Nope, they’d be too heavy. they’re a special blend of reinforced fiberglass which make them an absolute cunt to cut through and can’t crush them either.
They’re big fucking awful single use pieces of shit
Information changes fast and they’ve figured out how to recycle them.
The Trump administration announced today that it will take steps to repeal a federal policy that would have pushed states to abandon coal and switch to renewable energy. The move was long expected, and it’s likely to be fought in the courts by environmental groups and attorneys general from several states.
The announcement targets the Clean Power Plan (CPP), a core climate change policy passed under President Barack Obama that aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. “The war on coal is over,” said Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt at an event in Kentucky. “Tomorrow in Washington, DC, I will be signing a proposed rule to roll back the Clean Power Plan. No better place to make that announcement than Hazard, Kentucky.”
President Donald Trump had signed an executive order in March directing Pruitt to repeal the CPP, which the administration sees as an overreach in presidential power that kills jobs. In reality, the CPP was Obama’s attempt at tackling climate change by ordering fossil fuel-fired power plants — which are the largest concentrated source of CO2 emissions in the US — to cut carbon pollution by about 30 percent by 2030. Reducing carbon pollution has health benefits — including fewer asthma attacks in children. The regulations would also lead to an estimated $55 billion to $93 billion per year in 2030 in climate and health benefits, Obama’s EPA said. Read More
Not everybody has the chance to, but if you have the option to change your power supplier, do so. It might seem obvious, but people underestimate the power we have. We can vote with our dollars for the world we want to live in. Also, check what company is behind the green power supplier of your choice and try to find one who is not part of a big coal or fracking company.
This latest SCI Energy Group blog introduces the possible avenues of carbon dioxide utilisation, which entails using carbon dioxide to produce economically valuable products through industrial processes. Broadly, utilisation can be categorised into three applications: chemical use, biological use and direct use. For which, examples of each will be highlighted throughout.
Before proceeding to introduce these, we can first consider utilisation in relation to limiting climate change. As has been discussed in previous blogs, the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions is crucial. Therefore, for carbon dioxide utilisation technologies to have a beneficial impact on climate change, several important factors must be considered and addressed.
1)Energy Source: Often these processes are energy intensive. Therefore, this energy must come from renewable resources or technologies.
2)Scale: Utilisation technologies must exhibit large scaling potential to match the limited timeframe for climate action.
3)Permanence: Technologies which provide permanent removal or displacement of CO2 emissions will be most impactful¹.
Figure 1: CO2 sign
Chemical Uses
Carbon dioxide, alongside other reactants, can be chemically converted into useful products. Examples of which include urea, methanol, and plastics and polymers. One of the primary uses of urea includes agricultural fertilisers which are pivotal to crop nutrition. Most commonly, methanol is utilised as a chemical feedstock in industrial processes.
Figure 2: Fertilizing soil
One of the key challenges faced with this application of utilisation is the low reactivity of CO2 in its standard conditions. Therefore, to successfully convert it into products of economic value, catalysts are required to significantly lower the molecules activation energy and overall energy consumption of the process. With that being said, it is anticipated that, in future, the chemical conversion of CO2 will have an important role in maintaining a secure supply of fuel and chemical feedstocks such as methanol and methane².
Biological Uses
Carbon dioxide is fundamental to plant growth as it provides a source of required organic compounds. For this reason, it can be utilised in greenhouses to promote carbonic fertilisation. By injecting increased levels of CO2 into the air supplied to greenhouses, the yield of plant growth has been seen to increase. Furthermore, CO2 from the flue gas streams of chemical processes has been recognised, in some studies, to be of a quality suitable for direct injection³.
These principles are applicable to encouraging the growth of microorganisms too. One example being microalgae which boasts several advantageous properties. Microalgae has been recognised for its ability to grow in diverse environments as well as its ability to be cultured in numerous types of bioreactors. Furthermore, its production rate is considerably high meaning a greater demand for CO2 is exhibited than that from normal plants. Micro-algal biomass can be utilised across a range of industries to form a multitude of products. These include bio-oils, fuels, fertilisers, food products, plant feeds and high value chemicals. However, at present, the efficiency of CO2 fixation, in this application, can be as low as 20-50%.
Figure 4: Illustration of microalgae under the microscope
Direct Uses
It is important to note that, at present, there are many mature processes which utilise CO2 directly. Examples of which are shown in the table below.
