Writings and videos about science activities with an emphasis on environmental science and energy measurement

Browsing Archive: May, 2015

Poor Man's Refrigerator

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, May 29, 2015, In : environmental news 
This item is particularly interesting because most environmentally-friendly products are not cheap. This is sold in India for people who lack electricity or cannot afford an electric refrigerator. It is amazingly simple and cost-effective. I would only like to see how cool it keeps food on a hot day.
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WHO Glitch Resolved & New Video About Using the WHO Website

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, May 22, 2015, In : modified lab procedures 
The glitch at the WHO website has been resolved. The filtering system does not work for downloading data to so that downloading is quicker. This means I had to change the procedure from what was written in the lab manual. Another part of the problem was that the Safari browser was not downloading the excel file in a usable format, so I used Google Chrome. Now that these problems have been solved I was able to complete the video so that those who are using this lab activity know what changes n...
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Glitch in WHO Website

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, May 14, 2015, In : lab procedure explanations 
I am in the process of producing a video for navigating the WHO website, but there is a glitch in the Global Health Observatory website that does not filter the data when I download the excel file. For example, when I try to download life expectancy for 1990, the excel file gives me life expectancy for all the years form 1990 to 2013. This was not a problem with I published the manual so it probably can be fixed. I just filled out their feedback form to indicate the problem so they can hopefu...
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New Video on Collecting Data from the U.S. Department of Energy

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, In : lab procedure explanations 
I just posted a new video based on one of the activities in my lab manual. Specifically "The Fossil Fuel Costs of Electric Cars". It involves navigating the U.S. Energy Information Administration website in order to acquire data to calculate how much of each fossil fuel is needed to generate a given amount of electricity. This in turn is used to estimate the efficiency of electric cars in terms of how much fossil fuels they consume at the power plant.
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New Video on the CIA World Factbook

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, May 10, 2015, In : lab procedure explanations 
I just put out a new video showing students how to download and graph data from the CIA World Factbook. In the past, I had posted an entry about incorporating developmental-related issues in environmental science. I hope that by posting the video,the activity in my book titled Development and Quality of Life is more likely to get used.
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A Low Budget Remediation Strategy for Nutrient Pollution

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, May 1, 2015, In : environmental news 
According to this article by the director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, strategically placed ditches can play a major role in capturing and removing nutrient runoff by providing a place were these nutrients can be held until plants use them up. One of my biggest disagreements with Bjorn Lomborg in his book "The Skeptical Environmentalist" is the very high cost he puts on the remediation of nutrient pollution is bodies of water. I have not done the math myself, but given the economic benef...
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About this blog

This blog was originally created in January 2013 to serve as a means for providing updates on science activities from the environmental science lab manual Ecology, Development, and Sustainability. I have now expanded its purpose to include other items of interest to science teachers. 

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