Element 19 (which is the number for potassium on the periodic table) shines a light on the remarkable Caltech discovery of a renewable potassium-based catalyst. The catalyst can be used for the manufacture of essential chemical products and is both sustainable and affordable. Featuring PhD student and Dow-Resnick Fellow, Anton Toutov, Professors Robert H. Grubbs and Brian M. Stoltz, postdoctoral scholar Wen-Bo "Boger" Liu, and undergrad Kerry Betz, the film aims to broadly explain the implications of the team's groundbreaking work in sustainable chemistry in an accessible way.
If your goal is to create a stable food supply on Earth, or elsewhere for that matter, one path to steady, environmentally friendly and readily-available crops is via the indoor farm, or vegetable factory.
Consider the implications for the planet and for space exploration: Clean, low-to-no pollution agriculture that doesn’t even require real sunlight to achieve sustainable cultivation.
This is the vision at Spread, a Japan-based builder of the next generation of vegetable factories, and the company is at its next major threshold. As it prepares to open its flagship, highly automated factory in Kyoto, we look at what’s underway at Spread, and how the company stands to change the future of sustainably-produced food.
Discarded Plastic Fishing Nets Retrieved from the Ocean Used in New Shoe Prototype "Adidas is now designing shoes from our oceans’ detritus, recently producing the world’s first prototype with parts constructed from ocean plastic and illegal deep-sea gill nets. The athletic apparel manufacture partnered with Parley for the Oceans as collaborators, a group of creators, thinkers, and leaders who design projects that aim to end the destruction of our oceans..."
Just how much can you save on your utility bill if you switch to one of those Nest smart thermostats? Nest says it can finally give you an answer.
Today, Nest revealed that it had been quietly studying the energy- and cost-saving benefits of its smart thermostats since 2013—and that the results of this study are in: Over the past two years, the Nest Learning Thermostat has saved its users 10 to 12 percent on their heating bills and 15 percent on their cooling bills.
In monetary terms, Nest claims, this translates to an average savings of $131 to $145 a year. And since a brand new Nest thermostat costs $250, if you use it for close to two years, it will pay for itself, according to the company.
“No one’s been able to test this at this scale before,” says Ben Bixby, Nest’s general manager of energy services, “and to say that this thing that adds to the aesthetics of your home also pays for itself.”
Bill Gates’ Plan to Help the Developing World Profit From Its Sewage
Bill Gates walks up to the water tap, but before he can drink, his entourage pulls him to one side. One woman takes off his glasses and rearranges his hair. Another dabs on a little makeup. And, at one point, someone hands him a Mason jar.
Once it’s filled with water from the tap, he takes a sip from the jar, and a Gates Foundation photographer captures the moment. Then there’s another water-sipping photo-op with Peter Janicki, the man who offered him this drink on the outskirts in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, about 70 miles north of Seattle. “It’s water!” Gates says, with mock surprise.
Bill feigns surprise because five minutes ago, the water was human waste pumped in from a local sewage facility. It was transformed into clean water by what’s called the OmniProcessor, a new kind of low-cost waste treatment plant funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and designed by Janicki’s company, Janicki Bioenergy. On this November day, Gates is taking his first tour of Janicki’s contraption, which he believes can transform global sanitation. Using an innovative blend of steam power and water filtration, according to Gates and his Foundation, this plant can convert up to 14 tons of sewage into potable water and electricity each day.
I was this close to buying one until the company was bought by Skynet Google. Since part of their DNA is gathering data, I'd rather not associate with that company unless I really have to.
i understand
in today's connected world is your privacy/anonymity is literally gone?
probably
i'm ok with sharing my data (preferably if it is voluntary)
my utility company forced smart meters on us some time back
these essentially turn the power grid into a network
how much or what kind of data is gathered/monitored?
who really knows?
big data doesn't scare me that much if there is a way to say no or object to its abuse (or if it's voluntary)
and you can always use the nest without the web connection
for me, aside from the convenience, the payoff should be in a couple of years (of course that may change but i'll loosely monitor it)
Oh yea, I have seen commercials for that, looks interesting. We don't even use heat and are weening ourselves off of AC as well, but it looks like a great idea.
