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Chapters
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How People Use Energy
- Energy
Basics
- Fossil
Fuels
- Field
Trip to a Power Plant
- America
Plugged In
- Energy
in Society
- Energy
for Lighting
- Energy
for Heating and Cooling
- Energy
for Transportation
- Our
Energy Future
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TOPICS
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Alternative
Fuels
Batteries
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Conservation and
Recycling
- 4 July 2005. Recycler
takes TVs for free. Program
reimburses businesses and cities
for disposing of computer monitors
and television sets. By Clint
Swett -- Sacramento Bee Staff
Writer. It wasn't that long ago
that getting rid of a computer
monitor or television was often
a cumbersome and costly ordeal.
Laden with pounds of toxic lead,
the cathode ray tubes that are
the heart of such devices were
unwelcome at garbage dumps and
expensive to recycle. Computer
companies like Dell and Hewlett-Packard
offered programs for sending
monitors back to the company
for recycling, but shipping charges
were often $30 and higher. Or
you could haul computers and
TVs to a local landfill, as long
as you were willing to pay drop-off
fees that often were $25 or more.
It's no wonder than an estimated
6 million old TVs and monitors
in California are gathering dust
as their owners search for easy
and inexpensive ways to get rid
of them. Recently, though, the
dynamic has changed. One local
company, Appliance Distribution
of Sacramento, now accepts monitors,
TVs and other electronic devices
at its North B Street facility
at no charge. The Western Placer
Waste Management Authority in
Roseville recently scrapped its
$12 fee on monitors and a $25
fee on larger TVs; now drop-offs
are free. Sacramento County has
14 recycling spots, three more
than a year ago, for the cathode
ray tubes, or CRTs.
- Spring 2004. Home
Repo, by Dan Rademacher.
Terrain magazine--Ecology Center,
Berkeley, CA. http://www.ecologycenter.org. Stemming
the tide of two-by-fours, one
house at a time. ...At Beyond
Waste, a Sonoma County deconstruction
and flooring operation, Pavitra
Krimmel and her crew have attacked
the problem head-on: to get recycled
lumber for their flooring and
other projects, they've actually
taken to disassembling buildings
themselves when developers intend
to tear them down. "We realized
that the only way to get usable
lumber was to take buildings
apart ourselves," she says. "As
if we knew how to do that."
---... Changing the value of
waste is the life's work of Dan
Knapp, the sociologist who founded
Urban Ore, Berkeley's landmark
building reuse center. In fact,
he doesn't call it waste; he
calls it the
"discard supply." ... "We
have tons of contractors who
come to us," Knapp says.
"They're saving on dump
fees, and they like our policy
of trade credits. We're like
their garage. They bring it to
us, because we organize it."
...Urban Ore is a prime example
of reuse-goods like bathtubs
and doors are sold and reused
in a new house. But cleaning
and sorting those things takes
time. "Everything we do
is labor-intensive. Reuse is
the most job-intensive; it provides
the most jobs by far of anything
else in the recycling sector," Knapp
says. Which means reuse has its
limitations-some things simply
aren't worth reusing. ---...At
Counter-Productions in West Berkeley,
Don McPherson ... uses all kinds
of waste glass to make custom
countertops that compare well
to granite or travertine. "I
wanted to come up with a method
for recycling glass that used
as little energy as possible,
and that meant no melting down,"
he says. And he wanted his countertops
to be recyclable in turn, so
they contain no plastic resins.
The material's main ingredient
is any discarded glass McPherson
and his crew can get their hands
on-about 80 percent of it local.
Crushed glass from curbside bins,
glassware factories, old traffic
lights, wine bottles-bags and
bags of it sit outside McPherson's
shop. Inside, highly polished
samples line the small showroom,
and McPherson can describe the
contents of each mix...
- Fall,
2002. OnEarth The
Deconstructionists, by Carolyn
Szczepanski - In
a Portland, Oregon, suburb, the
six-man crew of DeConstruction,
Inc., enters a three-bedroom
house and, with hammers and crowbars,
starts tearing the place apart.
The cabinets and carpet are first
to go. Then the doors are unhinged
and the hardwood floors pulled
up. Over the next week, the whole
structure, windows to light fixtures
to lumber, will be hauled out
onto the lawn, sorted, and stacked.
But unlike the wreckage generated
by 95 percent of demolition jobs
across the country, this stuff
isn't headed for the landfill.
It will be resold at a discount
rate, making a profit for the
company and contributing almost
nothing to the estimated 65 million
tons of waste that traditional
U.S. demolition companies send
to the dump every year.
- Fall
2002, OnEarth, p. 21. Wasting
Away, by Gretel H. Schueller
- Is
recycling on the skids?
- Funding
Factory - - Schools
can earn free technology, sports & recreation
equipment, playground systems
or even cash by simply collecting
and recycling items such as
empty inkjet & laser cartridges
and old cell phones
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Junk mail reduction
strategies:
-contact
company directly by going to its
website or calling customer service
to request they not send you catalogs
or mail of any sort
-get on the "do not mail" list
by writing to Mail Preference
Service, Direct Marketing Association,
PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512
or registering
online
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Electric
Vehicles- Electric Bikes
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Fuel
Cells
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Fusion
- January 2005. Cold
Fusion Gets Chilly EncoreLetter
in Physics Today. Claims of cold
fusion are no more convincing
today than they were 15 years
ago.
