Cermak Plaza goes Green!

The newest addition to this shopping center is actually not a store. In fact, the newest addition to the shopping center Berwyn, a neighborhood in Chicago, called Cermak Plaza is actually artsy looking turbines. The plaza which already has quirky artwork outside in the parking lot has added to their collection in the form of an alternative energy source. Wind turbines that were fashioned to both reflect light and generate electricty were recently added amongside the sculpture. Tweleve wind turbines now blow in the parking lot everyday creating quick and green energy for the shopping plaza.
Here is the link to the complete article:

Cleaner Air, One Bike at a Time

With most of us being freshmen this year, we didn't have the opportunity to have a car on campus, unless we found some way to jump around the school's usual policy against allowing freshmen students to have cars on campus. However, the year is over and next year will have new opportunites, including the chance to keep a car on campus. But in recent years, Elmhurst College has offered another opportunity to students as well - the Bike Program. As part of a way for Elmhurst College to "go gree", Elmhurst College has started allowing students to reject the opportunity to keep a car on campus and recieve a free bike instead. If the student promises to not bring a motorized vehicle on campus for an entire academic year (with the exception of a temporary winter permit) they will be able to recieve free bikes, helmets and locks. Little do people know, but this opportunity is open to staff as well. For many of the staff this request may be unreasonable, but for some staff that live close enough to the school, this is a nice opportunity for them as well. Not only will riding a bike to school help reduce the amount of gas you use daily (not to mention the extremely high cost of gas these days and all the money you will save) but it will also eliminate any parking troubles and force you to get daily excerise. This was new to me, being a freshman on campus so I looked into it. Something I found out that was interesting and nice to know for us for years to come is, that if you choose to do the bike program numerous years, each additional year you will recieve a free bike tune-up and a $25.00 gift card to spend on any bike accessories you choose. So after a few years, your bike will be able to be decorated to fit your personal style completely...while making Elmhurst a greener campus and reducing the amount of gasoline used yearly. To enroll for the bike program go to this link: http://public.elmhurst.edu/bicycleprogram/43338292.html
Its a great opportunity, so if you haven't already choosen to have a car on campus, you should check it out.

Alternative Energy in Chicago

Solar power is coming to Chicago people! Invenergy, a Chicago wind and solar power company, plans on builing a solar power farm in Illinois. General Electric Co. says that they can demonstrate breakthrough solar power technology with their new thin film solar panels. The solar power farm will use the new panels from General Electric to produce power for Commonweath Edison (announced Dec 16th). They will also use a wind farm located in LaSalle county for power as well. GE said that their new thin fim panels are the most efficient panels on the market in today's society. The company called it, "a huge step toward making more solar available and affordable on a larger scale." Because these panels are so sucessful, GE plans on having a factory that will strickly make these solar panels. It is said that the new solar technology is more efficient by 13% and with each 1% increase in efficiency it inables a 10% cheaper cost. The new GE plant will make enough of these thin film panels, also know as cadmium telluride panels, to power 80,000 homes by the year 2013. The factory will also empoy 400 people in the are which will hopefully help the local economy. Because of this breakthrough, GE will become one of the lead creators of solar panels and will be comepeting against places like First Solar. This shows how involved the city of Chicago is trying to become in the idea of alternative energy, by creating many new solar panels and by using more power from solar energy farms and wind farms.

high purity hydrogen

Researchers at Eindhoven University have developed a cleaner, more efficient way of producing high purity hydrogen from natural gas. Hydrogen is useful because it is a non-polluting, relatively efficient energy carrier. The most common way of producing hydrogen from natural gas is through steam formation, which wastes a lot of energy. Researchers have now developed new technology called "sorption enhanced catalytic reforming of methane.” The process uses a Rhodium-based catalyst, and would allow for the production of hydrogen at a significantly lower temperature and pressure, which results in less wasted energy. If the temperature is between 400-500 degrees and the pressure is around 4.5 bar they “Direct production of high purity hydrogen and fuel conversion greater than 99.5%” can be achieved (Halabi). This seems good to me because it would waste less energy, produce less carbon emissions, and use fewer materials. A downside would be that Rhodium is expensive.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512103946.htm

