Soon after President Barack Obama took office in 2009 there were plans to loan billions of dollars to green energy companies in order to help the environment, but most importantly make more jobs for the people. What is Solyndra?  They are a solar manufacturing company.  They manufactured cylinder panels that could be placed on rooftops which were said to produce more electricity.  It was said that these panels could absorb energy from any direction.  Solyndra was a company that had applied for a loan and was approved in the year of 2009. The company assured that the 535 million dollar loan would create around 4,000 new jobs.  The Obama administration was rushing in order for this loan to be dispersed sooner.  A few months after Solyndra received their loan they filed for bankruptcy in September of that same year.

There is a lot of controversy   behind this because many people say that Obama and his administration gave special treatment to Solyndra because of George Kaiser. Mr. Kaiser invested a lot of money into Solyndra and actually helped the Obama campaign in 2008.  There are still investigations going on with this case.  After Solyndra received this money they were spending it like crazy.  I’m just shocked that the Obama administration was pushing for this loan to go through so fast and they didn’t even see the real trouble Solyndra was in.  I think this is very unacceptable of people that are running our country.  Scandals like this one shouldn’t even come close to happening.

http://theweek.com/article/index/219243/the-solyndra-scandal-a-guide-to-the-new-revelations

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

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/opinion/the-phony-solyndra-scandal.html

Hydrofracking, what could this possibly mean?  That’s exactly what I was thinking when I first started to research this topic.  Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing makes it possible to produce oil and natural gas in places where other technology is ineffective. (api.org)  There is actually a lot of controversy that is involved with this process.  Hydrofracking releases a mix of water and chemicals into the ground so it can collect gas.  Many companies that use hydrofracking don’t disclose the types of chemicals that they put into the ground.  This type of gas collection can be hazardous because toxic spills can occur, the pollution of air and water is high, and there may be problems with radioactivity.  Hydrofracking actually operates 24 hours a day and seven days a weeks, this process of dumping gallons of water and chemicals into our ground obviously sounds very dangerous.  People in Pennsylvania actually live with drinking water contaminated with methane and heavy metals. (citizenscampaign.org)

Gas and drilling companies are very adamant about starting hydrofracking everywhere.  This is a huge and profitable process for them; the only problem is that hydrofracking isn’t too safe for our drinking water. People have recently started to become more and more aware about how this process can positively and negatively affect them.  Personally I think that hydrofracking is risking a lot, water is something that humans need in order to survive.  I think that people need to become more aware of this situation before some major harm is truly caused to ourselves and the world.

http://www.api.org/policy-and-issues/policy-items/exploration/hydraulic-fracturing-well-construction.aspx

http://iehn.org/overview.naturalgashydraulicfracturing.php

http://www.citizenscampaign.org/campaigns/hydro-fracking.asp

http://www.thinkbeforeyoufrack.org/about-hydrofracking/

The automobile industry has come up with several ways to increase gas mileage.  One very common way is the hybrid car.  As the gas prices keep rising the demand for the demand for hybrid cars is increasing.  These hybrid cars have a smaller engine than a regular car does which reduce emissions and increase efficiency. (how stuff works.com) Because hybrid cars have smaller engines they do have a place in the car where a battery pack is located.  The battery pack is the energy storage device for the electric motor.   Since the engine in a hybrid car is smaller than the usual engine, people do save a lot of money on gas.  Not only is the engine in a hybrid car smaller, but so are the parts in the car.  All the parts in a regular sized car are very large for example the engine and since the car is so large it requires more cylinders.  The down side to all these parts being so big is that the car uses up extra energy just so these large parts keep functioning.  An interesting thing I learned about the hybrid car is that the inside kind of the car acts like a generator.  When a regular car uses its breaks it removes a lot of energy, but in a hybrid car it captures some of the energy and stores it in the battery for later use.

Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

So I’ve heard about hybrid cars and I’m sure many other people have too, but while researching this topic I came across an interesting article.  This article was about cars running on water. You might ask yourself how this is even possible, but by splitting water by electrolysis and creating hydrogen/oxygen gas, you can replace gasoline. (waterpoweredcar.com)  This water idea is a little far from actually happening, but it’s also kind of confusing.  All I know is that running your car on water not only saves people from spending millions on gas, but I would also start saving our environment!

