|
Solar energy for local communities
Grow your own electricity!
Putting packaging into perspective
Self-propelled keyboards
World’s first commercial scale wave power generator
Germany
to phase out nuclear power stations
Japanese Government
backing Green building design
Energy+
superfridges
Community windpower
Denmark sets example for renewable energy
PC electricity
Power hungry traffic lights
Recycling cheaper than burning and burying
Store organic waste outside
Teflon threat
When scientists at the University of Toronto found much higher than expected
levels of dangerous trifluoacetic acid in rainwater, they suspected that
it was due to the huge increase in the use of teflon and similar substances
during the last decade. They tested their hypothesis by heating ‘non-stick’
products to various temperatures and measuring the emissions. An “incredible”
amount of trifluoacetic acid was released - particularly worrying as it
is very persistent in the environment and can be poisonous to plants.
Perfluoro acid, which has been linked to liver disease and cancer and
can be found in most people’s blood, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),
which damage the ozone layer, were also released.
The manufacturers of Teflon, Du Pont, claim that Teflon will not release
any of the above until it reaches 500o Fahrenheit. “As a comparison,
fats, butter and cooking oils begin to scorch and smoke at about 392o
Fahrenheit.” The scientists call for more research.
(8303) Paul Kendall. Daily Mail 19.7.01
p17
Solar energy for local
communities
Lambeth Borough Council and solar energy company Solar Century have joined
forces to create a powerful demonstration of the potential of solar energy
for local communities. The roof of its community centre now sports an
array of photovoltaic panels from three of the world’s leading manufacturers.
The electricity they produce is fed into the centre’s distribution
board and used by whatever electrical equipment is operating at the time.
Any surplus energy is sold to the local power grid. The system is totally
automatic, virtually maintenance-free and will provide emission-free electricity
for at least 20 years. It has a peak performance of 2 kilowatts and should
produce around 1,100 kilowatt hours (kWh) a year.
The education comes in the café, where a display board shows how
much electricity is being produced, how much has been produced from the
start, and how many tonnes of carbon dioxide would have been produced
had the centre used electricity from the National Grid. The centre also
recycles rainwater to flush the toilets and plans to develop a range of
youth services including education on sustainability, protecting the environment
and renewable energies.
(8821) Building for a Future 1.11.01
p4
Grow your own electricity!
Professor Bernhard Witholt of Zurich’s Institute of Biotechnology
believes that humans will one day be able to source electricity produced
by trees and plants from sugars, or directly from photosynthesis. It might
even be possible to generate electricity from the carbohydrates contained
in wood and fruit, using the same biotechnology as that used by South
American electric eels to generate 600 volt stuns. All cells produce a
small electrical potential across their membranes of the order of 100
millivolts or so. The electric eel has found a way to accumulate that
into hundreds of volts. “I could do something analogous,” he
said.
This would permit the ultimate in self-sufficiency and local production:
available to all; in small dispersed systems; built from a packet of seeds.
One tree, apparently, could drive a fridge (ed.- the household’s
most thirsty consumer). A clump of trees could power an entire household.
(8755) Ecologist 1.12.01 p15 Daily Telegraph
25/10/01 p19
Putting packaging into
perspective
A new report from the UK Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment
(INCPEN) reveals that, whilst both educational and socially productive,
domestic recycling of bottles, cans and paper has only a small positive
impact on the environment. The relative impacts of household activities
are:
• Production of
household goods - 34%
• Heating homes
and hot water - 24%
• Personal transport
- 15%
• Food production
- 8%
• Use of household
appliances - 6%
• Storing and
cooking food - 5%
• Education and
leisure activities - 4%
• Packaging of
goods and food - 3%
• Transporting and retailing goods -
2%
INCPEN recommends domestic consumers to:
• reduce their
use of private cars
• choose more
fuel efficient cars (switching from a 4-wheel drive to a saloon, for example,
saves in one year the same amount of energy as recycling all the family’s
bottles for 400 years)
• focus on the
bigger impact by making energy savings at home and choosing goods and
foods wisely to avoid generating so much waste
INCPEN recommends industry to:
• overall waste
by producing a wider range of pack sizes
•provide longer life goods capable of
repair (thus reducing the materials and energy used in manufacture)
Ed.- Regarding goods and food this would include selecting
those with the least packaging and which have been made close to the point
of purchase (to reduce pollution from road and air transport). In Environment
& Health 15 we reported that swapping old cars for new was not necessarily
good. New cars, for instance, tend to be heavier than old cars (and thus
consume more fuel). Both scrapping old cars and building new ones cause
carbondioxide (CO2) emissions. When
the research team readjusted the Dutch emission figures they found that
reducing average car age would increase overall CO2
(8707) Warmer Bulletin 1.11.01
Self-propelled keyboards
Adrian Crisan, a software engineer for the computer manufacturer Compaq,
has modified a keyboard which generates electricity with every key stroke.
