ReGeneration Roundup - 2008-04-11
Nigerian Man Develops a Refrigeration Device that Works Without Electricity
According to this cool article by Celsias, Mohammed Bah Abba, a Nigerian teacher from a family of pot makers, has invented a device that will refrigerate your food without electricity. Since about a third of the world’s population lives without electricity, this device, called a Zeer, has tremendous potential to alleviate hunger in these areas of the world and cut down on energy consumption everywhere. The design of the Zeer is both brilliant and simple. One earthen pot is put inside another, with wet sand placed between them and a lid or damp cloth on top. The laws of thermodynamics take over from there. The moisture in the sand evaporates drawing heat away from the inner pot, thereby cooling it’s contents. Maintainance of the Zeer is equally simple, needing only a refill of water once or twice a day. This is exactly the sort of creative solution that defines the ReGeneration movement, and we salute Mr. Bah Abba and his revolutionary invention.
Does the Energy it Takes to Turn on a CFL Bulb Negate its Benefits?
Every time I peruse the green blogosphere I learn something new worth sharing. This time I learned of a myth about compact fluorescent lights that has been making the rounds lately. In a nutshell, the myth is this: Since it takes more energy to start fluorescent lights than standard incandescents, it is more efficient for you to leave your fluorescents on then it is to frequently turn them off and on. The folks at Green Building Elements reported on this myth and handily refuted it. As they reported, the energy it takes to turn on a fluorescent does take a little more energy, but over the lifetime of the bulb, the savings you’ll get from a CFL is far greater than an incandescent, even if you flip it on and off constantly. For more tips on how you can make your daily life more energy efficient, check out our interview with Kateri Callahan from the Alliance to Save Energy.
Rainwater Collection Employed by Dutch Train Stations
Thanks to the travels of Stefanos Kofopoulos of EcoWorldly, we’ve learned of a ‘green’ practice being implemented in the Netherlands. Instead of using valuable tap water to clean their train stations, the Dutch are now cleaning some of their stations with rainwater collected right there on the premises. Those of you who have been to that area of Northern Europe know that rain is something they have plenty of. Cheers to the Dutch for putting their plentiful precipitation to good use!