Biofuels in the aviation industry

I read an article about how the aviation industry is trying to switch to biofuels in an effort to cut gas prices and greenhouse gas emissions. However, researches found large variability in the greenhouse gas emissions of the different biofuels they tested. The article cited MIT, who thought they should not make the switch, at least not as quickly as the aviation industry plans to. They found that when the origins of the biofuel is taken into consideration, what might seem like a promising source of renewable energy might actually be worse for the environment than fossil fuels. Although the article seemed schizophrenic at times, the general feel I got was that the author thought more care needed to be taken when choosing renewable sources of energy, and that industries needed to be thorough and studious, and do the research so they know how green the fuels are before they start to use them.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110511134335.htm

Windfarms Of The Water

A new tecnology is currently under reasearch that will allow humans to generate energy from the waves of the sea. This technology, being named Wing Waves, can generate enough energy to power 200,000 houses with one square mile of wings. All this requires is an ocean coast, a depth of 50ft and a sand floor to be able to install. This pretty much opens up the entire coastline to this new form of alternative energy. Wing Waves as of now have no significant downside as they are very enviromentally friendly, produce electricty from the strongest to the calmest waves and have a huge area of operation. I would not be suprised to see this alternative energy begin to pop up all over the world's coast in the next few years.

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/electricity-from-wing-waves/

Algae For Energy

I found this report on some new reasearch on turning common algae into biofuel. At the University of Arkanasas chemical engineers and scientists are looking into butanol. In this process algae would be grown in long tanks from which they would be harvested every week. By drying the algae after harvesting it from the tanks, carbohydrates can be taken and fermented to create butanol. Butanol is more efficient then ethanol and they are also thinking of taking algae from dead water, where it choked the life out the wildlife, in an attempt to restore the waterways which is a plus. This process really does the potentional on making a new biofuel that will take ethanol and help relieve the food crysis as well as help restore the dead waterways.

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/common-algae-biofuel-butanol-production/

War of the Atoms comic

I thought that this cartoon was pretty clever. Since the atom has lost an electron, he is now considered a positive ion. When he says in the cartoon that he is "positive", it has two meanings. On one hand, it means that he is certain he has been hit and on the other hand it means he is now a positively charged ion.
http://www.lab-initio.com/screen_res/nz220.jpg

Acid Rain Comic

I thought that this comic by T. McCracken was pretty humorous because the woman in it has no idea how acid rain works. While in theory it would make sense to counteract acid rain with alkaline rain (in other words, basic rain), it doesn't work like that. We should definitely worry about acid rain because not only does it poison our drinking water, but it also deteriorates statues and buildings. Acid rain is caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions in the atmosphere.
http://www.mchumor.com/chemistry3_bframe.html

Ionic Bonding Comic

I felt proud of myself for understanding the chemistry principles behind this comic. The characters inside the classroom are metals. They form positive ions. They are attracted to the non-metal negative ions outside the classroom and want to form ionic bonds with them. Enjoy!

The original comic can be found here:

http://msflynn.edublogs.org/tag/chemistry/

Molecular Shape Comic

I thought this was a funny comic that related to what we learned about in class. We spent some time talking about the various molecular shapes. I recognized that methane and nitrate both have a tetrahedral shape. However, I don't know what to call the shape of "bomberman"! Enjoy the comic

The original comic can be found here: http://www.willandbeyond.com/?page=2&tag=art

New Possible Alternative Energy Source

I found this little blurb on using plastics by synthesizing them into crude oil and other fuels. The basis of this is on the abundance of plastic we have; 4 million pounds of plastics were recycled in 2009 and still more are filling up landfills. This news release claims that if this were done then there could be enough material to fuel the equivalent of 6 million cars annually. I think that this is astounding and if the technology could be implemented it would do a lot for the fuel issues we are all experiencing. It would be an interesting idea to watch and see if anything comes of it in the future.

http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_acc/sec_news_article.asp?CID=206&DID=11929

