A few of my favorite things

One of my favorite electrical toys is my Marshall guitar amplifier. She always delivers classic metal sound when I turn her on, and has a nice bit of a crunch.

I digress.

This baby comes in at 230 W.

230 W=230 J/s

230 J/s x 60 sec/1 min=13,800 J/min

13,800 J/min x 60 min/1 hr=828,000 J/hr

828,000 J/hr x 24 hr/1 day=19,872,000 J/day

19,872,000 J/day x 7 days/1 wk=139,104,000 J/wk

19,872,000 J/day x 30 days/November=596,160,000 J/November

19,872,000 J/day x 365 days/1 yr=7,253,280,000 J/yr

So that’s how much energy be using up at various stages of time elapsed. Realistically though, my amp has never been on for more than 3-5 hours… well maybe once or twice. So, using our hour calculation, 828,000 J/hr, I can more accurately determine how much energy I use in real life.

I’d say on average, I play guitar for about 1 1/2 hrs., which is (828,000 J/hr x 1.5 hr/1 day)= 1,242,000 J/day.

So now I have to make a very rough estimate as to how many days a year I have her on. I go through periods of playing a lot or not at all, so I’m going to say about 4 days a week. There’s 52 weeks a year, thus 208 days a year my amp is on.

1,242,000 J/day x 208 day/1 yr=258,336,000 J/yr

We’re looking at a quarter of a billion Joules per year just from one amplifier… let’s put it in more concrete terms:

In one gram of coal, we can extract 30,600 Joules of energy.

(258,336,000 J/yr) / (30,600 J/g coal)= 259.08 g/yr

That’s quite a bit of coal the ol Marshall is sucking up… makes you wonder about the energy efficiency of a whole concert!

Worthy Links

http://www.riverocean.org.uk/

http://www.optimumpopulation.org/

http://www.newdream.org/

http://www.worldwatch.org/

http://www.grist.org/

http://www.loe.org/

http://www.environmentaldefense.org/home.cfm

All these links are progressive environmental orgnizations or focus on pertinent environmental issues and are definitely worth a good look through.

PS Go ahead and steal their stories for your blogs, theyre pretty good

Photo In the News: Wild Earth No More?

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var caption = ‘Map courtesy Science ‘;

June 28, 2007—Pretty soon, there will be no “road less traveled” to take.

As of 1995 only 17 percent of Earth’s land remained free of direct human influence, as seen in this map of the vast networks of shipping lanes and roads that crisscross the planet.

In the rush to stock food supplies, keep safe from predators and natural disasters, and improve trade and commerce, people have domesticated entire landscapes and ecosystems—often to their detriment, a new study says.

The study authors, led by Peter Kareiva of the Nature Conservancy, studied global maps and defined human impact using several criteria, including the presence of towns or cities and nighttime lights that are detectable by satellites.

“On average, the net benefits to humankind of domesticated nature have been positive,” the authors write in tomorrow’s issue of the journal Science.

For instance, leaps and bounds in agriculture have increased food supplies and made for easy access to energy-rich, easily stored grains.

But the study also found that people have converted about 50 percent of the world’s surface area to grazed land or cultivated crops, felling about half of Earth’s forests in the process.

“We have, of course, made mistakes,” the authors write, “… leaving few, if any, truly wild places on Earth.”

source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070628-human-footprint.html

What this article is saying is that we will soon completley dominate our planet through our desire to ship and receive goods. What this means is that our ‘footprints’ will be every where. Footprints are defining charactersitics humans have on the environment that indicate their presence. Our footprints are generally toxic, polluting, or shape shifting. They negatively effect natural settings by introducing new species, eliminating species, altering habitats, or hindering migration.

As a side note, blogging about the environment is really really bad for your mental health and outlook on the world. Excuse me while I strangle a kitten.

