Solar Century

Do you want to know more about how you can make changes that will help you to cut down on your electricity?

Are you interested in protecting the environment, and reducing the amount of fossil fuel and coal that you have to use in order to keep your home or business functioning properly?

The 21st century has brought about some new developments in terms of renewable energy. A number of trials were done in the late 1990s to ensure that solar power, as well as hydro-power and wind electricity could become a reliable source of energy for the majority of the world.

If you’re looking to live ‘green’, you’ll want to learn more about solar century, so that you can find out how solar energy is being used in a number of countries around the world.

While solar century practices have become more common for residential and commercial areas alike, the manufacturing and operational costs can be quite high. This preventing widespread adoption of the technology. Millions of dollars are spent on wind farms and solar energy fields every year in different parts of the world, and countries like Spain and India have witnessed significant success, largely due to the fact that weather conditions are favorable for ‘green energy.’

In the coming years, solar designs from companies like Nanosolar, Inc., will change the way that families and businesses view solar century power. The company is creating cost effective ways to create solar energy sources that everyone can use. Nanosolar Inc. reduced overall production costs by more than $2 per watt, which is the reason why many construction companies are contracting with the corporation in order to build environmentally-safe locations that will last for years.

Solar century technology is also expanding to solar arrays. Scientists are researching these tools to see how practical they are for every day use. Solar arrays are a series of solar panels that are constructed outside of the Earth‘s atmosphere and placed into orbit. Then, the group of panels would bean the energy of the sun back down through a receptor, and the solar energy will be converted into electricity.

Contacting your local construction companies or contractors to get examples of solar century designs will help you to learn more about this form of energy, and will allow you to see some examples of how ‘green’ construction can benefit the planet.

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Shradha Merchant writes:

The Pros and Pros of Wind Turbines

When I hear people discussing the demerits of wind turbines vis-a-vis climate change, I wonder if they have lost their collective marbles! It makes my blood curdle …are they absolute & *^&^ (pardon my French) to even discuss the disadvantages of wind turbines and its negative impact on climate change?

Just to be sure and to get my facts right, I Googled the phrase – pros and cons of wind turbines – and I got 52K+ results. I began to think that perhaps the world was not crazy; maybe I was just ill informed. So I began to read up the possible disadvantages of wind turbines since I already knew its benefits.

‘Disadvantages’ of Wind Turbines

And that’s when my doubt was confirmed. People are nutz! Do you know what they have listed under the ‘disadvantages’ of wind turbines? And not just one site, quite a handful of them, right at the top of the search engine results.

I could be rolling on the floor, pealing with laughter, tears flowing from my eyes, hands clutching my belly – if it just wasn’t so sad. People believe this garbage. There are people out there who actually start doubting the eco-friendliness of wind turbines and its zero impact on climate change.

Forget Climate Change; Just See How They Spoil the View 

Yes, wind turbines are not pretty, yes, they are an eye sore, but hello! They actually help reverse the process of unnatural climate change. See, they effectively produce energy without dangerous side effects like pollution.

They don’t produce waste materials, or generate radioactive substances, or hog non-renewable sources like coal and oil to produce energy. They merely need wind – which is free and cheap!
Wind turbines are one of the few ways in which mankind can produce clean energy without harming Mother Earth – and if you gotta tolerate a view which is less than perfect, well, so be it!

And so Noisy?

Yeah, yeah they are noisy and they create a terrible hum but you know what? I’d prefer to go deaf – I won’t, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume one can go deaf if they live close to a wind turbine.

So, I prefer to tolerate the noise pollution instead of gagging to death and choking on pollutants that are created when oil (or coal or gas) is burnt to produce electricity.

I prefer the hum of harmless wind turbines instead of asthma, bronchitis, and other terrible diseases I’d probably cultivate if I were living next to a thermal power station or an oil refinery.

Wind Turbines can be Fragile and Expensive

Yes, they can be easily damaged by acts of god like a thunderstorm perhaps or fire – but let me know of one power station that is immune to that?

They might have an initially higher start up (small price to pay for climate change) which is a one-time cost.

Also, costs of electricity is slightly higher but am sure no one minds digging a little deeper in their pockets if they want a greener, cleaner climate change.

Valid Drawbacks of Wind Turbines

They aren’t really all that efficient (they can only work in ‘wind corridors’) and one wind turbine can power only 500 households. But studies have shown that if wind turbines were properly explored, they could produce 5 times more electricity than is currently needed – so hah!

Another drawback is that they might damage birds that tend to fly right into them and if you live nearby, your TV reception might be less than perfect.

So, for the sake of all couch potatoes and bird lovers, let’s dismantle wind turbines and allow climate change to proceed unchecked.

Do you agree with Shradha? Leave a comment below.

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As you’re biting into that nice, juicy king-size burger, have you ever thought how much you’re contributing to global warming?

I hadn’t. Cattle, though, are a major problem for the environment. As cows are busy munching away in their pastures, their multiple stomachs are producing methane.

Methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas, 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide for global warming. According to The Journal of Animal Science, livestock produce between 250 and 500 litres of methane every single day! At the top end of the estimate, that enough to fill 250 large bottles of Coke.

And what’s worse, there are estimated to be 1.5 billion livestock around the globe. If the average animal produces 350 litres of methane daily, then that’s 525 billion litres of methane being released into the atmosphere each day. And then there are about a billion sheep and 800 million goats.

What about pigs? There are a billion pigs, but they produce much less methane than cows.

As countries have got richer, demand for meat has increased in the last 50 years by about 500 per cent.

The livestock sector is by far the single largest use by humans of land. Grazing occupies 26 percent of the Earth‘s terrestrial surface, while feed crop production requires about a third of all arable land.

