Month: November 2011

Traditional energy sources at the verge of extinction

It is no secret that the traditional energy resources, such as coal, oil or gas, are becoming more and more scarce.  This energy is not renewable, and the constant exploitation has led to the exhaustion of the sources.

In addition, fossil fuels are more polluting than alternative energy resources.  It is a well-known fact that pollution is one of the most pressing issues our planet is confronted with nowadays.  Some scientists in the US even blame the use of fossil fuels for global warming. This theory is supported by scientific discoveries regarding the effect of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide results from the burning of fossil fuels. This gas is responsible for the climatic changes that resulted in higher temperatures and heat waves, but also for long droughts, coastal floods and wildfires. According to scientists, even if burning fossil fuels would be immediately terminated, the effects will still last for another century, resulting into further degradation of earth’s atmosphere.

The Australian people spend a great amount of money on energy each year.  According to a study published on EnergyMatters.com, Australians spend around 50 billion dollars on energy only.

These costs include fossil fuels, such as:

• Coal
• Oil
• Gas

In order to cut the costs, but also to provide a solution that is environmentally friendly, Australia is slowly trying to switch to green energies.

Green options for energy resources

Luckily, several environmentally friendly energy resources have been developed over the years. Out of these, the most important ones are:

• Aeolian energy – wind energy
• Solar energy
• Bio energy
• Hydro energy

Other energy resources include wave, tidal, thermal and geothermal sources.

Aeolian energy is produced by wind generators. This is especially suitable for windy areas, such as South Australia, where several wind farms have already been built.

Solar energy is derived from solar panels that get charged with photovoltaic energy produced by the sun.

Bio energy uses biomass and liquid fuels in order to provide power. Biomass refers to organic matter derived from plants because of photosynthesis. It includes forestry and agricultural residues, and various forms of organic waste.

Power stations that use water to provide energy have already been built in the Snowy Mountains, in Australia, providing almost 15% of all renewable energy used throughout the country.

Renewable energy sources will replace fossil fuels in the future

There is no doubt that renewable energy sources are to replace fossil fuels in the future. Partly because fossil fuels have become extremely scarce throughout the world, and partly because of the harmful effects burning coal, oil and natural gas has on the surrounding environment.

Many environmental NGOs fight for the utilization of renewable energy as a replacement for the traditional power sources. Their arguments are, aside from the harmful effects of fossil fuels upon the environment, the fact that green energies are inexhaustible, as compared to fossil fuels, and that the use of renewable energies is more cost effective.

Envirosafe Solutions supports the shift to new forms of energy.  Speak to Envirosafe Solutions about their Extreme Green Range of eco-friendly products. 1300889070

Sources:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-01-30-ipcc-report_x.htm

http://www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au/clean-energy-future/our-plan/clean-energy-australia/

http://www.energymatters.com.au/faqs/renewable-energy-faq.php

Reducing your use of water and also conserving the available supply is at the heart of Australia’s sensibility in 2011. We are a coastal land and we need to understand that water is one of our most precious commodities and the regularity and normalcy of its supply is being tested and undermined by irrigation, man-made interventions and by dramatic shifts in climatic conditions which are resulting in a pattern of extreme weather conditions.

Education of the youth

One of the most effective ways to address the issue of water is to activate and generate education programmes that target the every young. Currently, conservation and green issues are being introduced into mainstream education systems across Australia – a situation that would actually have been unheard of twenty years ago.

There is a general shift and understanding that talk of water conservation and the need to understand the appropriate management of this resource is a must if Australia is to cope with the shifting global conditions that are currently underway.

The Water: Learn it for Life Programme[1]

This programme operates out of Queensland and is simply one of many examples of water wise programmes currently underway in Australia. This programme has been developed by the Queensland state Government and operates as a complete and comprehensive curriculum resource for primary aged students.

