Chem321:Discussion 13
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You have a lot of work going on, so this discussion is straightforward. Please leave your initial comment below by Wednesday, August 7th at midnight. Then, by Friday at noon, please post a followup answer to two other students' comments. Please start your comment with a star, and sign with four tilde marks.
"Choose one viable green technology that you would like to see widely adopted by 2050. What would that technology look like, and what effect would it have on our global environmental footprint?
Contents
Angela Caracci
- There are many advances in green technology in efforts to reduce the non-renewable resources we use as well as the carbon emissions we give off by current practices. By 2050 I would like to see many homes, as well as business' and factories producing their own energy. Throughout the semester I learned about the benefits of solar panels and wind turbines. We would see many roofs in the future with solar panels. These places would be using that energy for lighting, cooking, and heating, just to name a few. In addition to solar panels on the roof, we would see an increase of small scale and large scale wind turbines (depending on where they are being used). This too would be used for producing electricity. Both methods can drastically reduce the need to burn fossil fuels, and help us move away from using non-renewable resources. In the future these methods will become more affordable, and it will be the common method in obtaining energy for use. Angela.M.Caracci (talk) 16:35, 7 August 2013 (EDT)
Tom Fuchs
A viable green technology I would like to see widely adopted by 2050 is commercial scale rooftop produce production. I have seen pictures of this sort of thing in optimistic “green” depictions of future cities. A company, called Lufa Farms, has successfully begun turning profits using a rooftop greenhouse in Montreal, Canada, a fairly cold environment. Lufa Farms describes using CO2 emissions from fuels used in energy production – to help the plants in the greenhouse grow – which allows for the farm to be close to carbon neutral (source - http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/coming-soon-commercial-scale-rooftop-produce/16889). Additionally – the greenhouse provides insulation for the buildings below it as it utilizes heat from the building to maintain adequate temperatures for growth in the greenhouse. These city rooftop greenhouses could provide food for entire cities through conservative methods such as hydroponics – thus reducing costs, oil use, use of raw materials, and emissions associated with transport of produce. Furthermore – these rooftop greenhouses could even potentially contain aquaponic systems! In this way – not only could rooftop greenhouses provide vegetables cities locally, but these greenhouses could also provide animal protein for the city population! Of course – a balance such as this would be quite the challenge to make profitable with the very limited space available. Additionally – the prospect of actually providing produce for an entire city utilizing these rooftop greenhouses is rather slim. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the need for 0.5hectares (1.23 acres) of land necessary for the growth of produce for a single American resident in a year – however this estimate includes the current levels of meat consumption. If per capita meat consumption is to be reduced, then the use of rooftop greenhouses could potentially ACTUALLY provide a majority of the dietary needs of a community. On top of these great things – if rooftop buildings became commonplace in largely populated cities such as Tokyo or NYC, then the amount of soil turned and utilized for agriculture could potentially be re-allocated for the production of bio-fuels! These biofuels could then in turn be used to run our cars, buildings, and greenhouses. This use of biofuels could then subsequently vastly reduce carbon emissions used by a city. Tom.fuchs (talk) 17:41, 7 August 2013 (EDT)
Abby Langdon
I would really like to see biodiesel that replaces fossil fuels we use in our cars be widely adopted by 2050. Biodiesel comes from a process that turns old cooking oil into a Constable form of fuel for diesel engines. This alternative would look a lot like the fuels we use now. Biodiesel has the ability to decrease our waste and reduce the amount of emissions we put into the atmosphere.
- This is very interesting. I like the idea of using old cooking oil as fuel, because it allows us to recycle from one process (cooking) and use the remains to run our car. It is beneficial to our environment as well! It does not contain any petroleum like the fuel we use now, and it will cut down on CO2 emissions. This would be great for the future. Angela.M.Caracci (talk) 16:42, 7 August 2013 (EDT)