Expansion of grazing land for livestock is a key factor in deforestation, especially in Latin America. Some 70 percent of previously forested land in the Amazon is used as pasture, and feed crops cover a large part of the reminder. About 70 percent of all grazing land in dry areas is considered degraded, mostly because of overgrazing, compaction and erosion attributable to livestock activity.

There are other serious problems with livestock that contribute to global warming. The United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) estimated that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a bigger share than that of transport.

Livestock farming accounts for nine percent of man-made carbon dioxide emissions, most of it due to expansion of pastures and arable land for feed crops. It generates even bigger shares of emissions of other gases with greater potential to warm the atmosphere: as much as 37 percent of methane from humans’ activities, mostly from fermentation by cows and other ruminants, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide created by man’s activities, mostly from manure.

According to the UN FAO, the average American eats about 275 pounds of meat per year (more than any other country). The average Chinese eats 108 pounds per year (Earth Policy Insitute, 2005). According to a 2005 FAO study on meat consumption between 1998 – 2002, the average meat consumption per Chinese is 52 kg, compared to Americans at 125 kg, and Britain at 80 kg.   note:  there are smaller countries which (on average, per person) consume a little more meat than the US – 300 mil. people (for example: New Zealand – 4 mil. people, Denmark 5.5 mil. people, and some countries which consume around the same amount of meat. If the whole world ate meat at the American rate, only 2/5 of the world’s population (2.5 billion people) would be fed (Lester Brown).

Some countries are taking the problem seriously. For example, Germany’s environment agency has recommended that Germans should eat less meat, if they want to lower their carbon footprint and stop global warming.

Speaking at Berlin’s Grüne Woche (Green Week), Andreas Troge, president of the UBA (Germany’s environment agency) said:

“We must rethink our high meat consumption. I recommend people return to the Sunday roast and to an orientation of their eating habits around those of Mediterranean countries.”

Troge said that agriculture caused 15% of Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions. Meat production, he explained, was the most energy-intensive form of farming. Germans derive a high percentage of their calories from meat, 39% compared to the Italians’ 25%.

The US Environmental Protection Agency wanted to tax cattle, but this plan seems to have been dropped after protests from the powerful farming lobby.

So next time I’m in the supermarket, Quorn burgers are going in my basket!

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Terry Barker, the Centre’s Director, says that the politicians have not considered what he called ‘the rebound effect’. “The rebound effect is not very welcome to politicians because they have been thinking that energy-efficiency programmes are the answer to climate change”. He continues:” it’s not nearly as good an answer as they thought. Efficiency programmes will have to be ramped up to achieve the same targets”.

So how does the rebound effect work? Say a manufacturer makes fuel efficiencies and saves costs. This enables the manufacturer to pass on these cost savings to its customers with reduced prices. But this gives the customers more money to spend, thereby increasing production. And using more energy.

This might be simplistic. People might save the extra money, for instance. With the severe effects of the economic downturn, conspicuous consumption is rapidly becoming unfashionable. This might continue as the world’s economies recover.

But the politicians would do well to heed the Centre’s warnings. Nobody really knows what will happen.

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By 2020, the DECC predicts that only 5% of the UK’s energy will be from renewable sources. That’s way down on the 15% legally-binding target agreed with the European Union‘s Commission.

If the UK fails to meet the target, then the Commission will seek to impose substantial fines on the UK.

The DECC will shortly announce it proposals to make up the shortfall. Wind- and hydro-power are likely to be the main renewable resources the DECC hopes to rely on, together with biomass and sewage processing.

The proposals should make interesting reading when they’re published.

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1.Make sure that your car is serviced regularly – it’s the best way to make sure that it’s running efficiently.

2.Check the oil each week – make sure that it’s topped up with oil to the manufacturer’s specification. For example, VW’s TDI PD engines need a high-spec oil.

3.Make sure that the tyres are inflated to the right pressure – under-inflated tyres create more rolling resistance and therefore increase fuel consumption. Heavy loads often require higher tyre pressures, so check with handbook for the correct pressures.

4.Plan your route on a long journey – use a computer route planner or sat nav so that you don’t get lost and waste fuel.

5.Put your car on a diet – weight is the enemy of good fuel economy. Check the boot (trunk) for anything that doesn’t need to be there.

6.Check the roof – roof racks and roof boxes increase drag which can negatively affect fuel economy as the engine has to work harder.

7.Drive smoothly – hard acceleration drinks fuel like it’s going out of fashion. Accelerate and brake gently.

8.Drive a car with a manual (stick shift) gearbox and change up at 2500 rpm for a gasoline car and 2000 revs for a diesel. Using a high gear can do wonders for fuel economy.

9.Turn the air con down – at low speeds, air con drains a lot of power from the engine. Around town, wind down the window or open the sunroof instead.

10. Drive at lower speeds – typically, most cars are operating at their most efficient at about 50mph.

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To many, Britain’s canal system is merely a relic from the Victorian era. Thanks to 21st Century technology, canals are set to contribute to the reduction of global warming.

British Waterways, the public body responsible for Britain’s 2,200 mile water network, have announced a deal worth £120 million ($168 million) with the Small Hydro Company to generate renewable hydro energy from the canal system. The plan is generate 210,000 megawatts of electricity annually from 25 sites. It’s hoped to have the first site up and running by next year.

In addition, British Waterways also agreed in October 2008 a partnership with an eco-investment fund, Partnerships for Renewal, to set up 50 wind turbines near canals over the next five years. Output is hoped to be 219,000 megawatts per year.

And the revenue from the energy schemes will go back into maintaining the canals – a shipshape solution!

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