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Miscellaneous Schmidt

Nuclear Reactors for Dummies

by Sustainable G on March 31, 2011 · 0 comments

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In light of the recent earthquake in Japan, I thought it would be good to use this space to give you all a crash course on how nuclear reactors work.  Welcome to my Nuclear Reactors for Dummies.

For starters, it is important to know the difference between fusion and fission.  Fusion takes two unstable and radioactive nuclei and slams them together.  These two materials then create a heavier nucleus that releases large amounts of energy.
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear Fusion

Fission takes one unstable and radioactive nucleus and splits it into two more nuclei by introducing a neutron.

Nuclear Fission

Nuclear Fission

California’s nuclear reactors work using nuclear fission.  They place large number of Uranium-235 nuclei in a reactor, and fire a neutron at one of the nuclei.  The nucleus that gets hit by the neutron then splits into two more nuclei and they also fire off three neutrons that then collide with other nuclei in the system.  This chain reaction produces a large amount of heat during the process.  This heat warms up water located near the reactor and that water turns into steam which then pushes a turbine and creates the electricity that we then use.  In order to keep the reaction from getting out of hand, reactors have control rods.  These rods prevent the neutrons from hitting all of the Uranium at once.  If all the Uranium were to fission too fast, then the heat would cause the reactor to melt and release large amounts of radiation into the surrounding area or the reactor might just go boom.

Nuclear reactors do not generate any of the carbon emissions into the atmosphere.  They take up little to no space which makes them very, very green.

Here’s a link if you want to play around with a simulation of a nuclear reactor and see how nuclear fission works.  Just download the application and have fun (trust me, there are no viruses hiding in the program)

If you do not trust me (I won’t be offended) and you still want to have a visualization of how nuclear fission works, then find yourself some dominos.

Here’s more information on what happened specifically at the Fukushima reactor in Japan.

Leave it to the economists to find a silver lining in the Japanese crisis.

Finally, here is what our California government is doing to make sure that our nuclear reactors do not suffer the same fate as the Fukushima reactor in the event of an earthquake.

It would not be right if I did not add a list of sites that you can go to in order to help Japan. Even if you cannot physically go over to Japan, you can still help by giving money to those who can.

Red Cross

Salvation Army

And for all you video game nuts (I know you’re out there) Bungie is selling wristbands (they’re pretty cool) and all the funds go to help Japan.  Also, if you buy anything from their store from now until April 30 the money goes directly to helping out Japan.

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Green-volution

by Sustainable G on March 15, 2011 · 1 comment

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According to contructiondigital.com, the LA Unified School District is starting a program to build more energy efficient schools for kids.

In case you have not seen this (I had not), here is President Obama’s plan for creating a greener nation.

Now that you know the President’s plan (assuming that you read this articles in chronological order – I don’t know why you wouldn’t) here is what San Francisco just decided to do in order to help increase its energy efficiency.

Here’s a link for all you activists who want to get more involved in saving the planet.

Found a fifty-eight minute long video about San Francisco’s building standards and how they are making SF greener.  If you really want to watch all of it, then click on and enjoy, otherwise, just click it and listen to the really bad jazz intro and then decide whether or not you want to continue.

For all you do-it-yourself people out there, here are five-tips to make your house more energy efficient (none of them look extremely dangerous).

Now Mr. Schimdt (he hates it when I call him that) told me to make these posts more fun (that’s what all the parenthetical comments are – my attempt at humor, let me know if I am annoying and I’ll stop), so I decided to start a “poll”.   I am a large supporter of saving the planet and I think that building smarter is a great way to do it; however, let’s face it – some of these green buildings are just plain ugly.  So with each post I will put up a picture of a energy efficient/ green home and leave it up to you (the beloved reader) as to whether or not you think that the building is ugly or not ugly. Since I cannot seem to get the poll system running, just write a comment with your answer (ugly or not ugly) and I will tally up the results and display them next post (assuming that anyone comments at all).

