Sustainable Energy

One of the hardest things about transforming from a fossil fuel bases society to a Sustainable Energy consuming world is how are we going to run our equipment? we can get our electricity for our homes and our cars from solar and wind but how are we going to run military planes and tanks?  The answer is easy bio fuels but the execution not so easy. Researchers and the university of Turku have found a way to produced more hydro fuel from green algae. before the scientist were only able to capture hydrogen for a couple seconds but now they can capture it for up to 7 days with the highest production within the first 8 hours. The best thing about this scientific discovery is that all the hydrogen they burn from the algae releases  C02 but because they're growing the Algae the algae absorbs the C02 making it carbon neutral. this is a major step to making the world run on nothing but renewable energy and reducing C02 emissions. Article from:   https://www.scie...

The world needs to start using more renewable energy sources but is hydro electric dams the way to do it? By using hydro electric dams it effects the natural flow of the rivers and it doesn't allow migrating fish such as salmon to migrate back to their spawning grounds. My favorite documentary of all time 180° south examines the troubles going on in patagonia as there proposing building dams in the last true frontier. This issue still exist today because it is a true moral dilemma. Do we solve the century long dilemma of making green energy or do we destroy natural beauty to put in a massive concrete wall in the middle of one of the most beautiful untouched areas in the world. By building these dams government officials are forced to spend billions of dollars on finding ways to keep endangered salmon alive and that is usually through hatcheries and that cost money. so instead of spending billions on try to fix a problem why not just get rid of what caused the problem. There are ...

I enjoy writing and reading about fish and whats happening to them as the environment changes. A major thing in the news today is that the amount of mercury in the waters is increasing and it has been since the 1950's. The high amounts of mercury are from over fishing and  pollutants from boats and factories. the mercury can cause infertility in woman 37% of people from 175 countries have been exposed to the maximum amount of mercury exposure per week. some countries such as Maldives have been exposed to 14X the said to be safe amount. Many of the people in these poorer countries rely on the fish in their waters and there only source of food is being contaminated by fisherman.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180503142644.htm

Antarctica is a cold dark place in the winter. The sun does not come up for months on end and there is absolutely not heat coming from the sun. So, when scientist found ponds on top of glaciers as large as 50km in length there had to be another reason for it. A glacier scientist named Peter Kuipers Munneke was informed of a temperature reading of 8°C in the middle of May when the temperature should have been somewhere around -25°c. His immediate reaction was that it had to be broken but upon further investigation he realized it was correct. The high temperatures were caused by a wind known as the Hairdryer winds. it is a trade wind that last a couple days and can increase temperatures dramatically. The main fear of seeing this temperature was rising sea levels but that theory was put to rest when looking at satellite images and seeing that the ponds eventually refroze before summer. These ponds could eventually cause the ice sheets to weaken and break off from the main land then meltin...

Earth is covered in trash and we have nothing to really do with it until now. major companies such as method the soap brand and nike are using recycled materials to make them new. Nike uses recycled water bottles for the U.S soccer teams uniforms and method uses water bottles straight from the ocean to create their bottle for the soap dispensers. smaller companies are doing the same such as pentatonic. Pentatonic is a European furniture company who makes there products from all recycled materials. They even recycle there own products once they have been worn down to create even more material. Companies such as these are doing the right thing by trying to reuse products and make them look new again. There is a problem though these companies want more money because they're "GREEN" and that deters consumers when they see the same products for much cheaper they're almost always going to go with the cheaper version. if companies could get tax incentives for being green ...

One of the worlds largest problems when talking about going green is how are we going to ship goods and fly around the world. These massive container ships will need millions of batteries to give it the power it needs to get around the oceans and while we try to figure out a way to convert these ships from diesel to either electric or biodiesel were stuck burning hundreds of thousand of fossil fuels. Another big concern is Airplanes. they're almost essential for getting people around these days in the high paced world we live in but how are we gonna get them off fossil fuels? researchers at the university of Victoria are using technology to determine the most efficient vehicles while not losing any power and they do this with hybrids first but want to move to either 100% electric or all biodiesel. We rely on these big ships and plans to receive our good from around the world and that is why we need to invest in them to become more energy efficient and make the world a greener pla...

You go up to a middle aged parent and ask them why they don't have solar panels and almost every one would say because they're expensive. So with all the technology we have and all the researchers we have to find a way to make solar panels cheaper why hasn't it happen yet? well its not so simple. According to science daily.com scientist have already discovered a substitute for silicon that is cheaper and just as good at absorbing the energy from the sun and it is known as a perovskite structure(sciencedaily.com). it is comprised of titanium calcium and oxygen. there is a problem with this compound and it is whats keeping these new solar panels of the market and it is that they deteriorate over time in the heat. Scientist at Okinawa institute of science and technology have figured out a way to change the organic materials into a co organic and non organic mix allowing the materials to last up to 2 years. this is still a major set back compared to the silicon panels that la...

China just recently built the worlds largest floating solar field. It is located on a old flooded coal mine just northeast of Anhui province. China is also the largest consumer of coal burning 50% of all the coal burned on earth This causes the smog that most of us think of when we think about china. This awful air pollution is said to cause up to 1/3 of the deaths in china. All that could be saved by going green and that is what china is doing. China is the worlds largest renewable energy investor spending 360 billion on clean energy projects by 2020 according to (time.com). This will also create 13 millions jobs for the country. Space is scarce in the cities of china so putting the panels on water saves room and also allows for the panels to be easily cleaned. Solar panels use to be to expensive for the average American to purchase some an put them on their property but now that china the kind at mass production is in need of so many solar panels they have ramped up the production ...