Baseball

I found this comic and it related really well to what our last test covered. It might take a minute to get but it is pretty funny once you get it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope you do too! And for that matter I'm excited I actually understand what hydroxide ions have to do with baseball ;)

Burning Water - A Useful Oxymoron

It is true that one would not typically think it is possible for water to burn, hence being considered an oxymoron. Most believe that water is the absolute opposite to fire, and that any mix of the two would result in the fire being extinguished. That didn't stop a man by the name of John Kanzius from realizing the potential of the seemingly impossible thing when he discovered it back in 2007. Kanzius, a cancer researcher, discovered this phenomenon when he attempted to desalinate water during a test in eliminating cancer cells via radio bombardment. According to National Geographic, Kanzius was suprised to see a small 'spark' when the radio waves interacted with the salt water. Going off a hunch, he lifted a flame to the water's surface and it actually lit the water on fire.

Word spread like wildfire on what was being called the greatest water related discovery of 100 years. Holding the potential for being a huge source of alternative energy and water treatment, this discovery went to Rustum Roy, a university chemist at Penn State, to find how this happens. Roy discovered that as long as the radio waves are trained on the water, it would continue to burn. When the radio waves strike the water, the bonds between the hydrogen and the oxygen begin to weaken, allowing them to burn. When burned the water breaks into hydrogen and oxygen gas with then immediately react back with each other to reform water. Because the salt water oceans cover the majority of the Earth, there is no lack of fuel for this process.

Now, the actual burning of the salt water isn't the new alternative energy, rather it is the hydrogen that is broken off from the water in this process that is so important. Hydrogen is a powerful alternative energy source that is almost never found by itself naturally. This process eliminates the need for expensive hydrogen extraction by other means. This process also rids the water of any chemicals within it, creating clean water from dirty ocean salt water. This process it truly useful and energy efficient. Even though the radio waves also require energy to be made, one could attach the radio emitter to something like a solar panel to limit the amount of fossil fuels being used.

THis discovery is probably one of the most important finding for alternative energy production in such a long time. Still, many things still need to be researched before this process can be used as an energy production technique. That does not deter scientists from becoming hopeful that this will one day become an important part in our energy production.

Links:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070913-burning-water_2.html
http://www.livescience.com/1861-remarkable-discovery-scientists-burn-saltwater.html

Water and Energy Use

This picture shows some of the complexities connecting water use and energy use. The accompanying description on the website describes the connection also and states that energy conservation and water conservation are equally related and saving one can save the other. According to the description, 3% of the US water supply is used to generate power and 13% of our power production goes back to treating water supplies.

Water is often suggested as a better means of energy production, but especially with the world's supply going down due to the melting ice sheets and whatnot discussed in class, I'm not sure this is the best solution. Obviously, all solutions have their downsides but it seems to me water might be an unreliable alternative if the supply is already becoming an issue.

(Click on the picture for the full view)

Also found at:

http://www.eeweek.org/water_and_energy_wise/connection

Nanocarbon Batteries

Researchers in Massachusetts are working on a new kind of battery. This battery, unlike current ones made of toxic metals like cadmium and lead, is made almost entirely of carbon. Essentially, this means it would just degrade after a time, or they could be incinerated though that risks releasing more carbon into the atmosphere. It would be a completely organic material, carbon, though in this case organic does not refer to being grown naturally. The new batteries would not release the heavy metal residue into the environment that current options release.

Another strength of the new development is the power packed into these much smaller batteries; smaller meaning up to ten times smaller. These smaller batteries however, would put out the same amount of energy as the currently used batteries. This means they will save energy. That may seem like an odd statement, but they really do save energy. They will not leak out energy like the batteries available today do when they are not being used. All those batteries sitting around on shelves leak out valuable energy but the new and smaller ones would do this significantly less or perhaps even not at all. Therefore, they would be saving energy by not letting it escape.