- November 1989. Cold Fusion Research. A
Report of the Energy Research
Advisory Board to the United
States by Department of Energy
Washington, DC 20585 -- DOE/S-0073
DE90 005611, Internet Edition
Prepared by National Capital
Area Skeptics (NCAS) District
of Columbia - Maryland - Virginia
(USA)
- Cold Fusion--LENR-- http://lenr-canr.org/ -- a
library of papers on LENR, Low
Energy Nuclear Reactions, also
known as Cold Fusion. (CANR,
Chemically Assisted Nuclear Reactions,
is another term for this phenomenon.)
It features a library of more
than 280 original scientific
papers in Acrobat format, reprinted
with permission from the authors
and publishers. [Note: this site
FAVORS the research on LENR,
whereas many scientists scoff
at cold fusion as bunk.] For
a different view, see article.
- General
Atomics Fusion Educational
Outreach
Biodegradable
plasticware
http://www.earthwarebiodegradables.com/ |
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Farming
- America's
'Virtual' Farm -- Teaching
Teachers about..Remote Sensing,
Agriculture, and Problem-based
Learning This web-based course
is designed for practicing
teachers interested in integrating
remote-sensing technology and
problem-based learning (PBL)
into the curriculum. The course
content uses agricultural themes
throughout the lessons as the
vehicle for teaching the integration
of technology and PBL.
- Precision
Farming -- to
improve farmers' profits and
harvest yields while reducing
the negative impacts of farming
on the environment that come
from over-application of chemicals.
- 25
February 2002. Researchers
Seek To Squeeze Rubber Out Of
Sunflowers
- Farmer's
Markets -- Locally Grown
Food
GREEN
COMMUNITIES-STUDENTS AND SUSTAINABILITY -- From
EPA, This page is designed for
teachers who wish to introduce
the concepts of sustainability
into their classrooms. The site
has a variety of individual or
group education resources, especially
science fairs. Subjects include
stream ecology, brown fields,
endangered species, energy, international
development, non-point pollution
sources, and much more. The site
separates these resources into
three categories: K-8, 9-12,
and teacher references.
Home
Energy Saver http://homeEnergySaver.lbl.gov/
Home
Power -- Hands-On Journal of
Home-Made Power |
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Hydrogen
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Pollution
- Air
Quality
- Dry
cleaning alternative: wet cleaners -
green alternative to dry cleaners
- Eco-Friendly Products
- Junk
Mail--Stop Junk Mail Kit
- Scorecard
for Pollution - Web
site where you can enter a
zip code and it will tell you
pollution characteristics of
that local community.
- Water
Quality
- Fall 2006. Drugging
Our Waters, by Elizabeth
Royte. NRDC: OnEarth. How
An Aging Population And
Our Growing Addiction To
Pharmaceuticals May Be
Poisoning Our Rivers. Excerpt:
...The 120 residents of
River Glen Health Care
Center, where the average
age is 90, take an average
of eight drugs a day; the
most common among them
target high cholesterol,
high blood pressure, depression,
and diabetes. Once swallowed,
Reilly's medications will
bring her some relief,
but their biological activity
won't stop once they leave
her body. When residents
of Heritage Village and
two other nearby retirement
communities flush their
toilets, wastewater laced
with traces of prescription
drugs rushes through a
series of pipes into the
Heritage Village treatment
plant. This flushing is
the main pathway by which
pharmaceuticals enter the
environment. Hospitals
and nursing homes routinely
dump unused or expired
pills down the toilet,
and consumers have been
advised to do the same;
effluent from pharmaceutical
manufacturers also ends
up at municipal wastewater
treatment plants. ...Americans
now fill more than three
billion prescriptions a
year; nationwide, more
than 10 million women take
birth-control pills, and
about the same number are
on hormone-replacement
therapy. ...Our rivers
-- already stressed by
pollutants, groundwater
pumping, reduced flows,
and overburdened wastewater
treatment plants that dump
raw sewage -- will be ever
less able to cope. ...In
2002, the USGS published
the results of its first-ever
reconnaissance of man-made
contaminants. ...the agency
found traces of 82 different
organic contaminants --
fertilizers and flame retardants
as well as pharmaceuticals
-- in surface waters across
the nation. These drugs
included natural and synthetic
hormones, antibiotics,
antihypertensives, painkillers,
and antidepressants. ...What
does this mean for the
environment, and what does
it mean for us? ... Marc
Taylor is the medical director
of the River Glen Health
Care Center.... "I'm
concerned about pharmaceuticals
in the river because I
am a doctor," says
Taylor, who speaks in precisely
measured sentences, "and
because I know these drugs
are bioactive." That
is, they can enter the
bioprocesses of aquatic
organisms. ... Taylor,
like many health-care professionals,
thinks a good first step
for getting drugs out of
waterways is to persuade
hospitals and nursing homes
to abandon their policy
of flushing unused drugs
down the toilet. A handful
of states and municipalities
have launched pharmaceutical
take-back programs, in
which consumers bring unwanted
or expired medications
to an official collection
site. Drugs are then either
returned to manufacturers
or disposed of by incineration.
