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Why are Oil Prices So High?
Why are oil prices so high? This is the question being asked with increasing frequency in many countries around the world. Some would have you believe that the blame should be placed on “greedy oil companies”, “Arabs”, “speculators” or “OPEC”.While spe…
Why are Oil Prices So High?
Why are oil prices so high? This is the question being asked with increasing frequency in many countries around the world. Some would have you believe that the blame should be placed on “greedy oil companies”, “Arabs”, “speculators” or “OPEC”.While spe…
Magic Machine Sucks CO2 From Air
We know the hunt for better methods of removing CO2 from the atmosphere has been on for some time now. But a group from Columbia University in the U.S. believes that they have a novel device, which can grab a tonne of carbon dioxide from the air every day in a device that will fit inside a trans-modal shipping container. The technology doesn’t come at a knock down price – they estimate a unit will cost £100,000 – but we’re sure by the time the Far East has a chance to "rob-n-duplicate" it and engineer out the cost, they could become a useful tool in the fight against climate change.
The group responsible is quick to highlght that there is no such thing as a "magic bullet," but with reports from Mauna Loa that the CO2 concentration in our air has crossed 387ppm (40% higher than before the great industrial revolution, where profligate use of coal turned the wheels of industry), the need for solutions is highlighted.
The team feels they can build a protoype within two years that would successfully capture a ton of CO2 from the air per day – the equivallent of a passenger flying form New York to London. But if a Boeing 747-400 accommodating 524 passengers in a typical two class layout, is flying from New York to London with each passenger responsible for releasing a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere, it would take a whole lot of "magic machines" to off-set the flight. And let’s not forget how much CO2 is generated while waiting on the runway.
Moral: Don’t stop getting them energy saving lightbulbs…
While it’s an exciting development, we at EcoGeek won’t be giving up the day-job – climate change is far from solved; however, if this technology can be scaled up, made cheap and stamped out cookie cutter style all over the world, it could be another tool in our armory in the ‘War on Climate Change’…. did I sound like G.W.B for a minute there?
…and you can click here for the worldwide patent for the device.
Via The Guardian
OHM Electric Bikes From Canada
Based in British Columbia, OHM Cycles make high-end electric bicycles that feature 38V lithium-ion batteries, regenerative braking and powerful BionX motors. The company offers two styles of electric bike: one built for the urban rider, and one suited to rugged terrain.
Is water becoming ‘the new oil’?
Public fountains are dry in Barcelona, Spain, a city so parched there’s a €9,000 ($13,000) fine if you’re caught watering your flowers. A tanker ship docked there this month carrying 5 million gallons of precious fresh water — and officials are scrambling to line up more such shipments to slake public thirst.
LED Bulbs: Efficient lighting is here to stay…..
The introduction of LED light bulbs into the market has been hindered due to several factors. Namely: lumens (brightness) color (led produce blue radiance vs. white) market promotion and affordability. Although LED bulbs for residential and commercial applications are not quite where they need to be, they are starting to scratch their way into the market this year with more force than ever before.
Heating Up Your Pool With Solar Energy
Swimming in a pool with really cold water is not that fun. But see, you actually can extend the summer months and enjoy swimming in a warm with your neighbors envying you. One of the best things to be able to achieve this is by using a pool heating system, the Natural Resources Canada shared. [...]
Coca-Cola Switching to Carbon Dioxide-Based Beverage Coolers
A few years ago, Coca-Cola decided it would significantly decrease its environmental impact. When it took a good look at where its environmental footprint was highest, it saw that vending machines are a big culprit.
Let’s take a moment to accept the “Duh” of this.
To combat the vending machine factor, Coca-Cola began replacing HFC machines with CO2 machines. Yep – Carbon Dioxide is helping our environment! By the end of 2006, the company had 6,000 units placed world-wide (yes, that’s relatively few when considering they have 10 million machines operating around the globe, but still nothing to sneeze at). Continuing with that trend, they’ve drastically increased their CO2 machine intake by purchasing 100,000 new compressed carbon dioxide beverage coolers.
The new machines will emit 75% fewer greenhouse gasses, though they cost about 25% more. This is significant when considering that HFCs are major global warming pollutants and, if allowed to run as rampant as they currently are, their overall contribution to global warming pollution could nearly double within 40 years. Compressed Carbon Dioxide-based cooling units, on the other hand, will help reduce the impact of these HFC clunkers on our planet – and since Coca-Cola is a global company, it truly is a global issue.
On top of purchasing the new CO2 machines, Coca-Cola has also invested $40 million to research next generation refrigeration technologies. Lets hope this research includes looking into that little factor of electricity consumption required by those 10 million machines to light up, take your money, and spit out a cold beverage.
If you think like me, you have a LOT of questions buzzing about the true bonuses of this project, like what is happening to the old machines; and are they really replacing old HFC machines, or just adding to the number of machines in their fleet while still running those pesky HFC coolers for however long they’ll keep chugging away; and what is the environmental impact of producing the CO2 machines in the first place; and on and on. Well, I guess if you think like me, then we’ll all just have to take a deep breath and go one step at a time. Step one: Congratulate Coca-Cola on taking a significant lead on reducing emissions via clean(er) technology.
Via cleantech, coca-cola, goodcleantech, r744
Masdar Project Investing $2B In Thin-Film
If there wasn’t enough cool stuff about the Masdar Initiative (concept pictured above from aerial perspective), theres more. For those of you who haven’t heard, the project is headed by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, and is a plan to build an entire city costing $22B and housing over 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses, and it would be zero-carbon, zero-waste, and fully sustainable. That’s a heck of a claim for such an arid area, but a world first and a herald for environmental responsibility in its oil-rich surroundings. Cars will be banned from the city, and all travel will be by mass transit and personal rapid transit. Amazingly, the city is set to be habitable by 2009.
Their latest announcement is that they’ve put down $2 billion to start their very own solar industry operating under the name of Masdar PV and concentrating on thin-film photovoltaics, which they will build in Germany and in-country. These thin-films will be mounted on rooftops to harness their abundance of solar energy to the projected tune of 130 megawatts.
Masdar PV also plans to venture into markets like the US and Europe, where their massive economies of scale might just give Nanosolar, First Solar, and others a run for their money. Steve Geiger, their director of special projects says "You have to be working at scale to drive costs out of the system. We have to do it at scale and we have to do it in volume in multiple markets."
Certainly volume is their plan. They expect to have more than a gigawatt of annual production capacity by 2014. This is a lofty goal considering they haven’t yet even begun manufacturing, something they plan to start by the end of 2009.
Complementing the thin-film, Masdar PV will also be participating in ventures that will produce solar thermal power plants, as well as getting into the production of polysilicon to be able to manufacture conventional solar cells.
For more info, check out the Masdar Initiative website.
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