Melting polar ice. Temperamental tropical storms. Soaring oil and energy costs. Are you concerned with the future health of our planet in light of our current “smoke-em-if-you-got-em” style of energy consumption?
Julie Munn/Assistant Photo Editor
Well, change is at hand, with many companies and international communities doing their part to incorporate alternative energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Many people are familiar with the concept of wind power: Propellers capture wind energy, transferring it to more specific and concentrated applications. It is a simple idea, and has been successfully used in the Netherlands to keep water off the land, which is below sea level. It has been used for centuries to turn grindstones which process our cereals into flour and, more recently, it has turned turbines to create cheap, clean electricity.
It was also the power that fueled nearly all global trade for centuries until the Industrial Revolution pushed it out of the foreground — until now. The idea of using giant kites to propel commercial ships and reduce traditional energy consumption is not too far-fetched, as illustrated by the European WINTECC Project. Their SkySails towing kite can temporarily reduce fuel consumption by up to 50 percent under ideal conditions.
The MS Beluga SkySails, launched on Dec. 15, 2007, out of Hamburg, Germany, is equipped with this technology and just may reveal whether or not this is a feasible means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
One of the greatest challenges facing modern civilization is figuring out what to do with our waste; the solution could help in finding new energy sources as well.
Recycling waste as fuel would be the most efficient and green way of doing this. Small pastoral societies have done this for centuries, burning livestock dung as a means of heating their huts. The next step may be the large-scale harnessing of this concept.
The waste of huge dairy farms can be stored underground, allowing biodegradation to occur, and the resulting gases are then gathered. These gases, which contain high levels of methane, can then be used just as natural gas, and help reduce the dependence on oil and solve the pesky problem of what to do with some of the waste products of large-scale intensive agriculture.
Brendan Lainhart, a sophomore chemistry major, said he’s all for putting poop to good use.
“Well I love dung, and if you can get anything out of it, why not?” he said. “Otherwise, it’ll just sit around and stink”
Possibly the most incredible alternate energy source is closer than one would think. To observe it, simply look into the mirror (using infrared technology would make this observation more impressive).
Everyone knows that the human body maintains a toasty 98.6 degree Fahrenheit temperature, but until recently, not many had ingenuity to harness this power. There are now plans in the works which would use the body heat of visitors to Stockholm’s Central Station, in Sweden (some quarter of a million each day) to heat a nearby building.
Their heat would be captured and used to warm water which would then be piped to a nearby building and circulated as a means of heating. This technology is not totally new, as anyone familiar with radiant heating is aware, but it is indeed an innovative new application with an unbelievable source.
As humans recognize the dangers of global climate change, we will inevitably turn our creative powers to solving the problem. This is especially true as public demand grows in these areas.
Julana Mattison, a junior nursing major, said she is ready to do her part in finding alternative energy sources.
“I’m down for anything that makes the earth cleaner!”
Vice President of Administration James VanVoorst said Binghamton University is on track to finding and reducing its carbon footprint since President Lois B. DeFleur signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.
“We have two more months per arrangement,” VanVoorst said in regards to the campus compiling information on their carbon footprint. “We have a host of ideas and we’re compiling info and listening to suggestions,” he said. “We’re in the compliation phase and looking at others.”
VanVoorst said by the end of the semester the University could have the results from their survey on BU’s carbon footprint.