House #1

This house is located in the Mission District of San Francisco.  Click here if you want to see the inside of the house too.

casagrande

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Green Gobs 1.0

by Sustainable G on February 8, 2011 · 0 comments

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I wanted to introduce a fine young man who will be adding content to the site, Giovanni a.k.a. Sustainable G, , who lacking any real purpose has decided to thwap away at a keyboard here at Sustainable Schmidt aggregating content on green building for you.  Treat him well, and if you come across any gobs of green information our community might find useful, link it to him at any time.

Sustainable Schmidt

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Want to make your roof look like the Academy of Sciences?  Wired.com gives you the basic guidelines on how to turn your roof into a successful garden.

The New York Times reports that the Empire State Building will now use nothing but renewable energy.

No one really knows where all of that stimulus money has gone to, but the Chicago Tribune has found that a small portion of the money has been used to make federal buildings more energy efficient.  Though in truth we took a bit, when we installed an energy efficient boiler in an 11 unit building in the mission the $16,500 bill came with a $2,300.00 rebate from San Francisco’s Cash for Boilers program, funded by the Obama administration’s stimulus bill.

Not everyone believes in climate change.   Read this New York Times article to find out what some politicians want to do to the EPA.

Inhabitat.com recently posted an article about how a group of Houston artists plans on building a totally green village out of recycled shipping crates.

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Cash for Boilers – Update!

by Sustainable Andy on August 31, 2010 · 0 comments

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Last Week, we were able to meet with Matt Greco (Department of the Environment) at the apartments on Guerrero st.  He informed us that our low pressure stream boiler did in fact qualify for the incentives program, which could save us 20-30% on the cost alone.  Luckily, when Mr. Greco was inspecting the boiler, he found heavy corrosion, a result of the steam over the past 30 years. In addition, he mentioned that we can receive incentives for a new thermostat, radiator, and pipe insulation!

Overall, it was a success.  From here, I will be contacting contractors trained through this incentive program who will give us quotes in the weeks to follow.   Check out the photos of the existing boiler on Guerrero St. below

Guerrero Boiler rust1

Corrosion in Boiler on Guerrero St.

Guerrero Boiler rust3

Close-up of Corrosion

If you missed the first part of this article, check it out here.

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Sustainable Water Options

by schmidt on August 31, 2010 · 0 comments

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The amount of water we use on a daily basis is monstrous.  However, there are many opportunities for your household to conserve water. Here are four ways to save some water (and a lot of money!):

Collect rainwater

For a low cost, you can purchase a specially designed barrel or a building block to hold rain water.  You can reuse this rainwater to water your garden.  Using this system can translate into saving you hundreds, if not, thousands of gallons a year.  Rain Harvesting Systems sells rain barrels that are convenient and affordable.  For a different look, check out some building blocks that can be put along your fence or under your house.

Drink clean water

If you have a water cooler/dispenser in your house or business and refill it every week with another 5 gallon jug of water, you should check out the DewPointe filter.  You will no longer need to buy the jugs of water because this filter accumulates the moisture in the air and converts it to drinking water – a true renewable resource.  To give you an idea, a gallon produced by DewPointe costs 60 cents.  This translates to $3 for 5 gallons of water, in comparison to a water distribution company such as Alhambra, which costs around $9 for a 5 gallon jug.  Sure, the DewPointe is an investment, but translates into an overall profit.

Buy a new toilet

The average toilet uses up to 5 gallons on each flush.  In a family of four, this roughly translates to almost 40,000 gallons of water a year.  These days, toilets are much more efficient.  You can buy a dual flush toilet and save tens of thousands of gallons of water every year. Look around the Caroma website to see what options would be good for your household.

Install Rain Panels

Made from 100% recycled paper, rain panels make a stylish, affordable, and sustainable product.  Whether you are remodeling your house or wanting to improve your draining system, rain panels is a great option.  The product, RainStone, can be arranged in various ways for looks, a draining system extension, or a combination of both.

These are just a few ways you can save thousands of gallons a year.  Remember that when saving a gallon or two is applied to a large scale, it can mean the difference of hundred of millions of dollars.

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