Last week we were assigned our groups for the final project. Our group consists of Mauro, Brittany, and myself. When we first got together we were very concerned about what to do for our project because of our very limited scientific backgrounds, but soon enough things started to come together and we got some good ideas flowing.

Mauro explained to us that he is an economics major and has a great deal of interest in helping developing nations. He told us how he wanted to do something regarding solar energy and how that can be delivered to developing or third world nations. Considering that Brittany and I had very few ideas as to what to do, and since Mauro was very willing to bring what he knows and is interested in to the table, we decided that this would be a good plan.

We thing researched some solar experiments online. Something that we decided that we want to communicate through our lab is how much energy can actually be generated through solar power. Though we did touch on this on our class’ solar panel lab, we want to reinforce some of those lessons from that lab and then find a way to apply that to developing nations who might not have electricity.

After recently watching the documentary Pandora’s Promise I learned that access to electricity and power is something that can define a country as first world. Access to electricity and power dramatically impacts the quality of life of the citizens of that country and I feel as though that is an important thing to tackle in our lab and presentation. We plan on doing a great deal of work and research in our next class meeting and in the coming weeks to make this a good experience.

Something that we must realize is that our climate, unfortunately, is as much an environmental issue as it is a political issue. In many ways this issue polarizes our political parties and makes compromise increasingly difficult. Today, a raging topic in environmental and political news is the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. This blog post will talk about some of the properties of the pipeline, some pros and some cons.

Oil pipeline

On the Keystone XL website in their “about” section, they describe the project as a “proposed 1,179-mile (1,897 km), 36-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline beginning in Hardisty, Alberta, and extending south to Steele City, Neb. This pipeline is a critical infrastructure project for the energy security of the United States and for strengthening the American economy”. However, for construction on the pipeline to start, President Obama and the U.S. State Department need to make an affirmative decision on it. The pipeline has the capacity to deliver 590,000 barrels per day.

Canadian Tar-sands

There are many proponents of this project, namely the Canadian government, and oil companies and their executives.  This will be a huge influx of cash for these two entities, which is something that is hard to ignore. Proponents of the pipeline know that this will be a job-creator, bringing work to a lot of Americans and Canadians who might not have work otherwise. It is speculated that the construction of this pipeline will bring just over 42,100 jobs to the hurting job market in the US. Additionally, the KXL will help dramatically in our dependence on foreign oil, an issue that has brought about a great deal of conflict in recent decades.

But that’s just it. These are jobs for construction. Recently the State Department released in an 11-chapter report that stated that after construction of the pipeline is completed there would be only 35 permanent positions available. 35 permanent jobs is not an adequate jump to any economy, let alone one of the biggest in the world and probably does more harm than good to it. Lets not ignore the obvious here: the immense environmental impact and economic problems that this will wage. The opening of the Canadian tar-sands will release incredible amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, not to mention the distinct possibility of something going wrong with the pipeline and a leak springing and causing a LAND oil spill of dramatic proportions. On top of that, following through with this pretty much cements us into using fossil fuels for an extended stretch of time, which is horrible for the environment and even worse for our wallets.

KXL protesters

Additionally, I did some research into the political support that Keystone XL Pipeline has in the US Senate. Maplight.org says that many of the Senators who are in support of the pipeline have either received sizable campaign donations from oil companies or hold stock in some sort function of the pipeline, namely Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), David Vitter (R-La.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.),Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) just to name a few. I am aware that this is supposed to be a science-based blog post, but I feel that this information is hard to ignore and sounds a lot to me like conflict of interest.

Obviously, whatever the correct decision is, I hope it is made. As a proud Canadian and American, I am aware of the benefits to this project (especially the Canadian benefits), but the pitfalls are almost too massive to ignore.

References

http://www.newsweek.com/state-department-keystone-xl-pipeline-would-only-create-35-permanent-jobs-228898

http://maplight.org/content/73403

http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Energy-and-Climate/Drilling-and-Mining/Tar-Sands/Keystone-XL-Pipeline.aspx

http://keystone-xl.com/about/energy-security/

http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/11/the-keystone-xl-pipeline

Never forget.

