Latest Inventions

posted by admin on Dec 16

Just a quick update about the National Geographic/Vattenfall competition.

It was a competition for children across Europe to come up with a great project to help combat climate change locally to them, but with international possibilities.

The winners were a group of young people from Copenhagen, Denmark who headed up the project:  Biogas: The Best Solution.

Their idea revolved around the concept of creating energy from an existing method, but by using the fuel from their local zoo.  Basically, the animal waste was burnt to create the energy needed to run the zoo itself.  A perfect circle.

The judges felt that this was ‘the most holistic’ project submitted from hundreds of entries from 21 countries.  Not only does it reduce the need for the zoo to import energy from other sources, it also plays a role in preserving the habitats needed for wildlife so that fewer species become endangered in the first place. 

The zoo already has a great reputation for helping existing endangered wildlife - and now it is helping other species before there is a problem - and it may be the model that leads other zoos and wildlife sanctuaries to do the same.

To find out how the project develops in the future follow the progress at www.nationalgeographic.com/combatclimatechange

posted by admin on Dec 4

To be honest, I am a bit fed up with wandering around stores for Christmas looking for gifts for people I know, but who never seem to really appreciate their gifts.  I almost end up buying them something that they either specifically told me to buy (great surprise) or getting vouchers.

But my ideas are changing.

If they aren’t going to really love my gifts - and it is estimated that over 50 million UK pounds worth of Christmas gifts are thrown away each year (!!!!!!!!!!!) then I am going to buy them something I want, or something that cannot be discarded - something that will make a difference.

And I don’t care if that difference is to someone else entirely - even someone I don’t know, or someone on a completely different continent infact!

What Gifts Are They?
Well, they are the gift of wildlife sponsorship, domestic animals such as a goat, pencils for 100 children, training teachers for schools, etc.  They are not the non-convincing offers of buying a tree in a rain-forest that you can’t verify - these are serious gifts that will really make a difference with companies that are known world wide 

Now these types of gifts have been around for a while, but they were always a bit dull sounding or were very expensive - but times are changing and there is a lot more to choose from and at more reasonable prices.

Why These?
Well, there are many benefits to these gifts, and not just to the cause they are supporting.

1) These gifts are good for the environment - they will be supporting communities around the world who are ‘in charge’ of wildlife or environmental areas that should be preserved and cared for.

2) They cannot be thrown away and wasted.  The money you spend on these gifts will instantly go to work on your chosen cause whether your friends or family like it or not!

3) There is no wrapping involved, so less sticky tape, shiny non-recyclable wrapping paper and bows, etc are required, therefore even less waste and less time and energy spent on the whole thing.

4) They are totally different - a talking point.  Get others to think about the causes that interest you across the globe, and maybe get your charity or cause more support.

5) They really will make a difference - a positive one.  Rather than just lining big high street retail stores pockets with your reasonably impulsive purchases of gifts and wrapping, create a safe, healthy environment for people and animals in another country.

6) Feel good about yourself and the moeny you have invested.

Below are a few websites to get your search started.   There is still time to get these to your friends before last post! 

www.goodgifts.org- supporting African schools
www.worldlandtrust.org- protecting rain-forests
www.presentaid.com - supporting farmers worldwide
www.oxfamunwrapped.com - everything you could imagine

Alternatively, think of your favourite charity and just visit their site - I’m sure they are offering something as a gift.

posted by admin on Nov 23

BP have created a way to squeeze even more oil out of an existing oilfield - saving both them and us money.

Basically they have found a way to divert high-pressure water underground so that it only flushes out the oil rich seams rather than just flooding out through ‘empty’ cracks, routes, gaps or as they are known in the trade ‘thief zones’.

The Technique.
Many area of oil can be extracted from the ground by forcing it out with water. High pressure water is forced into one end of the oil seam and it pushes along the rock strata and out into a collecting area.

Normally the ratio of oil to water coming out is heavily in favour of water at the other end as once the water has flushed out some of the less dense areas, most of the water flows through these rather than forcing out the heavier oil-filled areas. Once the percentage of water gets to high, the land is abandoned.

What’s new?
Recently, BP in Alaska have been working on a new polymer that can actually help block off the entrance to these ‘thief zones’ making sure that the water flushes out the oil instead. This polymer expands when heated and causes a diversion - helping to retrieve more oil from the seams.

So far they have extracted half a million barrels more than existing techniques! As a result of these amazing achievements, they have started using this technique in other areas including Prudhoe Bay and Milne Point, as well as other across the globe.

In addition, you can actually change the temperature needed to create the polymer to swell allowing for all sorts of other factors to be taken in to consideration at every oil seam. These enhanced oil recovery techniques will be of great use in making better use of existing locations, saving extraction companies a fortune (and making them richer of course).

However, the opposite could happen. It could mean that smaller oilfields that were not viable for mining before by the large companies may now be plundered with this enhance technique. This could end up affecting many more regions, and possibly smaller locations much closer to towns and villages.

On a happy note:
There could be another benefit to this underground technique - BP are working on ideas to add more carbon dioxide to the water they use to flush the oils seams. Now this would mean that they would be depositing waste products underground so reducing the amount that is released into the atmosphere.

Yes, it would help to reduce their own carbon footprint, but they are not alone. The idea seems to be common knowledge and many companies and governments are hoping to pump waste gases into previously emptied oil or gas fields under the oceans.