Sufficient electricity can be produced to reduce the number of heavy batteries
needed in a laptop by increasing battery life between recharges to a possible
ten hours (provided you keep on tapping).
(7268) New Scientist 24.7.00
Backing for wave
power
The world’s first commercial scale wave power generator is being
built by Wavegen in a rocky bay on the island of Islay off the Scottish
coast. When operating it will generate 500 Kwh at a cost of nearly six
pence per kilowatt/hour. Despite this being three times the cost of electricity
generated by burning fossil fuels, the scheme has won a 15 year contract
with Scottish & Southern Energy. This is because power companies will
be legally obliged to source 10% of their electricity from renewable resources
by 2010 and because they are confident that unit costs will fall as the
technology is developed. The concept is simple. As waves crash into the
Limpet 500’s concrete structure seawater rushes into a column pushing
air before it. As the air compresses it drives turbines which generate
electricity. As the wave recedes it sucks water out of the column, creating
a vacuum which sucks air the other way through the turbines, again generating
electricity.
Studies from the European Commission suggest that harnessing just 1% of
the wave energy around Britain’s coast could supply its entire energy
requirements.
(7509-11) Gerard Seenan. Guardian Online 14.9.00
Japanese Government backing
Green building design
The Japanese Government is backing its commitment to renewable energy
and sustainable lifestyles by subsidising Green building design. The first
project has now been completed in Kitakyushu where a high-rise apartment
block has been built with its own windmill, solar panels, kitchen waste
recycling and rainwater collector. The solar collector on each apartment's
balcony heats water to a constant 55°C, even on cloudy days. The windmill
provides enough electricity to light corridors and communal areas. All
units have a kitchen waste drying machine - the dried waste is then composted
and used in the grounds. The car parks and concreted areas use a special
permeable surface, allowing rainwater through into underground tanks -
the water is later used to irrigate the trees and plants in the grounds.
It has been estimated that the measures save each resident approximately
$570 a year on utility bills.
(6368-69) Positive News 1.3.00 p3
Energy+
superfridges
Since 1995, all fridges
and freezers sold in the UK have been graded from A to E. A is the most
energy efficient, E the least. Now that many more fridges are attaining
the A grade, the European Commission is promoting a higher target called
'Energy +'. To achieve this fridges and freezers have to use no more than
75% of the electricity used by A grade appliances, and their refrigerants
and foaming agents must not be ozone depleters and should have low global
warming potential.
Electrolux/AEG launched Europe's first
two 'Energy +' fridges in February 2000. They use 36% and 38% of the energy
used by the average European fridge of comparable capacity and size. Electrolux/AEG
expect to launch another four models by the end of 2000 and Spanish manufacturer
Fagor Electrodomesticos expects to launch two. All will be available in
the UK.
(6498-6501) ENDS 1.2.00 p31
PC
electricity
The Government-backed
Energy Savings Trust has now accredited eleven companies as genuine suppliers
of electricity from renewable sources. Of these Friends of the Earth challenge
five on the basis that their 'renewable source' is burning waste (called
'waste-to-energy'), which produces as much carbon dioxide as gas-fired
power stations and 40 times more carbon dioxide than windpower. This leaves
five: Eastern Energy; Scottish Power/ManWeb; SWALEC; SWEB; Unit Electricity
Ltd.; and Yorkshire Electricity.