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car10.htm

http://hybridcar.com/

http://waterpoweredcar.com/

During this lab my partner and I were required to measure the distance and velocity of our robot car.  At first we were confused with the whole concept, but soon realized it wasn’t as difficult as we thought it would be.  We picked three different power levels which were 75, 73, and 69.  We kept the powers closer together so our data wouldn’t be too spread out.  The distances the car traveled varied from 46 centimeters to 54 centimeters, which we measured with a ruler.  Ultimately we had to calculate the percent error with this equation,

%Error= (Measured Distance)- (Lab view distance) x100

½(Measured + labview Distance).

Our percent error varied from a 0% to 2% and lastly 9%.  We found that some causes of these errors might have been due to incorrect measuring, different starting points, as well as other factors.  From our percent error we realized that the higher the power, the more percent error there was.  We received a 0% error when we were on the power of 69.  Ultimately this lab helped me calculate multiple things like the velocity and distances traveled as well as the percent error.

What do you think of when you hear “demand and response”?  Some things that come to mind are need, want, require or effect, answer and reply.  These synonyms briefly describe what demand and response actually mean.  For example, when there is a high demand for electricity companies have ways to respond to these peak periods of time in order for there to be enough electricity for everyone without suffering potential blackouts. (pge.com)   Some of the things that effect the demand are storms, heats waves or other disasters.  Demand and response allows people to reduce their usage of electricity during a particular time in order to have a sufficient amount of electricity during the time of need. (cpuc.ca.gov)  Demand and response is actually beneficial because it reduces the amount of electricity used during the “peak time”, when the price is ultimately higher than usual.  I think this is great because conserving energy for a time of a need is obviously something that will benefit everyone in the long run.  I’ve actually never heard about the demand and response companies and I found it very interesting what they do.  These programs help the environment as well as help people financially.  In a power grid it is completely up to a customer as to how they want to conserve energy.  (science.com)   With the demand a response programs people receive help without having to worry about it on their own.   The demand and response is beneficial in numerous ways.  I love the program because I know that if it was solely my responsibility to think about conserving energy, I honestly don’t think I would succeed with that.  I think a lot of people would have to agree that conserving energy isn’t number one on their list of things to do, but if there is a program helping people out than why not take advantage of it.  Today people are starting to become more and more aware of global warming and the effects of it.  With demand and response it lowers the amount of power consumed which lowers the levels of pollution.  (science.com)    When I was on the “How it Works” website I also came across an interesting video that just shows a brief overview about Global Warming.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science/global-warming-videos-playlist.htm#video-30552

Sources

http://www.pge.com/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/demandresponse/whatisdemandresponse/

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/Demand+Response/

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/demand-response.htm

On March 11, 2011 there was a horrible earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan.  Whatever happened after that day, I had no knowledge about.  Recently, I learned about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that happened shortly after the earthquake and tsunami.  I was shocked that I knew so little about a disaster that was so big.  Fukushima was a level 7 disaster and the only level 7 case before that was in 1986 which was the Chernobyl disaster. (Mathew Penny, Mark Selden)  Fukushima was affected by the tsunami that hit the northeast coast; ultimately the Fukushima power plant and six of its reactors were in danger. (David Biello)  When the nuclear power plant was hit by the tsunami, radioactive material was released, which started to contaminate the air.  As I was doing research on the disaster I came across an interesting web site, “International Atomic Agency.org”.  For someone who knows so little about nuclear disasters and radioactive material, I learned a lot from this site.  When the Fukushima disaster occurred, this organization released an “Emergency Information Sheet”.  Within this article there was information about how Japan is dealing with this crisis, in what ways people can stay safe, and other information people would like to know about this disaster. (iaea.org)  To be honest this topic didn’t interest me at first, but I realized that it’s the lack of interest that is greatly affecting our earth’s environment.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/fukushima_accident_inf129.html

http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/nuclear/safety/accidents/Fukushima-nuclear-disaster/

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