During our group’s first brainstorming session, we came up with multiple ideas for what experiment we could perform on sustainability. I immediately remember doing an experiment in the past on static electricity. A bi-product of static electricity is an electrical discharge, for example lightning strikes. At the Museum of Science there is a room that generate vast amounts of static electricity to create lightning. After doing research on static discharge online, we found the balloon experiment. This consisted of a balloon, and faucet. Our group decided that this was going to an interesting experiment to perform.

Tom Vales came to our class and presented various inventions that he has created in the past. The devices he presented to us were the Peltier Device, Stirling Engine, Mendocino Engine, and a Tesla Coil.

Peltier Device – Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junction of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other, with consumption of electrical energy, depending on the direction of the current.

Stirling Engine – A Stirling engine is a heat engine operating by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas, the working fluid, at different temperature levels such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. Or more specifically, a closed-cycle regenerative heat engine with a permanently gaseous working fluid, where closed-cycle is defined as a thermodynamic system in which the working fluid is permanently contained within the system, and regenerative describes the use of a specific type of internal heat exchanger and thermal store, known as the regenerator.

Mendocino Engine – The motor consists of a four-sided rotor block in the middle of a shaft. The rotor block has two sets of windings and a solar cell attached to each side. The shaft is positioned horizontally and has a magnet at each end. The magnets on the shaft provide levitation by repelling magnets in a base under the motor. There is an additional magnet that sits under the rotor block and provides a magnetic field for the rotor.

When light strikes one of the solar cells, it generates an electric current thus energizing one of the rotor windings. This produces a magnetic field which interacts with the field of the magnet under the rotor. This interaction causes the rotor to turn. As the rotor rotates, the next solar cell moves into the light and energizes the second winding, creating a current in an opposite direction to the first thus maintaining the rotation. This process repeats as the motor spins.

Tesla Coil – A Tesla coil is an electrical resonant transformer circuit invented by Nikola Tesla around 1891.It is used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high frequency alternating-current electricity.

Tesla coils can produce higher voltages than electrostatic machines, which are another source of artificial high-voltage discharges. Tesla experimented with a number of different configurations consisting of two, or sometimes three, coupled resonant electric circuits.

“While no single step can reverse the effects of climate change, we have a moral obligation to future generations to leave them a planet that is not polluted and damaged. Through steady, responsible action to cut carbon pollution, we can protect our children’s health and begin to slow the effects of climate change so that we leave behind a cleaner, more stable environment. ”

-Barack Obama

Initiatives that the President plans to take in order to make a safer and stable environment include cutting carbon pollution in the US, preparing the US for impacts in the climate change, and lead international efforts to combat global climate change and prepare for its impacts.

1. Cutting carbon pollution in the US

The US government is firm on trying to make consumers use clean energy. This means that in the future there will be federal requirements that need to be met. For example, power plants are the highest producers of carbon emissions in the United States. There are many state requirements on emission control and pollution, but none stating the amount of emissions allowed. The government plans to draft standard to which these power plants will have to abide by in order to continue business.

Next, President Obama is stressing the importance of renewable energy. Solar, wind, and hydropower are essential to creating a more stable environment. He has set goals for the US to meet by 2020 and hopes to surpass them. Other processes that Obama is looking to secure is long-term investments from consumers in order to further irrigate the flow of low emission technology. The capital will go towards and updated grid, cutting energy waste, more fuel efficient homes and cars, and reducing methane emissions in the US.

2. Preparing the US for impacts of climate change

In order to prepare the US for these changes they must start by building stronger and safer communities and infrastructure. The specifics included Directing Agencies to Support Climate-Resilient Investment, Establishing a State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness, Supporting Communities as they Prepare for Climate Impacts, Boosting the Resilience of Buildings and Infrastructure, Rebuilding and Learning from Hurricane Sandy, and Providing a Toolkit for Climate Resilience. By innovating city infrastructure and constantly inventing new technology through funding the US can become more efficient and resilient.

It is one thing for the Government to know how to properly implement new technology in order to keep the US ready for climate change, but they need to know how to teach people how to prepare as well. Through this second initiative Obama can show consumers how to properly prepare for the impact of changes in the climate.

3. Lead International Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

The third initiative that Obama wants the Government to focus on is getting foreign countries to comply with the standards set domestically. The tasks involved include Enhancing Multilateral Engagement with Major Economies, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, The U.S. Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative, The U.S.-Asia Pacific Comprehensive Energy Partnership(Both of which are financed by the Government and will help reduce emissions), Negotiating Global Free Trade in Environmental Goods and Services, and Strengthening Global Resilience to Climate Change.

