Tag: water

Flushing Rainwater

Clean, drinkable water is a precious resource, so why are we flushing it down the toilet? I ask this question almost daily (no joke). Well, LifeHacker has a great comment thread going on this very question.

The thread is part of a post about how one man actually uses rainwater to fill his water toilet basin. This is a great way to do to less harm to the environment, but some municipalities in Canada don’t like people doing this though. Other parts of the world, buildings are built incorporating rainwater collection.

“Domestic potable water collection requires effort, energy, and chemicals for purification and transport. Toilets use 20 to 25% of water consumed in a residential house. Why are we flushing drinkable water down the toilet? In some other countries of the world, rainwater harvesting on a residential level is a mandatory part of building codes.”

Clean Water for Rural Africa? It’s Child’s Play!

Here’s some good news from South Africa! A Non-for-profit company called PlayPumps International has developed a children’s merry-go-round that also doubles as a water pump for villages in rural Africa.

As the children play on the merry-go-round, clean water is pumped into clean reservoir for use later by villagers. It’s a creative and fun way to help kids with very little to help themselves.

Right now, half the people in developing countries are suffering from water-related diseases. 1.7 million children under the age of five die from diarrhea each year.

For more information or to donate, see the PlayPumps website

Floating on Water and Powered by the Wind

Technology Review has a groovy article on a new style of wind farm that floats. The idea is that people will not have their views ruined by large wind farms, and as a added bonus the wind is stronger out in the open seas.

A win for power, postcards, GE, and for fighting climate change!

“GE has announced a $27 million partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop 5-7 megawatt turbines by 2009, each of which could power well over 1,000 homes. Supplanting the company’s current 3.6 megawatt turbines, these giant energy factories should make wind power more economical, since the major cost of building and installing offshore wind farms does not depend primarily on a turbine’s size, but on the number of them that need to be erected. By 2015, GE could have even bigger, 10-megawatt turbines, according to Jim Lyons, leader of advanced technology for GE’s wind energy business.”

Water and Ice(land)

A recent issue of The Walrus contained an article on Iceland’s burgeoning experiments with alternative energy sources. Iceland already harnesses geothermal energy, which provides half of the overall energy consumed by citizens and businesses. However, they are also planning to start using hydrogen power, and be oil-free by 2050. “We want to become the first hydrogen society in the world,” said the chairman of the ruling Progressive Party.

Interestingly, both Shell and DaimlerChrysler are active participants in the plan; Daimler will provide hydrogen-powered vehicles, and Shell will provide hydrogen filling stations.

Of particular interest to our Canadian readers may be a quote from a senior official in the hydrogen program. When asked how Canada might go oil-free, she responded, “You have solar! You have wind! You have hydro! Many countries have geothermal too, but they are just waiting for the world to run out of oil before they do anything about it.”