- Basel
Action Network http://www.ban.org/
- Hazmat (hazardous
materials)-trained scuba
diver, Tim Nelson ...
makes a living plunging
into heavily polluted
rivers. ... forty years'
worth of decaying and
deadly PCB-filled electrical
equipment, the forgotten
remains of an old Army
Corps landfill... lay
60 feet underwater...
- Mercury
Thermometers and Your Family's
Health
- Silicon
Valley Toxics Coalition http://www.svtc.org/
- Pollution
Articles
- March 2005. The
Dangers of Modern Art.
Green Tips from Union of
Concerned Scientists. Some
art supplies contain ingredients
that are harmful to both
humans and the environment.
These include naturally
occurring heavy metals
such as lead, cobalt, cadmium,
and manganese, and volatile
organic compounds (VOCs)
such as turpentine, xylene,
acetone, and toluene. So,
how can you express yourself
creatively while protecting
the environment?
- 24 August 2004. E.P.A.
Says Mercury Taints Fish
Across U.S. By MICHAEL
JANOFSKY, NY Times. The
federal environmental agency's
latest annual survey of
fish advisories showed
that 48 states - all but
Wyoming and Alaska - issued
warnings about mercury
last year.
- 30
September 2003. Observations
of a "weekend effect" in
diurnal temperature range,
Piers M. de F. Forster and
Susan Solomon , National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Aeronomy
Laboratory, Boulder, CO
80305; and Department of
Meteorology, University
of Reading, Reading RG6
6AH, United Kingdom. Using
surface measurements of
maximum and minimum temperatures
from the Global Daily Climatological
Network data set, we find
evidence of a weekly cycle
in diurnal temperature
range (DTR) for many stations
in the United States, Mexico,
Japan, and China....We
conclude that the weekend
effect is a real short
time scale and large spatial
scale geophysical phenomenon,
which is necessarily human
in origin. We thus provide
strong evidence of an anthropogenic
link to DTR, an important
climate indicator. Several
possible anthropogenic
mechanisms are discussed;
we speculate that aerosol-cloud
interactions are the most
likely cause of this weekend
effect, but we do not rule
out others. PNAS | vol.
100 | no. 20 | 11225-11230.
- 30
May 2001. NEW
NASA/CSA MONITOR PROVIDES
GLOBAL AIR POLLUTION VIEW
FROM SPACE
- 21
March 2001. E.P.A.
to Abandon New Arsenic
Limits for Water Supply (NY
Times)
- 15
March 2001. NASA
SATELLITE TRACKS HAZARDOUS
SMOKE AND SMOG PARTNERSHIP RELEASE:
01-43
- 9
January 2001. Trees
And Air Pollution. Australia's
native plants emit chemical
compounds that can interact
with other air pollutants
to exacerbate smog formation
over Australian cities,
researchers have found.
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Socially Responsible Investing
- December 2004. GREENTIPS
- Socially Responsible Investing - Many
people do their part for the
environment by driving a fuel-efficient
car, buying organic foods, or
using energy-efficient appliances.
You can also promote environmental
values through socially responsible
investing (SRI), also known as "green" investing.
SRI gives corporations an incentive
to improve their environmental
stewardship and can also provide
investors with a more secure
financial future-a "double
bottom line."
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Solar
Energy
- American
Solar Energy Society (ASES) is
a national organization dedicated
to advancing the use of solar
energy for the benefit of U.S.
citizens and the global environment.
- Companies: Solar and Solar-Related
- Cookers and ovens (solar) -- Solar
Cookers International (SCI)
- Establishes
programs in countries around
the world to teach people to
make and use solar ovens and
cookers. Reduces deforestation
and saves time for cultures that
normally would gather wood for
cooking fires. Reduces carbon
dioxide (greenhouse gas) emission
in cultures that normally use
natural gas or electricity for
cooking. See SCI Newsletters
- Northern
California Solar Energy Association
- Solar
Catalyst Group http://www.solarcatalyst.com
- Solar
Living Institute conducts
Sustainable Living Workshops,
runs the Solar Living Center
in Hopland, California, and SolFest,
an annual weekend educational
celebration. Also has online
newsletter at http://www.solarliving.org/enews/current.htm
- Solar
Cells
- March 29, 2002 (By Reuters)
WASHINGTON. Cheap,
plastic solar cells that
can be painted onto just
about any surface could provide
power for a range of portable
and even wearable electronic
devices, scientists said
Thursday. A team at the University
of California Berkeley said
they had come up with a first
generation of plastic solar
cells, which could someday
replace the bulky and expensive
silicon-based cells used
widely now. "Our efficiency
is not good enough yet by
about a factor of 10, but
this technology has the potential
to do a lot better," Paul
Alivisatos, a professor of
chemistry who led the study...
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