"Water Adds New Constraint to Power"

I just saw this article on NY Times (click the title for a link) and thought it was very relevant to our class.

We've talked a lot about how different kinds of power generation create different amounts of carbon. We've also discussed how one of the major problems of climate change will be water shortages. Those two debates are more connected than I thought - most types of power plants (including thermal solar) use water as a coolant. There are different ways to do this of course, with different considerations. Some methods put warm water back into rivers and lakes, which can kill wildlife, and other types let it evaporate, which doesn't kill the wildlife but wastes the water. It's a really interesting debate - and yet another wrinkle to an already complex issue of trying to generate power. At the same time, however, California has successfully put regulations in place that are encouraging new power plants to put in less water-consuming cooling systems. It remains to be seen how this issue will finally play out, but I'm looking forward to seeing where people go from here.

An Idea for Our Report

Hey everyone,

As the heating team met today after class, the idea came up to include a quote from the heating plant supervisor Jim Franklin. I bring this up to the whole class because I was wondering if for consistency, we would all like to include at least one quote in our respective sections. It could make our writing more personal as it did when Kolbert added her characters. Ours would be on a smaller scale, but I think it's something we should consider and decide on.

Also, maybe we would like to discuss consistency with photos as well. Would everyone be willing to commit to providing at least one photo for their section? We could use it at the beginning of each section with the heading, perhaps.

Finally, I have a separate question regarding the electricity team. This might be over your heads, but I hear every now and then that a lot of electronics take energy when they're plugged in even if they're turned off. I personally use a power bar for most of my electronics, and I turn it off every night. I'm curious to know if that makes any difference in my carbon footprint, and if so, could we promote the use of power bars for the campus especially with the student body living in the dorms?

U.S. Sources of Electricity

After our discussion on Monday regarding the sources of electricity in the United States, I decided to look up an old site I remember from my Conservation of the Environment course. It's actually provided by National Public Radio, and the link for the title of this post leads you to an interactive map of the power grid of the U.S. There are also places to click so you can see the sources of power in individual states, where power plants currently exist, and potential locations for solar and wind energy. Hope some people find these maps as interesting as I did.