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Could urine be the future of electricity generation?

Posted date: 10:44 AM / comment : 0 , ,

Could urine be the future of electricity generation?


Dr Ioannis Ieropoulos, Professor John Greenman and Professor Chris Melhuish (Bristol Robotics Lab, UWE Bristol) have published 'Urine utilisation by microbial fuel cells; energy fuel for the future' in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. The scientific paper outlines research carried out to look at whether urine could be used as a fuel by the MFCs and how much power could be generated by MFCs using urine in this way.

MFCs consist of two half-cells - an anode and a cathode - that are separated by an ion selective membrane. Commonly bacteria are in the anode side, and chemicals or oxygen are in the cathode side, which complete the reactions (ie close the circuit) to generate power.

So far the use of urine as a biomass that can be converted to power via MFCs has been neglected by scientists, despite the fact that urine is an abundant waste product. Each human produces approximately 2.5 litres of urine a day, amounting to around 6.4 trillion litres globally each year.

Dr Ioannis Ieropoulos explains: "Urine is chemically rich in substances favourable to the MFCs. Our research found that the output of electricity was consistent and measurable depending on the volume of urine and the timing of the doses. At the moment the output from one MFC is small. Through this study and the related work carried out by our group over the years, we were able to show that by miniaturisation and multiplication of the number of MFCs into a stack and regulating the flow of urine, it may be possible to look at scales of use that have the potential to produce useful levels of power, for example in a domestic or small village setting.

"A stack consists of a number of MFCs, each just a few millilitres of volume, connected together so that the stream of urine runs through the MFCs and produces power as the microbes inside the MFCs get to work on this abundant fuel, which is rich in (amongst other things) carbohydrates, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous and other organic compounds that
collectively make it very good for the microbial fuel cells."

As well as urine production from humans, farm animals worldwide produce around two - three times as much urine as humans, adding up to approximately 38 billion litres a day.  The scientists suggest that by scaling up MFCs into stacks, further research might bring the levels of electricity production closer to those currently produced by biofuels. Urine produced by farm animals can have a significant knock on effect on the environment. The advantage of an MFC system that uses urine - whether human or animal - is that the process within the MFCs effectively  'cleans' the urine so that it could safely be discharged into the environment, removing the need for conventional treatment by wastewater companies.

Dr Ieropoulos says: "Whilst we recognise the need for a great deal more research in this area, we are very excited by the potential of this work. This is the first paper to outline not just the use of urine as a potential fuel for MFCs, but also the fact that urine could be an abundant source for electricity generation.  The impact of this could be huge, since it enables us to think of 'waste' in a new way, and offers great potential for the future and we are grateful to the EPSRC* for funding this work."

* The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is funding this work through the Grants EP/I004653/1 and EP/H019480/1.

The study is published in the 'Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics', a Royal Society of Chemistry journal. To read the article see:
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2011/cp/c1cp23213d

Bristol Robotics Laboratory, www.brl.ac.uk, is a research partnership between UWE Bristol and the University of Bristol.

Secret Google Project Could Transform Construction Industry

Posted date: 9:00 PM / comment : 0 , , , ,


’s HQ, the Googleplex, in Moutain View, California.  X is a secret facility run by  located about a half mile from here. Image Courtesy of ArchDaily Instagram Feed

Google’s secret development department, Google X (responsible for Google’s very cool, although non-core initiatives, such as Google Glass and driverless cars) is reportedly working on a new technology that could transform the construction industry – as well as architecture itself. It goes by the name of “Genie.”
According to Globes, a report from Genie’s development team, addressed to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, describes the invention as a cloud-based collaboration platform with “planning applications to help architects and engineers in the design process, especially for skyscrapers and large buildings. The platform includes planning tools of expert architects and engineers and advance analytics and simulation tools.” 
The report also emphasized Genie’s potential to transform the conservative construction industry, one of the most profitable and the most wasteful, by making it more efficient and environmentally friendly at the level of design, construction, and maintenance. The report suggests the invention could save 30-50% in construction costs and 30-50% of the time spent between planning and market; moreover, it could generate $120 billion a year.
Globes reports that a successful prototype of Genie has been released and well-received by architects and industry professionals; it is now being developed not under Google X, but under a spinoff company: Vannevar Technology Inc.
With the rapid urbanization of the world meaning that the world’s housing inventory will need to double by 2050, Genie seeks to position itself as the answer – not just to meeting the ever-increasing demand for construction, but also to lessening construction’s negative impact on the earth. While the details still seem to be fuzzy (could it just a souped-up SketchUp, after all?), it’s encouraging to know that Google’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond promoting healthy building materials and into the structure of the very industry itself. The construction industry currently consumes more global resources and raw materials (50%) as well as global energy supplies (48%) than any other; it also produces 40% of the earth’s solid waste and 50% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Could Genie be the solution? 
Story via Globes

Austria and Slovakia, High Water Rescue System, Austria/Slovakia Border

Posted date: 9:39 PM / comment : 0 , , , , ,



Austria and Slovakia, High Water Rescue System, Austria/Slovakia Border

Regular Floods and landslides brought on by the River Danube prompted an emergency declaration in three Austrian regions, and a number of railways and roads were blocked.

The Danube was threatening Slovakia too. Waters would flood the capital, Bratislava, and were only expected to rise. Also at risk was the southeastern Slovakian city of Kosice

The solution was the Austria/Slovakia High water rescue system. Since the system was implemented in 2009 there have been no reported deaths or missing people due to the floods and the flooding authorities have managed to control the River Danube, reducing the flooding admirably.

