September 25, 2008
· Filed under environment, green, life, living, news · Tagged Curacao, energy alternatives, energy crisis, global warming, green, green energy, green power, life, living, Massachusetts, news, power, renewable energy, sustainable living, wind power, wind turbines
I do not know much about wind turbines but the first one I saw in the US was in Massachusetts. While I was on my green road trip this weekend I saw the giant windmill in the distance. I was in a rather wooded area not alot of other things around and there was the giant windmill rotating at a good pace. I really felt no wind and to me it did not seem possible that the turbine was moving but it was. I cannot imagine how it would whip around on a really windy day.
The first wind turbine I have ever saw was in Curacao a few years ago. That is a Caribbean island that is know for its trade winds so I cannot imagine how much energy is created by it. My personal opinion is that these large devices are not a giant eyesore but really a sign of what we need. People put windmills in their garden and kids buy them at the beach so they can watch it spin in the ocean breeze why not have it do more than enterain us. In the past windmills did a lot of work for us and we abandon that “technology” completely in the last few decades.
Below is the facts about wind turbines (really wind turbines 101) and a brief history of wind power… all from wikipedia.com
A wind turbine is a rotating machine which converts the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, such as a pump or grinding stones, the machine is usually called a windmill. If the mechanical energy is then converted to electricity, the machine is called a wind generator, wind turbine, wind power unit (WPU) or wind energy converter (WEC).
This article discusses electric power generation machinery. Windmill discusses machines used for grain-grinding, water pumping, etc. The article on wind power describes turbine placement, economics and public concerns. The wind energy section of that article describes the distribution of wind energy over time, and how that affects wind-turbine design. See environmental concerns with electricity generation for discussion of environmental problems with wind-energy production.
Wind machines were used in Persia as early as 200 B.C. This type of machine was introduced into the Roman Empire by 250 A.D. However, the first practical windmills were built in Sistan, Afghanistan, from the 7th century. These were vertical axle windmills, which had long vertical driveshafts with rectangle shaped blades.[1] Made of six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind corn and draw up water, and were used in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries.[2]
By the 14th century, Dutch windmills were in use to drain areas of the Rhine River delta. In Denmarkby 1900 there were about 2500 windmills for mechanical loads such as pumps and mills, producing an estimated combined peak power of about 30 MW. The very first electricity generating windmill operated was a battery charging machine installed in 1887 by James Blyth in Scotland, UK. The first windmill for electricity production in the United States was built in Cleveland, Ohio by Charles F Brush in 1888, and in 1908 there were 72 wind-driven electric generators from 5 kW to 25 kW. The largest machines were on 24 m (79 ft) towers with four-bladed 23 m (75 ft) diameter rotors. Around the time of World War I, American windmill makers were producing 100,000 farm windmills each year, most for water-pumping.[3] By the 1930s windmills for electricity were common on farms, mostly in the United States where distribution systems had not yet been installed. In this period, high-tensile steel was cheap, and windmills were placed atop prefabricated open steel lattice towers.
A forerunner of modern horizontal-axis wind generators was in service at Yalta, USSRin 1931. This was a 100 kW generator on a 30 m (100 ft) tower, connected to the local 6.3 kV distribution system. It was reported to have an annual capacity factor of 32 per cent, not much different from current wind machines.[4]
The first utility grid-connected wind turbine operated in the UK was built by the John Brown Company in 1954 in the Orkney Islands. It had an 18 metre diameter, three-bladed rotor and a rated output of 100 kW.
September 10, 2008
· Filed under environment, green, life, living, travel · Tagged car pooling, cars, emissions, environment, friends, gas, global warming, greehouse gas, green, life, limos, living, oil, road trip, travel
No I am not doing a road trip in a hybrid or ethanol fueled vehicle… I am car pooling. I would say extreme carpooling the way this trip is turning out. 6 people need to get to Nantucket… two live in the Midwest… none of us own an SUV (can you believe it).
The four people who live in the area (a few hours away from Nantucket) are going to drive in one of our cars to the airport in Rhode Island and pick up the other two people. Then we are going to park the car at the airport and rent a car (or get a limo…looking to be cheaper?) to put us all in and get to the ferry. We will then travel with even more people to get to the island on the ferry. THEN, we will not have a car while we are there so we will walk or carpool to the events of the weekend. Once the weekend is over we will reverse this back home.