Some of the units of the programme include

• The basics of the water cycle
• How to conserve water
• How to store and source water appropriately
• How to use water efficiently
• How to recycle
• Alternative sources for water

This kind of programme that is developed at state government level and disseminated through to the education system symbolises a vital link between inter-governmental departments. This allows a flow of accurate and current information from specialised government agencies through to the youth of the state of Queensland.

The Role of Teachers

The role of teachers is vital in this education. While the information is available, it is up to the current crop of teachers and educators in Australia to source the kind of information that offers children a new understanding of water conservation issues. IT is also up to teachers to present the information in a light and manner that is engaging, hands on and practical.

The issue of water actually affect children locally, regionally and nationally as well as globally.  If children are presented with active and engaging modes of education on the subject, they are then able to develop and examine their own relationship with water and water conservation and even operated as harbingers of change within their own family system.

Envirosafe Solutions understands the value of water as a precious commodity. The Extreme Green range of eco friendly liquid products and industrial liquids, as well as the specific nature of items such as Hard Water laundry liquid work to minimise impact on this commodity, which is so precious to the Australian way of life. Telephone  1300 889070 for more information on the full range.

References:

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

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[1] http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/waterwise/education/education/index.html

Today, Envirosafe Solutions, quality eco friendly liquid suppliers, bring you eco friendly information on smart power grids. Is this the way of the future for Australians?

Waste

Being environmentally friendly is not just about adopting ‘green’ technologies, it also means cutting down on waste. It means a more intelligent use of our resources.

One area that seems to have escaped attention is the national power grid. Yes, much has been written and said about generating electrical power in an environmentally friendly and so on but very little has been said about transmitting this power efficiently in an environmentally friendly manner.¹

Ever since governments and business establishments began to generate and supply electrical power on a commercial basis, we have been creating power grids to carry and distribute the power. However, these power grids have always been setup on an ‘as and when required’ basis.

Hardly any planning went into setting up a power grid. As new townships came into being, they simply tapped into the nearest existing electrical power grids and that was that. Scant attention was paid to the efficiency aspects of such a haphazard system much less its overall environmental impact. ²

Because of the haphazard nature of its development, existing power grids were enormously inefficient and dysfunctional. If a certain region had excess electrical power and another had a shortage, more often than not, there was no way to connect the two so that excess power could be transferred to regions with power deficit. ³

Rather than look like a modern day circuit board, the power grids of today resemble the circuit board of a radio of the early 1900’s with their large transistors and electrical wires connecting various components. These were typically non-intelligent circuits. Today even the humble cell phone has enough digital intelligence to make the computer desktop of the early 2000’s look obsolete.

What this means is that we have the technology to replace existing electrical power grids with intelligent power grids that are capable of sensing power requirement and diverting electrical power from an area that has it in excess to an area that is facing a deficit. The technology exists to accept power from a variety of sources and automatically calculate and recalibrate the entire power scenario without the need for human intervention. It does not take a degree in rocket science to realise that when national resources are used inefficiently, the impact on the environment is enormous. ⁴

As matters stand today, if a certain region produces (say) cheap geothermal power, that electrical power is often fed into a separate stand-alone circuit and only a few households fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of the geothermal power plant, benefit from cheaper tariff. There is no way that geothermal power generated in (say) Perth can be shared by residents in (say) Sydney using the national grid.

In fact, something that would appear logical to most humans is apparently quite illogical to the electrical engineers who design, build and maintain Australia’s electrical power grids.

Building environmentally friendly power stations is therefore only 50% efficient. For it to be 100% efficient, it needs to be balanced by an intelligent state-of-the-art environmentally friendly power distribution network. ⁵

We would have expected that the national power grid to accept electrical power from various sources and the electrical tariff be computed as an average. Why should one region pay an exorbitant tariff because electrical power in that region is generated using expensive coal while another region enjoys cheap tariffs because power in that region is generated by using geothermal heat? The unfairness of the electrical tariff seems to be lost on the government and the businesses that run these power plants.

Envirosafe Solutions produces environmentally friendly liquids and environmental cleaning products. Telephone 1300 889070 for more information.

