In 2010, Russia is expected to set afloat its first barge-mounted nuclear power plant, a $200-million plant the size of a football field that can be towed to energy-starved Arctic communities on the White Sea. Built by the energy company Rosenergoatom, the barge will carry its load of nuclear waste on board, offloading the stuff every 10 to 20 years, plenty of time to run into a perfect storm—or two.
Found this on:
http://www.popsci.com/environment/gallery/2008-06/looming-eco-disasters
Wind energy, tidal energy, solar—the world is embracing large-scale green power. Oh wait, maybe we spoke too soon. Tata Mundra, the largest coal-fired energy plant built in decades, is going up in India with the help of a $450-million loan from the World Bank. The 4,000-megawatt coal plant will use relatively modern, efficient technologies to produce enough juice to help out 16 million people, but in the end, coal is coal—at full capacity, the plant will emit only 13 percent less carbon than a conventional coal-fired facility.
On top of that, experts predict that up to 20 percent of the power generated will be lost to India’s poorly maintained electricity grid, negating any benefits of the plant’s technology and making it just another mammoth fossil-fuel incinerator.
I found This On:
http://www.popsci.com/environment/gallery/2008-06/looming-eco-disasters
Leaving Your Computer On
Standby power, also known as vampire power, the juice used by all those DVD player clocks, coffeepot LEDs and cellphone chargers—accounts for more than 5 percent of all residential electricity use in the U.S., a tab that costs us an estimated $4 billion per year and pumps millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Solution? Turn off your computer at night, unplug your iPod when it’s done charging, or put those gadgets on a power strip for one-touch turn-off.
Upgrading Your iPhone
What happens when you toss your old cellphone or computer monitor in the Dumpster? First, you’re contributing toxins like mercury, lead and cadmium into the environment. By some estimates, there are 500 million discarded cellphones in the U.S. alone. Second, you’re wasting precious resources: Electronics contain small amounts of precious metals like gold, silver and coltan, all of which can be reclaimed to reduce often environmentally destructive mining operations. What can you do? Plan your electronics purchases wisely—think about a new phone every three or four years, instead of every six months—and always drop your e-waste off at a recycling center...
Buying Plastic Everything
