Green Guide

Looking for new today I've found a publication of National Geographic.

It's a green guide and its philosophy is close to ours so I want to give you the link to share this curiosity.


I hope you enjoy it!



http://www.thegreenguide.com/

... forest looses, greenhouse wins.

WWF has published a summary report of the contribution to climate change due to forest loss in Sumatra.

It's not only a problem of greenhouse effect but it also drives to extinction to elephants and other animals.

I think it's a really good example of the opposite of "sustainable development".

Read the new, the summary or the full report.

just in case...

If everything goes wrong, if doomsday arrives or whatever... a frozen vault has been opened in Norway where millions of seeds will be stored to safeguard against any disasters wiping out food crops around the globe.

I hope we won't need it.

More info: Wikipedia; BBC, WashingtonPost, National Geographic, Times, The New York Times...

Green USA effect?

The USA seems ready to accept "binding international obligations" on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, officials say, if other nations do the same.
They wants to conclude talks before the G8 summit in Japan. (Source)

It may seem that it's a bit late, but I hope it won't be too late!

(I've found this explanation of the BBC about "greenhouse effect", for those who need a simple explanation).

and now... BIODIESEL jumbo!

Virgin Atlantic announced yesterday a 747 flown on a mixture of about 20 percent biofuel and the rest kerosene.
It seems that the origin of the biodiesel is from amazon nuts (source).

It's the first step for cleaners fuels, but are we going to get short of nuts, like Mexicans of corn?
Does the amazon will resist?

Car that runs on air?

This kind of vehicle could be on sale in India as soon as this year.

That's the proposal of TATA group.

However, the vehicle burns small amounts of conventional fuels at higher speeds that limits its "environmental friendly" conception.

The idea has been developed by Moteur Development International (MDI), by Mr. Guy Nègre, in cooperation with Mr. Miguel Celades, who now is in AirCar factories.

In fact there is some discussion between both (read here and here)...

The main problem of this invention, in my opinion, is the fact that we have to compress the air. That means a consumption of energy, electric energy.

So I wonder if the performance of the system enhances the results of electrical cars.

International Year of Planet Earth

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the year 2008 to be the "International Year of Planet Earth", and the inauguration took place last week.

The proclamation set up the purposes of the event, that are related with sustainable development.

I don´t know if I'm well informed or not, but is the first new I have from this program and it started in 2006!
So I wonder, were did these good proposal went?
Are we going to see any result or improvemnt of anything?

You can also read the "Status Report" of "August 2007" and "January 2008".
Don't bother too much... they are nearly identical.
Only the number of "national committees" has increase.. but, what for?

CO2 + H2O -> fuel + O2

This is the proposal of scientist of "Los Alamos National Laboratory ".

Nothing new, if an hydrocarbon plus oxygen give carbon dioxyde plus water, the inverse reaction is feasible... we only have to give some energy.

The "unique" problem is the source of energy.

Nuclear energy?

Today the principal investigator on the project, F. Jeffrey Martin, will be presenting a talk on the subject at the Alternative Energy NOW conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

I don't know if the label "green chemistry" or "sustainable development" are appropiate for this new...

More information here.

No news, good news.

Today I haven't found any interesting new or curiosity...

However, I don't want to lose the opportunity to encourage everybody to comment any article.
We are also open to news proposals related with Supercritical Fluids, Green Chemistry, Sustainable development... (themes related with our activity).

about Supercritical Fluids...

I suppose most of the readers of this blog, if there are some, should know what a Supercritical Fluid is.
Just in case...
A SCF is defined as a substance above its critical temperature (TC) and critical pressure (PC). The critical point represents the highest temperature and pressure at which the substance can exist as a vapour and liquid in equilibrium.
In the figure you can see the transition from the gas-liquid equilibrium to de Supercrítical Fluid.
You can find more information elsewhere... like here, here or here ...
or just type "Supercritical Fluids" on Google!

Pollutant ships...