Footnotes and references:

1. Avoiding waste: http://www.supergreenme.com/go-green-environment-eco:Save-Electricity-by-Using-Alternative–Environmentally-Friendly-Energy-Sources

2. National power grid of Australia:  http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/australia/index.shtml

3. Inefficiency in modern day power grids:  http://www.earth-policy.org/books/pb4/PB4ch4_ss7

4. Sustainable use of national resources: http://www.csiro.au/science/Sustainable-Resource-Use.html

5. Energy efficiency in the power grid: http://www04.abb.com/global/seitp/seitp202.nsf/c71c66c1f02e6575c125711f004660e6/64cee3203250d1b7c12572c8003b2b48/$FILE/Energy+efficiency+in+the+power+grid.pdf

Today Envirosafe Solutions, suppliers of environmentally friendly liquids, takes a look at geothermal hotspots

There was a time when a hotspot was not an internet Wi-Fi access point. A hotspot occurred when a lava vein got close to the surface of the earth and met an underground river. The water would boil and the pressure would create vents that reached the surface.

Steam would be vented through these natural release valves and you would have a geyser. At other times, you would have a pond, a small lake full of hot water or just a hot moist mud pond. How the heat surfaces is not relevant, what is relevant is presence of a constant source of heat and heat as we know, is energy that can be harnessed for a variety of purposes. The most common use of these natural heat vents is to generate environmentally friendly, electrical energy at a very cheap cost.¹

To generate environmentally friendly electrical energy from a hotspot area, a pipe is inserted into the hotspot or geothermal area and water circulated through the pipe. Both ends of the pipe led to an electrical power plant. Water was fed through one end of the pipe and as it passed through the hotspot, it would get superheated and turn into steam. Pressurised steam would exit from the other end of the pipe. Pressurised steam would then rotate a turbine that generated electrical energy. The entire process of generating electrical energy from natural heat of the Earth was very environmentally friendly. ²

The US and Geothermal Vents

The United States alone has enough geothermal vents to produce 2000 times more electrical power then they need and that too, in a totally non-polluting environmentally friendly way. Unfortunately, geothermal vents are not evenly distributed all over the world. United States and Iceland are two regions that are blessed with the maximum number of geothermal vents. In most other places in the world, you would have to travel several kilometres vertically below the Earth’s surface before coming into contact with temperatures high enough to turn water into steam.

EGS – Enhanced Geothermal Systems

Fortunately, new technology aptly called “enhanced geothermal systems” or EGS has emerged that makes reaching these deep-Earth geothermal heats more cost-effective.

What scientists have done is to locate nearest source of underground heat and then pump water down. When water meets heat, it turns into steam and the steam makes its way back to the surface where it is harnessed via heat exchangers. The heat exchangers have a pipe that circulates water.

The heat exchanger transfers the captured heat to the pipe and in turn, the water in the pipe turns into steam that drives an electrical turbine and you will have generated electrical energy in an environmentally friendly way. ³

Generating electrical energy via the enhanced geothermal system method is not as efficient as being able to insert a pipe directly into a geothermal hotspot and generating environmentally friendly electrical energy. This is because a lot of water is needed. The water has not only to reach the place where the heat is, once it turns into steam, the heat has to rise up to the surface of the earth.

Along the route, it will lose some of the heat thereby reducing the efficiency of the system. In addition, the water that is pumped down into the Earth is not recoverable or reusable. This means that you need a continuous source of fresh water.

However, if there is a large source of fresh water nearby, this method of generating environmentally friendly electrical current has tremendous potential. ⁴

Envirosafe Solutions delivers quality eco friendly products to the Australian market. Eco friendly industrial liquids and environmental cleaning products can be green and also work as effectively as their less environmentally sound counterparts.