Summary
Many carbon dioxide utilisation technologies exist, across a broad range of industrial applications. For which, some are well-established, and others are more novel. For such technologies to have a positive impact on climate action, several factors need to be addressed such as their energy source, scaling potential and permanence of removal/ displacement of CO2.
The chemistry of carbon dioxide and its role in decarbonisation is a key topic of interest for SCI Energy Group. In the near future, we will be running a webinar concerned with this. Further details of this will be posted on the SCI website in due course.
Reace Edwards is a member of SCI’s Energy group and a PhD Chemical Engineering student at the University of Chester. Read more about her involvement with SCI here or watch her recent TEDx Talk here.
For food waste, chop material into 1-inch or smaller bits. The author set up a chopping station in his garden using an old sink and garbage disposal attached to an extension cord. Other options include using a blender or chipper-shredder.
Illustration by James Provost, Courtesy Storey Publishing
Innovative Project Is Growing Crops Beneath Solar Panels in Kenya
The project, officially called “Harvesting the sun twice,” is designed to assess whether or not agrivoltaic systems could be successfully used in rural East Africa.
By combining the land dedicated to solar panels with the land dedicated to agriculture, it is possible to avoid some of these pitfalls. Growing plants beneath elevated solar panels protects them from the sun in hot, dry places and helps the soil retain moisture, the University of Sheffield explained. The strategy has worked successfully in Global North countries like France, Germany and the U.S., but has not been tested in the Global South, according to SEI and The Guardian.So far, the results have been promising, The Guardian reported.
In Kajiado, cabbages cultivated under 180, 345-watt solar panels were a third larger and healthier than the control group. Eggplants, lettuce and corn also fared better in the panels’ shade.
“Environmentalists who’ve pushed for years for all of California’s power to come from renewables were jubilant as they watched the tracker edge to 100% and slightly beyond.”
The Chinese solar power company Panda Green Energy built a giant solar installation as an adorable PR stunt. The top photo in an artist’s rendering, but the real one can be seen in the bottom photo.
Cows account for less than 4% of GHG emmisions in the U.S. while crops produce 4.8%
Cows take worthless grass/cellulose (that people can’t digest) and convert to nutrient dense foods. Without cows, you would need significantly more plant agriculture/ and environmental resources i.e. land, water
As a result changing your diet to vegan will only reduce your environmental impact as much as reducing 1 transatlantic flight
People forget though that cows are an important part of the earths ecology and nessesary- they perform an important function.
Methane from cows remains constant in the atmosphere— 10-15yrs— while C02 from fossil fuels accumulate in the environment— C02 lasts 100yrs. The key to reducing our environmental impact is not from changing our diet but reducing our dependence on fossils fuels
Dairy farmers in the U.S. have reduced their environmental impact 63% over the last 65 years. They’ve been able to produce more milk with less cows.
And many farmers today are working to convert the methane to renewable energy. Implementing this technology on dairy farms will allow these farms to become carbon-negative. Meaning they’ll be pulling more carbon out of the system than they put in- while producing renewable energy and food.
Cows have the potential to be the great change makers in our society
“Environmentalists who’ve pushed for years for all of California’s power to come from renewables were jubilant as they watched the tracker edge to 100% and slightly beyond.”
“If the [nuclear] industry were a patient, doctors would privately refer to what’s happening to it as “circling the drain.” People don’t typically descend from perfect health to death in a smooth glide path. They rally, then they crater, then the cycle repeats. The good days become less frequent and less encouraging as days pass. If you’ve watched a hospital patient die, the pattern is unmistakable.
The U.S. nuclear industry is circling the drain. It’s suffering from a large number of problems—public disenchantment, risk of meltdown, fuel disposal issues—but its primary illness is simple economics. Nuclear cannot compete financially with other forms of electricity production. It hasn’t been able to do so for four decades, and there’s no reason to believe it ever will.”
Costa Rica deserves a huge round of applause, and perhaps even a high five, for managing to produce all of its electricity from renewables for 75 days straight. According to the state-owned Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), the country hasn’t had to burn fossil fuels to supply the grid with electricity so far in 2015, a stretch that has never been previously attained by any nation.
President Trump doesn’t seem to understand how wind energy works. While he keeps pushing bogus claims about renewables, Congress must work on real solutions to move our country toward clean energy.
On Earth Day, learn how investing in battery energy storage would help. WATCH.
Japanese companies IHI and Toshiba have been selected by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as co-researchers in an ocean current turbine demonstration project.
