Fracking in Deutschland. Fracking in Deutschland.
Green Earth. Rape of Planet Earth. Care is needed. Time to Act Folks. Water Scarcity. Social Justice. Social Justice. Ecology. Ecology. How to survive. Green and Environment Stuff. Pollution. Desalination: Drink a cup of seawater? - US Geological Survey. Desalination - Energy Down the Drain. Energy Down the Drain The Next Worst Idea The next worst idea to turning tar sands into synthetic crude is turning ocean water into municipal drinking water.
Sounds great until you zoom in on the environmental costs and energetic consequences. It may be technically feasible, but in the end it is unsustainable and will be just one more stranded asset. In 2003, I was one of two elected officials invited to serve on the California Desalination Task Force. For nearly a year, an unwieldy group of individuals representing a multitude of agencies, industry, and environmental organizations convened around the state to study and prepare a report with their recommendations. The Task Force provided me with the opportunity to learn about this emerging technology but more importantly, to learn about the relationship between water and energy in California. Figure 1: reverse osmosis membranes The Water/Energy Nexus. Energy Efficient Desalination Takes A Step Forward. The delivery of energy efficient desalination received a boost with the establishment of a major new research collaboration between CSIRO and nine of Australia's leading universities.
The research aims to dramatically increase efficiency, and reduce the financial and environmental costs of producing desalinated water. The research will help advance water desalination as an alternative water supply option for Australia. The research addresses one of the biggest challenges currently facing Australia, the delivery of sustainable water supplies. Small scale, energy-efficient desalination demoed. Right now, estimates are that a few hundred million people suffer from limited access to fresh water, and population growth and climate change are expected to rapidly exacerbate that problem.
Many of these people have access to brackish or salty water, but desalinization plants only work efficiently on the large scale, with an attendant infrastructure. A paper released by Nature Nanotechnology on Sunday describes a microfluidic approach to desalinization that is roughly as energy-efficient as a large-scale plant, but compact enough that it could operate as a small, battery-powered device. The basic idea behind the device is extremely simple: send a flow of salty water down a channel with a Y-shaped junction, and convince all the charged items, whether they're salt ions or cells, to take the left turn. That leaves a flow of relatively pure water running down the right fork. Convincing everything to make a left turn requires a technique termed ion concentration polarization. Encyclopedia of Desalination and Water Resources: Why Use Renewable Energy for Desalination.
Large scale desalination: is there enough energy to do it? Desalination & Water Reuse. Desalination - Ask an expert - The Lab - Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Gateway to Science. Cheaper desalination: Current thinking. Desalination 'not the solution' Turning salt water into drinking water is not a solution to tackle global water scarcity, the WWF has said.
A report by the environmental group said a growth in the energy intensive technology would increase emissions and damage coastal and river habitats. More attention should instead be paid to conserving supplies, it suggested. The study was published as Australia announced plans to build one of the world's biggest desalination plants to supply drinking water to Melbourne.
Major Breakthrough With Water Desalination System. Concern over access to clean water is no longer just an issue for the developing world, as California faces its worst drought in recorded history.
According to state's Department of Water Resources, supplies in major reservoirs and many groundwater basins are well below average. Court-ordered restrictions on water deliveries have reduced supplies from the two largest water systems, and an outdated statewide water system can't keep up with population growth. With these critical issues looming large, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science are working hard to help alleviate the state's water deficit with their new mini-mobile-modular (M3) "smart" water desalination and filtration system.
In designing and constructing new desalination plants, creating and testing pilot facilities is one of the most expensive and time-consuming steps. "The last time UCLA went into the field with its own newly built pilot system was in the '60s," Cohen said. Desalination. Home - Metro Transit. Light rail – The safest public transit mode! « Rail For The Valley. The following item is from Phoenix’s METRO Rail and addresses the safety issue of light rail.
Much is said about the safety of on-street light rail or streetcars safety, especially at intersections, yet statistical analysis shows that a light rail/tram automobile intersection is much safer than an automobile automobile intersection. Accidents will happen and in the vast majority of cases of a tram/auto collision, it is the motorist who is at fault. Of course, those who decry at-grade/on-street ‘rail’ operation never mention that SkyTrain annual death rate is two to three times higher than Calgary’s C-Train death rate. The recent non-fatal accident on Seattle’s new hybrid LRT system, caused by a car driver deliberately disobeying a traffic signal and driving in front of a moving tram, was given prominent display by major media, including national media over several days. Light rail notches a success in the West - Light rail, Mass transit. Any proposed new mass transit system inevitably touches off a religious war between those who see light rail as the saving grace of car-choked, sprawling metropolitan areas, and those who view it as an expensive boondoggle.
Unsurprisingly, my sympathies lie with mass transit advocates, but of course it’s important that expensive public works projects actually serve the taxpayers that foot the bill. So it’s nice to see that Phoenix’s new light rail system has surpassed ridership expectations. The 20-mile system linking Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa was projected to carry 26,000 riders per day. Types of Public Transit. We have many different types of public transit, including buses, paratransit, shuttles, trolleys, light rail, subways and heavy rail, regional rail, and hopefully someday in California, a true high-speed rail service.