Sounds great short term - but isn’t that like burying a body in your back yard and hoping that the next owners don’t try to build a pool……..

posted by admin on Nov 11

How to catch Carbon Dioxide before it goes into the atmosphere and then bury it underground.

It seems at the moment that companies are looking for ways to hide the carbon, waste products and other pollutants rather than stop producing them in the first place.

Just as Governments are happy to bury tonnes of household waste and garbage under the ground all over the World rather than stop companies making such products and packaging in the first place; these businesses are hoping to still create the damaging by-products of their industry, but find some way to catch it all, store it and then hide it somewhere far away.

Lets take one current polluting industry as an example.

The Coal Industry
Coal was once the backbone of the UK. It’s Industrial Revolution was fuelled by this cheap and easily accessible source of fuel. The image of a soot-covered chimney sweep was a nostalgic image of industrialised Britain - until we checked it’s carbon footprint!

Kingsnorth Coal Factory is at the moment gripped with protests. It gives off 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every day - into the atmosphere. This is the same amount (give or take) as the 30 least polluting countries in the world added together! (The Sunday Times)

Coal gives of more of this damaging gas than any other fuel - with 820g given off per kilowatt hour. Gas produces just 380g and nuclear a tiny 22g.

Worse still, is the fact the nearly half of the UK’s coal is imported from Siberia - now how much more carbon does that give off???

How can we fix this?
Well now, there are steps to make the coal industry ‘look better’ and to reduce the amount of carbon it emits this year - needless to say all the hidden gas will eventually leak out from wherever they stick it.

First things first - Step 1: Make coal-fired power stations more efficient. Frighteningly, such power stations only convert a third of the heat they generate into power - the other 70% is wasted!!!!!

Strange.  The Government keep telling me to insulate my loft to stop heat escaping - a bit of pot calling kettle black here!

However, their targets for this are only to increase their efficiency to 60%. Forget about that other 40% - it’s not important. We’ll look at that another time.

Step 2: Catch all the carbon given off during production and bury it somewhere.

In Germany, construction has begun on the worlds first complete demonstration of the technique of Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS). Built alongside an existing power plant, this £56m project will capture 100,000 tonnes of gas and compress it. Then transport it to a disused oil or gas field and inject it in the gaps.

CCS has 3 suggested techniques (none of which have been proven to be effective). These are:

1) Burn the coal in pure oxygen - this will result in pure Carbon Dioxide as a waste product. This means that the waste product does not need further processing before disposal.

2) Pre-combustion - coal burning is more controlled, resulting in hydrogen and carbon dioxide as waste products. The hydrogen would need to be recovered before disposal.

3) Post-combustion - this technique will scrub the exhaust gases from the power station. Not quite sure how that one will be processed.

There are plenty of locations willing to try these techniques, and the Mountaineer scheme in West Virginia may well be the first company to use all 3 techniques in it’s production. And it hopes to trap and bury 1.5 million tonnes of gas every year in a nearby oilfield.

So, is Britain moving forward?
Well, the UK Government is looking to increase the number of coal-fired power stations instead.  They are planning at leat 8 more!

It has looked at CCS apparently in 2006, then didn’t really make any progress. It talked about 2014 for work to start on one, but with their slow progress - it won’t be finished until 2020 at the very earliest. Greenpeace believe that Governments are using the ‘hope’ of CCS technology to justify building new power stations now - shushing the people by saying that ‘it’s OK, it will be cleaner to use in the future’.

However, I think coal-fired power station will only become ‘cleaner’ when we run out of coal, shut them down, and turn them into nice eco-loft apartments.

(Main Source: The Sunday Times)

posted by admin on Oct 9

Oxfordshire in the UK could see the first commercial use of nuclear fusion to create energy.

Unlike all existing nuclear energy plants that create energy splitting particles (nuclear fission), this hoped for technology would be squashing particles together under immense pressure and temperature until they fuse together and release all their energy (nuclear fusion).

Why Fusion?
For decades science and technology experts have been working with the idea of copying the suns natural processes and to create and abundant supply of carbon-free electricity (even more important in today’s society).

Needless to say the process needs extreme heat - just like the sun itself - for this to occur and it could also be as dangerous as a normal nuclear power plant if if goes into ‘meltdown’. However, all the experts believe that this couldn’t happen - but then they go on to say that ‘if it did…..’ it would only be low-level radiation that was leaked out across the countryside! Well, they would be fools to tell us otherwise.

In addition, this method also has a much shorter life-span than contemporary reactors of only 12 years, so would need to be replaced every decade.

Is it better than existing energy-creation methods?
Previous attempts to perform nuclear fusion have actually used more energy than they managed to create, but the physicists are hopeful that they can change that in the future.

An international group headed by British scientists have put all their faith in HiPER. They believe that this ‘reactor’ will be built in the next few years and place Britain at the cutting edge of nuclear fusion research. Nuclear fission we know creates a huge amount of radioactive waste - and can be very dangerous in the event of an ‘accident’. Not so here, apparently.

Professor Mike Dunne is leading the team and hopes to create a ‘miniature sun’ here on earth - offering a solution to the worlds energy needs in the long term. He advises that this will be a source of carbon-free power which uses sea-water as its fuel - AND generates minimal radioactive waste.

Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?