It will be a tedious tasks to negotiate with many countries abroad, but historically many foreign markets are willing to be more energy efficient. By 2020, the US hopes to have a more stable environment along with many agreements between emerging markets to keep the Earth healthy and safe.

Strict standards have been placed upon the auto industry. By 2025 automobile makers must meet the 54.5 gallons per mile standard set forth by the US government. In order to stay competitive against many foreign auto makers, major car manufacturers have come up with new technology to help save fuel.

The first technology to create fuel efficient cars is clean diesel. “Ultra low sulphur diesel fuel has been refined so that its sulphur content is 15 parts per million (ppm) or less. This is 97 percent cleaner than the standard highway-use diesel fuel sold in the US, which contains an average of 500 ppm of sulphur.” ULSD has been the standard for cars in Europe for many years now.

The next technology that has helped improve gas mileage is direct injection.  Direct injection improves fuel efficiency and will generally yield more power when compared with a port-injected engine of similar displacement and design. 

A third technology used is turbochargers. Although turbochargers do not make the engine more efficient, it allows for smaller engines to produce more power by sucking clean air into a pressurized turbine with two fans. A turbocharged engine is more powerful and efficient than a  regular engine because the turbine forces more air, and proportionately more fuel, into the combustion chamber than atmospheric pressure alone.

These three technologies have contributed to the reduction of carbon emission and higher gas mileage. Newer forms of fuel efficient technology are created each year. For example, hybrid cars and hydrogen powered cars. The forms of technology above have the led to the creation of these newer types.

Sources:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/how-clean-diesel-fuel-works1.htm

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/hrdp_0909_direct_injection_guide/

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm

Below is an excel spreadsheet of our experiment:

When the power level of the engine remained constant the potential energy changed over the three trials. When the power level changed over three trials potential energy remained constant. This is due to the fact that the mass loaded remained constant as well. Potential energy changes when the mass changes, not energy output. It is very interesting to see how close the energy/time ratio had very similar measures regardless of energy output or change in mass.

Acceleration always increased over the three trials of each assessment.

As you can see from the graphs our experiment went well. Our data correlated well with what the graphs show. As we decreased mass accretion stayed the same, and as we increased power output and kept mass the same, acceleration increased.

After doing some research on hydro-fracking, and weighing the pros and cons I feel that it it necessary for this process to continue to happen. Economically, this process has lead the US to discovered large deposits of natural gas and other fossil fuels that our country relies on in order to commute in cars, heat homes, just to name a few.

What is it? Here is a picture that shows the basics

“According to the International Energy Agency, the remaining technically recoverable resources of shale gas are estimated to amount to 208 trillion cubic metres (208,000 km³), tight gas to 76 trillion cubic metres (76,000 km³), and coalbed methane to 47 trillion cubic metres (47,000 km³).” In order to reach these gases hydro-fracking must happen. More than 70% of the US natural gas will be tapped into due to this process. Natural gas is already becoming a better alternative, and in the future will be the only form of energy provided.

In order to break into the Earths crust, or fracking, there are certain chemicals that raise some concern to the environment. Volatile organic compounds or VOC’s are emitted during this process and cause harm to the water sources and the Ozone layer. The question “is it worth hurting the atmosphere?” arises. Many people attribute increased CO2 levels to hydro-fracking, and in result global warming is caused.

Financed research shows that exposure to such contamination has led to birth defects, cancer, and other long-term health defects. I think it is a little extreme to make these accusations but it is possible.

Realistically, hydro-fracking is a process that is a necessity for our economy. If companies do not extract the Earth’s precious fossil fuels many small business will suffer. The transportation business alone with not be able to operate without having oil and gas. Since 2008, carbon emissions have actually decreased due to businesses and consumers having a large amount of natural gas to use rather than oil. Although the short-term effects seem grim, hydro-fracking’s long-term benefits outweigh the risks.

Sources

http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/media/weowebsite/2012/goldenrules/WEO2012_GoldenRulesReport.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817691/

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/07/12/3801578.htm

Observations of Lego Robot:

First Run:

Time: 1 second

The recorded circumference: 0.1413

Power output of both wheels: 75

RPM’s: 1.52778

Distance traveled: .21 cm

Distance measured with ruler: 27 cm

Percent Error: 22.22%

Second Run:

Time: 1 second

Power output of wheels: 90

RPM’s: 1.72778

Distance recorded: .24413cm

Distance measured with ruler: .28cm

Percent Error: 14.29%

After running both experiments, I observed that the more powerful the wheel output is the less percent error occurs. Some discrepancies that may have occurred could be measurement of distance with the ruler, the wheels may have ran longer than one total second, and the measurement on the circumference could have been bigger or smaller than actual measurement.