As time goes on we need to be more and more aware of our changing climate and overall environment. It is important that in coming years leading nations such as the United States start the ball rolling in slowing these damages to the environment. In June of 2013 President Barack Obama’s administration put together a document called “The President’s Climate Action Plan”, and I will be highlighting some of the main points of that document.

A)   Cutting Carbon Pollution From Power Plants

B)   Building a 21^st Century Transportation Sector

C)   Cutting Energy Waste in Homes, Businesses, and Factories

In the Cutting Carbon Pollution From Power Plants section of the plan the document talks about the problems with waste from our factories. It says that 1/3 of domestic greenhouse gas emissions, namely carbon, come from factories. The general point being made is that other hazardous chemicals such as lead, arsenic, and mercury have very intense regulations on them currently and that carbon emissions should be held to a similar standard.  The document remarks that 35 states have “energy targets” and 25 states have “energy efficiency targets”, while this phrasing sounds hopeful it is still too ambiguous for me to fully understand. A very interesting development in this section is the recognizing of the aging energy grid. The plan calls for a boost of the current energy grid in the US, and if you care to learn more about the problems with the grid, please refer to my first blog post.

In the second part of this plan, they talk about building up a 21^st century transportation sector. They start off by saying that large vehicles are the second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. To combat this, the plan outlines that the administration plans on consulting leading figures and stakeholders in the transportation industry to see and plan the next steps. One thing that they mention is attempting to begin using biofuels for military transport. These biofuels appear to be relatively experimental. They never really say exactly what they are or how soon they well be used, but they do say that these biofuels are much less expensive than the current fossil fuels that are used on large vehicles.

Finally, the President plans to cut energy waste in homes, businesses, and factories. This action has already started, with more and more appliances for sale are marketed as being energy efficient. The plan says that they plan to increase the standards for appliances and other machinery in the coming years to keep the ball rolling on their plan to reduce green house gas emissions by 17% in 2020. Additionally the plan calls for less barriers to entry for start up companies desiring to deliver clean energy to homes and businesses. They plan on doing this through being more open to giving government grants and loans to companies that desire to do this. The plan also mentions a Better Buildings challenge, that attempts to make buildings 20% more efficient by 2020.

Being a resident of Boston for the past three years, I feel that I have covered the city pretty well. I feel that I have hit all of the noteworthy locations in the city, or at least I thought that I had. A few weeks a go as a class we took a trip to the Museum of Science in Boston. The trip served as a very educational and fun experience for me, as I learned a lot about specific scientists as well as different ways to spice up my own experiments.

a cool sculpture in the lobby of the MOS.

As I emerged from the Science Park station on the green line I was skeptical of the day. I was tired, under the weather, cold, and I just wanted the visit to go by quickly. But as soon as I got to the first exhibit I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

The first exhibit that I went to was the “Innovative Engineers” installment. This was a very simple exhibit; it was just a cube with pictures and text on each wall of the cube about a few engineers. The engineers featured were Dean Kamen, Stephanie Kwolek, Helen Greiner, George Carruthers, and Eric Bailey. Among this group one stood out in particular to me, Dean Kamen. In his bio posted on the wall the first thing that was said about him was that he was not the best student growing up, and was relatively clueless about what he wanted to do when he grew up. It did say however that he really enjoyed problem solving as a child, which seems like a pretty important prerequisite for an engineer. Kamen went on to invent the auto-syringe, the segway, as well as a wheelchair that can climb stairs called the iBOT. Kamen’s love for solving problems is clear in this invention, because disabled people obviously have a hard time climbing stairs in their wheelchairs. Additionally, Kamen invented a water transportation system that uses a stirling engine; a system that can be learned about in my stirling engine blog post. I found this exhibit extremely uplifting, considering Kamen’s lackluster feelings about school as a child, which is something that I felt as well. The exhibit made me feel as though anyone is capable of doing something to help people out, even me.

