Ice Shelf Split? Global Warming?

My cousin Bruce in front of a glacier near Whittier

People have been discussing global warming for a long time now. A satellite picture showed that an ice strip that held Wilkins Ice Shelf together had snapped off the Antarctic Peninsula. The ice bridge has held a huge Antarctic ice shelf in place for hundreds of years. Many people will see this as yet another reason to jump on the global warming bandwagon, but the fact is, glaciers and ice shelves have been retreating for centuries, long before cars and the Industrial Revolution. Let's take a look at Alaska for a minute, it used be covered by glaciers and its a beautiful place to live. The glaciers melting here was a good thing! However, researchers might be right, the ice melting could be global warming, but nobody really knows for sure. The main problem I have with all the pollution we put into the air is that we all have to breathe it! For this reason, I am all for reducing global air pollution and improving air quality.

http://news.xnihuanet.com/english/2009-04/06/content_11136997

Biomass Resource Map

I chose this Biomass Map because I had never heard of it before and it was something new and interesting. My dictionary defined biomass as "plant material, vegetation specifically as a source of fuel or energy." The website that I came across shows many different types of maps, such as wind, solar, and geothermal energy maps. The Biomass Map, though, was interesting to me because as I studied it you could see that in the midwestern part of the United States there is a lot of biomass potential for renewable energy sources. As I understand it, animal and plant waste gives off lots of untapped energy, mostly in the form of gases. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this waste could be used to produce electricity or other forms of usable energy? Maybe someday the gases released in our huge landfills and dumps will be used to power our cities!

http://www.nrel.gov/

My Shocking Results in the BP Calculator

http:www.bp.com/iframe.do?categoryld=902311&&contentld=7045317

My results in the Bp calculator was 56822 kwh per year. At first glance at this number it might seem as a lot, but living in a household of eight people explains a lot. We need a big vehicle because of our big family and most of the time more than half go to school. So instead of using up a lot of gas and using two cars, we use one vehicle and we fit the whole family in it. It would be great if car companies would develop a fuel efficient, affordable vehicle that can fit a large family, but so far this has not happened. We also live in Chugiak and a lot of our business is in Anchorage, for example, I take classes at UAA, and my dad and my little brothers and sisters go to Government Hill Elementary school. We still try to combine trips as much as possible.

Clean Energy Corps

This article is about the CEC, this corporation is saying that many people are loosing their jobs. However if they focus on environmental jobs,also known as "green jobs", more jobs will be available and new ones will be developed.

Some of the ways the CEC would do are:

"*Directly engage millions of America in diverse service, service learning, and volunteer work related to climate protection.

* Work with employers,unions,educators, and community organizations to put more Americans particularly the low- income and unemployed, on green-collar career pathways-providing them the training,credentials,work experience job placements, and other essentials elements for good and secure jobs in the clean energy economy."

I think that this corporation is doing a great thing by supplying ways for people to help out with the environment, and by giving the community new and more improved jobs.

http://www.greenjobsnow.com/about/clean-energy-corps

I thought that Alex's blog called "Fast, the furious, and eco conscious..." was interesting and eye catching. However his details on the subject of cars running on electricity was kind of weak. I wanted to know more because that topic is something that mostly everyone should consider, but I was left only knowing so little.

Some of the questions I would like answered would be:

* Would this car be more efficient here in Alaska with our weather conditions? and why?

* Is it a car that we might see more of in the future?

http://energyessential.blogspot.com/

Global Warming (Earth Hour)

Before December of 2009, people of the world decided to take action in Global Warming by participating in "earth hour". Earth hour is when people of the world turn off their lights and energy sources for an hour.

Here is a strong quote that describes it all and its an affect on the worlds energy:

"In 2009, Earth Hour was taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion casting their vote for Earth. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you're from, but instead what planet you're from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action every individual, every business, and every community - a call to stand up and take control of the future of our planet. We all have to vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for the future generations."

I personally participated and agree with this statement because I believe global warming is a serious issue in the world. We live in alaska, a place where it snows 6 months out of the 12, but this year our snowfall was delayed about 2 months I do believe thats due to global warming. For example, our polar bears are becoming extinct, due to the warm whether(global warming) melting their home land on ice burgs.

http://www.earthhour.org/about/

htt://www.topbulb.com/find/energy_saving_light_bulbs.asp

Fluorescent light bulbs

Fluorescent light bulbs save more energy then standard light bulbs by 70 percent. Lighting uses roughly 10 to 20 percent of the energy in commecial buildings. By using the fluorescent light bulb you will be reducing that percentage.

So therefore,

A 9w compacct fluorescent light bulb is the same as using a 40w standard light bulb

A 13w is the same as 60w

And a 23w is the same as a 100w.

By that information I came across proves that you can save energy by switching to Fluorescent bulbs. I know my family does because we use them ourselves.