The New York Times > International > Asia Pacific > China's Boom Brings Fear of an Electricity Breakdown
The New York Times > International > Asia Pacific > China's Boom Brings Fear of an Electricity Breakdown

"The worry, put bluntly, is that the world simply may not have enough energy and other resources for China to continue developing along present lines, especially at its present rate. Furthermore, sharply increased environmental damage might make the country unlivable, even if such growth could be sustained.

China's predicament is reflected in a simple statistic: this country is already the world's second-largest consumer of energy, and yet on a per capita basis, the Chinese consume scarcely 10 percent of the energy used by Americans."
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Youth Review
Youth Review
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Learning for a Better World: Earthships Ahoy!
Learning for a Better World: Earthships Ahoy!: "THE EARTHSHIP

In mid-September Hurricane Marilyn roared through the Caribbean, destroying a quarter of the homes on St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin islands. Full restoration of power took several months. Three thousand miles away, in Taos, New Mexico, Mike Reynolds, owner of Solar Survival Architecture, read the news and saw a demand for Earthships.

An Earthship is a home design--utilizing recycled tires, aluminum cans and earth for construction materials--that Reynolds and his company have been building and perfecting for the last 25 years. It is self-sufficient, getting power from the sun, water from rain, and recycling its gray water and sewage. The Earthship would be perfect for a storm-beleaguered Caribbean Island, Reynolds figures. 'These buildings are so heavy, and built into the Earth, that they couldn't blow away.'

If Solar Survival could build one on the island as a demonstration project, people could start to construct Earthships on their own. But Reynolds realizes that the company doesn't have enough time and resources currently to take on the project. That's life in a small firm with a revolutionary product in growing demand. 'The problem is that we can't be everywhere,' he says. 'But everywhere we look, it seems that what we are doing is what is needed.'"
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:35 AM (0) comments

 
Environmentally Friendly Papers
Environmentally Friendly Papers: "For most of us, our conscious environmental acts begin with paper, by recycling newspaper, cardboard, and perhaps mixed paper. By putting those bits of paper back into the production stream instead of into the waste stream, we put in place one piece of the loop between consumption and production. Unfortunately, the loop doesn't always get completed. The paper we send to recyclers hasn't always gone back into products, and some has ended up in landfills--mainly because the demand for recycled products hasn't been great enough to make it cost-effective to equip mills to handle recycled stock, and then get a competitively-priced paper product on the market. 'Recycled' pulp from other sources than consumers, much of which is simply the waste product of lumber milling, has been used much more widely than post-consumer pulp in paper making, largely due to price and availability factors.

But as more consumers and corporations look for recycled content in their buying decisions, and specifically post-consumer content, those market dynamics are changing. With the greater demand, the variety of recycled content paper products has increased, and the prices have come down.

There are factors to consider in choosing an environmentally friendly paper, however, other than its recycled content. There's bleaching, the use of acids, and perhaps most importantly, the growing scarcity of wood pulp. In this column, we'll explore the bleaching issue, look at some exciting alternative 'tree-free' papers, and point you to some sources where you can find the perfect paper."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:34 AM (0) comments

 
'Magic ink' that makes metal grow

BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Magic ink' that makes metal grow: "Electronic circuitry is usually etched with copper

An eco-friendly way of 'growing' metal for circuitry or antennas has been developed by UK firm QinetiQ.

The metal printing technique replaces conventional copper etching by using a special ink which attracts metals.

It means antennas for tiny mobiles or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, used for tracking goods, could be made cheaply and quickly.

RFID tags are tiny microchips that talk to each other and experts predict they will be big business by 2006.

They are widely tipped to replace eventually the barcoding on products. Because they connect by radio, they do not require the scanners, so familiar with the barcoding system, to read their unique identification codes.

The metal printing technique could transform how RFID tags are made.

'The very basic principle is that you apply an ink to a surface that is water resistant, like a flexible plastic,' Chris Bishop, general manager of QinetiQ Metal Printing (QMP), explained to BBC News Online.

'When you pass it through an electroless chemical solution, metal will 'grow'. It is not a special solution; it is an industry standard one.'

'Magic dust'

The secret lies in the ink, the ingredients of which QMP is keeping a secret. To Mr Bishop, it simply contains 'magic dust'.

After the ink is printed on to a flexible or rigid surface, the surface is lowed into a tank which contains the electroless solution.

The major benefit for us is that it takes less time, less space, it is environmentally friendly and it uses less fewer materials

The solution is made up of metals which are attracted to the ink. A quarter micron (millionth of a metre) of metal can be grown within two minutes.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:28 AM (0) comments