THE Energy Waste Thread (merged)

tkn317071 · Heavy Crude Joined: May 29, 2004 Posts: 106

I hope the fact that no one seems to be talking about improving efficiency (minimizing waste) as one strategy (for coping with the peak) is because it is taken for granted. I think it was Amory Lovins who spoke about "negawatts" (saving electricity) as an important component of achieving a sustainable energy regime. It seems only logical that the same concept would apply to oil.

Isn't part of the problem simply that we are way too wasteful with our resources right now? In the face of peak oil, it shouldn't be politically untenable to actively promote and enforce efficiency.

I don't know if determining the viability of alternatives such as hydrogen, ethanol, methanol, etc. on the assumption that demand (for fuels) remains the same and increasing, is reasonable.

Or am I wrong in my assessment that we are currently very wasteful and in fact we are very efficient in our use of petroleum?

Chicagoan · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 19, 2004 Posts: 315

Society has to commit itself to reducing energy consumption. Only then will consumtion decrease.

Mark_i · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 8:14 am Post subject: Energy Waste: Nighttime photo

A picture often tells one more than 1000 words...
Who wastes most energy can easily be seen here, as brightness should be proportional to the product of energy-use and population density:
if you're looking for a quiet piece of land without too many people living there, this should be helpful in most cases, too: Twisted Evil

khebab · Moderator Joined: Sep 27, 2004 Posts: 935 Location: Canada

Do we have an estimate of the amount of energy wasted by these lights? in particular those placed on deserted roadways?

It seems to me that there are potentially huge energy savings we can make here? or is it peanuts?

Licho · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 12:33 pm Post subject:

Public lights really eat only minimal energy Smile

But this image looks cool, I'v seen it long time ago. Notice how Nile shines or how North Korea is not visible at all while South Korea shines brightly.. Interesting..

Terran · Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:49 pm Post subject:

Seems like developing countries have more people but they don't give off more light, because they don't consume much. Look at the industrialized countries they're really bright. Vegas is the brightest city in the world, from what I heard.

And notice the long lines going across Russia, thats the trans-Sibarian railroad.
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Carmiac · Tar Sands Joined: Jul 20, 2004 Posts: 73

We have a huge one of these on a wall at work. I love picking out things on it.

Some of my favorites:
The town I live in is just barely visible.
The Nile River
The Midwestern US grid of towns
Trans-Siberian Railroad
India-Chinese border
Isreal

lotrfan55345 · Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 8:56 pm Post subject:

Japan looks so "out there".

Terran · Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:50 am Post subject:

Yes, they're cities are covered with lights. Look at Tokyo with a population of over 28 million, and the streets are filled with neon lights.
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Schneider · Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:25 pm Post subject:

Hmm,Cubans are really alone in the dark Cool

..

Hey,Quebec province seem to have a lot of place to hide Laughing

(good for me) !

Schneider
French-Canadian

Bytesmiths

frankthetank · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:18 am Post subject: Homemade video of wasted energy

The water enters the first video and then empties right behind me (about 10-15feet or so) with about a drop of 6-8ft. The flow right now is around 30,000CFS.

Couldn't this be converted easily to produce hydoelectricity?

Click here to watch free-energy

Click here to watch free-energy2

The arrow shows where the video was taken.

Starvid

I can't open those links, but maybe this can give you inspiration. http://www.otherpower.com/scotthydro1.html

The energy you can get per second is E=m*g*h.

m is mass, and since one litre water weighs one kg you only have to measure litres per second to get value m. g is the gravity acceleration constant, approximately 9,8. h is the height of the drop, called head. If the drop is 6 feet, that's 2 meters.

30 CFS is 30*28= 840 litres.

OK, let's count.

m= 840 kg

g= 9,8

h= 2,0 m

E= 840*9,8*2,0= 16464 joules/second = 16 kW.

Not bad at all.

edit: Implemented 30,000 CFS

edit2: Is the flow 30 or 30 thousand cubic foot per second? If it is thirty thousand the effect would be 16 MW.
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frankthetank

The water flowing through these videos is mostly Mississippi river water with another river (maybe a 2-5miles upstream) adding a little or a lot depending on its flow (Black River). There are 2 of these spillways and one lock and dam. The other spillway is older.

I wonder why no one has thought of using this for power use?