Coal Power

With Memorial Day right around the corner, the thought of barbecues dance in the head of almost all weekend warriors. Hot dogs and hamburgers will slowly roast on grills, a good portion of those over coal. This serene image is the one many have of coal, which is more commonly used in power plants around the country to provide energy. In fact, 40% of the world's electricity is generated this way, a number that really took me by surprise.

If I’m going to try and at least play Devil’s advocate to coal power, the only thing I see it has going for it is that it's readily available. What that really means is that there's enough coal to get us by for the foreseeable future (though some figures have it up to 300 years). The problem is that coal is the biggest offender in producing climate change. Some steps have been made to help decrease carbon output by combining it with other gases to cut down on its toxic emissions, but the effect is so small that it’s barely noticeable.

Also, it apparently will help create more jobs for coal miners.

And that's where the positives pretty much end. Having been to Centralia (a town in Pennsylvania whose mines are still on fire) highlighted for me not only the terrible effect coal has on the environment, but also on communities. Coal produces a lot of toxins that cause cancer and various other unwanted diseases. It’s also incredibly deadly to mine, which was most recently highlighted two years ago in West Virginia.

In addition, acid rain is another side effect which has negative implications not only on the rain forest, but in water reserves, building foundations, and human life.

Unfortunately, many developing nations use coal as their main energy source. China is a major offender, using 2.3 billion tons of coal per year, one-third of the amount produced globally. India also uses a lot as well (447 million tons). This has led to another problem: when does developing a nation end and global awareness begin? Add to that America’s own coal consumption (we’re #2 with 1 billion tons) and it looks like it may be a long way before we view that grill as coal’s main power use.

Crazy but True Power Alternatives

While we’ve covered some of the more mainstream power alternatives out there, that doesn’t mean that we’ve covered them all. Here are some links to other ideas that haven’t really gained traction yet, but may one day!

Leviathan Power

Who said that using the bathroom was a “waste” of time? Feel guilty for just sitting and reading? Leviathan Power wants to change that. They’ve found a way to place hydroelectric turbines in the sewer systems. So go ahead, give it that second flush!

Algae

Ignore the fact that the post date is April Fool's Day, because this is no laughing matter. Some scientists have found a way to make living scum into an alternative power source. Where can you find the scum? Texas. Apparently, 50% of algae’s weight is made up of oil, and Valcent, based in El Paso, has developed a space-saving system to grow it vertically! Leave it to those Texans to find a new way to “drill” for that commodity!


Landfill Gas

No need to feel guilty about throwing out your banana peels and chicken bones. Apparently, landfill gas is a viable power source when combined with other natural gases. Even better, the process burns a significant amount of methane (a greenhouse gas with 23 times the negative impact as CO2) to create that energy.

Nuclear Power

One of my best friends grew up in Poland. As a child, he was playing with friends in some puddles in the forest near their town. He went home and felt sick. His mother took him to the hospital. For the next three months of his life, he spent his days in a hospital bed, a lovely shade of yellow due to toxic poisoning. Apparently, the area where he had been playing was contaminated by the Chernobyl meltdown a few years earlier.

I’m including the above to highlight one of the major risks that sometimes isn’t discussed when nuclear power comes to the forefront of the energy conversation. While it’s not as unsafe as some people will pulpit, it’s also never going to be 100% secure. And when you jump from 2,000 to 17,000 plants (which is about what would be needed to power most first world countries), the former argument will gain much more ground.

This is a theory discussion, though. Politics will be politics and the actual production of this number of plants will never come to be, because of a lack of interest in the private sector and incredibly high costs of construction and maintenance. Still, it is important to view nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels, even as a worst case scenario.


Pros
-Because nuclear power plants produce very little CO2, they don’t contribute to global warming.
-The technology already exists. The plants only need to be built, so not much research is necessary.
-Mining for uranium is safer than mining for coal.
-They produce a LOT of electrical power in one single plant.

Cons
-That whole "toxic waste being incredible deadly and having a breakdown life of 100,000 years" isn’t really a good thing.
-Uranium doesn’t grow on trees. Even if this became a viable solution, there’s really only enough to keep most first world plants going for the next thirty to sixty years.
-Nuclear Meltdowns. Nothing good has ever come of them. See first paragraph.
-Some terrorists may view them as a giant target. The more that are produced, the greater the safety threat.
-Nuclear proliferation.
-Cancer.

