The Earth as we know it has had more than its fair share of pollution from human activities. Our cars emit no small dosage of poisonous gases, our factories give us the materials we want in exchange for the clean air we need. Let’s not even get started on the results of oil spills on our waters.
In 1991, the gulf war oil spill left over 240 million gallons of crude oil floating in the waters of the Persian gulf, thus killing so many aquatic animals. For those of you so immersed in bitcoin and other crypto assets, don’t think you’re left out of this.
According to the Guardian magazine, ‘The amount of electricity used to mine bitcoin “has historically been more than [electricity used by] entire countries, like Ireland”, said Benjamin Jones, a professor of economics at the University of New Mexico who has researched bitcoin’s environmental impact. “We’re talking about multiple terawatts, dozens of terawatts a year of electricity being used just for bitcoin … That’s a lot of electricity.”’ And that’s no small energy burst.
In fact, currently, a single transaction of bitcoin has almost the same carbon footprint as 680,000 Visa transactions or bingeing YouTube for 51,210 hours. And, if you’ve been keeping tabs on global warming in recent years, you’d realize that carbon emissions are the main reason why the sun rays are more likely to cause stroke to most people today than they were twenty years ago.
If things go on this way, it’s either our children strike a deal with the forces behind evolution to help them adapt to the overly polluted environment or they die from it. Eventually, we humans are left with only two options: we either retrace our steps and go back to the dark ages when man lived off sticks and stones or we find lasting solutions to the problems that science, technology and engineering have caused.
Luckily for us, we don’t have to choose option A. Timely steps are being taken by government agencies and non-governmental organizations to curb the problem. And that’s the whole purpose of this series: to introduce you to 4 major advancements in technology that will get us to the goal: clean energy for everyone.
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Solar Panel Ships:
In this part of the world, we’ve all been made to believe that there’s only so much we can do with solar energy as our ability to trap it is severely limited. However, in other parts of the world, deep research is constantly being carried out on ways to maximize this energy source. For example, The EnergySail, an initiative of Eco Marine Power in Japan, has come up with quite a solution, using rectangular plates that double as wind propulsion and solar cell. Smart, huh?
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Electric Cars (Rechargeable Cells):
We’ve all heard about the Tesla cars and how they seem to be the solution to all of mankind’s problems. Well, it turns out that there’s more to the model than just the profit they would generate. Imagine you saved up all the money you used for fuel every day for a year. That’ll get you more than enough capital to start up a business- and this is what the electric car models promise us; not to mention that that they also cause far less pollution and noise, and are also quite efficient. Well, let’s wait till we read the actual article before we say it all, shall we?
- Geothermal Residential Heating: Due to the spontaneous decay of radioactive materials beneath the Earth’s surface, massive amounts of heat are continually being produced and stored under our feet. It started at the creation of our planet and hasn’t stopped till now. While it is also responsible for volcanoes, this globally present energy source has turned out to be a major source of energy especially in countries that have been wise enough to manipulate it. In Iceland, this energy source has been maximally employed to generate electricity and domestic heat in the winter. We’ll be seeing how they do that in no short time.
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Wind Powered Electricity:
While this isn’t new, it is intriguing. Several efforts are currently being made to improve i£ts efficiency to serve not just individuals but also entire communities. In fact, very soon, we might have them on our cars in some sort of energy loop where driving causes the blades to spin which in turn provides power for the car.
So get your notepads ready. The world is going green and you’ll get to see that first hand over the next four days. Which of these are you most excited about? Share with us in the comments section.
SOURCES
Whatt are the Environmental Effects of Bitcoin and NFTs? – AZoCleantech.com
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/27/bitcoin-mining-electricity-use-environmental-impact&ved=2ahUKEwiekPjR9fvwAhWwxYUKHTXFAIIQFjACegQIEhAC&usg=AOvVaw0PCw00LSYaJmWvTg_xImog&cf=1 Electricity needed to mine bitcoin is more than used by ‘entire countries’ | Bitcoin | The Guardian
Dilosi Allgain is a Nigerian Science and tech expert. A graduate of mechanical Engineering (power and machines).
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