about the advances in technology and development of using cane sugar to produce ethanol and diesel. Over half of Brazil uses renewable energy resources and farmers must reserves 20 percent of their land for biodiversity fuel. Awesome!

This is a very interesting article from the USDA which describes ways in which farmers can help reduce GH gases. Things such as changing the feed for farm stock and capturing the methane produced from the manure and converting it into electricity..

This is new information for me. I did not realize the great strides China has been making towards a cleaner environment using renewable resources. They are utilizing wind, solar, hydropower and more and have become one of the fastest countries to instill change. This is interesting, considering the largest amount of energy consumed currently is through the use of coal. Since 2005 they have reduced the percentage of GH gases by 750 million tons..

This article talks about using seaweed as an alternative energy source to ethanol. Arguments for using seaweed are 1.) does not effect the ecosystem 2.) can be grown much more quickly 3.) could possibly be beneficial to the environment and sea life 4.) does not need fresh water to grow 5.) will not effect production of food grown from land The biggest breakthrough is scientists have developed a new form of E.Coli which breaks down the sugars in the seaweed - which has been the main problem with why seaweed hasn't been used as a biofuel (besides being expensive)