BIOPLASTICS MADE FROM PLANTS WASTE

We have read the article 'Plastics made from corn' in one of my recent postings http://informationdisc.blogspot.com/2010/07/do-plastics-can-be-made-from-corn.html.

The researchers in NEC are hoping to create better plastic which are to be made from 70% plant waste such as stems and cashew nut shells. The cellulose and cardanol used in plastics comes from stems and nutshells which are discarded as byproducts from agricultural Industry.

The plastics made from plants is twice as strong as PLA ,a corn based plastic. It is twice as beat resistant and it consumes less time in molding process. The company is confident that they would bring this product by 2013.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH ENERGY IS LOST IN TRASH?

Recently I read an article which is quiet interesting. I never think about it whenever I waste the food. This article makes me to think twice whenever I cook food. Do you ever thought about how much of energy has been wasted by the wastage of food. In a report it says nearly five percent of population in US consumes nearly one fifth of world’s energy. Each item of food makes an average trip of over 2400 km by transportation. Nearly 15% of energy used in US is taken by food production and distribution.

In our everyday life we can see how much food is dumped in the trashes due to various reasons. Sometimes we cook more food and we might not eat it .You may think that it is unavoidable but everything is in our hand to avoid wastage. Have you ever calculated the amount of food we are throwing in the trash as waste? If you have calculated you would be shocked. Approximately 2% of total US energy budget is thrown in trash.

Global energy consumption is increasing day by day thereby reducing our dependency on fossil fuels is more challenging. The sad thing is one part of the world is starving for food and another part of world is wasting food. The public need to be educated about proper storage of foods. Steps must be taken to save and store food. Parents, teachers should teach the upcoming generation about the importance of food and the wastage of energy.

HAYABUSA 2 -GETTING READY FOR ITS LAUNCH

HAYABUSA 2 -GETTING READY FOR ITS LAUNCH
Hayabusa 2 will be launched soon as 2014 and it is expected to return in 2020, bearing clues to origin of life on earth. Last week the Japanese Aerospace exploration Agency got the go-ahead from government to begin development of Hayabusa which is estimated to cost around 164 billion yen.It is expected to visit an asteroid to collect dust samples.Hayabusa 2 will visit a kilometer sized space rock called 1999 JU3 in search of organic molecules that might seeded life on earth.
Hayabusa 2 will carry 30 centimetre wide bomb known as an impactor and it will release the bomb when it is 500 metres from asteroid and the bomb explodes.Hayabusa 2 will scoop up dust from this crater.It uses 2 different methods for its performance.It will have a pellet to fire in to the asteroid thereby kicking up dust for collection by a cone shaped device.Hayabusa 2 has better back up orientation control systems, a better antenna and a redesigned engine. It is expected that the hayabusa 2 will eradicate most of the problems faced by the previous Hayabusa.

Internet will make (place-based) colleges less important in future - Bill Gates prediction

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has predicted that the traditional system of higher education at colleges and universities will dramatically change over the next five years and soon place-based learning will be less important. In a recent presentation at Technonomy conference in CA Gates said that "College, except for the parties, needs to be less place-based". Gates also stated that "Five years from now on the web for free you'll be able to find the best lectures in the world and it will be better than any single university." He has also predicted that technology will bring down the sky-rocketing college tuition costs.


These days’ self-motivated learners can learn many new things on the internet on their own. We can see that more and more universities are offering on-line courses. With things like youtube, slide share we can access many great lectures. It is no wonder that Gates has predicted that traditional university system will become obsolete.

Few more quotes from gates at the conference:
“The hardest thing in education is motivation.”
“Math textbooks for every grade are now over 300 pages long, (they are) systematically three times longer than their Asia equivalents.”

“Why not give students a chance to show what parts they know, and learn the parts they don’t?”
“Over 60% of kids in community college go into remedial math. 80% of them pile up debt and don’t graduate. They’re told, ‘you’re a moron,’ and forced to relearn the whole thing. And those books are 400 pages long.”

REVOLUTION OF LEDS

The LED light sources are the future of modern lighting. Saving energy by providing alternative, innovative light sources will help to ensure a better world for tomorrow. The Giant companies of light manufacturers are shifting their production from incandescent bulbs to LEDs.These bulbs offer exceptional value for money.Todays LED’s are about 10 times more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs and about 2 times more efficient than compact fluorescent bulbs. LED technology has advanced so rapidly over the past few years. LED light are not fragile and require zero maintenance and don’t contain harmful or hazardous chemicals.

The best LED bulbs have a lifespan of about 20 years assuming 3 hours of usage a day. The currently available incandescent bulbs will start being phased out in US by 2012 but it begun in Australia and parts of Europe and South America. The cost of LED light is more than other lights but LED can save money over life time. Energy companies are working out to make the consumers to switch over to LEDs. By the end of the decade analyst predict LEDS will be the dominant source for commercial and residential lighting.

Is Energy saved by turning off the appliances

Do you know that turning off appliances alone will not help in saving power? The power consumed when the appliances are not in use may be negligible but over the long haul it adds up. The DVD player, fax machine, iron box, microwave and even cell phone chargers which are plugged in but not used may also consume power. There is a report saying at least 5% to 10 % of residential electricity use can be attributed to standby power.

Start saving power! Save money on utility bills! Don’t forget to remove the plugs.