The Dean Kamen exhibit in Innovative Engineers

Sign explaining incandescent bulbs in Conserve @ Home

From the Innovative Engineers exhibit I moved upstairs to the Conserve @ Home exhibit. This is en exhibit geared towards children to communicate to them the amount of energy that they use in a day. One specific part of this exhibit really spoke to me. The concept was simple: there was a glass case containing three different types of light bulbs, LED, CFL, and incandescent, and three steering wheels on the outside of the case. The idea is for a child to come up and turn the wheel and try to make its respective light bulb light up. Through this they would learn that it takes the most amount of energy to power the incandescent bulb and the two other bulbs were pretty easy to power and then make the connection to how they power the lights in their homes and maybe choose to turn off their lights when they are not necessary. Through visiting this exhibit I was exposed to a form of experiment that was fun and very hands on and accessible. I found in high school when I would perform an experiment, I would feel as though this information or the processes of doing the lab exercise was rather arbitrary; I would not need this information after I left the lab and it would not apply to me in my life. However this lab at the museum of science was applicable to our every day lives, and most of all it was simple to do. No one is looking to perform an experiment that is time consuming and hard, that sort of defeats the purpose.  This is something that we should add to our final lab demonstration.

It is very important to keep facilities like the Museum of Science alive in this country. I do not consider myself a science enthusiast or even someone who spends a lot of time thinking about science, but the Museum of Science showed me that I am capable of doing scientific activities and applying those to my every day life.

Something that we have been talking a lot about in class recently is the use of nuclear power. The overall opinion of nuclear power and nuclear power plants is negative in the United States. Recently, I watched the 2013 documentary Pandora’s Promise by director Robert Stone. Not only does the documentary exhibit excellent cinematographic, sound, and editorial components, but also it does a great job of debunking some properties of nuclear power that are commonly thought of by Americans. In this blog post I will talk about some of the points that I found to be most interesting.

Many of the interview subjects in the film were former nuclear doubters or protesters, one of them being writer Gwyneth Cravens. Cravens remarked early in the film of the origins of her nuclear fears, saying that the accident at 3 Mile Island made her fearful that radioactive particles could travel all the way to New York City and harm her daughter. She also remarked that at this time she also “conflated nuclear power with nuclear energy”. This was a shared feeling among the other featured people in the documentary, many changing their mind after conversing with “pioneers in the [nuclear power] industry”.

Later in the documentary, they touch on the issue of media coverage on the threat of radioactive particles in our atmosphere. To preface this part in the documentary, they remark that nuclear power is the second safest form of energy after wind power. Cravens also tells us how there has not been one death in the United States caused by a nuclear reactor, and that there is such thing as natural radiation. They go on to talk about how the media often talks about microsieverts or millisieverts and how most people watching the news do not understand what that means and can often confuse things for viewers. They then showed a sequence of a microsievert reader it different parts of the world, showing a pretty constant level of 0.13 per hour. They then travel to a beach in Brazil after explaining that these levels of background radiation are higher at higher altitudes, and they put the reader on the ground and it reads 30.81 microsieverts per hour. They even show an older man burying himself in the sand and says that it helps him with his body pains. They go on to say that this has nothing to do with the rising level of cancer in the world, because most of the radiation from microsieverts is natural.

measure of the background radiation in LA.

Earlier in the documentary, they talk about our energy consumption. It has been told to us that something needs to be done about our energy consumption as a nation, which would dramatically help the state of the environment. However, Michael Shellenberger tells us that in reality, the amount of energy consumption on the planet will only increase as more and more nations begin to develop, speculating that it will be doubled by 2050. He said that instead of focusing our complete energy on less consumption, we should put some time, money, and effort into creating more energy grids that can keep up with our levels of consumption. But also we need to create stabilization we do need to create better infrastructure for our renewable energy resources. I found this argument interesting because it’s something that is not often said.

Before viewing this documentary I was unsure of the safety of nuclear power. I was sure that nuclear power was not something that we should invest in and could potentially kill us. However, after watching the documentary it became clear that nuclear energy is not only more efficient, but it is also one of the safest forms of energy.  I would watch this doc again and suggest it to other people. Very well done.