Amazing Hydroelectric Power Projects

Posted date: 9:48 AM / comment : 0 , , ,

7-largest-dams[4]
Today, hydropower is the most widely used form of renewable energy, but still accounts for only 16 percent of global electricity generation. Lack of accessible water sources is one of the main reasons why hydropower is lagging behind alternatives such as fossil fuels and nuclear power. But this is expected to change in the next few decades as several major hydroelectric projects are underway mostly in the Asia-Pacific region, that already generates 32 percent of global hydropower. China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 721 terawatt-hours of production in 2010, representing around 17 percent of domestic electricity use. Paraguay produces 100% of its electricity from hydroelectric dams, and Norway 98–99%. Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, and Venezuela – all have a majority of the internal electric energy production from hydroelectric power.
Three Gorges Dam, China
The Three Gorges Dam that spans the Yangtze River in Hubei province, China, is the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW). Made of concrete and steel, the dam is 2,335 meters long and 181 meters tall. More than 102.6 million cubic meters of earth was moved to make way for 27.2 million cubic meters of concrete and 463,000 tonnes of steel, enough to build 63 Eiffel Towers. It cost the state US$ 22.5 billion to build the dam.
When the water level is at its maximum of 175 meters above sea level, which is 110 meters higher than the river level downstream, the dam reservoir is on average about 660 kilometers in length and 1.12 kilometers in width, giving it an effective capacity of 39.3 km3 and 1,045 square kilometers of surface area.
The Chinese government takes huge pride in the project, in its state-of-the-art large turbines, and its move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions, even though it displaced some 1.3 million people, causing significant ecological changes as well as controversy both domestically and abroad.
three-gorges-dam-5[2]three-gorges-dam-4[2]three-gorges-dam-2[2]
Itaipu Dam, Brazil and Paraguay
The Itaipu Dam is located on the Paraná River on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. Although the dam has a capacity of 14,000 MW, lower than that of the Three Gorges Dam, it has a higher annual yield generating an average of 91 ~ 95 TWh in comparison to 80 TWh by the latter. The plant supplies 90% of the electricity consumed by Paraguay and 19% of that consumed by Brazil.
The Itaipu Dam is actually four dams joined together — from the far left, an earth fill dam, a rock fill dam, a concrete buttress main dam, and a concrete wing dam to the right, giving it a total length of 7235 meters. To build this massive structure, the course of the seventh biggest river in the world had to be altered, and 50 million tons of earth and rock had to moved. To give you an idea, the amount of concrete used to build the Itaipu Power Plant would be enough to build 210 football stadiums; the iron and steel used would allow for the construction of 380 Eiffel Towers and the volume of excavation of earth and rock in Itaipu is 8.5 times greater than that of the Channel Tunnel.
itaipu-1[2]itaipu-2[2]itaipu-3[2]
Guri Dam, Venezuela
The Guri Dam is 7,426 meters long and 162 meters high and is located in Venezuela on the Caroni River. As of 2009, the hydroelectric plant is the third-largest in the world, with 10,235 MW capacity and eighth-largest by volume of water. The Guri Dam alone supplies 73% of Venezuela’s electricity.
The dam has been the source of controversy for a long time because the lake it created flooded some 4,250 square km of a forest that was renowned for its biodiversity and rare wildlife, including the only place where the recently discovered Carrizal Seedeater (a finch-like tanager) was ever found.
guri-2[2]guri-3[6]
Tucuruí Dam, Brazil
The Tucuruí Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Tocantins River located on the Tucuruí County in Brazil. The main portion Tucuruí Dam is 78 meters high and 6.9 km long and made of concrete. The addition of the Mojú and Caraipé earth-fill dikes increases the total length to 12,515 m. The reservoir impounded by the dam has a capacity of 45 km³ with a live volume of 32 km³. The main dam’s Creager-type service spillway is the second largest in the world with a maximum capacity of 110,000 m³/sec. The dam is also used for navigation between the upper and lower Tocantins River.
The Tucuruí Dam brings power to 13 million people and 60% of the power is transferred to industries which create just under 2,000 jobs. But construction of the dam attracted large number of migrants to the area leading to deforestation and negative impacts from increased cattle-raising. The dam also displaced between 25,000 and 35,000 people in the early 1980s, out of which 3,750 people returned to live in the new islands created by the reservoir.
tucurui[2]
Grand Coulee Dam, the U.S.
Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation. It was constructed between 1933 and 1942, originally with two power plants. A third power station was completed in 1974 to increase its energy production. It is the largest electric power-producing facility in the United States and one of the largest concrete structures in the world. Through a series of upgrades and the installation of pump-generators, the dam now supplies four power stations with an installed capacity of 6,809 MW. The reservoir supplies water for the irrigation of 671,000 acres.
grand-coulee-2[2]grand-coulee-3[6]
Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam, Russia
The Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam is located on the Yenisei River, near Sayanogorsk in Khakassia, Russia. It is the largest power plant in Russia and the sixth-largest hydroelectric plant in the world, by average power generation. The dam is constructed to “safely” withstand earthquakes up to 8 on the Richter scale, and was recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records for the strongest construction of its type.
Image nImage nnImage
Longtan Dam, China
Longtan Dam is located on the Hongshui River in Tian’e County in China. The dam is 216.2 meters high and 849 meters long, and is the tallest “roller-compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam” in the world.
longtak[2]
- See more at: http://welldonestuff.com/amazing-hydroelectric-power-projects/#sthash.KGYgXt4x.dpuf
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