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Gasometers or gasholders--huge storage containers for the gas used in heating and cooking--were built in many cities during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, when gas was a commercial byproduct of coal mining, steelmaking, and other industrial processes. Today, many of the old gasometers have been replaced by pipelines and tank farms, but a few are being adapted to new uses.
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Heating hot water can be 40% of your energy use. Your A/C unit makes excess heat in the process of cooling your home. Why use energy twice, if you can reuse it? Now there's an environmentally friendly way to generate hot water by capturing the wasted heat from a central air conditioning or refrigeration system.
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If we take a look at all of the people walking around in the streets of urban centers today, and we think about all of that expended energy, the possibility of harnessing it is exciting. There could be an interface between our feet and the surface we’re stepping on. It could absorb that movement to generate electricity for the overhead lights and to heat up the coffee.
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Manufacturing plants, combined heat and power plants, paper mills, oil and gas and other companies commonly have low-grade heat as a by-product. This energy goes to waste or in the worst-case scenario the company pays to cool it. It is estimated that 15 to 20 percent of all the energy used in the USA is lost just to this 'low-grade' waste heat. This presents a great opportunity that is too good to pass up, specially for some brilliant engineering outfits.
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In the USA alone, restaurants and other food operations pump out more than 285 tons of particulate matter every day, and 41 tons of volatile organic compounds. By far the bulk of it comes from underfired charbroilers. Particulate matter (aka “black carbon” ) is as a key contributor to rapid polar melting. When they’re covered with a layer of soot, glaciers absorb more heat. An estimated 321,000 underfired charbroilers are responsible for 94% of current restaurant emissions.
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Corn is beginning to seem more and more like the has-been-that-never-was of the biofuel feedstock scene. It is rapidly losing its place (if it ever really had one) as the pivotal element in the biofuel picture. Non-food plants like crambe and algae are front and center in the next wave of fuel production. There is even a place for animal carcasses and human remains! Are dead bodies— human or otherwise— the next big thing in heating?
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Valentine’s Day is a great time for loving couples, but is often associated with the more negative elements of luxury and consumerism just as all major holidays like Christmas and Mothers' day. Between cut flowers and blood diamonds, the excessive consumption can lean towards damaging — rather than preserving the earth. If you want to enjoy Cupid's Day in an eco-friendly manner, check the following list of romantic green goodies that are sure to heat up your Sweetie without compromising the environment.
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Plans to transform distillery by-products into renewable electricity, usable heat and organic soil conditioners was proposed by a couple ok UK companies. Following approval and order-placement, the plant would take 18 to 24 months to construct. This would be the first project to use draft and pot ale as a biomass fuel instead of wood.
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For thousands of years, people have used forms of refrigeration to keep food and other objects cold. Keeping food cold helps slow the spoiling process and helps it last longer.Today more than 99% of American homes have a refrigerator. These are based on the compression of a gas into a liquid to absorb heat. The substance that is used for compression has most commonly been Freon, a substance which is harmful to the ozone layer. The insulation used in those refrigerators also contains harmful substances.
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Many sources of energy are being wasted. This can be in the form of building air conditioners or refrigeration units that vent heat to the atmosphere, or even the heat given off automobile engines. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that the available seven quadrillion Btu of waste heat sources exceeds the current production of all other U.S. renewable power sources combined. This includes hydroelectric, wood, biofuels, geothermal, wind and solar photovoltaic.
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