A few weeks ago our class took a trip to Cambridge, MA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s nuclear reactor. Prior to visiting the reactor, the processes of nuclear fission and fusion were covered in class, making the experience at the reactor much more informed.  Unfortunately, there will not be any of my own photos to accompany my writing in this blog post, considering that we were not allowed to bring our phones into the reactor. The visit was interesting and informative and the tour guide knew a great deal about the facility.

It was apparent to me right as we walked in that this facility had a great deal of safety precautions. Before we passed through the heavy blue doors and into the facility, our names needed to be checked off on a list to make sure that they had all of our personal and contact information in case of an emergency. Additionally before we entered we were asked to wear these metal cylinders, almost like a thick metal pen, on our pants. This instrument, though the name slips my mind, was given to us as a safety measure, to see if we came into any radiation during the tour. This safety measure calmed my ever so slight nerves of getting radiation poisoning, as I feared that there be someone just constantly telling us, “ehhhh you’ll be fine” on our tour. As the tour went on, some of my other light concerns were alleviated.

It was also revealed to us some of the safety precautions within the actual reactor. As we passed through the blue doors, we were taken to some control areas with equipment and some info graphics hanging on the walls to show what the reactor actually does. Then we were lead through a giant blue door that lead into a small confining hallway. This chamber that we were in for about 3 minutes was to drop the pressure of the area. The tour guide explained to us that the pressure within the reactor is always a little bit below atmospheric pressure. This is to ensure that there are hardly any fumes or anything from within the reactor leaks out of the facility into the atmosphere. Also they mentioned that the lower pressure within the reactor would help in the case of some emergencies.

We were then brought below the reactor itself, and into the basement. Here, it was explained to us that MIT used to conduct some medical research on cancer patients. They explained that they treated a few brain cancer patients using Neutron Capture Therapy. In this process the patient would lay down below the reactor and Boron neutrons would be shot directly into the cancerous area of their brain. The chamber in which they would have the patients lay was dark and dormant when we saw it, as much of that research has not been done in a long time because Neutron Capture Therapy has been shown to be only as successful as most chemotherapy.

Having a limited background and understanding of the functioning of a nuclear reactor or the nuclear industry at all, visiting the MIT nuclear reactor was an informative experience

Though we learned about the processes of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion in class, after going on our class trip to the MIT nuclear reactor I did some research on their website to get some more information. What I found was interesting, informative, and helped me understand some of what the nuclear reactor does as well as its history.

Despite all of the buzz around using nuclear reactors for energy, the MIT nuclear reactor is for research only and the second largest university nuclear reactor in the country. In the history section of their website they say, “the NRL has supported educational training and cutting-edge research in areas of nuclear fission engineering, material science radiation effects in biology and medicine, neutron physics, geochemistry, and environmental studies”. It is clear through this description that the main purpose of the reactor is to teach and conduct research.

Additionally I learned that in 1999 the staff at the reactor applied for a relicensing that would upgrade the wattage at the nuclear reactor from 5 MW to 6MW. In 2010 their request was granted and they say that it increased their “neutron flux by 20%” and will help their students in conducting research.

a look inside…

An ever so slight concern of mine before visiting the reactor was my safety. Due to the recent disaster in Japan as well as researching disasters in the past, I know how dangerous nuclear radiation can be. However, in all of the cases that I have researched in the past, all of those facilities are for-profit and are power creators. In MIT’s case, they are a research and education facility only. Although that does not make the facility accident ammune, I felt more at ease knowing that there was no corporate boss at the MIT facility trying to push the equipment to its limits in order to make an extra buck. Through the website I learned that, “The MITR operates at atmospheric pressure and at a low temperature. The low power level means that the MITR has far less radioactivity in its core than does a power plant. The low pressure and low temperature mean that there is no driving force to push out what radioactivity there is in the unlikely event of an accident”.

