The "Nest"

I just read a really interesting article about a greener thermostat developed by former Apple executive Tony Fadell. The thermostat displays a green leaf when you're conserving energy and can adjust the temperature in your home minimally in order to conserve energy. With the Nest a 1 degree change in energy can save up to 5% of the energy used! It also remembers your preferences in order to predict what you would want from your thermostat and adjusts to fit your preferences. It can even tell if when there are people in your home, in order to conserve energy while you're away!
I thought this was really cool, so thought I'd share! (:

November 28

I've continued reading about energy and its hidden costs. I can't believe the amount of different factors that go into energy production that we don't think about! Our society has become so dependent on energy with price ceilings that cause the cost of energy to be realistically low and we never think about the consequences that result from such low prices. The book I'm reading even suggested that several energy producers don't even realize the true cost of their labors on the environment, because of the unrealistically low prices of supplies that go into the production of energy.

I also read a really interesting article in Time about coal production in the US. A lot of people have been pushing for cleaner energy, but many others don't want it, due to the amount of jobs that would be lost, especially in such a bad economy. Funfact: 25% of jobs in West Virginia are from coal production! Wow!

Also, Japan had a few minor earthquakes this week, luckily there was no damage. (:

Hidden Costs of Energy

I've recently been reading Hidden Costs of Energy. The book began by defining some necessary terms and explaining things like externalitities in simpler terms. It's continued by discussing the costs that are not accounted for in the market energy prices. I've found it really interesting how much is unaccounted for in the cost of energy that we pay for, that has been unleashed on the environment. Each year trillions of dollars in damages to the environment due to externalities are released. In 2005 the damages associated with only coal from the pollutants SO2, NOx, PM2.5 and PM10 alone added up to be about $62 billion dollars ($156 million/plant)! I honestly never would have guessed such a large figure! Although, the average damages per kWh is only 1.7 cents, which seems as though that is a fairly easily solved problem!

Two Interesting Articles Regarding Fukushima

I thought these both were really interesting! Enjoy!
A Visit To Fukushima Begins
Japanese Official Drinks Water from Fukushima Reactor Buildings

November 14

This week I finished Green Gone Wrong.  I thought the connections that the author made between agriculture and energy were extremely interesting. I read some articles discussing Japan and it's energy. Apparently radioactive xenon has been found near one of the "deactivated" plants, which could be problematic (xenon has a half-life of less than a week). Japan seems to be veering on a course that leads them back to nuclear power and less-sustainable energy sources, but Germany is making an attempt to phase out nuclear power altogether, which I thought was very interesting! I also met with Dr. Bozanic and gave him my reflection paper and some new titles for this month!

Green Gone Wrong

This week I read the majority of Green Gone Wrong. I found it really interesting. I still have a few pages left, but I should finish those tomorrow. It discussed eco-architecture and some "greener" energy alternatives. I learned about 2 ecologically friendly cities in Europe, which I thought was really cool that entire communities are trying to be that sustainable with the current technology. It also discussed green energy alternatives like biodiesel. It discussed how biodiesel isn't really "green," because the amount of energy that must go into producing biodiesel (intensive farming practices to produce and gather the corn or other plant) and the land that must be converted into farmland to make make up for the lost food production make biodiesel less green than fossil fuels.
This week I'll also be meeting with Dr. Bozanic and writing my reflection paper, which I'll post once finished. I'm also going to be looking at some new titles about energy and environmental engineering!