Devon Whittle » Ecological

Pirates versus nuclear waste

devonwhittle — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:21:05 +0000

Pirates are popular amongst Somalis because they are trying to dissuade Europeans from dumping nuclear waste off Somalia’s coastline (or at least make a buck off them). An interesting occurrence of what happens when real government ceases to exists.

Pirates versus nuclear waste is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Woolworths (Safeway) has a conscience over paper

devonwhittle — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:53:41 +0000

Interesting example of corporate social responsibility over at Woolworths, they recently ended a contract with an Indonesian paper company due to concerns over the sustainability of the trees used. It’s good to see that concerns beyond short term profit are playing into considerations by the big guys. It was also heartening to see that BP now serve fair trade coffee at their ‘Wild Bean’ cafes – it seems big business can care.

Woolworths (Safeway) has a conscience over paper is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Chinese Olympian Waterworks

devonwhittle — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:14:04 +0000

Things are getting ridiculous in China, what with the diversion of rivers, grabbing of water from farmers, and general carrying on for the Olympics. To put on a good face for the world Beijing is taking water from those that need it most, halving their incomes and remaking whole rivers. “The Olympics are the perfect excuse to get things done while tapping into national pride”.

Chinese Olympian Waterworks is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Chernobyl turns into nature reserve

devonwhittle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:59:19 +0000

Ukraine is turning the Chernobly exclusion zone into a bison reserve. That’s one place I’d actgually love to visit – might come away with super powers. BISON MAN! Chernobyl turns into nature reserve is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com. Related posts:Demonstrating the international nature of the ICC How to use Google [...]

Chernobyl turns into nature reserve is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Where's all the water?

devonwhittle — Sat, 17 May 2008 07:55:16 +0000

Great graphic over at Aguanomics on where the world’s water is. 97.5% in the oceans, 68.7% of freshwater in glaciers. Eegads! The geographic location/ownership of world water resources would be interesting too. Where's all the water? is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com. Related posts:The State of the World's Water Water Footprints How [...]

Where's all the water? is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Sustainable banking awards

devonwhittle — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:53:19 +0000

The Financial Times have released their list of sustainable banking awards. I couldn’t see any Aussie banks. Sustainable banking awards is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com. Related posts:Mobile banking on the rise in Africa Stop Genocide's 2008 Awards for World's Worst Human Rights Abusers Sustainable Living Festival – This Weekend!

Sustainable banking awards is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Food miles may be misleading

devonwhittle — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:51:11 +0000

Brilliant post on IELP on how sometimes importing food may be better for the environment. Though maybe the point is if you live in certain places you shouldn’t be eating certain foods?

Food miles may be misleading is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Free CFL lightbulbs and lo-flow shower heads

devonwhittle — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:32:49 +0000

If you want some free CFL lightbulbs and shower heads, check out Low Energy Supplies & Services and EnviroSaver. They are both companies that are installing energy saving devices in consumers homes for free and then hoping to sell the carbon emission reductions as carbon credits. I’m not too sure about them being able to quantify the reductions they are selling, but it is a cheap way to get your energy usage down!

Free CFL lightbulbs and lo-flow shower heads is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Hot smoke stack + boiler = 50,000 mW of power

devonwhittle — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:04:28 +0000

If 47,500 industrial smoke stacks in the USA had “waste recovery boilers” installed they could produce almost 50,000 megawatts of power. Hot smoke stack + boiler = 50,000 mW of power is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com. Related posts:2,000 Wikipedias every year CARMA – Monitoring global CO2 emissions The ICC and the [...]

Hot smoke stack + boiler = 50,000 mW of power is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

CARMA – Monitoring global CO2 emissions

devonwhittle — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:17:00 +0000

This looks awesome. It’s called CARMA – Carbon Monitoring for Action, and it’s a massive database of power plants from around the world, their electricity production and carbon emission. It tracks over 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies around the world, and provides an easy to use map interface to interpret and view the data.

The home page of CARMA features a map with different coloured and differed sized circles on it depending on power production and carbon emission. The big, dirty plants are the big red circles, the clean plants are green and then there’s also the ones in the middle. You can click on any circle to find out more about a specific plant and then zoom down to a region. For example, here is Australia’s regional view. CARMA provides power trends, a list of our major power plants, a place for comments and even a comparison box that shows other similar countries.

The dataset really is quite astounding, and the easy to use interface makes this a great resource for anyone either researching carbon emission or just wanting to know more to reduce their own carbon footprint. Look out for the intensity rating that shows how much CO2 per megawatt-hour of energy is produced – this is a quick way to compare how efficient different power plants are.

For tips on how to make the most of CARMA, check out their blog, where there is a quick guide on how to get started.

(Via Rodrik)

CARMA – Monitoring global CO2 emissions is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.