References

http://web.mit.edu/nrl/www/index.html

On March 11, 2011 the Japanese people were struck with a disaster that only added more suffering after being slammed with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake: a nuclear meltdown. Many were fearful that the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant would be worse than Chernobyl, and for some those fears were validated. This post will talk about the meltdown and some new nuclear strategies.

On March 11, 2011 Japan was struck with the Tohku earthquake. The 9.0 quake shook Japan for six minutes, and birthed a tsunami. The tsunami’s massive waves reached the shores of Fukushima, a city on the eastern coast of Japan. Fukashima is home to the Fukashima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a 370-acre facility responsible for supplying electricity to thousands of Japanese homes and businesses. Earlier that year a government inspection of the plant found that the plant was not properly equipped to deal with a tsunami, but the company in charge of the plant claims that they were amidst fixing the problem when the earthquake and tsunami hit. The tsunami waves were no match for the seawall surrounding the plant as they towered to two times the height of the wall. The earthquake caused the power plant to cut their power as a safety percussion, which would prompt a cooling system to help the nuclear core drop in temperature. With the water flooding in from the tsunami that cooling process was next to impossible. The ongoing nuclear situation prompted the government to evacuate the surrounding area of the plant.

Graphic showing the severity of the quake

Workers who remained at the plant after the tsunami struck were desperately attempting to restore power to the control room. To do so, many of them hooked up their car batteries to restore the power, which turned out to be a successful effort. With power restored they could now see the levels within the reactor core and the results were startling. The pressure within the reactor was such that cooling the core with water would be impossible, and it was leaking radioactive steam and could explode at any moment leaving parts of Japan inhabitable for decades. The goal then became to vent the reactor, but this was no easy task without electricity. They would have to go in and open the vents manually, a very labor-intensive process. Crews of only a few people took 17 minute shifts attempting to relive the building pressure in the core despite releasing a great deal of radioactive gas.

Soon the Japanese army came in to try and drop some water on the nuclear fuel that had been leaked after a hydrogen explosion in the roof of reactor 1. As soon as the unit left their Jeeps, one of the reactors exploded and dispersed radioactive material in the surrounding area.

Explosion of one of the nuclear reactors.

Since the 2011 meltdown Japan has attempted to change their energy strategies. In November of 2013 they opened a 70-megawatt Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Plant that will produce enough energy for 22,00 homes. They plan to boost that wattage up to 19-gigawatts by 2016. Through the creation of this solar project it is clear that Japan is attempting to steer away from their dependency on nuclear power, a source of energy that was greatly favored before the disaster. According to the European Union website, “The Japanese Government is also currently updating the country’s energy policy and is expected to present a new, ‘innovative strategy for energy and environment’”. This shift away from nuclear energy is a good sign for the environment and public health. Avoiding these kinds of situations in the future is paramount to ensuring a cleaner environment.

References

            http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/japans-nuclear-meltdown/

http://www.ibtimes.com/two-years-after-fukushima-japan-opens-biggest-solar-power-plant-reaching-national-milestone-1455572

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami

In a world that has become increasingly polluted over the past 4 decades, something must be done to plug the proverbial leak. There are many ways that we can slow the force of global warming, but one thing that has been on the rise is the use of geothermal energy to create heat and electricity. A leading country in doing this is the small Nordic island country of Iceland.

Geothermal energy is the process of extracting heat from the earth and converting that heat into energy, which can be used as a source of electricity and heat. Due to recent technological advancements, more than 8.900 megawatts of large utility-scale can produce enough energy to give to 12 million US households, all without emissions and at a cheaper cost than other ways of getting electricity. But the US has more capability to produce geothermal energy than any other country (3,000 megawats in eight states), mostly coming from California. Geothermal energy is created when Earthquakes create magma movement and break up rocks below the Earth’s surface. This allows hot water to circulate and rise to the Earth’s surface and the heat from that water is used to generate energy.