Why this is important: it is important because this is an example of how car engineers use robotics to identify ways to manufacture cars to be more energy efficient. Although we did a much smaller scale with Lego’s, the same concepts apply to real-life examples that scientist perform everyday. Understanding how to conduct and properly analyze data will be useful for any student looking to get a job in the energy sector.

After doing some research, I would definitely say that global warming contributed to Hurricane Sandy. Although hurricanes are naturally occurring events thats happen during “hurricane season”,  global warming was a reason why the storm did much more damage compared to a storm in recent years. According to the Huffington post during the summer of 2012 temperatures in the Arctic Sea reached record breaking numbers causing water levels to rapidly rise. Pennsylvania State University climatologist Michael Mann said that “At least 1 foot of those 13.2 feet was arguably due to sea-level rise.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/hurricane-damage-climate-change_n_2081960.html

High-pressured air was blocked by Greenland which pushed the storm towards the East Coast, which is some what contrary to usual activity. The reposition of the jet-stream sent to storm crashing into New York’s coast.

This image is taken from http://www.climatecentral.org/news/how-global-warming-made-hurricane-sandy-worse-15190 and gives a very cool visual of how the storm tracked over the coast.

Another reason that global warming intensified the storm was due to increased sea level temperatures which resulted in an increased amount of water vapor in the air. This helped produce more rain. Some scientists might say that warmer air will actually help the US east coast by pushing storms of the coast and keeping them out to sea.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/130902-hurricanes-climate-change-superstorm-sandy-global-warming-storms-science-weather/

The site above supports that claim. This remains to be seen. I still think that with less greenhouse gas emissions the earth would be less warm and water levels would not have risen to record-setting numbers. We have experienced super-storms in the past and none of them have caused as much damage as Sandy did. The facts are there. Carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions are at all time highs and only increasing each day. I find it hard to believe that it is just ironic that water levels and greenhouse gases are breaking numbers and then this storm hits and destroys everything.

This is a very interesting topic and I am lucky enough to be a certified trainer at a Crossfit gym downtown, so this discussion is close to me. Part of my certification was understanding the importance of nutritional and how the body reacts to certain foods. My first thought of the topic was “No way, it is unhealthy for anyone to eat anything that’s not essentially organic. Additives and other pesticides damage the human body.” As I continued to read, the business school side of me starting to think about the effects of the small businesses who rely on GMO’s, for example the Rainbow Papaya farmers. I found myself being in the middle of the controversy, which I hate because I always like to pick a side and stick to it and debate it until the end, but this is a very different situation.

This is an interesting site that lays out both pros and cons of GMO’s. Take a look.

http://classes.soe.ucsc.edu/cmpe080e/Spring05/projects/gmo/benefits.htm

The Crossfit trainer side of me still says not to eat this type of product. The effects of pesticides alone in foods are unhealthy. A major portion of the population in the US flocks to Whole Foods and Trader Joes to get organic fruits and vegetables, and pay top dollar for it with no second thoughts about it. Putting foreign products that our bodies are not used to is very risky, and in opinion, does not taste quite the same.

Then the business side approach occurs to me. This is a snapshot of Monsanto’s stock

http://quotes.morningstar.com/stock/mon/s?t=mon

With 26,000 employees and revenue increasing about 3 billion dollars since 2011 it is a huge company that offers a ton of jobs. It’s stock alone has risen from $14 a share to over $100 in the last 10 years. If Mr. Ilagan were to approve this bill, the farmers on the island could suffer huge losses in revenue because people would no longer purchase their products. In my opinion, this would have been a domino affect. If one bill were to pass, this would be an opportunity for many other states to do the same. A huge company like Monsanto would suffer tremendously.

I think that consumers are going to choose what they want to eat regardless of what risks are presented about GMO’s and side effects. I choose to eat healthy, organic foods. There are plenty of people in the US who consume genetically modified foods who probably do not even know it, nor can tell the difference. I think that a company like Monsanto has too much upside, as far as revenue created and jobs they offer, to make them suffer by labeling foods with “GMO labels”, or passing bills to stop this type of biotechnology. If a person does not want to consume GMO’s then don’t. They can buy food that’s fresh and healthy. From a political stand point, Mr. Ilagan did the right thing. Farmers rely on their products to bought and it brings revenue to the country. For every person that is going to shoot down the idea of GMO’s and the dangers, there are plenty of people who are going to argue that innovation and science will lead to health benefits in food. It showed in the article when the bill was not approved. This does not mean that the 1,000’s of supporters of the bill are required to eat genetically modified products. They have options.

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