Showing category "environmental news" (Show all posts)

Firefighters spend FOUR HOURS putting out the flames in a crashed Tesla.

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, April 22, 2021, In : environmental news 
We will have to move beyond lithium batteries if electric cars are to become a thing.


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Article on Government Website Says Masks are Counterproductive

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, In : environmental news 
According to this article on an NIH-related government website, masks are for the most part, counterproductive for fighting COVID:


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Deadly Consequences of Food Adulteration in the Past

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, April 12, 2021, In : environmental news 
Disturbing video on heartbreaking consequences of food adulteration in Victorian England:


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California Condor Fed by Puppet

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, In : environmental news 
This video is great for discussing captive breeding of endangered species:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/other/watch-as-adorable-condor-chick-is-fed-with-a-puppet/vi-BB16dV9Q

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Amish Community Achieves "Herd Immunity" Against COVID

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, March 29, 2021, In : environmental news 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9411549/Amish-community-United-States-achieve-herd-immunity-Covid.html

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Health Expenditures per Capita

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, March 25, 2021, In : environmental news 

This cool moving chart shows health expenditures per capita in the highest spending nations. The US is not always number one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxGIjfogXCA&t=86s


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Fauci Wants to Vaccinate Babies

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, March 20, 2021, In : environmental news 
So far there is no conclusive evidence that this vaccine is harmful but giving this vaccine to children is wrong on two counts: First, children are least at risk from the virus. Second, the vaccine is too experimental to use on people who have so many years of life ahead of them. Some ideas are so idiotic that only a PhD would believe in them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK5eioMDklo



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Putting Masks in Children Does More Harm Than Good

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, March 19, 2021, In : environmental news 
Few things bother me more than seeing children under the age of 5 wearing masks. It's time to call out people that encouraged this madness:


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The Unintended Consequences of Living in an Antiseptic Environment

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, March 12, 2021, In : environmental news 
This fascinating article elaborates the "hygiene hypothesis" as a significant cause of allergies, how it was made worse by measures taken in response to the pandemic. It also proposes shocking solutions like "probiotic" surface cleaners. Read it all:


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Lynx Scolded by Embattled Chicken Farmer

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, In : environmental news 
Well on the bright side this lynx got off easy. As someone who grew up in the “rub nose in it” school of ethics, I can relate to this:


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More Bad News for Soy Consumers

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, In : environmental news 
I have heard for years that soybean oil has estrogenic properties, and there is speculation this may play a role in breast cancer in women and declining testosterone levels in men. And now this:

https://www.eutimes.net/2020/01/soybean-oil-causes-mental-retardation-autism-dementia-and-alzheimers-research-finds/

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A Plant for Absorbing Air Pollution

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, February 26, 2021, In : environmental news 
Useful for industrial towns:

https://www.ecowatch.com/plants-fighting-air-pollution-2650611803.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2

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Environmental Consequences of Growing Fuel on Land Confirmed

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, October 18, 2015, In : environmental news 
I have always been strongly against used land to grow fuel as both costly and bad for the environment. This article finally documents some of the adverse consequences that up to now had only been a matter of speculation.
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Portable Wind Turbine

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Tuesday, October 6, 2015, In : environmental news 
While there are many version of portable photovoltaic panels, this is the first time I have ever seen a portable wind generator. I look forward to seeing the price when it becomes available to see how it compares with photovoltaics.
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Robust Evidence that "Farm Dust" Protects Children from Allergies

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, September 4, 2015, In : environmental news 
Since my son suffers from many allergies I am always on the look-out for good articles on how this condition can be minimized. I am particularly intrigued by the "hygiene hypothesis" which presumes that rate at which people suffer from allergies has increased because children growing up in cities and suburbs are not regularly exposed to pathogens and parasites as their rural counterparts. This contrast is more evident in more affluent countries, perhaps because city dwellers in less affluent ...
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Solar Impulse Lands in Hawaii!