Skewed Spending

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This graph demonstrates how much money our government has spent on the war in Iraq compared to its research into alternative energy. As you can clearly see, the former overshadows the latter. Greatly. People need to consider who they’re voting for, and not just who their ‘party’ puts on the ballot. What’s going to further society, global economies, industry, and peacebuilding: effective solar power or extended occupation of a nonreceptive country? Not only does this demonstrate  how little is being done to restore our environment and bring down competition crushing monopolies, but also how skewed our administrations priorities are. Its blatantly obvious they are completely self interested and have no real desire to help their own citizens; oil and war puts money in their pockets and takes out of ours at the expense of our air, land, and people.

 Graph source : http://www.solarpowerrocks.com/solar-trends/a-sick-graph-2/

Everyone should take a gander at this

http://www.worldwithoutus.com/did_you_know.html

Very very interesting description of what Earth would be like if we left.

Notables:

100 years – elephant population would increase 20 times, and housecats would dominate small predators

100,000 years (or possibly more) – C02 levels would return to pre human levels… yeah, 100,000 years

Many thousands of years – plastic would be biodegradable, thanks to evolving microbes

4.5 billion years – Uranium 238 finally reaches its half life…

Eternally – all our radio and television broadcasts continue to travel outward into the abyss

And you thought we could keep going how we’re going, didn’t you?!

Fancy Advertising! (part dos)

source: http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=1856

Environmentalists are pretty nifty marketers…

Fancy Advertising!

source:http://wattwatt.com/pulses/144/use-electricity-wisely/

That’s keen right there. Its always more effective to lead by example, and this is a great example.

Fancy Technology!

Electricity Generating Clothing Right Around The Corner

How in the hell you wash it is beyond us…

Australian researchers are working on developing shirts that will generate electricity whenever the wearer moves. These shirts would directly power mobile telephones, portable music players and other small electrical appliances. Before you go thinking science fiction, know that $4.4 million was recently awarded by the Australian Defense Department and researchers expect the tech to be available in about five years. So there.

The technology is made possible by piezo electrical materials. According to the article, “Whenever you bend or deform piezo electrical material it creates an electrical charge. If a shirt could be woven from the fabric, the constant vibration would produce electricity as you move.”

The power would be fed into flexible batteries (also woven into the shirt). Researchers imagine the cell phone of the future residing in the collar of a jacket — with flexible circuit boards and speakers galore. Gives new meaning to “ring around the collar”. Ha hah, ugh.

source: http://ecotality.com/life/2007/11/01/electricity-generating-clothing-right-around-the-corner/

This is possibly the coolest alternative energy source in development. Its also one of the few the oil companies wont want to surpress! (yet)

The effects would be pretty profound, I would imagine. Think how many people use cell phones, and how many of them leave their chargers plugged in, thus using ghost energy. Now we can subtract that from our total energy consumption… pretty impressive if you ask me. Five years cant come soon enough.

Palestinian Water

Palestinian Water

In Palestine, restrictions on drilling and upkeep of wells and decaying water networks are causing scarce water to become even more scarce. Israel’s sanctions on Palestinian water are exasperating the situation. Further, these simple and limited systems of water are under threat from lack of evacuation systems and run off from domestic waste waters. This effects not only the people, but their crops and animal species as well.
The most reliable source of water for some is the mountain aquifers in the Ya’bad area; however, only 24% ends up in Palestinian hands. Air accumulation in the pipes and the old age of the network have caused them to turn rusty, resulting in water quality hazards. Subsequently, citizens have turned to creating their own cesspits, but do not perform proper upkeep. Bacterial growth is abundant in the pits.
Infant mortality is at 2.57%, a very high rate for any nation. In addition, at least 25% of people constantly suffer from various diseases and symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea.
Agriculture has suffered greatly. There is a total lack of irrigation in the Ya’bad region and thus, the economy is taking great hits as unemployment soars. The use of waste water to hydrate gardens has begun to pollute the soil, likely destroying arable land.
Improved water systems, quality, addition of regular supply of water, and development of agriculture are just some of the needs for improved water in Palestine and especially the Ya’bad region. It is unfair to the global community to remain silent or ignorant about issues such as these, and we owe it to everyone to support awareness on the poor water situation in the Middle East.