Last week in class (and in his below blog "Biodiesel- friend or foe?") Professor Lotto discussed how conservation actions sometimes create conflicts. While energy savvy consumers are encouraged to use biodiesel instead of gasoline, there is an ecological cost when land is transformed to produce biodiesel fuel.What is another alternative energy source (especially in the windiest place in the world)? Today's New York Times highlights the future use of small wind turbines at Belgium's new Antarctica station. If you're interested in alternative energy or Antarctica (because it is such a cool place!!) check out the NYT greening Antarctica blog.
Fyi- Google "McMurdo" or "Palmer" for more information on the United States' Antarctica stations. As I mentioned in discussion, UCSB offers amazing opportunities for students to do research in Antarctica with a diverse group of faculty from different disciplines. Feel free to ask me if you want to know more.
2 comments:
Anyone who has watched James Bond films will know that that is not a 'research station' in the picture but is quite obviously the lair of a supervillain. (I'm suspicious about those 'wind turbines' too). I would be wary of going too close to it because it will inevitably explode in a huge fireball but only after James Bond has narrowly avoided getting sucked into one of those turbines.
John
ha ha ha! Additionally, I just read in the Smithsonian (Nov. 08) that bats die flying near wind turbines due to low air pressure zones. Antarctica is definitely a better place for 007 than Batman.
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