Waste-to-energy

Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Most WtE processes produce electricity directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels.

Spittelau incineration plant in Vienna, designed- Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

The energy content of waste products can be harnessed directly by using them as a direct combustion fuel, or indirectly by processing them into another type of fuel. Recycling through thermal treatment ranges from using waste as a fuel source for cooking or heating, to anaerobic digestion and the use of the gas fuel , to fuel for boilers to generate steam and electricity in a turbine. Pyrolysis and gasification are two related forms of thermal treatment where waste materials are heated to high temperatures with limited oxygenpressure. Pyrolysis of solid waste converts the material into solid, liquid and gas products. The liquid and gas can be burnt to produce energy or refined into other chenmical products (chemical refinery). The solid residue (char) can be further refined into products such as activated carbon. Gasification and advanced Plasma arc gasification are used to convert organic materials directly into a synthetic gas (syngas) composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The gas is then burnt to produce electricity and steam.

What kind of indoor artificial light should you use?

On average, older people need about three times as much light as younger people. People with glaucoma often require much higher light levels, while there are conditions such as central cataract where lower light may be better. The quality and quantity of the light needed for comfortable, useful vision becomes particularly important when vision is impaired.

Glare results when light (natural or artificial) shines directly into your eyes or reflects off a shiny surface. When arranging a room to be used for reading or working, do not face the windows. Seat yourself so that windows are behind you or to your side. If that is not possible, use blinds or shades to control the light during daylight hours. Light from lamps or fixtures should be positioned directly onto the task (book, newspaper, playing cards, hobby/craft, etc.). Gooseneck, adjustable arm, and clip-on lamps offer good flexibility. In dimly lit restaurants, use a pocket flashlight. When reading or working outside, use a visor to shut out sky light glare.

Incandescent light is the thermal radiation emitted by a hot object such as the filament of a light bulb or the surface of the sun. Actually daylight is a form of incandescent light. In a common incandescent light bulb, an electric current flows through a tungsten wire, which gets heated and emits thermal radiation. Like all incandescent bulbs, a halogen lamp creates its light as visible thermal radiation from an extremely hot tungsten wire.

The Chromalux Bulb is made of special composition glass that is not colored or coated, but instead contains Neodymium, a rare earth element. This element is able to absorb yellow - as a result, the light appears whiter (in contrast to yellowish hue of the common bulbs). Contrary to claims, these bulbs do not even come close to being full spectrum, or duplicating sunlight. The only difference between these bulbs and normal bulbs is in the amount of yellow light emission.

Fluorescent tubes use a non-thermal radiation process to produce light. This is the only type of lighting that can come close to being 'Full Spectrum'. A type of fluorescent bulb is now available as a direct, screw-in replacement for some incandescent bulbs. They consume from one-sixth to one-tenth as much electricity, radiate very little heat, and, although expensive, last about ten times as long as the conventional incandescent bulbs. In addition, these modern tri-phosphor compact fluorescent bulbs provide light very close to the quality of incandescent. They provide excellent color rendition--food looks natural, colors look normal and offer a “comfortable” atmosphere for most people. There are considerable differences in the light spectrum emitted by the sun and artificial light sources.

REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINTS

Easy Ways To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Your “carbon footprint” is a fancy name for measuring how much carbon dioxide you, er, produce. Whether or not you believe carbon dioxide is the cause of global warming or not, it is harmful to the environment and reducing your carbon footprint is a great idea.

Step 1: How Big Is Your Carbon Footprint?

Before you can reduce it, you need to know how big it is. The average person in the UK causes the emission of 13,000kg of carbon dioxide equivalent gases per year. The global average is 5,800kg, in India it’s around 1,300kg. There are various ways of measuring your carbon footprint. Usually they’re made up of a series of scores, such as Transport score, Energy score, Food score, and Waste score.