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, July 3, 2015, In : environmental news 
The Solar Impulse just landed in Hawaii after 5 days of solo flight from Nagoya, Japan. This is a big deal because it is perhaps the riskiest portion of the first RTW flight on a manned plane that is powered entirely by photovoltaic panels. Kudos to Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg for making it happen. As you may well know, the Piccard family has been setting records for dangerous pioneering research for generations. But how many of you know that Bertrand's grandfather served at the rea...
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New Lithium-Sulfur Batteries Could Double Energy Density While Lowering Costs

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, July 1, 2015, In : environmental news 
This new lithium battery that uses sulfur as the oxidizing agent could dramatically increase the range of electric vehicles while lowering the price due of the low cost of sulfur. Lithium however is still rare and expensive. If there is a possibility of combining sulfur with more commonly available alkali metals like sodium in batteries the price should be dramatically lower. The sacrifice in energy density (sodium is heavier than lithium) may be worth it to those with short commutes who do n...
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A Realistic Assessment of the Hydrogen Economy and Fuel Cell Cars

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, June 27, 2015, In : environmental news 
Even though I have a personal fascination with fuel cells and even incorporate a fuel cell activity into my lab manual, I think it is a waste of resources to invest in the "hydrogen economy". This article does a great job of summarizing the economic and technological hurdles of using hydrogen as a major transportation fuel. First, it utterly demolishes the myth that hydrogen is a "green" fuel since the only practical source of hydrogen is natural gas. Second, it shows how lithium batteries ar...
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The High Cost of Carbon Emission Reduction

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, June 22, 2015, In : environmental news 
Realistic economic trade-offs of policies designed to reduce carbon emission are seldom addressed by environmentalists outside the Copenhagen Consensus, so it is refreshing to see this issue brought up in this journal. Even though the authors rightly emphasis the problem of using agricultural land for biofuel (a policy that I have always strongly opposed), they also touch upon the high cost of carbon reduction technology, which in turn gives consumers less disposable income. The proponents of...
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Battery-Powered Ferry in Norway

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, June 15, 2015, In : environmental news 
Given the range limitation of battery-powered transportation I do not expect to see electric cargo vessels in the near future, but this electric ferry that carries passengers and cars takes advantage of the fact that ferries usually cover the same small distance. The installation of a battery unit at the port has cut down fueling time to 10 minutes, making this lag time comparable to that of its diesel counterparts.
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Off-Grid Microshelter

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, In : environmental news 
This charming little shelter that provides all its utility needs was developed in Eastern Europe. It looks tiny from the outside, but the pictures of the interior convey an efficient use of the limited space. While this may be too small for regular housing, it may provide an interesting model for larger plans. I look forward to seeing the price tag when it becomes available.
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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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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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Flying Now More Efficient Than Driving?

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, In : environmental news 
According to this study from the University of Michigan taking a plane is more efficient that "driving".The comments below the article reflect my misgivings about the lack of comparison to other forms of ground transportation (like long distance buses), but in all fairness I only read the abstract of the study. Maybe these comparisons are in the original research article. However, the fact that plane travel has gotten cheaper and more crowded is probably indicative of improvements in energy e...
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Questioning the Sustainability of Electric Vehicles

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, April 4, 2015, In : environmental news 

While I have a great deal of respect for Bjorn Lomborg, I would like to see an itemized chart showing how he came to the conclusion that electric vehicles are more polluting than those that rely on internal combustion engines. Beyond the obvious fact that electric cars are only as clean as the means whereby the electricity is generated, Lomborg does bring up the overlooked issue of battery life and the resources needed for their manufacture and disposal. The fact that recharg...


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Update on Fuel Cells

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, March 22, 2015, In : environmental news 

In the past, I gave some tips on teaching about fuel cells. The main advantage of fuels cells over rechargeable batteries is energy density: Rechargeable batteries must carry with them all components of the oxidation-reduction reaction that generates current. In contrast, fuel cells vehicles are lighter because (like combustion engines) they only need to transport the reducing agent (what is referred to in plain English as “fuel”). Unfortunately, most fuel cells only run ...


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Moving Bicycles and Pedestrians Underground

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, March 19, 2015, In : environmental news 

In downtown Houston there is a 6-mile network of underground tunnels and second story catwalks that allow pedestrians to walk to many popular buildings without experiencing the summer heat. I often made use of these between the classes I taught at the University of Houston, not because I could not tolerate the heat, but because it allowed me to walk indefinitely without having to cross any streets. Many of these tunnels had shops, restaurants, and spaces for art, so there was...