(5818-19) Ethical Consumer 1.10.99
p26
Denmark
sets example
Denmark's 5.3 million
people must be the most environmentally-conscious people in the industrially
developed world. Having decided not to go for nuclear power in 1964, they
have pretty much unanimously dedicated themselves to building a Green
alternative:
•
Domestic windmills and industrial grade wind turbines already provide
7% of the electricity. The Danish Ministry of Energy is confident that
this will have risen to 50% by 2030
•
Denmark now exports windmills to 35 countries and manufactures 50% of
the world's windmills
•
Half of all its waste is recycled
•
80% of paper used is recycled paper
•
Businesses pay a tax on carbon dioxide emissions - the revenue is used
to finance energy conservation and efficiency projects
• Government-guaranteed
additive-free foods now crowd out chemically-treated foods on supermarket
shelves
•
More than 6,000 miles of cycleways have been built and car parks have
been turned into cycle parks. Copenhagen operates a penny-in-the-slot
bicycle hire scheme
•
A 9.5-mile $2 billion transport link between Copenhagen and the Swedish
city of Malmo was delayed for years by environmental concerns. In the
end an artificial island was built at considerable additional expense
to enable a tunnel to be built under the sea so as not to disturb the
fragile marine environment
•
Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens amusement park now focuses on its success
at bringing its heating and lighting systems under central control,
converting its vehicles to run on electricity, turning its kitchen waste
into feed for 1,400 pigs, monitoring the watering of its acres of flowerbeds
and clearing up its algae-choked lake
•
The 4,400 residents of the island of Samso have unanimously volunteered
to live a decade from now on nothing but solar, wind and biomass energy
from organic waste and agricultural surplus.
(5942-45) Daily Grist 12.10.99
Community
windpower
Around 79% of wind projects
in Denmark are locally-owned, and local ownership schemes have been key
to increasing Germany's windpower to 3000 megawatts annually (UK 400MW).
Local ownership schemes not only reduce local opposition to windpower
schemes but also build a sense of community and greater awareness of environmental
issues.
Two successful UK local ownership schemes
are: The Baywind Energy Corporation, where 43% of the investors are local,
and the Co-operative Bank set up a scheme to help potential investors
save to buy a stake - minimum £300, maximum £20,000 (Furness
Business Park, Barrow-in-Furness LA14 2DF); The Dyfi Eco Valley Partnership,
where local people will build a 30kW turbine and sell electricity to the
nearby Centre for Alternative Technology and the national grid (DULAS,
Unit 1, Dyfi Eco Park, Machynlleth, Powys, Wales email: dulas@gn.apc.org).
(6375-78) Positive News 1.3.00 p8
Red,
amber, gallium
Believe it or not, British
traffic lights consume the energy equivalent of two medium-sized power
stations every year. Furthermore, their bulbs are replaced every six months
by teams of electricians working in the small hours when cars are less
numerous. New light bulb technology based on gallium nitride will soon
transform this situation, and lead the way for longer lasting, lower wattage
domestic bulbs as well. The gallium nitride bulbs last for at least ten
years and only consume 20% of the electricity consumed by conventional
tungsten-halogen traffic lights.
(5661-62) Steve Connor. Independent
17.9.99 p8
Good
for bacteria too
If you want to separate your waste into
organic and inorganic it is best to store the organic waste outside. Dutch
researchers have discovered that pure organic waste attracts far higher
levels of bacteria and moulds which, when they die, emit endotoxins which
can trigger coughing, breathlessness, flu-like symptoms and asthma. Where
pure organic bins are left for three weeks before emptying they emit three
times the levels of endotoxins than mixed waste bins. Ed.- If you are
unable to store your organic waste outside, the next best solution is
to empty it at least once a week.
(6883) Andy Coghlan.
New Scientist 4.3.00 p14
home
• contact
us • free sample
• links
The Environment-Health Trust
|