Energy Education Initiatives Stalled

Here's the opening from a NYT "Dot Earth" blog post--click on the title above to read the whole post at "Dot Earth":

"While the political fight over the now-vivid  environmental threat attending offshore oil drilling plays out, it remains clear that the country’s lawmakers are not remotely engaged in the  multi-pronged energy quest that would be required to move the world toward a non-polluting, yet prosperous future.
One vital prong is education. So far, Congress — even with Democrats in control — has refused to support President Obama’s repeated call for a modest investment in education initiatives that could help produce the skilled workforce required to undertake a sustained push on advancing and disseminating promising energy technologies. Last year, Congress largely rebuffed Obama’s request for $115 million for the program, called  Regaining our Energy Science and Engineering Edge. He’s trying again, this time seeking $74 million in the 2011 budget."

Heifer International Building

I went on the Civil Rights Pilgrimage over spring break and one of our stops was the Heifer International Building, one of the most sustainable buildings I've ever seen in my life. I've been meaning to upload these pictures for a little while. Basically they built the building extremely narrow so that natural light could be use to light the majority of the building. Similarly, the LED lights used to light the areas of the building that do not receive enough natural light sense how much light is in the room and become correspondingly more or less dim to save energy. They also collect rainwater to use in toilets, etc. where they don't need actual city water to save water resources. They have their heating vents in the floor to allow for more efficient heating and cooling. The carpeting is recycled and made in squares so that if any needs to be replaced it can be replaced one square at a time to save money and resources. These are just a few of the things I remember from the building and I actually submitted a few for the new Davies Center, but I thought some of it was really cool and you guys might be interested.

Nuclear option?

While I realize this maybe a sensitive topic to some, I was recently introduced to a new and inovative method using nuclear power on a small scale, like for a community or in our case, a university. The company is called Hyperion Power Generation.........

"Founded in 2007, Hyperion Power Generation Inc. is a privately held company that was formed to commercialize a small modular nuclear reactor designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory (“LANL”) scientists leveraging forty years of technological advancement. The reactor, known as the Hyperion Power Module (“HPM”), was designed to fill a previously unmet need for a transportable power source that is safe, clean, sustainable, and cost-efficient."

I believe we often tend to immediately dismiss nuclear power as too costly and unsafe but I would like you all to consider the idea, even if briefly. Check out their website I linked and particularly the tabs "Why Nuclear?" and "Quick Facts Sheet".

Just for some balence, I also suggest you visit Nature.com and read "Nuclear Energy: Assessing the Emissions" where Kurt Kleiner reports on whether nuclear power deserves its reputation as a low-carbon energy source.

This could be an alternative to our coal fired heating plant and would most likely, vastly reduce our UW-Eau Claire carbon footprint.

I am very interested in your thoughts.

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?

Making and storing energy; learning from plants

I was checking out a Public Radio report on Methane bubbling up from the perma frost in Siberia and happened on this great article in Scientific American about storing energy like plants, by spliting water molecules. I always believed that plants have a lot to teach us.

"One drinking-water bottle could provide enough energy for an entire household in the developing world if Dan Nocera has his way. A chemist from M.I.T. and founder of the company Sun Catalytix, Nocera has developed a cobalt-based catalyst that allows him to store energy the same way plants do: by splitting water."

Check it out!
"Shift happens: Will Artificial Photosynthesis Power the World?" 

Maybe someday the mighty Chippewa will be our salvation for energy storage.

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.

Biofuels on campus

Check out the great work being done by Facilities in slowly moving away from coal on campus! I know this is a topic (and a really difficult challenge) still ahead of us yet, but it's never too soon to send thanks where it's due. To all of us, this represents a reduction in CO2, mercury and sulfuric acid entering the atmosphere on our behalf. It also reduces the amount of mountain-top coal mining in the eastern portion of our nation.