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Update on the Car from Elio Motors

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, March 13, 2015, In : environmental news 
Here an an update on a post I made in the past about a highly affordable 84 mpg car that will soon be produced in the U.S. An interesting and commonsensical point made by Mr. Elio in the video is how mass is the main factor determining fuel economy in the city, just as aerodynamics determines mpg on the highway. Interestingly, this car is legally classified as a type of "motorcycle" and the manufacturers are trying to persuade some states not to require the drivers to wear helmets. When I liv...
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Two Items on Hypereutrophication

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, March 11, 2015, In : environmental news 

This interview of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s director Alan Girard hits close to home because I live only 40 minutes from this important estuary. Much concern has been raised due to Governor Hogan’s easing of regulations addressing nutrient runoff into the Bay. However, what mainly caught my attention was how Girard singled out the use of manure fertilization as a very significant source of nutrient pollution into the bay. Traditionally, organic fertilizers (like manure) were regarded...


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Correlation Between Personality and Terrain Preference

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, In : environmental news 

I like both mountains and ocean shores, but if I have to choose one I prefer the ocean. A new study implies that introverts prefer mountains and extraverts prefer the seaside. Apparently this preference is related to the likelihood of socializing in the given environment since mountains are regarded as more “secluded” (this probably rules out skiing resorts). I am not an introvert, but I do prefer secluded beaches because of their natural beauty, especially if there are s...


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More on the Ethanol Racket

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, March 1, 2015, In : environmental news 
This article about the European Union's Ban on First Generation Biofuels contains two videos that succinctly describe the damage of the ethanol racket on the environment and politics. According to the first video the mandate was started by George W. Bush, but Obama pretty much ran with it. The second video describes how congressman Charles Grassley goes after an oil company that chooses not want to sell E-85 (an crappy product that almost nobody wants due to its low energy density and destruc...
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The Ethanol Mandate Versus Reality

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, February 26, 2015, In : environmental news 

Grain prices are dramatically lower due to high yields and lower demand for ethanol fuel. I have never been a fan of setting aside land to grow biofuels, and I have always regarded the ethanol mandate (for putting ethanol in gasoline) as a particularly egregious example of politicians implementing bad policies just to buy votes. While I feel for tenant farmers struggling to pay the rent, they partly have themselves to blame for their participation in this charade. 


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Reverse Desertification: A Win-Win Means of Carbon Sequestration

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, February 21, 2015, In : environmental news 
Reversing the process of desertification is a winner on many levels, not only because it provides more arable land, but also because it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere, addresses one of the greatest concerns of climate change (the growth of deserts in lower latitudes), and increases biodiversity. With most forms of geoengineering there are too many unknown consequences, and with emission reductions we know more about the dire economic consequences than the ecological advantages. Hence, mor...
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The Brave New World of Geoengineering

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, February 16, 2015, In : environmental news 

Without a major technological breakthrough, no country will sacrifice its economy to reduce its carbon emissions in a large way. Hence, nothing short of a world government along the lines of that in North Korea can make this happen now, and most people (like myself) prefer to take chances with global warming than live like the North Koreans. Consequently, some environmentalist prescribe geoengineering as a means to offset anthropogenic climate change. This article cautions ag...


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For Environmentalists Who Like Long Showers

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, February 11, 2015, In : environmental news 
Like most Americans, I appreciate the relaxation that comes with a warm shower. But as an environmentalist I am mindful of how much water and energy this consumes. I somethings thought about designing a means for recirculating water in a shower after the dirty water has gone down the drain. This shower designed in Sweden has taken this idea a step farther by means of instant purification as well as recirculation, thereby saving a whooping 90% of the water otherwise consumed. The only thing mi...
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The Cost-Effectiveness of Vaccination

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, February 6, 2015, In : environmental news 

While on the topic of my activity using the WHO database, I will relate this to the recent measles outbreak in the U.S. Based on this article, “herd immunity” kicks in at about 92-94%. Shockingly, some counties of California have immunization rates is as low as 18-23%. Evidently, some people in these counties feel they can “afford” to refuse vaccination because of their access to first rate medical care in the event that their children are stricken. This is not the ca...


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Alleviating Poverty by Eliminating the Use of Solid Fuels in the Home

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, In : environmental news 

This article highlights the cost-effectiveness of subsidizing modern stoves (such as gas or electric) in order to phase out solid fuels like firewood and dung. The devastating effect of indoor pollution from solid fuels has been thoroughly documented by the WHO.  In one of my lab activities (2-5: Risk Factors and Health Outcomes in Africa) students compile raw data from the WHO interactive website. This culminates in a graph with solid fuel use on the x-axis and childhood dea...


