Noises Disrupting Patterns of Whales and Dolphins
This is an interesting story about how global warming along with increased noise pollution by ships could be damaging to whales and dolphins. They both use sounds to be able to orient themselves and find mates. There are several factors contributing to this trend including:
- Global Warming: The warmer the water temperatures allow for sounds to travel further.
- Commercial Shipping: An increase in shipping generates additional sounds.
- Military Advancements: Sonar and seismic technologies have increased causing confusion in animals.
Not only are the increased number of ships on sea hurting the animals, but this indirect threat could really be a major factor in making already endangered species of whales and dolphins more scarce. The U.N. wildlife conference in Rome took place Wednesday to discuss these various dangers that are taking place and ways to mitigate the increased noise pollution in our seas. Many species are losing touch with each other along with whales are ending up on beaches because they are confused on where they are at. This is an interesting statistic about blue whales that they found:
A study by her group found that the blue whale, which used to communicate across entire oceans, has lost 90 percent of its range over the last 40 years.
Hopefully measures can be taken to protect these beautiful creatures of the oceans so that they are around for generations to come.
Interior Department Opens American Oil Shale Development
The Interior Department finalized regulations that would allow for the development of oil shale on federal lands earlier last month. These regulations are focused on a 200 million acre area knows as the Green River formation found in the western states Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. This area is known to have a vast amount of oil shale supplies. It is believed that the oil shale in this area could produce 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil, which could help eliminate our dependency on foreign oil. The drawback as you might have guessed is that it is considered to be one of the dirtiest sources of energy and is still in its infancy in terms of technology.
What is Oil Shale?
Oil shale is a rock material that releases a petroleum like liquid called kerogen when it is heated. It is formed from heat and pressure begin applied to millions of years of fossil marine life. This rock is known as the rock that will burn because it contains enough oil to burn without any processing.
In order to extract oil from shale is a much more difficult process. Currently the technology is not developed enough causing it to be an expensive. In order to extract a usable product, it must first be heated to an extremely high temperature. Oil then must be separated from the resulting liquid in a process called retorting. A more experimental process that saves part of the processing of this rock is to heat it while still in ground and then pump the liquid out.
Is it a viable option?
Shale being used for oil is nothing new. Mining and its modern production began in the early 1800’s mostly in European countries. Since then, very few countries including Brazil, China and Estonia, have really utilized this resource to extract oil from. As the price of oil has risen, mining shale has really come into the forefront for the US. Currently, there does not exist a technology to extract the oil from shale at a reasonable price. Also, the process emits 4 times as much greenhouse gases as the production of conventional oil.
Environmental reviews are required before federal leasing of these lands can begin, but the companies that will mine these lands will only have to pay a 5% royalty to the government for the first five years of production.
This source of energy just does not seem like the best option available for our country. To allow mining that would destroy beautiful lands in the West seems like such a waste when there isn’t an efficient way to produce oil from shale. I just don’t get the lawmakers in our government. It seems like the obvious options are right in their face with renewable energy, but they once again choose a horrible source of energy instead. The frustrating thing is that there seems to be no research into this resource to determine how much damage it could have to the environment. Would it be worth mining this dirty rock just so oil companies can continue their reign over the energy industry? Lets hope the new administration blocks ridiculous regulations like these that only seem to fatten the wallets of the rich oil tycoons in our country.
Super-Yachts Go Green With Wind and Solar Energy
For all those multi-millionaires out there that want to enjoy the seas comfortably while going green, there is a new boat that could fit the bill. The Solar Sailor company based out of Sydney, Australia is creating a series of super-yachts that will run off of solar and wind energy. The idea is to create a solar sail that can multi-task as a sail and it’s energy source. A huge problem with many of the current yachts sailing on the seas is that they guzzle tons of gas and emits tons of pounds of CO2. The reason they require so much energy is that they not only need to run these huge boats, but they also have fancy equipment like Jacuzzis and movie theaters that require tons of energy to operate. One thing that shocked me was to see that they huge yachts can consume as much 1 liter of fuel per second. That’s right not minute but second.
The technology works through a computer system that will control the solar sail. The sail can then be electronically mounted based off of the sun’s position or the direction of the wind. Not only would the vessels be getting 5% of its energy from the solar panels mounted on the sails, but they would also be getting approximately 20-40% of the total energy needs from wind. This could save the owners tons of money to operate their yachts as well as eliminate tons of emissions.
The thing that frustrates me the most about this is: why do you need such a large and elaborate boat? Is it really necessary to have a yacht of such size that requires so much fuel to run? Just because the ultra wealthy that own super-yachts have the money to buy these, why not allocate you money elsewhere. Even after adding these great renewable energy modifications to these boats, they still are going to be burning tons of fuel. They are just burning less that they previously were. This is how our environment has taken such a huge hit. The need to have massive machines and boats that require tons of energy to operate. Even if they were to convert these massive boats to run completely on renewable energy, it still doesn’t make them green or eco-friendly. Tons of materials are needed to build these devices just to make a few people more comfortable when they are sailing. I’m all for supporting renewable energy, but we as a society also need to start conserving more. What are you thoughts.
