Monday, May 18, 2009
The Sequel to the Last Blog
If you're curious about a scenario of the earth without humanity, check out "Earth Without People", an essay by Alan Weisman in the February 6, 2007 issue of Discover magazine. Weisman describes some possible scenarios. His article includes the the chart shown here, which lays this out on a timeline.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Think Before You Stomp
Jonas Salk, the man who developed the polio vaccine, once said "If all the insects on earth disappeared, within 50 years all life on earth would disappear. If all humans disappeared, within 50 years all species would flourish as never before." There would be some debate as to the precise figures and outcomes here but the point is well taken in my opinion. I'd like for anyone who reads this post to leave a comment, big or small, on a few ideas for the future that could change the figures of that comment.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Codrin...You Eat Alot of Carrots
Codrin consumes about 200 baby carrots per day. According to the nutrition data website 15 grams of baby carrots will give you 41% of your daily recommended dose of vitamin A, 1% vitamin C, 2% dietary fiber, 1 gram of sugar and all with just five calories. 15 grams is about the weight of one baby carrot
So if all of the above is accurate then Codrin gets 200%(twice the amount) of his daily recommended dose of vitamin C, 400%(four times the amount) of daily recommended fiber, 200 grams of sugar and 8200%(82 times the amount) of daily recommended dose of vitamin A. All that within 1000 calories (that's half the amount of calories an average person consumes in one day).
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin required for vision, growth, reproduction, cell growth and differentiation, and a healthy immune system. Sounds pretty good to me. But the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin A for men over 18 is 900 mcg [micrograms](3000 IU) and for women it's 700 mcg (2,310 IU). Excessive vitamin A intake is associated with an increased risk of fracture due to low bone density.
Too much of a very good thing. I'd say cut down from 200 to about 50-100 per day before you get type 2 diabetes and you break your hip trying to stand...oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to look like these guys.
Monday, April 20, 2009
My artist statement for my senior show is related somewhat to our 21st century challenges class so I added it.
We waste the space that we have. Old, abandoned buildings are left unused and left to crumble as we expand around them. The chaotic nature of my work represents destruction. Statues are often perceived as symbols of permanence; however, they have been fragmented and distorted in my work to give a sense of the temporal. Art—like buildings, like lives—breaks down, as do the subjects of my work.
—Michael W. Shore
We waste the space that we have. Old, abandoned buildings are left unused and left to crumble as we expand around them. The chaotic nature of my work represents destruction. Statues are often perceived as symbols of permanence; however, they have been fragmented and distorted in my work to give a sense of the temporal. Art—like buildings, like lives—breaks down, as do the subjects of my work.
—Michael W. Shore
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Human Machine
Turns out that running the human machine for 45 years on food-calories uses just about the same amount of energy as contained in four barrels of oil, each of which has a whopping 5.8 million BTUs of energy.
I’d say we get pretty decent mileage and we run off of biofuels. (yeah I made that picture)
Just Multiply That by About 300,000,000
Since I have to transport art back and forth to school during the 2008 – 2009 school year. I need to use a truck. I drive a Ford F-150 v8 that gets about 18 miles per gallon. I live approximately 26 miles away from Birmingham so double that because it is a forward and back trip. 52 miles per school day. Multiply that by the five days a week I go to school. 260 miles per week. Multiply that number by 36 school weeks. 9360 miles per year. Divide that number by my miles per gallon and you get 520. I used 520 gallons of gasoline this year just going to school. If the average price of gas in Alabama is $2.14 per gallon then I spent $1,112.80 on gas…I think it’s time to get a hybrid. At least next year at the Citadel I will not have a car.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Clean Coal?
Coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. When burned, it produces emissions that contribute to global warming, create acid rain and pollute water. With all of the hype surrounding, biofuels, hydropower, and nuclear energy you might be forgiven for thinking that grimy coal is finally on its way out. But coal is no sooty remnant of the Industrial Revolution -- it generates half of the electricity in the United States and will likely continue to do so as long as it's cheap and plentiful [source: Energy Information Administration]. Clean coal technology seeks to reduce harsh environmental effects by using multiple technologies to clean coal and contain its emissions.
Coal is a fossil fuel composed primarily of carbons and hydrocarbons. Its ingredients help make plastics, tar and fertilizers. A coal derivative, a solidified carbon called coke, melts iron ore and reduces it to create steel. But most coal -- 92 percent of the U.S. supply -- goes into power production [source: Energy Information Administration]. Electric companies and businesses with power plants burn coal to make the steam that turns turbines and generates electricity.