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Two New Articles on Urban Farming

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, January 28, 2015, In : environmental news 
On average, OECD inhabitants of cities live more sustainably than those who live in suburbs and rural areas. This is not necessarily so in less developed countries where a large portion of the rural population relies mostly on manual labor and subsistence farming. Since standards of living are rising in most of the world, we must look to the role of urbanization in minimizing the trade-offs between economic development and protection of natural resources. While Curitiba often gets much attent...
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Genetically Engineered Bacteria Relies on Synthetic Amino Acid

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, January 25, 2015, In : environmental news 

Some of you may recall the book/movie Jurassic Park, where biotechnologists cloned dinosaurs from DNA samples extracted from ancient mosquitoes preserved in amber. In order to prevent their products from endangering the outside world, they incorporated a mutation that made them highly dependent on the lysine supplements provided by the park staff. Since lysine is a naturally occurring amino acid, this strategy was not very effective when they did escape (this was not in the m...


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IKEA Applies Its Innovative “Flat Packaging” Concept to Refugee Shelters

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, January 17, 2015, In : environmental news 

I generally hate shopping, but I like going to IKEA. There’s something about the way they arrange the space that makes strolling through their store much more interesting than being in a mall. Predictably, nearly all the furniture in our house is from IKEA. My first exposure to the elegant minimalist style of Northern European furniture was a small store I knew as a teenager called “Scan” (short for “Scandinavia”). This store near our house is long gone, and I was i...


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Generating Electricity from Living Plants

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, January 15, 2015, In : environmental news 
This video was produced by a private company that found a way to generate electricity from plants without harming them. From what I gathered in the description, they accomplish this by placing electrodes in the soil in locations that have differing voltage potentials. This electrical gradient can be attributed to the the breakdown of photosynthetic products released from the plants' roots. Much like a hydrogen fuel cell, the product of this electrochemical reaction is water. I do not know how...
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100-Fold Increase in the Rate of Soil Erosion

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Tuesday, January 13, 2015, In : environmental news 

According to this article human activity has increased the rate of erosion about 100-fold. This is not surprising to me. I recall my agronomy instructor about 35 years ago using the last day of class to give a slide show to discuss the erosive effects of plowing and building construction. This is also why I have always been strongly against using land to grow biofuels. In this article I wrote a few years ago, I reference other research suggesting that biofuels may have played...


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Highly Readable and Informative Chart on Radiation Exposure

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, January 11, 2015, In : environmental news 
I abhor getting X-rayed, and every time a doctor or dentist requests one for myself or a family member I always ask myself: Is this necessary or is he/she just practicing defensive medicine? In one event, I refused to be X-rayed for a routine dental appointment and had to sign a waiver acknowledging my refusal. In another event, my son was rushed to the emergency room for an asthma attack and the doctor persuaded me to allow him to get a chest X-ray in case he had pneumonia. In retrospect I s...
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Favorable Mention of My Lab Manual

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, January 10, 2015, In : environmental news 
While fishing around the internet for mention of my lab manual, I was very pleased to see this favorable comment by Andrew Friedland (see the November 13 entry). Based on the discussion threads I have read on the College Board environmental science forum, I know the textbook who co-wrote with Rick Relaya is very widely used. Now they are putting out a new edition which is thoroughly described in this video.

I met Andrew Friedland at the AP Conference in 2010(?) shortly before he published the ...
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Tree-Like Wind Energy Structure with Turbine "Leaves"

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, January 8, 2015, In : environmental news 
This tree-like structure produced in France replaces leaves with mini-turbines that produce electricity. It is quieter and more aesthetically pleasing than standard wind turbines. It also manages to generate electricity even when subjected to light breezes. I would think that this design is also much less likely to kill birds and bats. Maybe this information is not yet available. According to the designers, this "pays for itself" in only two years. I would be more satisfied knowing how much e...
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Floating Greenhouse Also Purifies Water

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, January 4, 2015, In : environmental news 
This floating greenhouse could make densely-populated port cities much more self-sufficient and sustainable. Using only energy from the sun, these hydroponic farms can purify all the water they need from bodies of water that are either to salty or polluted for human consumption. Given the high labor intensity of hydroponics, this innovation may not be cost-effective in the U.S., but it may work out in developing countries where labor costs are relatively low. Having experienced the pollution,...
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Dumpster House

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, January 1, 2015, In : environmental news 
While homes built from shipping containers have gotten much attention as a means for building sustainable housing, this house takes minimalism to its extreme. What makes this project particularly interesting is that it is being carried out not by an instructor or architecture or engineering, but someone who teaches environmental science. Having lived in Texas for over 10 years, I think he will have to put an open canopy over it during the summer to avoid getting cooked!

