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1500 questions
5
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2 answers
Biomass: Digestor/Reactor vs Gasifier Efficiency
When using biomass for energy, two popular options are reactors and gasifiers. The first uses anaerobic micro organisms to convert the biomass to fertilizer and a methane rich gas mixture. The second uses heat to pyrolyze the biomass into ash and a…
WhiskeyHammer
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Are composting toilets better than septic systems?
As a sustainability advocate I've always assumed that composting toilets were "better" than septic systems in almost any application.
However I've been reading up a bit on both system types (see Wikipedia links above) and now I'm wondering -- For a…
LShaver
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Single-use wooden vs plastic cutlery
I just joined a waste minimization board in my office and one of the area we discussed was the use of plastic cutlery in our canteen. While the best option in my opinion would be to remove all single use cutlery there might be cases where there…
David O
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Is charging Tesla Model 3 at 110v/15amp less energy efficient than at 220v/30amp?
I have a rudimentary understanding of volts and amps. (Volts is like pressure and Amps are like the bandwidth of that pressure.) So just reasoning about it, I imagine charging to be an event where the car battery pack is being connected to the power…
pdobb
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2 answers
Which ecolabels take the whole life cycle of food products into account?
Many ecolabels that certify certain sustainability aspects of food products only consider a small portion of the food product's life cycle.
A prominent example may be the MSC label which addresses the environmental impacts caused by fish products…
Stockfisch
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5
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4 answers
How to design a taxi rank to charge electric vehicles whilst waiting for fares?
This post deals with the design of a taxi rank and how to reduce the pollution created by idling and edging foroward. A few answers suggested that making the taxis switch to hybrids, or even better electric vehicles, would help the whole situation!…
atreeon
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5 answers
Getting rid of those little flies (gnats) without using a spray?
Since a while we have a problem with those little flies, which generally are present near the plants (or flying along your ears when you are reading or working on the computer).
As I do not want to use any spray, because I don't expect it to be…
Sironsse
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4 answers
Are fuel cell electricity generators a sustainable way of making electricity?
Since 75% of the universe is hydrogen, would it be sustainable to use fuel cell electricity generators? Fossil fuel generators won't last forever, because there is not an endless supply of fossil fuels, and solar power is only best when the sun is…
Atticus Denewmont
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5
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Emissions offsets versus avoidance: can they be compared?
I'm going to be traveling from London to Toulouse next year. I could take a flight for around £100, or a train journey for £170. The emissions for the flight would be about 500kg, which would cost about £10 to offset at today's prices. To be sure, I…
M Juckes
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3 answers
Why don't we use cattle to re-store CO₂ in the soil?
In this old TED conf., Allan Savory, and in this rather newer other here, Joel Salatin are quite saying the same thing as a tentative to mitigate the effect of burning fossil fuels:
We should use cattle at very large scale to help re-store CO2 into…
J. Chomel
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How to encourage people to sort waste properly
We have put a fair amount of effort into reducing the impact of our staff canteen in our office. One part of this is introducing separate food waste and recyclables bins. However many canteen users use the wrong bins, with significant amounts of…
aucuparia
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What are the sustainability impacts of requiring more and more years of education?
As time has gone on, education requirements to meaningfully have a career has increased incrementally over time. This is true across virtually all fields. This means that we start careers later, are more dependent on corporate jobs, and have to…
Chris Travers
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Which US university has done the most to reduce GHG?
Which US universities, either public or private, have programs that have shown quantitative reductions in GHG emitted? In fact I would like to see universities "bridge the gap" between themselves and their "real-world" neighbors, so I am going to…
Jack Ryan
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2 answers
What are examples of perennial crops?
I just read this fascinating article on kernza, an alternative to wheat that is a perennial, rather than annual, crop. From the article, "Can This Breakfast Cereal Help Save The Planet?", this is important because:
These plants don't require…
LShaver
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5
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1 answer
Is electricity used at night more likely to be renewable?
Discussing charging my electric car with a colleague recently I argued that since (in Ireland) our renewable energy sources are mainly wind and hydro, since I charge my car at night the mixture of energy I use is likely more biased towards renewable…
Jacxel
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