From a Guest Blogger: What a Waste–Six Green Technologies Working to Make Less Waste
Vertical Farming
It’s almost impossible to avoid being confronted with waste. Wherever we look, people and industries produce mass amounts of it, littering our environment and spreading toxic chemicals. This alarming trend can however be reversed by using green technologies, like the following.
In vertical farming, plants are grown indoors hydroponically on stacked shelves under artificial light. The crops grow far more quickly than with traditional soil farming methods, plus the land use area is drastically reduced. This can make vertical farms up to 100 times more productive than outdoor fields.
LED Lighting
LED lights reduce the waste of electricity since they use much less power than regular incandescent bulbs. However, an even more exciting fact might be that using LED lights can help reduce the impact of diseases like malaria, a deadly plight, in places like Africa. LED lights have helped the development of vertical farming there, which takes place indoors, without mosquitoes around.
Fuel Cells
A fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water. Both the fuel and the by-products are clean, making the device waste-free. Most fuel cells run silently, and are commonly used in buildings, but, so far, there are only a few car models running on fuel cells. Think about the huge improvement of our environment, especially in big cities, if cars were quiet and emission-free.
Free Fuel for Your Car
How would you like to run your car on free fuel? Any diesel vehicle can be readily converted to run on waste vegetable oil instead of toxic diesel. This bio-degradable fuel can be picked up for free from restaurants, who throw it away anyway. The methods of recycling this type of waste have improved with cities like San Francisco even picking up collected food waste.
Wave Energy
Numerous studies have found that wave power could contribute massive amounts to the energy production worldwide. However, many obstacles have prevented the development of larger wave power plants. Cost, design issues, the hostile environment of saltwater and the ocean, have been reasons why wave energy hasn’t been developed yet on a larger scale.
Water Treatment
We all need fresh, clean water to survive, but getting it can be a challenge. Lead plumbing in older buildings can pose a risk to people, and water waste contaminated with everything from medications and plant waste has been known to harm animals when simply dumped. Luckily companies like Seidler Chemical are making changes by supplying the right kinds of water treatment chlorinators. You can see common ways chemicals are used in this process here.
Green Burial
Finally, if you care about your environmental dead or alive, you may consider a green burial when that time comes. You can choose to be buried in everything from a biodegradable casket to a mushroom death suit. Another approach could be to have your ashes converted into reef balls for restoration of coral ecosystems.
Would you like to reduce the waste in the world by using these green technologies? If so, which do you find most interesting?
