Homework 13

1) Recall the relevant class. Comment on Toxoplasma Gondii. What do you think?

Toxoplasma Gondii is one scary parasitic protozoa. However, it seems that any situation stemmed from the current organism is manageable. Although the disease can cause adverse effects in humans, I don't think that it will ever cause an epidemic. Awareness to the disease is key, yet having rats as pets could reduce its presence in humans! :)

2) Add more to your project. Put the new stuff in a new blog posting. Consider new material that has some connection to Toxoplasma Gondii. Alternatively, it could have a connection to some other parasite or disease, or parasites or diseases more generally. Or it might be about something completely different...your choice!

New Sections:
Hydroelectric Power
As was mentioned earlier, the first hydroelectric plant was finished in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1882. Additionally, it was noted that in 1925, hydroelectric power provided 25% of US electrical power; today, that number has dropped to a mere 5% (The Solar Guide). So why hasn’t hydroelectric power really caught on? Again, most of it goes back to that age old situation of coal and oil becoming the cheaper alternative. Additionally, environmental impact studies on surrounding ecosystems of current dam sites have shed negative light on hydroelectric power (Union of Concerned Scientists). If hydroelectric power is to ever become a significant part of our green energy future, these risks will have to be mitigated.

Wind Power
As was stated previously, utilizing the power of wind for useful purposes has been around for a long time. However, it wasn’t until the late 19th century that the power of wind was used to generate electricity.

In Cleveland, Ohio, in 1888, Charles F. Brush built the first large-scale windmill generating around 100 kilowatts of power per hour. However, many design improvements were needed to produce a larger amount of power, if these machines were ever to become feasible. That needed design change came in 1941 in Vermont, with a 1.25mW generating monster. The Europeans continued to develop and refine the former design, eventually leading to the modern wind turbines of today (Illustrated History of Wind Power Development). However, falling coal and oil prices stagnated interest in wind power, that is, until very recently.

In a new study published by Harvard University, the potential for wind generated power to supply a majority of the world’s electricity demand may not be too far-fetched. The new research includes a key factor that previous studies had not considered—the inclusion of wind towers that are 100 meters or taller, allowing for higher wind speeds in the upper atmosphere to generate more electricity than previously considered with shorter towers. The team then used data from thousands of weather stations to estimate the total world’s wind energy potential, assuming that 2.5 – 3 mW wind turbines were placed in unfrozen, non-forested locations, as well as some shallow offshore areas. Their findings were astonishing. Wind power could potentially generate 40 times the amount of current world power consumption. Additionally, they noted that the US could generate 16 times the amount of their current consumptions rates, allowing for the surplus of energy to be sold off, coining the US as a “Saudi Arabia of Wind” (Lorinc, John). If these findings are valid, wind energy may prove to solve the current task of finding viable green energy sources.

Geothermal Power
Geothermal energy utilizes the earth’s heat to produce energy. The Earth generates a vast amount of thermal energy. Geothermal energy applications first surfaced in Italy in 1904 with the invention of the first geothermal power plant. Interest in geothermal power stagnated until the 1960s, when the first geothermal power plant was constructed in the United States. However, even though there was a good deal of initial interest, geothermal applications were fairly expensive to implement, and the falling price of coal and fossil fuels led to a further decline in interest (RPEE-CREST).

More recently, research suggests that geothermal energy could be an important part in mitigating climate change by offsetting carbon production from other energy sources. So how much geothermal energy could the Earth potentially yield? According to the International Geothermal Association (IGA), temperatures at the base of Earth’s crust range from 200-1000 degrees Celsius. At the Earth’s core, temperatures soar to between 3500 and 4500 degrees Celsius. With these facts, it is believed that the total heat production of the Earth’s molten core is around 13 x 10 ^ 24 MJ, or Mega Joules. To put that in perspective—from physics, one joule is the amount of work required to produce a continuous watt of power for one second. A mega joule is equal to one million joules. In 2005, the world energy generation was nearing 6.6 x 10 ^ 13 MJ, so thermal energy appears to have a promising prospect in providing sustainable green energy (International Geothermal Association, 5-6).

However, it is impossible to utilize all that energy, as it can’t be evenly accessed across the Earth’s surface due to variations in the Earth’s core, volcanic activity, and magmatic activity under the Earth’s crust. Current research suggests that it is possible for geothermal energy to produce a maximum of 8.3% of the total world electricity, at current electricity demands (International Geothermal, 6-7). It seems geothermal energy could play an important part in a transitional period to a greener energy future.

Notable Recent Innovations in Green Energy Technologies
Another interesting technology has been recently demonstrated by MIT researchers, involving the production of green batteries from genetically engineered viruses. Essentially, the virus assembles the positive and negative ends of the battery using non-toxic substances. The entire process is environmentally green and can take place at or below typical room temperature. Practically speaking, the batteries could power plug-in hybrid cars and a host of personal electronic devices that use lithium-ion batteries (Trafton, Anne).