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A Possible Substitute for Lithium

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, December 21, 2014, In : environmental news 
The central theme of this article is a new technology that improves the performance of lithium batteries. Unless you are in this field (I am not) you may struggle to understand the breakthrough the author is describing. I confess that I never really "got it", but what caught my attention was that this new process might allow for electric vehicle batteries that use sodium instead of lithium for their battery packs. This is very significant because lithium is a rare metal that must be imported ...
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American-made 84 mpg car that sells for less than $7000

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, December 17, 2014, In : environmental news 
The problem with hybrids and electric vehicles is that they are still very expensive to produce. This car from a new company called "Elio Motors" does not rely on government subsidies or tax rebates for its incredibly low price. The airplane cockpit design is for purposes of cutting down air resistance. From all appearances, this car only seats two, but given that the popular "Smart" car which gets less than 40 mpg and costs over $12,000, this car seems to be a much better deal.
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Cost Effectiveness of Photovoltaics

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, December 15, 2014, In : environmental news 
This TED Talk is not that new, and a bit longer than usual, but the speaker does a pretty good job of summarizing how to set up photovoltaics in your home. The main reason I am posting this is because, much like Lab 3-9 (Photovoltaic Cell Dynamics)  and this corresponding video, the speaker presents a calculation for how many years are needed for the photovoltaic panels to pay for themselves. He bases his calculation on the "cost per watt hour" of photovoltaics. My calculation is based on "co...
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Producing Hydrocarbon Fuels from Scratch

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, November 26, 2014, In : environmental news 
The production of hydrocarbons using carbon dioxide and hydrogen (obtained from water) is not new, but this plant in Germany is the first time it is being done on an industrial scale. The hydrogen is obtained from water by means of electrolysis. The carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide. These two feedstocks, H2 and CO are then subjected to Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis from production of a wide variety of hydrocarbon fuels. The facility currently produces about a barrel a day. Hopefully, ...
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Multi-Use Water Barrage in Singapore

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, November 12, 2014, In : environmental news 
I visited Singapore in 1999 and was amazed at the cleanliness and efficiency of this city. Only when I visited some of its open markets was I reminded that I was visiting one of the most crowded cities on Earth. So it did not surprise me to see this article about this aesthetically pleasing water barrage that serves mainly as a means of flood control and storing freshwater, and secondarily as a recreational "green space" for the city's inhabitants.

According to the CIA fact book, Singapore has...
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Indoor Urban Farming

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Friday, October 3, 2014, In : environmental news 
Here is an article on the viability of indoor urban farms. As a graduate student in the 1990's I visited a hydroponics farm in Texas where they grew strawberries and combined it with fish culture. I also visited an indoor shrimp farm that used recirculated salt water I do not know today if they are still in business. At any rate, the idea of growing food in crowded cities is interesting. In order to compete with traditional food sources they use different marketing strategies. Currently, food...
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A Visual Perspective What You Get From Copper and Diamond Mines

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Monday, September 8, 2014, In : environmental news 
Do not forget to recycle those batteries! This photoshop gives you perspective on how much target material you get out of mines. One of the biggest problems with the mining of metal ores is that the environmental costs are not incorporated into the monetary cost of the product. Consequently, taxpayers usually take up the tab for remediation of the toxic residues from the ores of nickel and copper, not to mention the ripped up landscape (I do not know if this is also true of diamond mines). In...
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Algae Biofuel from Sewage

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, August 23, 2014, In : environmental news 
I am never a fan of land-based biofuels because they are worse for the environment than fossil fuels, and I regard algae fuels as problematic due to the difficulty of separating phytoplankton from water. However, this use of algae as a means to treat sewage as well as serve as biofuel is noteworthy because it also serves to remediate an environmental liability. I proposed this in an article I published five years ago where I question the use a switchgrass as a sustainable biofuel. I suggested...
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Ecotourism with Children

