BDPollution

Photo courtesy: ecolights

Over 120 years of use of this technology, Toshiba has finally ended the production of its incandescent lamps, shifting to more environmental-friendly lightning. This will reduce about 430,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions assuming that the CO2 emission coefficient is 0.39kg/kwh. They have shifted to LED lightning and have been promoting it ever since.

via Asahi.com

I came across this eco-fashion website, Ecouterre, and it has some really cool ways to become fashion friendly. The picture for example is jewelry made from discarded rubber bands and paper clips and was made by a NYC architect. It has a wide range of eco-clothes and it not restricted to women but also have a section for men.

I saw a picture of Pop Singer Lady Gaga where she used old cans to curl her hair (i am not sure if curls is the right word, but girls would know better what I am talking about).

A team of scientists have been researching on a new technique where orange peels and newspapers could be used to run your vehicles in the near future. Now it is based on the concept of bio-fuel like using these to produce ethanol as fuel. However the ethanol produced by food causes more CO2 emissions.

This technique not only reduces the CO2 emissions compared to ethanol but it would not require food-based products to produce it unlike bio-fuel. This will benefit cause there are no chances of global food shortages or spiraling food costs.Food-based products are not used for this process such as sugarcane, corn, starch etc. It basically reuses waste products. Although research is still been done to verify the findings.

Day one

A two day training session, 15th and 16th of February 2010 organized by GTZ started of with a sleepy morning. I reached GTZ office at 9:10 hoping I arrived in time. The training was supposed to start at 9am,knowing Bangladesh time, the training started at 9:25am with the opening done by Elke Shrestha, Senior Business Advocate,GTZ. Soon after Mike Birks, Team Leader, ESIP project began the training.

Anyways more about the training. Basically GTZ Bangladesh and couple RMG industries in Bangladesh worked together with local and foreign consultants to become more energy efficient over a period of couple of months. So engineers from these RMG industries are been trained to make their industries more energy efficient. I was lucky as I got in as a Trainee for Faruq M&E Consultants. Its interesting, the methods used for energy efficiencies in industries are actually quite simply and the benefits are quite noticeable. The energy savings are quite remarkable. I thought I would be out of my league, dazed and confused about the training and would not understand anything. To tell you the truth, over my years of blogging and reading on different technologies and a 4th year Electrical undergrad, I seemed quite in tune with the real world engineering problems.

So far today’s training 15th was good but tomorrow is going to be a bit difficult cause tomorrow is going to be the technical sessions. Anyways Ciao!

Day Two: Tuesday 16/2/2010

The second day was completely a technical session. Professors from BUET went through some of the basics in lighting and power factor correction. Mr. Birks on the other hand went to the details of various problems associated with the RMG sector in Bangladesh and how simple fixes could solve problems saving a lot of money and good pay-back period even if investments are made.

Overall I felt that the training was good but there was some discrepancies between the practical engineers and the theorists from BUET, something neither side would agree on.

As I was browsing through an article on Jaguar creating a turbine-based hybrid,I noticed one of the most shocking headline ” Ferarri is bringing the hybrid in Genava Motor Show“, I was like WTF?

For some time there were rumors that Ferarri will be coming out with a hybrid(I did not hear any rumors btw) and they seem to have confirmed it while the presentation of this year’s F10 Formula One Car. I seriously did not expect this to happen at least not yet. The reason being that Ferarri represents automotive engineering at its best. The innovations used in Ferarri cars are based from the extensive research they put into their F1 cars and these innovations are like the top of anything. These innovations are slowly integrated into road cars nowadays.

The car is based on the Ferarri 599 GTB Fiorano and will be gas-electric powered with the motor at the rear and a V12 at the front. The electric motor will be mounted at the rear transaxle and lithium-ion battery pack for optimal performance. The car will have the KERS (Kinetic energy recovery system) system, a technology introduced in F1 last season. To find the other details we have to wait till March at the Geneva Motor Show.

With the introduction of Ferarri in the hybrid sector, things in the hybrid industry will change forever.

The United Nations Trade Group has given 2010, the International year of biodiversity and by naming it this year, they are promoting EcoChics Fashion as one way of spreading the word of biodiversity.

Watch of for this year’s fashion weeks, you might see these EcoChics catwalking down the aisle with recycled clothes, organic bamboo or even paper . Read more..

The Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) announced the names of the top 10 green energy dependent companies in the States. When I came across the article, I was told it would be a shock considering the companies present. The list comes from the fact that the Green Power Partners program increased their commitments more than 1.5 billion kilowatts-hours(KWh) in 2009. Being an electrical student, that’s a lot of energy.

The program partners are buying 18 billion KWh that putting in comparison to the annual CO2 emissions from electricity usage of about 1.8 million Americans.

The top 10 green energy partners in 2009 were:

1. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) – 51% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (1.4 billion KWh come from green power).

2. Kohl’s Department Store (NYSE:KSS) – 100% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (1.3 billion KWh come from green power).

3. Pepsi Co. (NYSE:PEP) – 100% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (1.2 billion KWh come from green power).

4. Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFMI) – 105% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (790 million KWh come from green power).

5. City of Houston Texas – 34% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (438 million KWh come from green power).

6. Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) – 129% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (431 million KWh come from green power).

7. The Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE:PBG) – 100% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (426 million KWh come from green power).

8. Cisco Systems ( NASDAQ:CSCO) – 46% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (400 million KWh come from green power).

9. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania – 40% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (400 million KWh come from green power).

10. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) – 34% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (386 million KWh come from green power).

Courtesy: ENERGYBOOM

So far China has shown the the world what they are capable off but it does not get over there. For the past two years they have shown great development in the field of renewable energy surpassing countries like Denmark, Germany, Spain and the US. They are now the world’s largest wind turbine maker followed by the world’s largest solar panel maker. This will just boom China’s economy further but it will benefit their economy more than it will do to the environment.

The Davos World Summit ended will talks ending with the slight ray of hope of countries to come up with deals to sustain climate change. There has been some big issues over the last few days with governments still not showing any interest to the Copenhagen Accord, I think the most disappointing document whether created where the world waited for a REAL DEAL! Well we cannot dwell on the past but have to look ahead.

I was going through the December issue of Top Gear and found Jeremy Clarkson’s article on hybrids to be kind of true. Now we all know that Top Gear hates green cars or anything to do with the environment. However over the last two or three seasons there were actually praising green cars such as the Honda FCX Clarity and the Telsa Sports car but this article is different.

I believe that what he mentioned was true, that hybrids are a quite fix and it will not solve the problem. Going through the article also made my realize whether all these car companies introducing green cars are actually saving the environment or creating a similar catalytic converter mentioned by JC for the future, a short fix but some 30-40 years down the line, you end up having the same problem but in a different scenario. So what will you be doing now with the Detroit Auto Show showcasing the future of green cars, will you be buying green cars? Honestly thinking about this is really putting me in a difficult position.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has taken one of the largest initiatives by giving major contracts to energy companies to erect thousands of wind turbines along the British coastline of around 7,500 miles.

The total investment of the project is to be likely $120 billion. Get to know more about here.