Archive for the 'Expert Advice' Category

Underwater Turbines

Waves, tides, and currents are all examples of underwater energy sources. As technology advances, scientists are looking more to the ocean as a renewable energy source in order to replace the harmful burning of fossil fuels. Ocean waves, tides, and currents can all produce insurmountable amounts of energy, but it has proven tricky to capture this energy.
Continue reading »

Tsunami Wave

Ever since the famous 2005 tsunami wave that hit Thailand and its surrounding islands, tsunamis have been given great importance and rightly so. Tsunami waves are among the worst disasters that nature can throw at us in all its furious glory, and since the 2005 disaster special attention has been given to the science of the formation of tsunami waves, so as to form a fool proof warning system which all islands and coastal areas can implement. These warning systems provide a “heads-up” signal in case of a tsunami, although they can only give a warning a few minutes before the event, but sometimes a few minutes is all you need to save countless lives. So, let’s look into how tsunamis are formed.
Continue Reading »

Least Polluted Cities Worldwide

In a world finally waking up to the many horrors of global warming, countries are finally realizing the potentially lethal effects it may have on our very existence. Regional climates have already started changing, the ice caps are melting at an alarming rate; all in all our earth is quickly reaching its boiling point. However, through the efforts of a few well organized institutions, organizations and individuals, world leaders are finally realizing the dangers and implementing, perhaps grudgingly, climate protective policies.

Some nations are making great leaps towards a cleaner and healthier earth, by formulating environment friendly policies and ensuring their strict implementation. The cities of these nations are therefore, naturally, the cleaner and less polluted than any other city in the world. While there is a list of some of the cleanest and least polluted cities in the world – this list will change as more countries and cities step up to the plate to add their names.
Continue Reading »

Solar Power Plant

1. Wind. This is probably the most promising of all sustainable energy sources. There is a lot of potential in wind energy. Currently wind power is responsible for producing about 20 percent of Denmark’s electricity, and about 7 percent of Germany’s electricity – the country that has the largest market in the world for wind power. However, there are some disadvantages to wind power as well. Of course, it is necessary to put the wind turbines in very windy places, otherwise they will not be effective. This means they would simply not work in certain areas of the world.
Continue Reading »

Biomass Feedstock

Biomass energy production is considered as one of the greatest prospects for the green low carbon future. Many researchers are currently focused on the generation of energy using biomass, and on the economic challenges involved. The origin of the biomass, the logistics, as well as storage and handling make up an entire energy supply chain with a large number of variables.

The biomass conversation supply chain is not yet developed. Many of the transportation, storage and handling systems that are required still need to be set up. For biomass conversation to be cost efficient, existing infrastructure and technology needs to be leveraged in the meantime.
Continue Reading »

Reducing Pollution

Fossil fuels: oil, gas and coal, are being consumed at an exponentially higher rate than they are forming, and so sometime down the line there just isn’t going to be anything left, or at least anything that is economically feasible to extract. Fossil fuels have formed over millions of years, and are the fossilized remains of plants and animals. The influence of heat and pressure on these remains ever so gradually turned them into the fuels that we extract and use today. Click to read more about fossil fuels formation.

Although the stats differ, something like 90 percent of the greenhouse gases that are released each day in the world come from the burning of oil, gas and coal. In addition, fossil fuels pollution occurs as a result of the release of a large number of toxins, such as sulfur dioxide and heavy metals. These pollutants are eating away at the lungs of every person who lives in a car-filled city. Fossil fuels pollution is truly one of the greatest issues facing this generation.
Continue Reading »

Advantages of Global Warming

Over the past 20 years global warming has been a hot topic and it is becoming an increasingly controversial issue. The negative effects of global warming are all very real, and the need for renewable energy to replace fossil fuels is increasing exponentially. However, not all of the effects on the climate would be so terrible. In fact, there may actually be some benefits of global warming.

The term “global warming” to begin with is a bit misleading, because it implies that the entire globe is heating up. This is not so. Only some areas of the world are experiencing increasing temperatures, while others will not experience any changes for many years, perhaps even centuries. Moreover, areas that normally experience extremely cold temperatures could actually see some positive effects of global warming. The number of deaths caused by frigid temperatures would drop substantially, which would result in reduced health care costs. Higher temperatures in those areas would also mean that less energy would be necessary for heating homes.
Continue Reading »

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The great pacific garbage patch actually consists of two large areas – the eastern and the western patches. The eastern patch is between California and Hawaii and it is over twice the size of Texas alone. The western patch is located between Hawaii and Japan. These Pacific Ocean garbage patches collect currents that carry debris and waste from all over the globe. When the currents reach the great pacific garbage patch, they deposit the garbage they have accumulated. Because neither fishers nor tourists ever visit the area due to the lack of marine life, most people are not even aware of the existence of the pacific ocean garbage patches.

Some people have called it “the plastic island”, and according to them, it poses an enormous threat to the environment of the whole planet. However, others claim that it actually has great potential for alternative energy generation. There are waste to energy programs, which may turn the great pacific garbage patch into electricity and heat for homes and offices. Waste to energy power plants convert solid waste (even plastics) into energy. These waste to energy programs create a win-win situation in the case of the pacific ocean garbage patches. The trash would be taken out of the ocean, leaving the marine life and the birds unaffected by toxins, and energy can be generated by non-polluting methods.
Continue Reading »

Geothermal Power Generation

Global warming in Antarctica is a topic which has serious reprecussions for the world as a whole. The effects of global warming on Antarctica are stronger than its effects on any other part of the world. As most people are aware, the great problem is that the melting of huge ice sheets could lead to a huge increase in global sea levels, which means that it is vital to monitor the effects of global warming in Antarctica, as this then subsequently effects the whole world. So, how does global warming affect Antarctica?
Continue Reading »

Renewable Energy Sources

There are two types of sources of energy in the world: renewable energy sources and non-renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources include solar energy, biomass energy, wind energy, tidal energy, hydro energy, and geothermal energy. Non-renewable energy sources include oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy.

Renewable energy sources are generated directly from nature, like the sun, rain, wind, tides, and it is possible to generate it over and over whenever it is needed. Renewable energy sources are abundant and are definitely the cleanest energy sources in Earth. For instance, it is possible to utilize the energy we get from the sun in order to generate electricity. Geothermal, wind, tides,and biomass energy from plants can also be used in different forms.

Most energy that is used in the world today is generated from non-renewable energy sources. These energy sources can be re-generated over a short period of time. Natural gas and oil are derived from anicent plant or animal remains or fossils. These remains are what we have been left with after millions of years of fluctuation in pressure and temperature.
Continue Reading »