See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development
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Peak oil has generated headlines in recent years, but the real threat to our future is peak water. There are substitutes for oil, but not for water. We can produce food without oil, but not without water. |
See on www.earth-policy.org
See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development
Electric cars don’t solve the automobile’s environmental problems
>Two dozen governments around the world subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles. In Canada, for example, the governments of Ontario and Quebec pay drivers up to C $8500 to drive an electric car. The United Kingdom offers a £5000 Plug-in Car Grant. And the U.S. federal government provides up to $7500 in tax credits for people who buy plug-in electric vehicles, even though many of them are affluent enough not to need such help. (The average Chevy Volt owner, for example, has an income of $170 000 per year.)
Some states offer additional tax incentives. California brings the total credit up to $10 000, and Colorado to $13 500—more than the base price of a brand new Ford Fiesta. […]
There are other perks. Ten U.S. states open the high-occupancy lanes of their highways to electric cars, even if the car carries a lone driver. Numerous stores offer VIP parking for electric vehicles—and sometimes a free fill-up of electrons. Mayor Johnson even moved to relieve electric-car owners of the burden of London’s famed congestion fee.
Alas, these carrots can’t overcome the reality that the prices of electric cars are still very high—a reflection of the substantial material and fossil-fuel costs that accrue to the companies constructing them. And some taxpayers understandably feel cheated that these subsidies tend to go to the very rich. Amid all the hype and hyperbole, it’s time to look behind the curtain. Are electric cars really so green?
It’s worth noting that this investigation was commissioned by the U.S. Congress and therefore funded entirely with public, not corporate, money. […]
Part of the impact arises from manufacturing. Because battery packs are heavy (the battery accounts for more than a third of the weight of the Tesla Roadster, for example), […] Electric motors and batteries add to the energy of electric-car manufacture.
In addition, the magnets in the motors of some electric vehicles contain rare earth metals. […]
The materials used in batteries are no less burdensome to the environment, the MIT study noted. Compounds such as lithium, copper, and nickel must be coaxed from the earth and processed in ways that demand energy and can release toxic wastes. […]
See on spectrum.ieee.org
See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering
IBM, in collaboration with the Leibniz Supercomputer Center in Munich, is using hot water to its SuperMUC supercomputer. This is not new for IBM. It
>The system, called LRZ “SuperMUC”, is based on an IBM System x iDataPlex Direct Water Cooled dx360 M4 server. It is said to feature 150,000 cores and provides peak performance of up to three petaflops. In layman’s language it could be described as something equivalent of the processing power of 110,000 personal computers.
IBM claims that the technique needs 40% less energy to cool this machinery as compared to the other air-cooling systems. The heat is then used for the heating systems of the Leibniz Supercomputing Center campus. This accounts for an annual savings of $1.25 million on their heating bills.<
See on www.greenpacks.org
See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering
If you have noticed the design and layout of solar panels around, you would have thought a minute or two about its aesthetics. Though not too bad, the dark
>The Institute is developing a SIS (semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor) variety solar panel. The package consists of a silicon substrate which absorbs light and converts it into electricity.[…]
The change in color does not make solar cells less efficient. The cell’s working is also not affected by the thickness of the conductive oxide layer. The SIS cell has the same simulated efficiency of around 20%.
The technology might later on use a type of inkjet printing that deposits the oxide layer with more flexibility, which would allow complex designs too. With this, solar cells could turn out to be part of beautiful architectural designs in future.<
See on www.greenpacks.org
See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering
Outdated designs are keeping data centers from reaching their full potential.
>One example of this are data centers that use raised floors for cooling. Many IT pundits have discredited this method of cooling as wasteful, including Schneider Electric’s territory manager for the Federal government and the ACT, Olaf Moon.
[…]
Cappuccio notes that engineering firms that are consulted to build data centers know about the newer and more efficient ways to do things. But rather than try something new, they prefer the stock standard cookie-cutter approach to creating data centers because it’s fast and easy, he said.
[…]
“I’ve seen a lot of data centers being built that are too big,” says Cappuccio. “We’re finding people with data centers that are three to four years old when they realise they have far too much space, and are still providing air conditioning to those areas. So they begin to shrink them, putting up walls, bringing down the ceiling so they don’t air condition the extra space.”
See on www.zdnet.com
See on Scoop.it – Green & Sustainable News
Microgrids are becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Currently an estimated $4.5 billion market in the US alone with 1,459 MW online and 1,122 MW in planning or development, the microgrid market is expected to continue to grow as the world demands ever more electricity usage and the grid struggles to keep up. The truth is that the traditional grid was not built to cope with the extraordinary level and fluctuations of present-day demand, and microgrids present the perfect solution. The question (to the utilities) is whether we are ready to embrace the change and adapt.
See on theenergycollective.com
See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development
Campden BRI and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne are co-operating with organisations from Austria, Germany, Poland and Spain in an EU project to help the European food and beverage industry improve energy efficiency and reduce fossil carbon…
See on Scoop.it – Green Building Operations – Systems & Controls, Maintenance & Commissioning
Three decades ago, the protocol debate in building automation systems (BAS) did not exist. Every element of a BAS, from the sensors to the control devices…
See on www.bsee.co.uk
See on Scoop.it – Green & Sustainable News
Deep problems in Europe’s carbon trading scheme – its flagship climate change policy – are set to cancel out over 700m tonnes of emissions saved through renewable energy and energy efficiency efforts, according to a new report.
The study, by carbon trading thinktank Sandbag, found that a huge oversupply of carbon pollution permits means many are being banked to enable emissions after 2020, when efforts to tackle global warming should be intensifying. These emissions, nearly equivalent to Germany’s annual carbon pollution, will cancel out efforts made in other areas to cut carbon.
The report also warns that Europe’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) is a “global dumping ground” for “dubious” carbon permits created by projects around the world.
See on energyindemand.com
See on Scoop.it – Green Energy Technologies & Development
The bearer cables and tethers of bridges, elevators, and cable cars are exposed to high levels of stress. For this reason, their functional reliability must be monitored on a regular basis. A new robot recognizes fissures before they pose a danger.
See on phys.org
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