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, August 16, 2014, In : environmental news 
I got back last week from a trip to Florida. We started with "Bathtub Reef" near Stuart Florida. We chose this place because of its reputation as a good place for children to snorkel due to its shallow waters and gentle waves. We only got to do a couple of hours of snorkeling because we had wasted too much time trying to get a hotel by the beach, only to find them way out of our price range. We would have saved much more time if we had directly gotten a hotel in town, because we only needed t...
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Bad News on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, June 5, 2014, In : environmental news 
This article based on well-to-wheel analysis exposes some inconvenient truths about hydrogen fuel cell cars. Even though I am fascinated by the fuel cell principle and even include a lab activity on fuel cells, I have never been a fan of fuel cell cars. In fact, two of my activities (Lab 2-2: Transportation and Lab 3-6: Fuel Cell Dynamics) expose the inefficiency of extracting hydrogen from water for purposes of using it in fuel cells. This is why most hydrogen is extracted from natural gas (...
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Electric Car from 1905

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, May 22, 2014, In : environmental news 
Electric cars are not so new. I remember as a child in the 1960's when I saw a commercial for "Timex" electric watches where a little old lady enters a jewelry store and purchases an electric watch. Given the context that electric watches were a novelty at this time, the merchant says to her "Welcome to the electric age!" (I am paraphrasing). She then retorts, "Young man, I have been driving one for over 40 years". In the next scene, she leaves the shop and enters a battery-powered antique ca...
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Electric cars for rent …in China!

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Sunday, February 23, 2014, In : environmental news 
Even though technological limitations still make it hard to electric cars to compete in the U.S., here is an interesting development; a vending machine that doles out rental electric cars in Chinese Cities. Given that this is a private endeavor with probably little or no help from the Chinese government it is worth seeing how this develops over the next few years.

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The World's Largest "Battery"

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, September 7, 2013, In : environmental news 
In an earlier post, I noted the importance of energy storage. I was also surprised by the fact that more than half of this comes from water that is pumped into a reservoir in order to serve as temporary hydropower. Here is an interesting article on the world's largest "battery" of this kind. This is considered by some to be more environmentally-friendly than conventional hydropower in that it can be used in brown fields (such as abandoned quarries) and can be used to supplement intermittent f...
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The Hygiene Hypothesis and Autoimmune Disorders

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Thursday, August 22, 2013, In : environmental news 
According to the hygiene hypothesis children today have more allergies due to an overly clean environment that results in the immune system overreacting to nonpathogenic substances. This can be prevented in part by living on a farm or at least having a dog in the house. The is also credible evidence that probiotics (supplements or fermented foods with beneficial bacteria) play a role in reducing allergies.

Both my wife and myself have had worms when we were children and neither of us have any...
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Using Supercapacitors Instead of Batteries

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Tuesday, August 13, 2013, In : environmental news 
The biggest disadvantages of electric vehicles are prolonged charging times, high cost of lithium batteries, and mass of the batteries. Even though (according to my own calculations) lithium batteries are about 4 times more energy dense than their lead acid counterparts, the mass of lithium battery material needed for a road trip can be 10 times that of the gasoline that can be used to cover the same distance in a conventional vehicle. In contrast to internal combustion engines and fuel cells...
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Ecotourism with Children

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, August 10, 2013, In : environmental news 

I just got back last night after about ten days vacation spent mostly in Florida. Among the highlights of our trip was seeing a manatee grazing at the inlet in Anastasia State Park. We were lucky because most of them migrate north in the summer. It helped that the tide was near its peak during the early evening and that most of the visitors were gone. The high tide made the seagrass accessible for grazing, and with less people the manatee felt more comfortable feeding near th...


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Formula Sun Grand Prix

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Wednesday, July 24, 2013, In : environmental news 
Even though these cars are not practical, I am amazed at how fast they move.

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Using Grazers to Reverse Desertification

Posted by Antonio Chaves on Saturday, March 16, 2013, In : environmental news 
This is not an update on my lab manual. It is environmental news that some of you might find interesting. Here is a lecture by Allan Savory on using grazers to reverse the process of desertification, thereby addressing one of the worst consequences of climate change. Here is the link: 

http://vimeo.com/8291896

I am not an agronomist, but what he suggests is both counterintuitive and contradictory to what we teach from our textbooks. Nevertheless, his hypothesis on how this impr...
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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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