“When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns. One type of coal preparation, coal washing, removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle.”
“Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates. Wet scrubbers, or flue gas desulfurization systems, remove sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain, by spraying flue gas with limestone and water. The mixture reacts with the sulfur dioxide to form synthetic gypsum, a component of drywall.
Low-NOx (nitrogen oxide) burners reduce the creation of nitrogen oxides, a cause of ground-level ozone, by restricting oxygen and manipulating the combustion process. Electrostatic precipitators remove particulates that aggravate asthma and cause respiratory ailments by charging particles with an electrical field and then capturing them on collection plates.”
“Gasification avoids burning coal altogether. With integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems, steam and hot pressurized air or oxygen combine with coal in a reaction that forces carbon molecules apart. The resulting syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is then cleaned and burned in a gas turbine to make electricity. The heat energy from the gas turbine also powers a steam turbine. Since IGCC power plants create two forms of energy, they have the potential to reach a fuel efficiency of 50 percent [source: U.S. Department of Energy].”
Coal is a fossil fuel composed primarily of carbons and hydrocarbons. Its ingredients help make plastics, tar and fertilizers. A coal derivative, a solidified carbon called coke, melts iron ore and reduces it to create steel. But most coal -- 92 percent of the U.S. supply -- goes into power production [source: Energy Information Administration]. Electric companies and businesses with power plants burn coal to make the steam that turns turbines and generates electricity.
“When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns. One type of coal preparation, coal washing, removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle.”
“Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates. Wet scrubbers, or flue gas desulfurization systems, remove sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain, by spraying flue gas with limestone and water. The mixture reacts with the sulfur dioxide to form synthetic gypsum, a component of drywall.
Low-NOx (nitrogen oxide) burners reduce the creation of nitrogen oxides, a cause of ground-level ozone, by restricting oxygen and manipulating the combustion process. Electrostatic precipitators remove particulates that aggravate asthma and cause respiratory ailments by charging particles with an electrical field and then capturing them on collection plates.”
“Gasification avoids burning coal altogether. With integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems, steam and hot pressurized air or oxygen combine with coal in a reaction that forces carbon molecules apart. The resulting syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is then cleaned and burned in a gas turbine to make electricity. The heat energy from the gas turbine also powers a steam turbine. Since IGCC power plants create two forms of energy, they have the potential to reach a fuel efficiency of 50 percent [source: U.S. Department of Energy].”
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Death of a Green Revolution
A few short months ago when gas was $4.00 a gallon, car dealerships could not keep enough hybrid cars on the lot because the demand for them was so high. When gas prices fell we know the rest of the story. America went back to buying sports cars, SUVs, and trucks. Sales of hybrid cars are down by 27% (according to the Green Car Congress). 
Why did this happen? Do people really think that gas prices will never skyrocket again? Here is my educated guess on the subject. The majority of Americans do not want a car that looks like a toy. Maybe if hybrids were not so ugly (no offence to hybrid owners, you are doing a great service to your planet) people would actually want to buy them and not just because they become a necessity when gas prices rise. What could possibly be so bad about making a hybrid car look sporty or luxurious? Let me answer that: nothing. If hybrids looked as good as the cars that are actually selling, then they would sell. Okay so your Ford Mustang Cobra has 360 horse power, good luck ever using it if you drive on I-65 or Hwy 280 sitting in traffic.
Why did this happen? Do people really think that gas prices will never skyrocket again? Here is my educated guess on the subject. The majority of Americans do not want a car that looks like a toy. Maybe if hybrids were not so ugly (no offence to hybrid owners, you are doing a great service to your planet) people would actually want to buy them and not just because they become a necessity when gas prices rise. What could possibly be so bad about making a hybrid car look sporty or luxurious? Let me answer that: nothing. If hybrids looked as good as the cars that are actually selling, then they would sell. Okay so your Ford Mustang Cobra has 360 horse power, good luck ever using it if you drive on I-65 or Hwy 280 sitting in traffic.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Project Proposal
Codrin and I propose to examine the intricacies of recent and future military technological achievements. I'm sure many of you have heard of some of the newer innovations currently in use (such as the unmanned predator aircraft), but there are many more that are not so commonly covered. As an additional topic, we may also delve into the relation between military and civilian technologies and the link therein. There have been many military inventions that have been retrofitted for everyday use, just as there have been some purely civilian inventions that have been seen as useful to the military. As such, we propose to delve into these subject areas.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Water You Drink
Water Quality
I cross the Cahaba River twice per day at least five days a week but usually more. Until recently I never really thought about how important to me and everyone around me until recently. The rate of population growth in the Cahaba Basin is the highest in Alabama. The subsequent urbanization of formally natural areas is rapidly altering the water quality in the Upper Cahaba Basin. Most of this growth has occurred in the last two decades in the greater Birmingham metro area.