This saves us from flying there which besides being very expensive and saves our carbon emissions that contribute a massive amount to our carbon footprint. It also saves at least two separate car loads of drivers. There is alot to be said for this amount of savings but it does not come without alot of work. There was the coordination of our departure time to get to the airport in enough time to meet our other friends and then coordinating the ferry times…etc.
It would have been a lot easier if any of us owned an SUV because then that person would have been responsible for the driving but at least we do not guzzle gas the rest of the time. The limo is not the greenest thing we could do (it has to drive back to where it came from) but it was actually more economical than renting a larger car at the airport and parking it so we all had think about our wallets because other parts of the trip are costly (hotel, ferry, and flight for our other friends).
Planning this trip does show that some of the things that seemed expensive in the past are now part of our options like car pooling, renting a bigger car so more people can go together, and even limo rides (if we had more than 6 people involved in this plan we would have had to have gotten a limo to all fit in one car). The limo industry really needs to take notice that they have a growing market.
September 9, 2008
· Filed under environment, green, life, living, news, recycle · Tagged arlanda, blog, blogging, boeing 747, environment, green, hostel that is a plane, jumbo hostel, life, living, news, planes, recycling, travel
This is by far the most creative recycling I have ever seen in my entire life…. an airplane converted to a hostel… outside an airport!!!
Last year, a building permit for establishing Jumbo Hostel at the entrance to an airport. Earlier this year the plane was towed to a facility where the entire interior was gutted and cleaned. They then created individual rooms that share several hallway bathrooms. There is a suite located in the cockpit with a private bath as well as other suite-like rooms on the upper-level. The hostel is built like any other place you can control the temperature in your room and the rooms even come with flat screen tv’s that keep you updated on flight status. You also cannot get more convenience… it is located right outside the airport with a clear view of the runway.
To add to the cool factor on this plane you can go to the cafe and walk out on the left wing to see the view!!! There are 25 rooms with a total of 85 beds. There is even wireless broadband available to all on board!
I have to say this is one of the most creative ideas on what to do with something that would have otherwise been left in a desert somewhere to live the rest of its long non-biodegradable life. I wonder what else we could do with old planes… prisons, homeless shelters, office building….etc.
If you are not in Arlanda…. go to the website to check this cool hostel out:
http://www.jumbohostel.com/DynPage.aspx?id=64660&mn1=5291
September 8, 2008
· Filed under environment, green, life, living · Tagged blog, blogging, ecodot.com, ecofriendly pencils, ecofriendly pens, ecofriendlypens.com, environment, graphite, green, lead, life, living, pen, pencil, plastic, question, recyclable pencils, recyclable pens, recycling, school supplies, thoughts, what is better for the environment, writing
I have thought about this recently, what is more environmentally friendly: pens or pencils? As I was looking at treehugger.com the other day I saw that other people have discussed this question although they did not reach a conclusion. Here is the analysis of pens and pencils.
Pencils are made of wood (usually cedar) and graphite (FYI there was never lead in pencils!). Pens are made of chemical ink and plastic. See below for the real details on what is in pens and pencils.
Gel pens are made from chemicals that take a lot of energy to make. Pens are almost always made of plastic and most people do not recycle them when they are done with them. Back in the day people used to purchase nice pens that could be refilled, now you almost never see anyone with one of those pens. Pencils are made out of trees, most pencils that you see in stores are made from cedar trees and graphite is made out of carbon.
So based on how we typically get our pens and pencils today my vote is the pencils are better for the environment. They are made of things found naturally in our environment and renewable. The ingredients in pencils can also breakdown in a landfill. Since people do not recycle their used pens right now either I think it is clear to say that pencils are better for the environment.
If you want to take it to the next level, the green way, you can purchase pens that are made out of recycled paper, corn and vegetables, recycled paper, tires, and even money. Most of us are used to writing with pens so if you do not want to make the switch to pencils for the environment you can get ecofriendly pens at http://ecofriendlypens.com/unique_material_pens/ or http://www.ecodot.com/recycled-pens.htm
Go green with recycled material pencils too… they make pencils out of recycled newspaper, money, and denim.
Invention idea: a refillable (nice) pen that is made from recycled materials.