I love fishing it is my favorite thing to do when I am not caught up at work. Over the past couple of years I have noticed a decline of a certain fish, for example a flounder. these fish were extremely hard to catch last summer but the amount of stripped bass in my area was outstanding. I believe this is because of people over fishing one type of fish and not targeting anything else until someone in the DEEP realizes there are no more flounder so they must change to seasons and the creel limit. These fish will eventually bounce back but not soon and not at the expense of there own but at the expense of another tasty fish such as at the black fish. In late march scientist were starting to figure out that a fresh water game fish known as the Walleye are starting to decline in numbers. I have never caught a walleye in my life due to the fact that they aren't native in my home state of Connecticut, even thought they're stocked in a few ponds in the area Keeping these fish abundant...

Ive been visiting block island every summer since I was about 5 and just recently and everyone talks about the "dumb wind turbines they are such an eye soar" and for me I believe they are a super fascinating piece of machinery. The wind farm off the coast of block island is the first American offshore wind farm. It has 5 wind turbines and creates 30 megawatts it also reduces Rhode Islands energy cost by 40% (dewing.com). the farm is nearly 3 miles of the coast and is almost invisible from the shore but people still manage to find something wrong with it. But and this is a very strong but and a very good one... the project is doing so well the company deepwater wind is planning to build three more farms off the coast of southern Mass creating 400 megawatt. All of this is occurring in my back yard and many other peoples that live in southern New England. This will just make us one step closer to a 100% renewable America. https://www.offshorewind.biz/2012/12/...

So we hear all these news reports about the ice in the north is melting and they show pictures of lonely ice bergs or stranded polar bears having no where to go to hunt but what does this all really mean for us? most of Americans won't ever see the ice at the north pole or at the south pole but it still affects our daily lives and can cause some serious issues for almost everyone. In an article posted by sciencedaily.com  it stated that on march 17th the ice cap reached its maximum extend and it became the second lowest maximum extend in recorded history just behind march 7th of 2017. All the ice that is melting is causing sea levels to rise and making the oceans warmer and warmer every year causing more and more hurricanes and dangerous storms for people. Another big issue the globe has to worry about it how much ice melts during the summer months. with recent summers being some of the warmest on record the extremely low ice cap is opening up shipping routes. by opening up these...

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/scientists-breed-super-corals-recuse-reefs-global-warming-47785351 Above is the video from which I learned information on the super corals, give it  a watch.                                2145901-mother-coral-reefs-are-breathing-life-into-their-neighbours  Coral reefs are very import to the entire population of earth. They supply habitat for the fish,lobsters, and crabs that people like to eat. they also supply the oxygen to the plants and animals in the water just like on land trees do that for us. but at the rate earths oceans are warming coral reefs will continue to die off and leave the ocean a lifeless place. coral reefs are a billion dollar attraction in Australia at the great barrier reef but now that only about 40% remains alive there tourism rates are decreasing. In hawaii a scientist is creating "super corals" what these do is give feed back on ...

Solar farms are popping up more and more around the country but this one,  The sprague Solar farm owned by fusion solar center LLC is pretty close to my home. In fact one of my co-worker's back yard is now the massive 118 acre solar farm. This may sound all good think of all the energy that is being created there but its not all good. First the site is still not operational after almost 2 years. after deforesting the 118 acres on a fairly big hole they didn't account for water run off and in the spring and early summer months of 2017 peoples home were being flooded. This area of Connecticut is predominately farm lands and the excessive water runoff was ruining farm land and it was also polluting the local ponds and streams. This outraged people and a law suit began with the city of sprague and fusion solar center. All operations at the solar farms have sense been halted and still remain frozen at this day. almost Everyone knows how great this solar farm could be for the town bu...

This link below is full of so much information on the consumption and creation of power in Connecticut. Me, being born and raised in Waterford Connecticut found it very interesting learning more about the states energy usages. I grew up across the river (thames River) from one of the only two north east heating reserve sites. I had no idea across the river from my favorite place to eat was 100,000's gallons of oil. nuclear energy is the third most consumed form of energy in Connecticut and the nuclear power plant is right in Waterford Connecticut its call  millstone or dominion. This is a huge eye soar for the town but it is an amazing place to go fishing with all of the hot water coming out fish flock to it and it is one of my favorite places to go. state millstone-bill-passes-house-goes-to-governor https://www.mapquest.com/us/connecticut/freds-shanty-restaurant-585408

Tesla is the leader in all things Electric. They have created a way to store energy from solar panels a thing that has never been done until recently. They have created the "best" car in my opinion. They have a vehicle for everyone, a soccer mom who needs to bring her kids around with the model X, a lightning fast super car known as the roadster and even a semi truck that is faster than any other truck in production and can be used to ship goods across the country. Elon musk the founder of Tesla is in my opinion one of the smartest people around. He has found a way to create a affordable 100% electric car a task no other human has been able to do. Creating the model 3 was no easy task the car starts at 35,000 and has a range of 220 miles but these number can only go up with adding a bigger battery giving you more range. Tesla is changing the way humans go about there everyday life and is helping the environment while doing so but there are flaws with every pro. the electricit...