We are all stewards of the Earth.
Tag: earth
Fun Facts Friday – and the last day of Power Source Week.
Help for Japan:
Donate to the Red Cross http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main
Donate to Doctors without Boarders: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/overview.cfm
* Did you know that just one wind turbine can produce enough electricity to power up to 300 homes? Or that biomass is actually stored solar energy?
* It almost always takes less energy to make a product from recycled materials than it does to make it from new materials. Using recycled aluminum scrap to make new aluminum cans, for example, uses 95% less energy than making aluminum cans from bauxite ore, the raw material used to make aluminum.
* Gains in Home Energy Efficiency Offset by More Electronics and Appliances
Total residential energy consumption rose approximately 13% over the past quarter century. This was lower than both the rate of population growth (+24%) and new housing starts (+36%) due to energy efficiency improvements in heating and cooling equipment, water heaters, and major appliances. Efficiency gains were offset by increases in the number of homes with clothes washers, dryers, and dishwashers. Additionally, a growing number of U.S. households now have multiple televisions, computers, and refrigerators.
The percentage of homes with central air-conditioning has more than doubled since 1980, with nearly 60% of homes having a central system. All areas of the United States show a significant increase in air-conditioning equipment and use in recent years. Cooling now accounts for 8% of total residential energy consumption in the United States, double its 1980 share.
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- 500–900 AD: The first windmills were developed in Persia for pumping water and grinding grain.
- in 2007 : Wind power provided 5 percent of the renewable energy used in the United States.
1860 :Auguste Mouchout (FR), a mathematics instructor, was able to convert solar radiation directly into mechanical power.
2001: Home Depot began selling residential solar power systems in three stores in San Diego, California.
1898:Marie Curie (FR), 2x Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry & Physics, discovered the radioactive elements radium and polonium.
2007: Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 was the first U.S. nuclear reactor to come online in the 21st century. Shut down in 1985, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) decided in 2002 to restart the unit. It had the capacity to supply electricity to about 650,000 homes.
B.C.:Hydropower was used by the Greeks to turn water wheels for grinding grains more than 2,000 years ago.
Today: Between 6% and 10% of U.S. electricity comes from hydropower, depending on water supply and annual rainfall. In total, the United States has about 80,000 megawatts of conventional capacity and 18,000 megawatts of pumped storage capacity.
all from Energy KIDS (http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/index.cfm)
Earth (Terre) … You are here.
Since we are talking about Ecology this week Wessie decided we ought to start out at the big picture….
He says- “Got to start big, think big and remember the details DO matter!”
Earth at-a-Glance: You Are Here… (Vaboom learned that Earth = Terre in French!)
“It’s kind of fascinating to look at many of Earth’s characteristics and vital information all together in one place. It’s even more intriguing to have information about Earth’s beginnings, neighborhood, and home galaxy in the same place. And, in a kind of humorous way, it’s humbling to get a clearer perspective on where our place is in this universe after all!
Rather than looking at our galaxy and the universe as extensions of Earth, this new ecology.com feature lets us look at our planet a little bit differently, more like Earth as a part of the grand design and evolution of the universe. It’s the world we live in, the place we all call home. As you start reading through the information and numerous links, you will have at least a better understanding of what and where “here” is and how we are all connected.”
read all about it: http://bit.ly/fEMufr
Earth is located in the outer edge of our galaxy, called the Milky Way, about 28,000 light years from the galactic center. It is part of a Solar System that includes eight other known planets, and the only known planet with the ability to sustain life as we know it. The Milky Way is one of billions of spiral galaxies in the universe.
Earth is about 4.54 Billion years.