Written by Darshan Goswami, M.S., P.E.
Hydrogen, produced from tap water, could become the forever fuel of the future, generating power for homes, industry, and cars.
A new day is dawning for a revolutionary way to generate electric power from renewable energy sources. Imagine a future where the electrical power needed to run your computer, TV and [...]
Inhaled diesel exhaust triggers a stress response in the brain. This could have damaging long-term effects on brain function in people living in areas with high traffic pollution.
……….
Small particles of soot, or nanoparticles, can travel up the nose and lodge in the brain. It is conceivable that this could interfere with normal brain function and [...]
The main reason for purchasing an air purifier is probably your health. It may be to preserve good health, or it may be to help family members who have allergies, asthma or other breathing difficulties. If you or your family suffers from allergies you are well aware that different allergies present different threats. That [...]
Making your home safer doesn’t have to mean building a fire-proof fortress or installing a top-dollar security system. In fact, simple do-it-yourself measures are often the most effective. In this article, we’ve assembled five projects that cost $10 to $40 and take less than an hour apiece to do. These improvements will help protect you [...]
Air purifier is the most useful appliance in todays home. Most people assume that outdoor air has more pollution than indoor air does. But these people are wrong. It is estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that air is up to five times more polluted in an indoor environment than in an outdoor [...]
What We Know About Building Ventilation:-
1. Indoor air can be 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Click to:> Learn More
2.Outdoor air reduces indoor air pollution improving IAQ
3.Low outdoor air ventilation rates result in health risks to building occupants
4.Higher outdoor air rates not only improve occupant health, but [...]
Only up to powering light bulbs so far, “salt power” is a tantalizing if distant prospect as high oil prices make alternative energy sources look more economical.
Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water — one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake — are due on [...]
In this “Keeping It Cool” episode of Blueprint for Home Building, you’ve learned about the basics of air conditioning, the importance of the size of your HVAC system and how zoning your system can be energy efficient and less costly. In this final segment it’s time to discuss the air quality of your new house. [...]
Air conditioning can seem like a blessing in hot, humid weather. Air conditioning of sorts existed in ancient Rome in the form of water being circulated through the walls. This was very expensive and not practical in many buildings. Modern air conditioning was actually developed in the printing industry in order to help maintain the [...]
Air conditioning is a system that introduces cold air into a hot space to make it more comfortable. Air conditioning typically is used when temperatures are above 70 degrees. It is used in cars, houses, offices, retail stores, restaurants, and other indoor facilities. Unlike heat, air conditioning is considered a luxury, and it is possible [...]
Air conditioning is a technology that has had a profound effect on virtually everyone who has lived in the latter part of the twentieth century, or the first few years of this one. It would be virtually unthinkable to construct a modern commercial building without considering the comfort of the users, who will be potential [...]
Since you now know that size affects your air conditioning system, it’s time to understand how to determine the right size equipment for your home. To do that your builder and HVAC contractor will need to use what’s called a “Manual J” calculation.
What Is a Manual J Calculation?
The Manual J calculation is a way to [...]
It’s a road less travelled. Metalled roads, cobbled streets and dirt paths are now passé with a road in Kerala being constructed now with plastic waste.
A research centre in Kerala is paving a small stretch of road with plastic waste as part of its experiment to put to good use the huge amount of [...]
Think Globally, Eat Locally
We all know that our planet needs our help right now, but we often feel unsure about what to do, where to make an effort, and what will really help. The good news is that we can heal the planet on a daily basis simply by buying and eating food that [...]
“A lot of people have the perception that a bigger unit is better for the heating and cooling system in their house,” Eric Newhouse, systems integration designer at IBACOS, said. “And that’s really not the case. A properly sized piece of equipment that’s not too large is going to work much more efficiently in maintaining [...]
The home heating, ventilation and cooling system (HVAC) consumes about 40 to 50 percent of all the electrical power in a house, so the efficiency of the HVAC system is extremely important to the overall power draw of the home.
What Is HVAC?
HVAC is an acronym for your indoor air quality, what you breathe, how you [...]
The Nanosolar company is working to build the world’s largest solar cell factory in California (slated to be in full production in 2008), and the world’s largest panel-assembly factory in Germany.
………………………………….
They have successfully created a solar coating that is as thin as a layer of paint, while at the same time reducing the cost of [...]
If the U.S. makes a massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants, it is possible that 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy could be solar-powered by 2050.
…………………………….
This would require the creation of a vast region of photovoltaic cells in the [...]
Solar energy has long been touted as better for the environment than fossil fuels.
Increasingly, however, there are fears that making solar cells might release more hazardous pollution than fossil fuels would.
To ease those concerns, scientists studied the matter closely and now conclude that manufacturing solar cells produces far fewer air pollutants than conventional fossil-fuel-burning power [...]
With oil prices rising, interest in ethanol, a plant-based gasoline additive, has skyrocketed. But the rising demand for ethanol has a downside: it takes about 300 million gallons of water to make 100 million gallons of ethanol each year, says the Renewable Fuels Association.
….
In Illinois, the second largest ethanol producer in the country after Iowa, [...]
: Breathing dirty air even for an hour could have long-term harmful effects on brain, according to a new study.
……………..
The study replicated what city traffic wardens might expect to inhale
A team of researchers at Zuyd University in Holland has carried out the study and found that nanoparticles present in exhaust fumes, which reach the [...]
Definition:
A solar vehicle is an electric vehicle powered by solar energy obtained from solar panels on the surface of the vehicle. Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert the sun’s energy directly into electrical energy. Solar vehicles are not practical day-to-day transportation devices at present, but are primarily demonstration vehicles and engineering exercises.
Some solar cars compete in races [...]
Despite their green intentions, buyers of blended biofuel may not be getting quite what they are paying for.
Chris Reddy, an environmental chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, has developed a test which reveals the proportions of biodiesel and conventional diesel in the fuel mix.
It works by detecting the radioactive isotope [...]
90% of the heat in shower water is wasted
It’s a fact that everyone is well aware: shower water is still hot when it flows into the drain. The same is true of the water used for washing dishes. Whether dishwashing by hand or letting the machine do the work, the water going down [...]
Generically, a low-energy house is any type of house that uses less energy than a regular house.
How best to heat a house is a question that is often hotly debated. On one side, it is a purely personal choice affecting our daily life and personal comfort and productivity. But on the other side, given the [...]
Solar hot water refers to water heated by solar energy. Solar heating systems are generally composed of solar thermal collectors, a fluid system to move the heat from the collector to its point of usage, and a reservoir or tank for heat storage and subsequent use. The systems may be used to heat water for [...]
Definition:
A solar collector is a device for extracting the energy of the sun not indirectly into a more usable or storable form. The energy in sunlight is in the form of electromagnetic radiation from the infrared (long) to the ultraviolet (short) wavelengths. The solar energy striking the earth’s surface at any one time depends on [...]
BOSTON — He predicted the fall of the Soviet Union. He predicted the explosive spread of the Internet and wireless access.
Now futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil is part of distinguished panel of engineers that says solar power will scale up to produce all the energy needs of Earth’s people in 20 years.
There is [...]
At the top of many personal wish lists you might find a new car or a Caribbean vacation. But scientists have compiled a global wish list of 14 things that would make life better for everyone.
A committee of scientists and engineers gathered by the National Science Foundation met several times over the last year [...]
Greenhouse gases are components of the atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Without the greenhouse effect the Earth would be uninhabitable; in its absence, the mean temperature of the earth would be about −19 °C (−2 °F, 254 K) rather than the present mean temperature of about 15 °C (59 °F, 288 K). Greenhouse [...]