Planes, car, buses and trucks...
All are pollutants means of transport that contributes to the "greenhouse effect".
However, leaked UN report says that ships pollution is three times higher than previously thought, and represent 1.12 billion tonnes of CO2 per year, while global air travel is responsible for around 650 million tonnes of CO2 each year.
That means that ships are responsible for 4% of CO2 emissions, and must be included in Kyoto targets.

More info:
- True scale of CO2 emissions from shipping revealed (The guardian)
- Ships' greenhouse emissions revealed (Nature)

Results?

Well...
the "thematic debate" of the UN took place...
the "Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2008" (DSDS) has finished...

and Valentine's day is here!

you can read here the statements of the UN debate... and more details here...
on the other hand you can read the "Proceedings DSDS 2007" that I suppose are similar to those of 2008...

In fact the same conclusion, as Boxer in "Animal farm" use to say: "I will work harder".
We have to work harder...

But doesn't matter, today is Valentine's day.

Natural Supercritical Fluid?

In my every day search about related news or curiosities on Supercritical Fluids I´ve found and "old" article from "Nature" that talks about underwater hot spots.

---

Record hotspot found underwater
Scientists working in the southern Atlantic Ocean have found a 407 °C hydrothermal vent, the hottest yet known on an ocean floor.

---

(if somebody has acces to the full text... please let me know)

Well, this is hot!
but if we go ahead, these hotspots are at 3000 meters under the sea, that means about 300 bar (4350 psi) of pressure...
So water in these condition is a Supercritical Fluid. (Critical temperature and pressure of water,374°C; 217.7 atm, 3147 psi).
So we have a source of natural Supercritical Water!

Celebrating the tenth year of the Green Chemistry journal

Green Chemistry is the utilisation of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemical products.[1]

Since Paul Anastas and John Warner established the 12 principles of "Green chemistry"[1] lot of changes have taken place.
But this "new" is to talk about the tenth anniversary of the journal.
In fact, that was in January, but we didn't had our BLOG then.
You can download their EDITORIAL here.

Nowadays, green chemistry, sustainable development and related concepts are daily used, normally in the same sentence as greenhouse effect or global warming, and debates, summits and conferences are organised...
but, are we advancing toward the solution?

1- Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, P. T. Anastas and J. C. Warner, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998.

Addressing Climate Change: The United Nations and the World at Work

Today will start this debate at UN Headquarters in New York.
Two discussions will take place:

- Rising to the Challenge: Parnerships on Climate Change
- Responding to a Multifaceted Challenge: The UN at Work
Tomorrow there will be a discussion open to all in which Member States will make statements.

You can find all the information here.

I wonder if this kind of meetings are useful, or its only a meeting of good intentions.

Neither liquid nor gas, odd substances find uses.

Looking for Supercritical Fluids News I've found an article from "The New York Times" published in May 19, 1987.

It's an old one, but it gives a clear an simple point of view of this "BIZARRE form of matter".

You can read the full text here.

IDOKI SCF Technologies S.L.

Whit this blog we want to let you know about our enterprise, our philosophy and to create a tool to discuss about supercritical fluids technologies and related matters.
If you want more information don't hesitate to visit our website, http://www.idoki.com/.

A través de este blog queremos dar a conocer nuestra empresa, nuestra filosofía y crear una herramienta de intercambio de impresiones y conocimientos en el mundo de la tecnología de fluidos supercríticos.
Para un primer contacto con IDOKI os invitamos a visitar nuestra página web, www.idoki.com, y a dejar aquí vuestras impresiones.

Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2008

The 2008 edition of the DSDS (Delhi Sustainable Development Summit) assumes unusual importance because it deals with the theme of ‘Sustainable Development and Climate Change’. Climate change is the result of society having pursued a path of development that is not sustainable. The impacts of this, in turn, make it difficult for societies, particularly the poorest ones, to implement measures of development, which are sustainable. DSDS 2008 will focus on promoting an understanding of this linkage among decision-makers and leaders who can mould public opinion. The summit has another significance. The 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Bali in December 2007. So it would not bean exaggeration to state that DSDS 2008 would be a crucial step in the global process to tackle the challenge of climate change—especially since several heads of state and leaders of the corporate sector and civil society as well as distinguished academics and researchers would be present at the summit.