Rapid urbanization and commercial development in the Jefferson, Shelby (where I live), St. Clair county area are causing problems in water quality conditions and biological communities in the Upper Cahaba Basin.
“There are at least 103 industrial discharge permits in the Cahaba Basin, releasing a variety of toxic heavy metals, chemicals and other substances. There are six municipal wastewater treatment plants in the upper basin upstream of Buck Creek with a combined discharge of 19 million gallons a day.” (http://www.riversofalabama.org/Cahaba/Cahaba.htm).
One of the greatest risks to the Cahaba comes not from the chemical alteration of water quality, but the long-term and gradual alteration of physical habitat caused by modified channel structure and changes in natural hydrology. These changes cause temperature fluctuations, sediment transport increases, and water depth decreases.
I cross the Cahaba River twice per day at least five days a week but usually more. Until recently I never really thought about how important to me and everyone around me until recently. The rate of population growth in the Cahaba Basin is the highest in Alabama. The subsequent urbanization of formally natural areas is rapidly altering the water quality in the Upper Cahaba Basin. Most of this growth has occurred in the last two decades in the greater Birmingham metro area.
Rapid urbanization and commercial development in the Jefferson, Shelby (where I live), St. Clair county area are causing problems in water quality conditions and biological communities in the Upper Cahaba Basin.
“There are at least 103 industrial discharge permits in the Cahaba Basin, releasing a variety of toxic heavy metals, chemicals and other substances. There are six municipal wastewater treatment plants in the upper basin upstream of Buck Creek with a combined discharge of 19 million gallons a day.” (http://www.riversofalabama.org/Cahaba/Cahaba.htm).
One of the greatest risks to the Cahaba comes not from the chemical alteration of water quality, but the long-term and gradual alteration of physical habitat caused by modified channel structure and changes in natural hydrology. These changes cause temperature fluctuations, sediment transport increases, and water depth decreases.
Monday, February 2, 2009
What Waste Managment Really Means
In my opinion the world’s greatest environmental problem is waste disposal. It is the root of nearly all environmental problems everywhere. The disposal of garbage is a problem that continues to grow with the development of industrialized nations and the growth of population. But it’s not like it is a problem we can stop, but there must be some way to make it better. Americans alone used to generate almost 208 million tons of solid waste each year. By the year 2000, that number increased by 20%. Today, each one of us generates about 4.3 pounds of waste per day. As a country we generate more garbage than any other country by far.
There are many different methods of disposing of waste. Landfill is the most common and probably accounts for more than 90 percent of the nation's municipal refuse even though Landfills have been proven to contaminate drinking water in certain areas. But it is the most cost affective method of disposal.
The second most common way to dispose of waste is for it to be burned in incinerators. It is more expensive but a safer method of disposal than landfills. Modern incinerators are designed to destroy at least 99.9% of the organic waste material. Numerous thermal processes recover energy from solid waste. Some companies burn in-plant wastes in conventional incinerators to produce steam. This process of chemical decomposition, produces a variety of gases and inert ash. Garbage burned in incinerators has poisoned air, soil, and water.
To be continued...
There are many different methods of disposing of waste. Landfill is the most common and probably accounts for more than 90 percent of the nation's municipal refuse even though Landfills have been proven to contaminate drinking water in certain areas. But it is the most cost affective method of disposal.
The second most common way to dispose of waste is for it to be burned in incinerators. It is more expensive but a safer method of disposal than landfills. Modern incinerators are designed to destroy at least 99.9% of the organic waste material. Numerous thermal processes recover energy from solid waste. Some companies burn in-plant wastes in conventional incinerators to produce steam. This process of chemical decomposition, produces a variety of gases and inert ash. Garbage burned in incinerators has poisoned air, soil, and water.
To be continued...
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