Speak with an Envirosafe Solutions assistant about the Extreme Green range.  1300 889070

Footnotes and references:

1. Finding a geothermal hotspot: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/easy_geothermal.php

2. Geothermal electrical energy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_electricity

3. Enhanced geothermal systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_geothermal_system

4. Evaluation of EGS: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/pdfs/evaluation_egs_tech_2008.pdf

In the new era of green issues, how can we secure our future in relation to foodstuffs? How can we ensure supply and meet the needs of a growing population on the planet? Today, Envirosafe Solutions considers the issue of food production in the new age of extreme weather and global warming. What are the factors currently threatening Australian and worldwide food production. How do we manage them effectively?

At present, the world is witnessing a horrific even play out in the region of Somalia in Africa. Some are describing it as one of the world’s worst ever famines and hundreds of thousands of children, men and women are currently facing starvation. In May it was reported more than 29,000 children under five years of age had died and since then, the situation has worsened day by day.[1]

The problem is the area is absolutely ravaged by drought. 1.85 million people are now affected In Somalia, and it is likely as global warming increases, extreme weather conditions such will impact food production and food sources for many areas of the globe.

The Australian CSIRO has outlined a number of factors that may threaten food supply in Australia and the world in the coming years and decades. These include:

• “Increases in world population
• Fighting over resources (such as arable areas and H20.)
• Available cropping areas being used for biofuel
• Global warming
• Shifts in economic development which may alter food consumption patterns over time.”

We are incredibly lucky in Australia because we are able to supply our own food needs. In addition we also export 3% of the world’s total food that is transacted and traded annually.

However, the issues highlighted by the CSIRO mean that the global stage is changing.

Asia-Pacific Research

Australian scientists are currently involved in a number of food research projects in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the Australian Centre for International Agricultural research which is based all around the Asia Pacific region, Australian scientists are well positioned to “use their skills for the benefit of developing countries and Australia.”[2]

As the global situation plays out and as new green technologies and approaches to food sourcing are required, Australia will be there to meet this particular challenge.

At present ACIAR works in a number of countries and continents; in areas such as Eastern and Northern Africa, The Asia Pacific rim, as well as China and also areas of The Middle East. Programs are designed to lead to more developed and more fruitful and sustainable agricultural practices using collaboration between Australia and many paired partnering countries. The aim is to foster self-sufficiency and self- support and economic independence in areas where this has not been possible agriculturally, or where this has been compromised or may be compromised in the future.

Envirosafe Solutions is a strong supporter of sustainable environmental and agricultural practices, which is why it has formulated a range of Extreme Green products specially suited to remote and agricultural industries. Never before has it been so important to utilise products that do minimal damage to the environment, to the land and to our water supplies.  For more information call Envirosafe Solutions on 1300 889070.

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[1] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44021514/ns/world_news-africa/t/us-somali-shildren-under-dead-famine/#.Tk21mmHaArI

[2] http://aciar.gov.au/aboutus

The past few decades has seen a gradual decrease in the number and variety of animals found in Australia. This is mainly due to the changes in the climatic conditions and destruction of flora and the natural habitats where these species live. Sadly, many native species are facing extinction due to various human activities that destroy the lifestyle of these animals.

Some of the major activities include:

• Deforestation
• Over grazing and agriculture
• Pollution
• Urbanization  and
• Exotic species

Deforestation

The destruction of the forest due to various human activities and bushfires will reduce the natural habitat of the animals and destroy the breeding areas. Deforestation will also affect the quality of the water draining from the bushland areas, and as the earth heats, the already precious water commodity may become even scarcer.

Overgrazing and agriculture

The bio–diversity of Australia is also threatened by overgrazing and clearing of vegetation for agricultural purposes. The grass and bushlands of Australia have already been significantly reduced since European settlement. These areas used to provide the natural habitat for many native animals. The clearing of these woodlands has caused desertification and significant increase in topsoil runoff and also erosion. In some areas, cattle rearing has caused over grazing of the grasslands, which has resulted in the scarcity of food for the native animals.

Pollution

In Australia and also worldwide, the land, water and air are being polluted by various human activities. Pollution caused by the various factories and their pollutants are affecting local fauna, decimating their resistance to various diseases and resulting in other significant ailments that can affect the lifecycle and the normal development of species.