Step 2: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

1. Turn down your thermostat. Turning your thermostat down by one degree centigrade could save a typical home £49 a year.
2. Close and/or line your curtains to keep in warmth. Setting your heating to turn off one hour before you leave the house and come on half an hour before you get home could save you £51 a year.
3. Turn off lights. Switching off four unnecessary lightbulbs and you could save £32 a year.
4. Turn off standby. Leaving your TV and all accessories attached to it on standby all the time could cost you £46 a year.
5. Turn down and use the half load setting on washing machines and tumble dryers. Washing laundry at 40 to 60 degrees centigrade in your washing machine could save you £12 a year.
6. Don’t boil more water in the kettle than you need to. If you always boil the amount of water needed for one cup rather than boiling a full kettle, you could save £30 a year.
7. Fix leaks as these are not only wasting water but also energy if they’re from a hot water source.
8. Use energy saving lightbulbs to save even more money and energy.
9. Recycle more!
10. Fly less. Train travel is up to 10 x more energy efficient than plane travel. Of course, not travelling at all is even more effective…

Step 3: Save Money and Feel Smug

 Other ideas welcome. If you have some other great suggestions plz give to us.

SMART GRID

What is Smart Grid and why is it important?

Smart Grid refers to an improved electricity supply chain that runs from a major power plant all the way inside your home. In short, there are thousands of power plants throughout the United States that generate electricity using wind energy, nuclear energy, coal, hydro, natural gas, and a variety of other resources.These generating stations produce electricity at a certain electrical voltage.This voltage is then “stepped-up” (increased) to very high voltages, such as 500,000 volts, to increase the efficiency of power transmission over long distances. Once this electrical power gets near your town or city, the electrical voltage is “stepped-down” (decreased) in a utility substation to a lower voltage for distribution around your town or city. As this electrical power gets closer to your home, it is stepped-down by another transformer to the voltage you use in your home. This power enters your home through your electrical meter. The voltage in your home is typically 110-120 volts for most appliances, but may also be 220-240 volts for an electric range, clothes dryer, or air conditioner.

In many areas of the United States, the electricity delivery system described above is getting old and worn out. In addition, population growth in some areas has caused the entire transmission system to be over used and fragile. At the same time, you have probably added more electronic devices to your home, such as computers, high-definition TV’s, microwave ovens, wireless telephones, and even electronic controls on refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers. These new appliances are more sensitive to variations in electric voltage than old appliances, motors, and incandescent light bulbs. Unfortunately, the entire electrical grid is becoming more fragile at the same time the appliances in your home are getting more sensitive to electrical variations. In short, the reliability of electrical power in the United States will decline unless we do something about it now.

Adding new transmission lines will help the utilities get more power from the power plants to your home. However, many communities don’t want new power lines in their areas. In addition, adding new capacity, although needed, will not increase the reliability of all the old electrical equipment reaching the end of its useful life. What is needed is a new approach that significantly increases the efficiency of the entire electrical delivery system. This approach will not only increase reliability, but  will also reduce energy in the delivery process and thereby reduce greenhouse house emissions. We call this new approach Smart Grid.

The basic concept of Smart Grid is to add monitoring, analysis, control, and communication capabilities to the national electrical delivery system to maximize the throughput of the system while reducing the energy consumption. The Smart Grid will allow utilities to move electricity around the system as efficiency and economically as possible. It will also allow the homeowner and business to useelectricity as economically as possible. You may want to keep your house set at 75 degrees F in the summer time when prices are low, but you may be willing to increase your thermostat to 78 degrees F if prices are high. Similarly, you may want to dry your clothes for 5 cents per kilowatt-hour at 9:00 pm in stead of 15 cents per kilowatt-hour at 2:00 pm in the afternoon. You will have the choice and flexibility to manage your electrical use while minimizing your costs.

Smart Grid builds on many of the technologies already used by electric utilities but adds communication and control capabilities that will optimize the operation of the entire electrical grid. Smart Grid is also positioned to take advantage of new technologies, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, various forms of distributed generation, solar energy, smart metering, lighting management systems, distribution automation, and many more.