How pencils are made (from Wikipedia):
Modern pencils are made industrially by mixing finely ground graphite and clay powders, adding water, forming long spaghetti-like strings, and firing them in a kiln (thermally insulated chambers). The resulting strings are dipped in oil or molten wax, which seeps into the tiny holes of the material, resulting in smoother writing. A juniper or incense-cedar plank with several long parallel grooves is cut to fashion a “slat”, and the graphite/clay strings are inserted into the grooves. Another grooved plank is glued on top, and the whole assembly is then cut into individual pencils, which are then varnished or painted.
How pens are made (from wikipedia):
A ballpoint pen dispenses viscous oil-based ink by rolling a small hard sphere, usually 700–1200 µm and made of brass, steel or tungsten carbide.[1] The ink dries almost immediately on contact with paper. This type of pen is generally inexpensive and reliable. It has replaced the fountain pen as the most popular tool for everyday writing.
A rollerball pen dispenses a water-based liquid or gel ink through a ball tip similar to that of a ballpoint pen. The less-viscous ink is more-easily absorbed by paperthan oil-based ink, and the pen moves more easily across a writing surface. The rollerball pen was initially designed to combine the convenience of a ballpoint pen with the smooth “wet ink” effect of a fountain pen.
A gel pen is a less common type of ball-tipped pen. While the more common ballpoint pens use paste ink based on a solution of a dye solute in an alcohol solvent, gel pens use a gel ink consisting of a pigment suspended in a water-based gel. Common pigments are copper phthalocyanine and iron oxides. The gel is made up of water and thickeners such as biopolymers (including xanthan gum and tragacanth gum) and some types of acrylate polymers. Since pigments are opaque, a gel pen with a bright-colored ink can produce marks that stand out on dark surfaces. Gel inks are available in a range of colors, including metallic paint colours and glitter effects.
Observed Global Warming
September 29, 2008 · Filed under community, environment, green, life, living, news, travel, weather · Tagged blogging, Commentary, environment, global warming, green, heat waves, hurrican katrina, hurricane, hurricane Kyle, life, living, news, rain, weather
Global Warming is much more than just a rise in temperature it is a change in the weather of the world. I feel that the name global warming is becoming a misnomer for the real problem… yes the world is warming up and the poles are melting but alot more atmospheric things are happening. Weather is a big indicator of what global warming is really doing to our planet.
So it may not see like global “warming” when a certain area gets more snow that ever before but the reality is that is exactly what it is. The planet is not acting the way it used to. Here are some real examples of observed changes in our environment caused by “global warming.”
I got married in 2005 a little over month after Katrina. I remember writing my shower thank your notes during the evacuation coverage on TV. I think it is safe to say that most people feel Katrina was a sign of global warming and a changing planet. I got married in the northeast (US) and had a typical wedding for those in our area so there were events for three days. Friday night was a rehearsal dinner for close family, bridal party and out of town guest… it was a sweltering 85 degrees that night easily with a humidity that made me feel like I was on my honeymoon already. The next day, the big day, it rained like the world was ending… I was blissful bride who truly had no concept of how bad the rain was eventhough there were small leaks in the ceiling of the beautiful reception hall. Guests had not told me of their hair raising ride to and from locations. I started to get a hint of what was really happening in the drive from the reception to the hotel, it was raining harder than I really even understood at the time… then it hit me… we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and half the cars in the parking lot were underwater!!! One couple came home and their house had a few feet of water in the basement. Some family members say it rained 8 inches the day of our wedding, I find that to a bit much, but the hotel has never had their parking lot flood so it was alot. So if that does not seem weird enough the next day it was maybe 55 degrees out… I wore a heavy sweater all day. Mind blowing just how different these three days were.
Hurricane Kyle is another example of the big question, what is going on? How does a storm strengthen to a hurricane in the more northern Atlantic? Nova Scotia is probably not the most hurricane ready area. I know there are nor’easters…etc. but lets face it there are not may “Tropical” storms hitting Canada.
If we want to take it world wide look at Australia they have be ravaged by drought and praying for rain. How about the heat wave a few summers ago in Europe, over 30,000 people died in those heat waves.
The weather is turning more violent because of our changing atmospheric conditions. So for the people who still say there is no global warming because it snowed somewhere where it does not normally… they should realize that some day, if we do not change our ways we will be glued to the weather channel to figure out what is going on because it will not be predictable.
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