IHI and Toshiba, together with the University of Tokyo and Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute, have been conducting relevant research and development financed by NEDO for…
PhotographerChris New captures a beautiful shot of the full breadth of Deepwater Wind’s Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island. While the five GE Haliade turbines tower 600 feet above the water, there’s a lot going on under the surface. Photographer David Doubilet captures a lion’s mane jellyfish gliding underneath a turbine during our #OffshoreBlockParty — one of many marine creatures, native to Block Island, that have begun using the turbines’ steel supports for shelter. Read more about our latest InstaWalk at GE Reports.
“Strong people don’t need strong leaders.” - MS. Ella Baker
“It is said that the Chinese word for “crisis” is a combination of two characters: one representing dangerthe other representing opportunity. The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States certainly represents danger, especially to African Americans, Hispanics, members of the LGBTQ community, Muslims, Jews, women, and for everyone who is poor.
This is why he was rejected by a majority of the voters who cast ballots in this past presidential election. However, given the Electoral College system, he is president-elect now and it is important that we do not become paralyzed or overwhelmed and sink into despair. There is also great opportunity to organize and take advantage of America’s great diversity, making it a liberated and safer country for all of its people.
Fearwas at the heart of Donald Trump’s campaign. He successfully exploited the fear and anger that many white Americans feel over changes, both demographic and cultural, that seemed threatening to a way of life they expected to last forever. He used fear to fan hysteria that Mexicans, other Hispanics, Black people and nonwhite people in general are subverting American values and undermining the nation’s “greatness.” He coupled fear to his most blatant lie: that he was a man of the people willing and prepared to take on the moneyed interests that sent jobs overseas causing lost jobs and income here at home.
He also used the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and hyperbole about Islamic terrorism to create great fear of Muslims (and now as his administration comes in, discussion of internment camps for Muslims has begun.) Trump also used similar hyperbole about Black communities to create fear in white America about crime and their safety.
Donald Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again” especially sold hope to white male America that people of color would not be political or economic players of any significance; that women would return to the kitchen, gay people would remain in the closet, and that immigrants would come mostly from Europe. He breathed new life into the Ku Klux Klan.
So now what is to be done?
Thousands of people across the country have taken to the streets to display their anger and frustration at the temperament, the policies and the pronouncements of Donald Trump. While all of this is understandable and important, we must now turn our attention to the kind of organizing that will put forward policies and people at the local, state and national levels to make sure that America represents all of its people.
We can do this. Hillary Clinton received 7 million fewer votes than Barack Obama in the 2012 election. Aside from low turnout, Clinton’s poor campaigning and alienation were undoubtedly important parts of the reason for this loss. Now we see media falsely steering post-election analysis into discussion of how to reach the white working class male as if that is where her failure lay. So part of what is needed are efforts to turn the discussion toward the real issues of democracy that have largely been obscured and avoided. Topping this discussion is surely the issue of economic justice, an issue to which Secretary Clinton offered nothing new.
Our main point here, however, is that there is work to be done over the next two years-between now and the mid-term elections-that will shape the Congress, and local and state offices. Indeed, in the final analysis, when we talk about what impacts our lives day-to-day, it is the kind of decision-making at this level that most immediately affects us. Legislators at the state level, for example, drive voter suppression.
Police violence, to give another example, will not be contained until we who are most affected by it gain the levers of power to restrain and end it. And, at a higher level, we have the numbers to end Republican control of the Congress and to put fear into those who do manage to retain their seats. The energy we see on the streets in protest can be most effectively used at the grassroots in the kind of day-to-day organizing that uproots the old order in cities, counties and parishes. This is difficult but necessary work.
Anger is understandable but not sufficient to generate the kinds of changes that are needed; or to mobilize the kind of effort that is needed now. We want to repeat and emphasize what we think is urgently needed: hard, diligent grassroots work; the kind of organizing that will put forward policies and people at the local, state and national levels to make sure that America represents all of its people-the kind of deep community organizing that we of SNCC and the Freedom Movement engaged in to defeat Jim Crow segregation and win voting rights for people of color across the nation.
We can change state legislatures, and city councils, and congressional seats. We acknowledge that this will not resolve every issue confronting us. And the very large question of how best to hold accountable people we put into office through our work, remains. But we can put fear into the minds of those like Trump and his cohorts who think they have been mandated to start this country down a road leading to what amounts to fascism.
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