If you are referring to wireless thermostat; we couldn't do without it. We have to monitor outside, greenhouse and fodder house tempratures constantly during the winter and it is absolutely vital. Whomever's turn it is to watch the fires has this little device constantly no more than 3 feet out of eye range! We love it, occasionally it will lose signal and one of our sensors had to be replaced after about a year, but other than that no issues.
wandering through civilization the other day and i was pulled into the gravitational field of a huge electronics store
i snapped and picked up a "nest" t-stat on sale
i plan to install it sometime this weekend
anyone have any experience with this item?
just curious
If you are referring to wireless thermostat; we couldn't do without it. We have to monitor outside, greenhouse and fodder house tempratures constantly during the winter and it is absolutely vital. Whomever's turn it is to watch the fires has this little device constantly no more than 3 feet out of eye range! We love it, occasionally it will lose signal and one of our sensors had to be replaced after about a year, but other than that no issues.
The tanks can be efficient, and it's usually just as easy to replace it with a modern one of reasonable size. But there is something very cool about never having to wonder if there is enough (but like I mentioned, I think our showers have gotten longer - you never get that slight cool down to warn you of the impending freeze). Keep an eye on rebates, I got ours on sale, then got a manufacture rebate and a utility company rebate it was pretty substantial (I think we got around $400 back on it). Be sure to check your gas meter too. The tankless units have huge supply requirements. Ours is 150K BTU. It has a 1 inch supply line. Our meter is one they use for small restaurants. We don't use much, but when we do it gulps it down.
Looks like 11 cents per kilowatt hour.
There is a rebate program available but it would still be a large cash outlay to go tankless. I'm sold on the idea that ultimately tankless uses less energy even tho when it does it gulps it it relatively large chunks. Given that I've worked in the gas distribution bidness for 30+ years, I probably have a fair grasp of piping/meter requirements. Besides, the way codes and inspections are set up here, it's the gas provider's problem to determine meter size - but not downstream piping.
Still figuring out the site but it looks like our daily average cost is on the $2.50-$3.00 per day range. Our heat is gas.
Sadly, the house came with a big tank electric water heater. I'd love to replace that with a tankless gas but that would probably cost somewhere north of $1,500 with installation. Someday.
How much does your electricity cost?
The tanks can be efficient, and it's usually just as easy to replace it with a modern one of reasonable size. But there is something very cool about never having to wonder if there is enough (but like I mentioned, I think our showers have gotten longer - you never get that slight cool down to warn you of the impending freeze). Keep an eye on rebates, I got ours on sale, then got a manufacture rebate and a utility company rebate it was pretty substantial (I think we got around $400 back on it). Be sure to check your gas meter too. The tankless units have huge supply requirements. Ours is 150K BTU. It has a 1 inch supply line. Our meter is one they use for small restaurants. We don't use much, but when we do it gulps it down.
From left, Kawai Tam, Chun-Yu “Jimmy” Liang, Jessica Moncayo, Edwin Rodriguez, Carlos Espinoza, Kelly McCoy, David Cocker and Louis Lancaster
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) — A team of University of California, Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering students created a roof tile coating that when applied to an average-sized residential roof breaks down the same amount of smog-causing nitrogen oxides per yearas a car driven 11,000 miles.
They calculated 21 tons of nitrogen oxides would be eliminated daily if tiles on one million roofs were coated with their titanium dioxide mixture. They also calculated it would cost only about $5 for enough titanium dioxide to coat an average-sized residential roof.
Besides, the way codes and inspections are set up here, it's the gas provider's problem to determine meter size - but not downstream piping. 