The eco-system suffers as a result, since pollution continues to alter the local landscape, affecting everything from flora, fauna to foods processed locally. Food items sourced locally tend to carry pesticides [used by farmers], making these somewhat unsafe to consume.

Even flowers and seeds, tend to carry pesticides in one form or the other. In addition, the pesticides used in these agricultural lands often end up in rivers through run-off and these accumulated pesticides will cause biological magnification, resulting in the death of the animals and others.

Urbanisation

The increase in human population causes need for more land space for construction of buildings. The coastal areas of Australia that are rich in bio- diversity are giving way for massive constructions. The agricultural lands are also converted to residential areas for the want of space. All these activities cause a reduction in the fauna of the area.

Exotic species

The introduction of exotic species is another major cause of concern for the extinction of native species. If the introduced species is a predator of the native species, it will cause the survival of the native species difficult. Sometimes, the native species will have to compete with the exotic species for food, shelter and mate and only the fittest one will survive. The feral cats, cane toads, rabbits, black striped mussels are examples of exotic species introduced to Australia that are wreaking havoc on our natural wildlife. In order to protect the native animals from extinction, controlling these factors is necessary.

Envirosafe Solutions produces Extreme Green eco-friendly liquid products that are less harmful to the environment.

Telephone 1300 889070

References:

http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/reduce.aspx.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/

It’s no secret that the sun provides the energy that drives the earth and for many years the use of solar energy to produce electricity has been touted as a viable alternative. The true shift however has come only in the last 10 years with solar energy becoming finally more accepted and more widely used by mainstream Australia. It is seen as an alternative that can help our nation reduce its marked dependence on fossil fuels.

One of the obstacles to mainstream embrace of solar has been a lack of understanding about how solar actually works. Individuals have had a notion of solar that is lodged in the solar hot water roof panels of the 1960’s an d 1970’s which were considered aesthetically unappealing and intrusive in terms of home design and the house-proud sensibilities of middle Australia. Many also viewed the panels as expensive with returns not worth the initial capital outlay expenditure.

Matured Technology

Over the past decade however the technology has matured and the price of solar equipment has fallen markedly while the cost of electricity has actually risen more than in a century. Even in Australia, where competition and deregulation had led to more choice in terms of electricity suppliers, the cost remains markedly higher than twenty years ago. More powerful batteries have also been developed and there is groundbreaking research into new battery storage technology at the University of New South Wales in Kensington, Sydney.

How Solar Power Works

In order to take advantage of the power generated by the sun, solar cells, or photovoltaic cells, are struck by the sun’s rays and turn that sun power into electricity. Since one cell doesn’t produce a whole lot of electricity, several cells are joined together in what is called an array. These are connected to a regulator, much like the one used in your car’s battery charging system, to prevent the battery from becoming overcharged.

The power generated by the solar cells is transferred to a battery where it is stored for the time when the sun is not shining.

Power is used throughout the charging period as well and when the stored power in the battery dips below a reset level, more power is sent to the battery for recharging, by the use of the regulator. If no power is used during the sunlight hours, nothing is sent to the battery once it is fully charged, but at night when there is no sun, any power used comes directly from the battery.

Solar Energy Brings Power to the People

Solar energy has become increasingly popular for those wanting to save money as well as those in areas where the power grid may not be accessible, such as in remote areas of Australia. There are numerous designs that most people can install on their own to take advantage of this renewable energy source and not be dependent on the power company to provide their electricity.

Envirosafe Solutions understands the Australian conditions and the need for alternative energy sources and systems. These modes actually complement the philosophy of Envirosafe Solutions and its Extreme Green range of eco friendly liquid products. These are fully outlined in the new 2012 Extreme Green PDF brochure that can be found on the Envirosafe Solutions website. For more information about a range of products including environmental cleaning products and environmentally friendly industrial liquids telephone  1300 889070

References:

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

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/StartHere/StartHere.html