The new nanotechnology batteries operate by using carbon nanotubes. These are small wires that create a lot of energy. They are too small to be seen by the naked eye and can only be observed through a microscope. The wires receive a fuel coating and the resulting reaction involves thermopower waves. These waves move from one end of the battery to the other with the high level of energy needed for the operation of the battery. These new batteries could allow for many new developments in portable technology and energy saving fields.

All information in this post was found in the following web article: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-12/tech/mit.research.electricity_1_laptop-batteries-mit-researchers-power-electronics?_s=PM:TECH

Tax on Electric Cars?

Recently in the Chicago Sun-Times there was an article about a possible bill being passed in the state of Washington about actually putting a tax on electric cars. For years of the government and state encouraging people to purchase electric cars and hybrid cars because they help reduce the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Residents used to recieve tax breaks after purchasing a fuel-efficient vehicle. However, the state of Washington is now moving towards a completely opposite bill. They want to charge residents with electric cars a tax fee of one-hundred dollars per year. This would be the nation's first ever tax fee on electric cars. This is due to the fact that electric cars use the roads but do not have to pay the taxes placed on gas to help maintain the roads and help fund construction. On average, people with electric cars save 1,000 dollars a year on fuel. This includes taking the amount of money it costs to fuel electric cars. The average U.S. electricity rate is 12 cents per kWh (price ranges widely across the U.S. from around 3 cents in Washington to about 27 cents in Hawaii) the consumer would still be paying about a quarter as much for fuel costs with gas. Not to mention it can also save people thirty to forty dollars every few months without the need for a mechanic oil change. The Washington democratic state senate representative said, "Electric vehicles pit just as much wear and tear on our roads as gas vehicles. This [bill] simply ensures that they contribute their fair share to the upkeep of our roads" (Chicago Sun-Times). In the long run, even with the one-hundred dollar fee, residents with electric cars will be saving a significant amount of money. Electric cars can save the environment and , even with a possible tax, save money for the consumer.

Sources:
www.plugincars.com
www.suntimes.com

Save Yourself the Trouble! Tips on how to save fuel

These last couple of weeks, I’ve been waking up feeling more and more anxious for summer to grace us with its presence, and I’m sure many of you share the same sentiment. I’ve been constantly checking the weather updates online, hoping that “maybe this week we’ll finally have every single day hit above sixty degrees” and “maybe this week the rain will finally stop”. I guess it’s pretty safe to say I’m completely fed up with spring and am entirely ready for Mother Nature to swing us right into the lazy dog days of beautiful summer. However, there’s one thing that I am dreading this summer: gas prices. Just like every summer, gas prices are on the rise yet again, and this year is especially bad what with the political turmoil roiling in the Middle East. Trust me, I have every notion of cracking out that bicycle and minimalizing my time behind the wheel, but I also have a couple road trips planned, and my twenty-gallon, eighty-dollar-to-fill-up gas tank ominously looms in my driveway. But what can I do? I have no choice but to fill my old Buick with gasoline, I can’t fill it with water or dirt. Thus, I decided to research ways that I can save fuel this summer, and the reason for posting this on an alternative energy blog? It turns out that saving fuel (and therefore reducing CO2 emissions) is actually good for the environment! Using less fuel means filling up less which means less fuel is inadvertently spewed into our atmosphere. But of course, being in Honors Chemistry and the Environment, we all already knew that, didn’t we…
One of the first rules for saving on fuel and reducing emissions into the atmosphere is to slow down while driving. On that note, another good rule of thumb is to accelerate moderately when coming from a red light to a green. If you lay on the gas you will waste fuel and emit carbon dioxide and other particles into the atmosphere that could have otherwise been moderately distributed in less quantities had you accelerated at a moderately slow pace so that the transmission can shift up into the higher gears (when dealing with an automatic vehicle). Shutting off the air conditioning during moderately slow speeds will help fuel usage, but using the air conditioner during high speeds will actually aid in reducing fuel consumption because having the windows open during high speeds will create a lot of resistance on the vehicle and therefore use more fuel to move said vehicle. Keeping the vehicle moving constantly (and not continuously stopping and going), even if it means rolling ever so slowly at a stoplight, will aid in reducing fuel consumption. By keeping the car moving at all times, this stops the need for pure acceleration, and therefore saves fuel. Another tip that I discovered is to make sure your vehicle’s tires have good pressure. If your vehicle’s tires have low air pressure, then that means you are driving dragging those wheels with you, and they are actually bringing you down in the sense that they are creating drag on the car. More drag on the car means more fuel is used to move said car, and more fuel means more money and more harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Checking your air filter can also help save fuel. A dirty air filter can restrict the flow of air into the engine, which can have harmful effects on the car’s performance and economy. One more tip to consider this summer (and always) is to keep the inside of your vehicle clean. Of course, everyone thinks to keep the outside clean, because that’s the part everyone sees, but keeping the inside clean can actually help you to save on fuel. The more unnecessary weight you put on a car, the more drag it will experience while on the road and the more fuel you will use. The lighter you car is, the more economical it is. And of course, there’s always those alternative forms of transportation that don’t require fuel at all: biking, walking, and skating.
Looking at all of these fuel-saving tips, the thing that they all have in common is that they are very doable, and highly effective. Every little bit counts, and if it means that I will save money on those road trips I have planned, as well as reduce harmful emissions into our precious atmosphere, then I’m all for it.
Sources:
http://cars.about.com/od/helpforcarbuyers/tp/ag_top_fuelsave.htm
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/auto/fuel-efficient/5.asp
http://financialplan.about.com/cs/cars/a/SaveGas.htm

