World Ocean Day Reminds Us To Protect Our Future

The month of June marks World Environment Day, World Ocean Day, and Global Wind
Day - three environmentally conscious days whose main purpose is to spread awareness of environmental issues taking place in today's world. The Gulf oil spill is a huge reminder that now is the time to invest, innovate, and utilize specific renewable energy technologies that can reduce our dependency on oil consumption and preserve our environment.

•Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition (OREC) is a national trade association that is "dedicated to promoting marine and hydrokinetic energy technologies from clean, renewable ocean resources." They incorporate over 40 members, some of which are literally "turning the tide" when it comes to renewable energy by using the known green technique of harnessing ocean waves and currents to produce energy.

• Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is doing this is via their PowerBuoy 40 that acts as a "wave energy converter" while submerged.

• The Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) is installing power systems all along the Gulf Stream's ocean currents (which has 21,000 times the energy of Niagara Falls). With the constant flow of the Gulf Stream, if ORPC harnesses just 1/1000 of the Gulf's renewable energy that would still be enough to power up to 7 million homes.

Wave power technology, while underused, has been a known technology, for years. However, a future green source with a lot of potential can be found in algae within the ocean. Using algae as a source of energy is a new ideology but many believe them to be "the ultimate in renewable energy". Half of algae's weight is based off of oil, which can be made into bio-fuel that could be used on anything from cars to airplanes. Considering that there over 65,000 known algae species this could potentially be a big time future energy source.

The future of green energy depends upon the ability to use it efficiently. This means that everything from cars to building structures would need to be much more efficient to require less consumption. Nissan set the benchmark in the auto industry by skipping the gasoline engine altogether and going straight to the fully electric LEAF. Companies like Globetrotters Engineering Corporation (a Chicago based architecture company founded by Niranjan Shah known for their custom LEED solutions), Wells Fargo (which built an office tower that is not only LEED approved but saves up to 5 million kWh a year), and Kubala-Washatko Architects & Boldt Construction (which actually built the first ever LEED-platinum certified, carbon neutral building) are setting the standard for LEED design.

Since the inception of LEED certification, it took several years for the first building to reach platinum certification. Now, it is something that architects strive for. For many projects government incentives are available for businesses that reach LEED certification. Niranjan Shah realized that the LEED benchmark is the future of architecture and that creating structures that benefit from renewable energy just makes common sense. He proves that success can coincide with environmental friendliness. Hopefully, in upcoming years we’ll see LEED platinum certification become the standard.

After the oil spill in the Gulf it's clear to see that now, more than ever, protecting our oceans stands for something much greater. By saving our oceans, we are making a commitment to the preservation of our natural resources, our wildlife, and our humanity. Through the promise and development of a sustainable, renewable energy future, we can follow a new path which will redefine the meaning of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Written by Marcus Reyes
Marcus Reyes studied public policy with a focus on energy research and environmental
sustainability. He is an advocate of clean energy technology and contributes written work to the blogosphere related to energy conservation and environmental preservation. PowerBuoy 40 – CNN Editorial Feb 26, 2010
Algae: “The ultimate in renewable energy” – CNN Tech Editorial Globetrotters Engineering Corporation Niranjan Shah – GEC CEO Niranjan Shah Twitter Feed
First LEED Platinum Certified Carbon Neutral Building Niranjan Shah – Live Journal

100 years for the coral reefs to dissolve

I know most of you are thinking, "100 years, yeah right!" To tell you the truth, its all about the research. You cant blame the research cause it depends on a lot of factors.

Anyways, the rising acidic levels in the oceans and the warming of the ocean temperature, is causing most of the coral reefs to disappear. Now coral reefs houses and feeds millions of aquatic organisms and fishes. It will kill off millions of species causing a serious chain reaction breaking the eco-system.

Oceans are the greatest carbon sink but due to this it is causing them to become acidic.

The Great Coral triangle is on its last breath

The Great Coral Triangle shared between Indonesia and five other South-East Asian countries is said to dying out. Already 40% of the coral reefs present within this Coral triangle has been lost and the rest is feared to be lost very quickly if something is not done about it. Its presence can be compared with the Amazon rain-forest biodiversity. It plays a major role in providing biodiversity in the oceans. Read the article published by the BBC.

Oceans need to be protected

A climate meet is being held at Indonesia where some of the world's climate problems are been discussed. It is urged that the world's oceans be protected as it will not only damage the marine ecosystem but could also relocate all the coastal communities depending on the oceans to provide for their needs. It is also not to this but with the rising water levels, warming of the waters and the increasing acidity levels of the global waters, pose a great risk not only for us but for our future generations to come. Read more from the source.

Our oceans are turning acidic

During the Nairobi talks, a climate expert indicated that the world's oceans are becoming acidic which pose a big threat to fishes and all marine life. Oceans have already absorbed a third of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming.
This absorption has turned the oceans acidic. Those of who you have knowledge in Chemistry will know that carbon dioxide when dissolved in water produces a weak acid known as carbonic acid. But high concentrations of the gas could make it quite acidic. Eventually this will prevent vital sea life from growing properly.

Just imagine the consequences. Important marine cannot live long enough to reproduce, as a result there is a shift in ecosystems where fishes are depending on other marine life rather than the one they usually feast on. If fishes cannot adapt to the new situations they will die. This will result in the depletion of total number of fishes in the oceans will decrease because bigger fish depends on smaller fish and smaller fish cannot live long enough. Fishermen who depend on this livelihood will reach poverty if they cannot find any work. This will increase the crime rate in countries and people who eat fish for a living other than fishermen will have to pay quite a sum if they are to eat fish owing to lack of demand.

So basically a slight shift in ecosystem will be catastrophic.

Sea rise could be catastrophic

Check this article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4834806.stm

Oceans, greenhouse gases rising faster

Yeah it is true according to a two reports published couple of months ago. The first study showed that the Earth's ocean levels rose twice as fast in the past 150 years indicating the impact of human activity on temperatures worldwide. Sea levels are rising 1mm (0.04 inches) every year about 200 years. While the planet is going along its natural procedure, driving cars and other such activities that create carbon dioxide are having a clear impact. Lets just say half is the Earth's fault and other half is man-made. Mainly this change started some 200 years back. Before that carbon dioxide levels were stable.

Today's rise is about 200 times faster than any rise recorded. I know i mentioned 200 a lot of times but thats how the information was published. Although the study does not directly address global warming.