Worst Oil spills in history

Bicycle Rush Hour Utrecht (Netherlands) I

The following video offers a look into a beautiful fantasy land called Utrecht, Holland, where transit is clean, efficient, and safe. Translation: Everyone rides bikes and uses public transit.

Morning rush hour in the 4th largest city in the Netherlands. Streets look like this when 33% of ALL trips are made by bicycle!

This is an ordinary Wednesday morning in April 2010 at around 8.30 am. Original time was 8 minutes that were compressed into 2 minutes, so everything is 4 times faster than in reality. The sound is original.

This is one of the busiest junctions in Utrecht a city with a population of 300,000. No less than 18,000 bicycles and 2,500 buses pass here every day. And yet Google Street View missed it. Because private motorized traffic is restricted here.

These cyclists cross a one way bus lane (also used by taxis and municipal vehicles), two light rail tracks and then a one way street that can be used by private vehicles.

Behind the camera is a railway (you can hear the squeaking sounds of the trains passing) and the main railway station is very close too. A number of rental bikes from the station pass and many of the cyclists will have come by train for the first part of their commute.

Imagine all these people in cars now

Home Energy Audit Podcast episode 1

This is my first podcast on my blog. I will try and add a lot of other posts in the future which are more relevant to everyday practices.

Episode 1.mp3

Home Energy Audits

To save energy at home you first need to know what you should do to reduce it. Home energy audit is the first step to assess how much energy your home consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. Small changes like changing light bulbs can make a difference in your energy bills. But to know the pay back period and if there is significant difference in the actions you take at home a energy audit is a must. Check out the links below for more information

Do it yourself 

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/energy_audits/index.cfm/mytopic=11170

Details on how energy audits are conducted in a more technical sense.
http://www.energyadvantage.com/blog/2010/04/the-difference-between-ahsrae-level-1-2-3-energy-audits/

The Story of Bottled Water

Interesting story on how bottled water indirectly causes pollution unseen to the eye.. I always used to say no to bottled water because of the disposal of plastic but came to know a lot of other facts with this video. And am really glad my fiance said that she will not drink bottled water again :)

what i felt interesting was the fact it shows how much of energy is used to produce bottled water compared to tap water. Check out the video below

The story of bottled water

Comparison of carbon dioxide emissions

	Country	Total Emissions(Million metric tons of CO2)	Per Capita Emissions(Tons/capita)
1.	China	6017.69	4.58
2.	United States	5902.75	19.78
3.	Russia	1704.36	12.00
4.	India	1293.17	1.16
5.	Japan	1246.76	9.78
6.	Germany	857.60	10.40
7.	Canada	614.33	18.81
8.	United Kingdom	585.71	9.66
9.	South Korea	514.53	10.53
10.	Iran	471.48	7.25
11.	Italy	468.19	8.05
12.	South Africa	443.58	10.04
13.	Mexico	435.60	4.05
14.	Saudi Arabia	424.08	15.70
15.	France	417.75	6.60
16.	Australia	417.06	20.58
17.	Brazil	377.24	2.01
18.	Spain	372.61	9.22
19.	Ukraine	328.72	7.05
20.	Poland	303.42	7.87

The picture that emerges from these figures is one where in general developed countries and major emerging economy nations lead in total carbon dioxide emissions. Developed nations typically have high carbon dioxide emissions per capita, while some developing countries lead in the growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions. Obviously, these uneven contributions to the climate problem are at the core of the challenges the world community faces in finding effective and equitable solutions. 

 Its interesting to see how Australia has the highest per capita emissions and they have recently signed Kyoto and are on a massive campaign to reduce their emissions. Hopefully they will get their emissions down. And also note that India has the least per capita but ranks 4th among the total emissions, clearly shows the major disadvantages of population. This charts actually help us think how i counties like Australia and US there needs to be more emphasis on individuals and in India it needs to be on policy and organisations. I don't mean we shouldn't educate individuals in India but policy changes need to be made asap. 

Source for graphs and chart: Union of concerned scientists 

Right to electricity not at the cost of damaging environment

1. 

   
   
   
   1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity:
   
   
   Breaking that down further:

   Number of people living without electricity

   Region	Millions without electricity
   South Asia	706
   Sub-Saharan Africa	547
   East Asia	224
   Other	101

2. I am sure you will accept with me that they need electricity to keep their homes warm in winter and have atleast an electric fan in summer. Providing electricity is  solving half the problems they have, just imagine how much of energy is needed if we need to provide everyone electricity. And if we continue the same way we produce electricity by burning coal and diverting rivers etc we will only be disturbing the ecology and environment at alarming rates. I do understand that its a really important issue to provide every one with electricity but it also matters how we provide it without causing any harm to the environment.
   I think we can solve these problems by going green and going on massive changes in the way we produce electricity. The policy changes need to take place to make sure that having electricity is a right to everyone but not at the cost of damaging environment.
   ^Source