When it comes to providing public transit, both the type of transit vehicle and how it is planned to be used, matter. Public transit is not "once size fits all". 3 Reasons Light Rail is an Efficient Transportation Option for U.S. Cities >> MetaEfficient. Public Transit = Much Safer Travel. Public Transit = Much Safer Travel Light Rail Progress – March 2001 Public transit – particularly light rail – is a very safe and efficient way to travel – certainly, one of the safest modes of urban transportation, and far safer than the automobile.
Light Rail vs. Trolley Bus - Mass Transit. With fuel prices on the rise and concerns about climate change, traffic congestion and parking weighing increasingly on the minds of commuters, transit systems across North America are looking for ways of convincing people to leave their private vehicles at home.
In the course of their deliberations, the minds of planners may drift toward systems that don’t use fossil fuels — systems such as electric trolley buses or various forms of electrified rail (light rail transit and others). Greater Vancouver uses a variety of transit modes, including electric trolleys and automated rail. Biogas.
Improved smokeless stoves conserve 25% of the firewood needed for a traditional stove. This efficiency saves firewood gathering time and forest resources. The chimneys attached to these stoves remove smoke from the home environment particularly benefiting the health of women and children. The cost of improved smokeless stoves is affordable so they benefit even the poorest homes. Biogas China. ISIS Report 02/10/06 Biogas from biological wastes tops renewable energies as it also prevents carbon emissions and environmental pollution. It is at the heart of a burgeoning eco-economy in China, but certain constraints need to be addressed for its full potential to be realized.
Prof. China Turns to Biogas to Ease Impact of Factory Farms by Eliza Barclay. 11 Nov 2010: Report. Biogas Energy Inc. - Pig Manure Information. Is Algae the Biofuel of the Future? The Future of Algae Fuels Is ... When? AlgaeFuel Biodiesel from Algae as a Fuel Sustainable Green Power Alga BioDiesel Biofuel development located in the San Francisco California Bay Area. Algae as Fuel of the Future Faces Great Expectations. Bill Gates invests in algae fuel. Bill Gates' investment firm is funding Sapphire Energy, a company that intends to make auto fuel from algae.
Sapphire Energy said Wednesday that a series B round will bring the total amount it has raised to more than $100 million . Investors include Gates' investment firm Cascade Investment, as well as Arch Venture Partners, Wellcome Trust, and Venrock. Fuel from algae growing beyond the laboratory. Aviation Fuel from Ohio Grown Algae Tested. S. Korea to Build World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm, Industry.
Clean Power. Canada cuts environment spending. The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, has led cuts to green programmes. Photograph: Adrian Wyld/AP Canada's Stephen Harper government is spending more than 60 billion dollars on new military jets and warships while slashing more than 200 million dollars in funding for research and monitoring of the environment. Deforestation in Amazonia. The bloody cost of Amazon deforestation. José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva had predicted his own murder six months before he was killed and received frequent death threats.
Early in the morning on 24 May, in the northern Brazilian Amazon, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva got on a motorcycle near the nature reserve they had worked on for over two decades. Deforestation Escalates in Brazilian Amazon. Satellite imagery released earlier this week provided further evidence that deforestation in Brazil's Amazon region accelerated dramatically this year. Deforestation: Chopping down the Amazon. Deforestation in the Amazon. Amazon Deforestation: Earth's Heart and Lungs Dismembered. Amazon rainforest deforestation - The main causes. All About the Indonesian and Congo Basin Rainforest. Rainforest Deforestation. Deforestation in Indonesia. Deforestation, Poaching and the Wildlife Trade in Indonesia. Deforestation campaigning led to my deportation from Indonesia. Congo activist works to halt deforestation. Report: Dangers of fracking greater than previously understood.
Green World Investor. Fracking the Future - The Dangers of Gas Drilling. Big oil companies face growing concern on fracking. Opposition to Natural Gas Fracking Heats Up « Only Ed. Big Oil- MojoMom.com. A Fracking Chemical Appears in Wyoming Aquifer. EPA links fracking to contamination of Wyoming aquifer. Torture. Solidarity Online » Wikileaks documents show who the real terrorists are.
RW ONLINE: The Injustice of the U.S. Death Penalty. The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides. Death penalty produces injustice - Viewpoint. Troy Davis execution: Did the death penalty deliver justice? Capital Punishment In China: Death Vans & Organ Harvesting. Wildlife Smuggling: Why Does Wildlife Crime Reporting Suck? (PHOTOS)
Wildlife smuggling: Low-risk, high-profit - World news - World environment. Asia's Wildlife Trade. Wildlife smuggling rarer, but not extinct. Middle East’s Wildlife Smuggling Putting Species At Risk. Has exotic-animal smuggling got out of hand? Wildlife Trafficking. BBC World Service - Documentaries - The Wildlife Smugglers. Justice in the forests: Malawi. Why Politicians Lie, and How They Get Away With It. Why Politicians Have to Lie (Thinking Hard about Politics) How Politicians Answer Questions Without Actually Answering. ActNow - Global Poverty and Slavery. Down to Slavery. Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery in India. Go Ye – Serve the World: Sharing Christ Glocally. SLAVERY TODAY IN AFRICA. Stop Chocolate Slavery. Hypocrisy and people smuggling - La Trobe Law Forum. Cambodia/ Malaysia: Domestic Workers Face Abuse. Rights of the Child.
Help Stop Child Prostitution. Religion and Child Abuse News. Child Rights in Sri Lanka. Combating child sex tourism.