Iceland is located roughly 1,073 miles north west of England in the Norwegian Sea. Since Iceland is a very volcanic country, with active volcanoes on the island, much energy can be derived from the Earth’s inner core. Today, Iceland generates 25% of its electricity from geothermal power facilities, and 87% of the country’s heat. Essentially, the way that Iceland uses the Geothermal heat is by creating steam power. But, since the high amount of volcanic activity in Iceland creates hot springs, there is no need for a power plant to create the steam, because it already exists from the hot springs. These hot springs can contain water that is naturally heated to around 150 degrees Celsius. But this high amount of geothermal energy does not come with a price. The large amount of volcanic activity on Iceland means that ground is not exactly stable. The tectonic plates can have a tendency to move, and therefore create earthquakes on the Earth’s surface.

Icelandic hot spring suitable for swimming

Since the increased research on the front of geothermal power, Iceland has been thrust into a leading role in the usage of geothermal energy. Iceland has embarked on a project called The Iceland Deep Drilling Project. This project is being worked on by Iceland’s leading power companies and with the Icelandic government to “determine if utilizing supercritical geothermal fluids would improve the economics of power productions from geothermal fields”. They plan to drill deep down into those supercritical zones in order to see if they can further increase their energy generation. I believe that Iceland is certainly on to something with geothermal energy. With the US having a strong capability to do much of the same stuff, I believe that it would be worth the effort to get the wheels moving for the sake of the environment.

Diagram of IDDP

References

http://www.nea.is/geothermal/the-iceland-deep-drilling-project/

http://www.newstatesman.com/future-proof/2014/01/icelandic-scientists-tap-molten-magma-record-geothermal-energy-production

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-geothermal-energy-works.html

http://waterfire.fas.is/GeothermalEnergy/GeothermalEnergy.php

In the world today, there are many different types of engines that we use to power devices from our cell phones to our cars. The Stirling engine is just an example of one of those types of engines. Today, Stirling engines are not used in cars but only in highly specialized settings, such as submarines or some specific auxiliary power generators.

Robert Stirling invented the Stirling engine in 1816. Stirling was a Scottish minister and responsible for the first external combustion engine. Stirling engines use something called the The Stirling cycle to function.  In the Stirling cylce, all fumes are contained inside the engine and never leave and does not use any explosions to generate energy, this makes the system very quiet. The cycle also uses an external heat source to run, such as solar energy or even energy from decaying plants. In looking at the Stirling cycle, the key to the whole system is that there is a fixed amount of gas sealed inside of the engine at all times. The engine consists of two chambers. When that external heat is applied to the gas in one chamber, the pressure will change and a piston will be forced down which does work. The other chamber is a cooled chamber, and as the heated piston moves up the right one moves down. The heated gas makes its way into the cooled chamber and the gas is cooled and the pressure is lowered. In that cooled chamber, the gas begins to compress and generate heat and is removed by the cooling source of the chamber, a source such as ice. Then the cold piston moves up and the hot piston moves back down, making the gas heat back up and build pressure where the cycle repeats.

A stirling engine pushes hot gas into a cold chamber, depressing pistons.

A common application of the Stirling engine is in submarines and other underwater vessels; due to their lack of emissions and that they do expel a lot of noise, ideal for the highly pressurized and enclosed nature of a submarine. General Motors as well as other Swedish companies and researchers have been involved in advancements in Stirling engine uses.

The Peltier device is another form of engine without internal combustion. In 1834 the scientist Peltier discovered that if one were take a thermocouple (two dissimilar metals that are connected at a junction) and apply a voltage, there will be a difference in temperature between the junctions. This creates a small heat-pump or a thermo-electric cooler. The Peltier device’s main usage is to turn thermal energy into electrical energy. This process can be responsible for turning the heat from our exhaust systems into energy, something that would be very beneficial to the environment. Today, Peltier devices can be used to make mini fans, air conditioners and heaters.

An in-depth look at how a Peltier device works.

It is clear that these devices should be used more often in our world today considering the state of the environment. The fact that these devices do not expel much or any harmful gasses into our atmosphere would seem like a huge draw.
References

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_the_Stirling_engine

http://www.heatsink-guide.com/peltier