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GreenTech Week in Review
Green Technology Featured Articles
July 27, 2013

GreenTech Week in Review

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

In green technology developments this week, the human race is so “power hungry”—especially in the developing nations of China and India— that, over the next 30 years, world energy consumption will increase by 56 percent.


According to “International Energy Outlook 2013,” a report just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), global energy demand will increase to 820 quadrillion British thermal units (Btus)—up from 524 quadrillion Btus in 2010. That’s an awful lot of power, considering that one quadrillion Btus would fill 172 million barrels of crude oil. Clean-fuel technology will play an important role in the outlook, with renewable energy and nuclear power expected to grow at a rate of 2.5 percent annually—faster than fossil fuels over the forecast period.

The analysts estimate that 5.4 trillion kilowatt hours (kWh) of new renewable generation will be added by 2040. Nearly 80 percent of the increase in renewable electricity generation will be driven by hydropower (52 percent) and wind power (28 percent). Most of the growth in hydroelectric generation (82 percent) will be seen in the developing nations, while more than half of the growth in wind generation (52 percent) will occur in the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries . However, fossil fuels will continue to supply nearly 80 percent of world energy capacity through 2040.

And speaking of being “power hungry,” if you are thirsty, too, now there’s a convenient—if slightly nauseating—“solution” to the problem. A machine developed by the folks over at UNICEF Sweden can extract sweat from clothing, filter it and turn it into purified drinking water. The device was unveiled as part of UNICEF’s safe drinking water campaign—dedicated to raising awareness about the lack of clean water in the world and, thereby, to raising money for water purification tablets for children. Players and fans at the Gothia Cup, an international youth soccer tournament held in Sweden, have been challenged to contribute their sweaty garments —and then to drink a glass of sweat.

The sweat machine, developed by engineer Andreas Hammar, relies on the water extraction component that comes from HVR Water Purification AB, which has been developed in collaboration with The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. The idea is not new, of course. The International Space Station is equipped with refrigerator-sized racks packed with a distiller and an assortment of filters designed to process astronauts’ urine and sweat into clean drinking water.

Finally, first came artificial turf. Now, sports stadiums themselves are being designed and built using recycled, green materials. In fact, on July 19, an open-air venue made without steel or reinforced concrete—appropriately called the Feather Pavilion—opened for business in Taiwan. Located in Taipei City’s Xinyi District, the Nike Area 13 pop-up stadium is a product of collaboration between the local renewable materials building company, Miniwiz Sustainable Energy Development Ltd. and Beaverton, Ore.-based footwear and sportswear company Nike, Inc.  The stadium is suspended by two 200-ton cranes and is made of recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or PET—which is formed into bricks called Pollibricks—as well as yarns from 35,000 plastic bottles, and rice fibers (all of which make it resilient). The structure offers a well-ventilated environment for events on hot summer evenings through mid-August.





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