Heat Your Swimming Pool With Sewage

Asterios Kokkinos — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:00:45 +0000

Well, this is less gross than I thought it would be. A French town in the suburbs of Paris realized that a lot of hot water was being thrown down the drain – sewage pipes were an average of 68 degrees, which is pretty hot. So Sophie Deschiens, the Environment Councilwoman for the town of Levallois-Perret, found a way to exploit that wasted heat energy.

How? With a “series of stainless steel plates” affixed to the bottom of those piping hot pipes. The plates were outfitted with a heat-trapping liquid that could then transfer that stored heat elsewhere – like, say, a public swimming pool.

That’s what they did – the heat trapping liquid heats pools, spas and jacuzzis in the town’s new Aquatic Center. The price? Expensive, but it’s expected to pay for itself over the next ten years by slashing the town’s energy costs 24%. Plus, greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by a very green 66%.

Source & Photo Source: FastCompany

Brown = Green? What is the world coming to?

Could White Roofs Help Stop Global Warming?

Asterios Kokkinos — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:00:13 +0000

Cities are hotter than rural areas – between 2 and 5 degrees hotter to be precise – because a lot of the materials used in their construction absorb heat instead of reflecting it. Asphalt roads, tar roofs and other artificial surfaces that make up cities trap sunlight, heating the area around it and intensifying the effects of global warming.

So geniuses at the National Center for Atmospheric Research had a brilliant thought – why not just paint the roofs of buildings white?

“Our research demonstrates that white roofs, at least in theory, can be an effective method for reducing urban heat,” said Keith Oleson, researcher at NCAR and the author of the study. “It remains to be seen if it’s actually feasible for cities to paint their roofs white, but the idea certainly warrants further investigation.”

Oleson’s computer simulations posit some very interesting data – the overall temperature of cities could be reduced by .7 degrees if all the roofs in said city were painted white. Additionally, as buildings with white roofs are less hot, they require less air conditioning, which in turn uses less electricity, which could help abate global warming.

Not bad work for a bucket of house paint and a dream!

Source & Photo Source: MSNBC

Technomaly » heat

Heat Your Swimming Pool With Sewage

Could White Roofs Help Stop Global Warming?