WEEK 4: Energy 2, Electric Boogaloo

Welcome back! This week, the discussion starts with the pros and cons of nuclear energy. We'll then cover various biofuels, such as ethanol, switch grass and bio-diesel. Also, less conventional reusables will finally get their time to shine (toilet power, anyone?). And for all you coal lovers, don't worry, we'll show you some love too.

And since Memorial Day weekend looms on the horizon, we'll make sure to end the week with fun and informative content to start the long weekend off right!

Solar Energy: Some Pros & Cons

In my backyard there are five separate solar-powered lamps scattered across the lawn. These were purchased in hopes of spreading light across our dark yard so we could make sure my roommate’s dog wasn’t going to make a late night break. Unfortunately, they cast about as much light as the nighttime sky.*

While I don’t think the following pros and cons for solar energy are biased, I do want to highlight that for this region, solar power may not be the strongest alternative energy option, especially with the insane amount of rain we’ve seen in the last few weeks.

Pros

• A solar energy system can operate independently of other sources; it doesn't need a connection to a power or gas grid at all.
• Solar panels don’t pollute. The only traceable pollution comes from their manufacturing, transportation and installation.
• Once you install a solar system, there is no additional charge, which is cost effective in the long run.
• Advances have been made to grab more power on overcast days.
• It’s not going anywhere for a very, very long time. Thanks, sun!
• It’s very quiet. You don’t need a turbine to catch those rays.
• Some utilities will buy unused energy from you!

Cons

• $$$. The cost of setting up a home system can be very expensive. It’s about $10 - $12 a watt, so look to spend around $20,000 to make your home solar sustainable (some states will offset this).
• If the area you live in doesn’t get a lot of sun, look to spend more to get those watts.
• The sun doesn’t shine at night. After it sets, your home will have to run off of a battery back-up. If it’s raining all day, that can mean a dark, candle-lit night (how quaint) or electricity obtained from another power source.
• They can take up a lot of space. If you have a small roof or tight yard, expect most of it to go to the panels.

*I attribute this more to a shoddy product than the inefficiency of solar power.

Your New Terror: The Electric Vampire!

The image of the vampire is iconic. While traits and appearance have varied since the invention of the movie camera, one thing has remained constant: The vampire’s need for blood, which itself is a metaphor for energy and power. Thanks to a bill that passed in California (The aptly titled Vampire Slayer bill) in 2004, we can now add another representation to that legend. The prong.

Just because something is plugged in and fully charged does not automatically mean that it’s done sucking up any more energy. It slowly nibbles away, eating up small amounts of energy that don’t seem that big individually, but have repercussions universally. A computer left on all day may seem like a good idea, but over the course of a year can cost you, on average, $34. And while it may not look like a lot of money, this is only a small fraction of the devices secretly keeping themselves powered. On average, 5 - 8% of a household’s yearly energy cost goes to these phantom bloodsuckers.

There is hope, though. A device called the Energy Detective can gauge how much power is being misused for the cheap price of $190. However, the internet provides other alternatives for a much better price: free. For instance, this chart from Good Magazine gives a clear idea of appliances in your house that are repeat offenders and how much they waste. The easy solution? Disconnect them. Once I showed Jenny, she walked around the office (i.e., her apartment) unplugging everything in sight. This also goes for ipod plugs, cell phones, and other small devices that need to be constantly charged. Instead of plugging them in overnight, do it at the office or during the day while you go about household tasks.

So before you leave the house, check those sockets! Van Helsing would be proud.

WEEK 3: Energy

Last week, Mayor Michael Nutter announced that a solar energy power plant will be built in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and should generate enough power to sustain about 200 homes. While this is a step forward, it also filled me with a small sense of dread. That’s a very small percentage of the Philadelphia population. Would it be enough to really make an impact? So for the next two weeks, we’re going to discuss something we’ve only mentioned briefly in previous postings: Energy. We can't really think about food, transportation, materials and waste without thinking about what makes all of these systems function.

We’ll start off with Energy Vampirism, consumer products that slowly sap out energy without you knowing, and give you some tips on how to best combat the problem. We’ll also go more in-depth on energy sources and give you the scoop, both pro and con, on solar, wind, nuclear, etc. We’ll finish up the discussion next week with a discussion on bio-fuels, such as switch grass and ethanol, and see if they really live up to the hype.

Also this week we're going to be joined by Karyn Gerred, a Philadelphia environmentalist and scenic artist. She will be regularly contributing news on green happenings in the film industry among other pertinent environmental facts. To start things off, she's gathered more recycling information, so look for an updated FAQs tomorrow!