Major IT Companies' Emissions

Greenpeace evaluates major IT companies' energy use and their efforts to use "green" energy. According to this article, Yahoo! had the best clean energy emissions index at 55.9% and Apple had the worst with 6.7%. It also gives an estimate of the coal intensity, and ratings of the companies' transparency, infrastructure siting, and mitigation strategy. Google, with the second-best clean energy emissions index, also just recently announced significant investments in wind energy.

https://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/04/21/greenpeace-hails-yahoo-google-akamai-green-power-leadership

The Downside of Alternative Energies

Most of the articles in this blog have been about the benefits of alternative energies. However, there are also many downsides to solar, wind, and hydroelectric powers.

First of all, wind power is useful because it does not produce any air or water pollution. However, there are some major concerns over wind power. The public is concerned about the visibility and noise of the relatively large and unsightly wind turbines. There are also some that note that building wind turbines would cause many wilderness areas to be developed. The large wind turbines take many fossil fuels to make and transport to the field. Lastly, wind power is also one to one and a half times more expensive than the electricity generated from fossil fuels.

Next, solar power is a great source of renewable energy because they generate no emissions while in use. However, just like wind turbines, they require a substantial amount of fossil fuels to make and install. The solar panels also have many ill health effects for those that come into contact with them because of the arsenic and cadmium that are used in the panels. John Holdren also said, "Using sunlight to make electricity with photovoltaic cells remains 3 to 5 times more expensive than fossil-fueled electricity generation, despite very substantial reductions in the costs of photovoltaics over the last two decades."

Geothermal energy has come under fire in the last few years for causing many environmental problems. Acquiring geothermal energy is associated with pollution of water and air as well as unsafe disposal of hazardous wastes. The plants that produce the geothermal energy also need a large amount of water for cooling purposes. This could be a problem for the plants that are not close to a water sources, as they have to haul in the water, most likely using fossil fuels.

Hydropower is often criticized for destruction of natural habitats. In fact, existing dams are often attacked by environmental groups because they sometimes cause some of the native plant and animal species to become endangered. Also, the reservoirs that the dams create often damage existing forests, farmlands, and wildlife habitats. Lastly, hauling the enormous amounts of concrete and other materials that are necessary for construction of the dam uses a large amount of fossil fuels.

Clearly, there is no cure-all type of alternative energy. Every type has its positives and negatives. In the future, some of these negatives must be addressed to ensure that our environment is protected as much as possible.

Sources:
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/impacts/environmental-impacts-of.html
http://www.masterresource.org/2009/01/john-holdren-on-renewable-energy-problems-part-v-in-a-series-on-obamas-new-science-advisor/