Air Traffic Affecting Climate Change?

In today’s world it's not rare to see tons and tons of airplanes in our skies. I’m sure most of you have noticed the seemingly white “smoke” trail behind them. 

These trails are actually called contrails; they are made from the moisture being condensed around the aircraft’s engine. But do not be fooled these moisture clouds are not harmless. Most of these contrails occur over the United States and Europe. They are increasing over parts of Asia, due to more traffic flow.  Over 8.3 million flights flew over the United States in 2010 alone. Air traffic contributes about 2 to 3 percent of carbon emissions. That number is expected to double or even triple in the next 50 years.
The contrails are created high enough in the atmosphere that they block the sun's radiation and heat. This might seem like a good thing considering global warming and all. It might be blocking heat, but in turn it’s also blocking heat from escaping from earth. It’s kind of like we making a bubble around ourselves, nothing in and nothing out. The day stays cooler, but the night stays warmer. Since the heat is trapped here on earth longer, it could change the heating and cooling patterns of planet. It could also change wind pattern systems, which could affect evaporation rates and agriculture. One possible solution would be to either fly the planes lower to the ground or fly around the air systems that create the contrails. The issue with this is, it would only use more fuel that would contribute even more to climate change. There’s nothing like a duel edge sword.

Solar Powered Trash Compactors

How great would it be to see a city free of litter? How amazing would it be to not have to worry about overflowing trash cans?

This may seem a near impossibility in today’s go-go world, where people are more concerned about getting from point A to point B than actually cleaning the path on the way. Well thanks to a company based in Massachusetts, this may very well be a reality in every city. The company has created solar-powered trash compactors. The units resemble mail boxes, and have a separate bin attached for recyclables. It can hold 5 times more trash than a traditional trash can. It has sensors to tell it when it’s time to compact the trash, and since its solar-powered they can go virtually anywhere outside. Once the unit is full it notifies the proper officials so they can come and empty it.

This in turn cuts the cost of several programs, so it’s both economical and environmentally friendly. Philadelphia has been using the units for a couple of years now. In 2009 their trash program was emptying 700 traditional trash cans 17 times a week. This took 33 employees on 3 different shifts. One year later, after they installed 500 units they are able to pick up trash only 5 times a week, using 9 employees on one shift. This in turn has saved Philadelphia tax payers around $900,000.

Clean Water or Clean Energy? How About Both…

Most people do not know that our sewer systems are a lot like our arteries, if or when they become unhealthy so do we. You go about your day rinsing dishes off in the sink and then tossing them into the dish washer and never give it a second thought. Where does all the stuck on food go that those famous commercials claim to get rid of? Does it just magically disappear? No it travels through our sewer systems and over time builds up on the sides, just like plaque in our arteries. This leads to overflows and sewer back-ups. Costing millions in clean up, and yes there are systems in water treatment that try to rid our waters of this mess but they not always as effective as they should be. Each year sewer back-up cause about 10 billion gallons of untreated water back into our water systems. We all know how the world works and this ends up costing everybody more money, for clean up, research for prevention, and repair. So wouldn’t it be nice if we could just bypass all of that mess? We could just put a stop to flushing food waste down our drains, but that’s just crazy talk, no one would listen anyway. 

There’s a company that was founded in 2004 called BlackGold that is converting this sewer mess into biofuels. They have set up a system that cleans out sewer pipes and separates the water and fat, oil, and greases. Normally when this happens (if this happens) by regular waste water treatment, it’s then trucked over to a landfill where it is left to deteriorate and that’s no fast process. They’re also using fuel for the trucks to move the FOG to sit needlessly in a landfill. So once BlackGold separates the water and the FOG it is then converted in to clean fuel. I would like to add BlackGold’s method for separation does not include the use of chemicals. If the treatment plant adopts this method of separation, the fuel can either be used on site so they could have clean fuel burning work trucks or sold for profit which would help everybody in the long run. In 2006 BlackGold road tested 50 vehicles for 20,000 miles and that included light passenger cars all the way to school buses.