On April 12 the Ellsworth (Maine) American reported that an Ellsworth housewife, Brandy Bridges, dropped and shattered a fluorescent tube-bulb on the carpeted floor in her daughter’s bedroom. Aware that compact fluorescent light bulbs [CFLs) are potentially hazardous, Bridges called the local Home Depot store to ask for advise. Home Depot told her that the CFL contained mercury and advised her to call the Poison Control hotline.

The hotline had her contact the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP sent Andrew Smith, a toxicologist, to her home. He sealed the room with plastic and told Bridges it would cost about $2,000 to clean up the mess. The levels of mercury toxicity in the downstairs living area were safely under 300 ng/m3. However, the mercury levels spiked to 1,939 ng/m3 in Shayley Bridges bedroom. Bridges daughter could not sleep there because of the toxicity levels were too great. Bridges, a single mom with an overcrowded house and limited financial means, filed a claim on her home owner’s policy. The insurance company denied the claim because mercury is a pollutant that wasn’t covered in her policy.

On April 23 of this year, the Utilities and Commerce Committee voted 7 to 2 to bring to the floor of the California Assembly a measure than would ban the sale, distribution or use of incandescent light bulbs in the State.

AEVIA Reveals the Source

Fewer than one percent of architects in the latest survey of the American Institute of Architects (500 of 58,000 members) listed affordable housing as a primary interest. It takes vision, innovation, and dedication to reconcile good environmental practices with cost-consciousness. Knitting person-centered and earth-conscious values together with affordability and universal access is not unattainable or frivolous. Low-cost housing developers are beginning to accept the creative challenge of finding sustainable solutions to good design, good health, and affordability.

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The UK government is forecasting that aviation could account for around 21 per cent of Britain’s total carbon emissions by 2050. As demand for air travel soars so will the carbon ‘wing-print.’ Thankfully, the aviation industry is starkly aware of its responsibilities and major players in the East of England are piloting initiatives designed to counter this growing threat.

Aircraft manufacturers have already delivered impressive improvements in fuel efficiency over the past 30 years and expect further progress as engine design continues to evolve. European manufacturers have set a target for new aircraft in 2020 to be 50 per cent more efficient than were their equivalent at the dawn of the new Millennium.

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Current irrigation practices are based on supply-side public water principles. Irrigation systems are designed by engineers to supply water to irrigate fields at a scheduled frequency to support plant growth. By disregarding the demand of the crops this model often over-irrigates and frequently causes water logging and groundwater contamination. The principle of the demand-side crop irrigation is to satisfy the water demand of the crops when they need it; to turn-off the water when the demand has been met. The advances in computer technology have given us the tools to fully accommodate the automation of demand-side irrigation systems.

The Source

Tooling Up for Hydroponics

Scientists at Oklahoma State University, the Punjab Agricultural University, and Texas A&M have investigated the use of alternative cropping systems to reduce irrigation water use and improve environmental conditions in a study funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). A simulation model was used (CropMan) to assess the biological structures, processes and economic practicality of an alternative range of cropping systems. Crops that were studied included maize, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, and mustard. Results from this research were published in the July-August 2007 issue of Agronomy Journal.

The scientists gathered agronomic, geographic, and climatic data of the Punjab region. The data was entered into the simulation model and was adjusted for known farming conditions. Irrigation water response functions were estimated for each of the cropping systems, which showed how crop yields responded to alternative types of irrigation water strategies. Simulations assessed how irrigation water pricing affects the choice of cropping patterns among producers in the Indian Punjab.

The Source
Further information: www.crops.org

Tooling Up for Hydroponics

Water may seem to be the most abundant resource available on Earth. But the reality is that 97 percent of all water is saltwater, 2 percent is held in snow and icebergs and only 1 percent is freshwater. More and more demands are being placed on this 1 percent of the world’s water that is available for human use. The world’s population is growing at such a rate that by 2025, the United Nations predicts that more than 2.7 billion people will face severe shortages of fresh water.

An estimated one-third of the world’s population already lives in areas with water shortages. In developing countries, this translates into 1.1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water. In developed countries shortages are being felt through restrictions on water use.

Tooling Up for Hydroponics

The water shortage is becoming an increasingly worrying crisis. As the situation grows ever more acute, it is feared that water will once again become a cause of disputes and that there could even be wars over water resources.

Even before the State of Israel was founded, its leaders realized that in order to ensure the existence of a developed country on the border of a desert region, it had to have a developed and state-of-the art water infrastructure. It was with this in mind that Mekorot, Israel’s national water carrier, was established 70 years ago.

Over the years, a nation-wide water carrying system evolved, using every water resource available: surface water, ground water, brackish water, and sea water. The skill in treating and upgrading different types of water made Mekorot a key factor in Israel’s water industry and, more recently, also in water conservation worldwide.

But treating fresh water is not enough. Mekorot has developed a method for treating and upgrading waste water that has helped establish agriculture, and today 70% of the water for agricultural purposes is recycled from effluent.

The outlying Arava region is not connected to the national water carrier pipeline, nor to the waste waster delivery system. Consequently, Mekorot carried out a deep-water drill at a site in the Arava region down to a depth of 1 to 1.5 kilometers, which produced ground water that was unfit for drinking or agricultural purposes. Using local desalination and water treatment facilities, this water was upgraded to the highest quality, making it suitable for household use and agriculture. The fact that agriculture in the Arava is now thriving, with most of its produce earmarked for export, is proof of this.

The Source

Tooling Up for Hydroponics

The Energy for Sustainability program supports fundamental research and education in energy production, conversion, and storage and is focused on energy sources that are environmentally friendly and renewable.

Sources of sustainable energy include sunlight, wind, and biomass. Hydrogen and alcohols are potential energy carriers that can be derived from renewable sources. Research to produce and store hydrogen for use in direct combustion or in fuel cells is supported by the program. Potential sources of hydrogen include conversion from biomass and from electrolysis, photolysis or thermolysis of water. Biomass is available from agricultural crops and residues, forest products, aquatic plants, and municipal wastes. In addition to hydrogen, biomass can be a source of liquid, solid and gaseous fuels including biofuels such as ethanol. Fuel cells have the potential to convert fuels such as hydrogen and alcohols to electricity at high efficiencies and should play an increasing role in energy conversion. Critical components of low temperature fuel cells requiring additional research include catalysts, membranes, and electrolytes.

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Advanced nanotech batteries are becoming a driving force in making electric cars that go farther and faster between charges, up to five times farther than today’s conventional batteries, and China may play a role in bringing this new technology to market.

Electric car pioneer ZAP and lithium-polymer and nanotech battery developer Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. today announced the opening of a joint development office in Beijing to expand their research, manufacturing and marketing of advanced batteries for electric cars using the latest in nanotechnology.

ZAP recently completed a purchase agreement to acquire $5.168 Million in lithium-polymer and nanotech batteries from Advance Battery Technologies for use in ZAP’s line of XEBRA electric cars and trucks as well as other vehicles and battery systems.

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The Top Ten most economically impactful energy innovations by the year 2010 are predicted to be:

1. A shifting energy industry structure
2. Hybrid Vehicles
3. Smart Energy Management Systems
4. Distributed Power Generation
5. Fuel cells
6. Gas to Liquid Conversion
7. Advanced Batteries
8. Energy Farms
9. Solar Energy
10. Methane Hydrate Crystal Mining

AEVIA Reveals the Source