Water Alkalinity

Hi,

What is water alkalinity? This term refers to pH of the water. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is considered to be neutral. Substances with pH less than 7 are acidic; substances with pH greater than 7 are alkaline.

The pH is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions. Simply the idea to keep in mind is: higher pH, there are fewer free hydrogen ions; the conversely is true; lesser pH, there are higher free hydrogen ions.


Is it water alkalinity good? Is it natural?

A statement from EPA US says “Most lakes and streams have a pH between 6 and 8, although some lakes are naturally acidic even without the effects of acid rain”. That means naturally some lakes are alkaline.

Also, it is important to note that in some regions like Amazon there are naturally acid floodplains, an example is, Trombetas River, (average pH 5.7). In this case, there are a completely ecosystem adapted to the acid pH. If some human action tends to change the pH level, for example, from average pH 5.7 to pH 8 or higher, there will be considerably changes in the ecosystem with adverse effects to pH sensitive species etc.

Cheers

Ranulfo

Would We Be Able to Solve the Global Water Crisis?

What do you think about the question: whould we be able to solve the water global crisis?

If you never heard about the global water crisis following are some facts.

In his book, Running Out, the author Pablo Rafael Gonzalez, pointed out that the water crisis is already a reality in several industrialized countries, like, the United States. See it:

"An unprecedented phenomenon was announced by the Governor of Georgia.

The AP reported the following:Georgia seeks water disaster declaration

By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer, Sat Oct 20, 2:49 PM

ETCUMMING, Ga. - With water supplies rapidly shrinking during a drought of historic proportions, Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency Saturday for the northern third of Georgia and asked President Bush to declare it a major disaster area.Georgia officials warn that Lake Lanier, a 38,000-acre reservoir that sup­plies more than 3 million residents with water, is less than three months from depletion. Smaller reservoirs are dropping even lower."

The article of The Economist, Apr 8th 2009, 'Water: Sin Aqua Non' mention the recent declaration of Governor Schwarzenegger of California about the water crisis in the state.

In the same article there is a quote from the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme, “It is clear that urgent action is needed if we are to avoid a global water crisis.”

So as we can see the global water crisis is not restricted to arid regions, like brazilian northeast region, Africa, ... It covers China, India, some European countries among other countries in the world.

How can we deal with it?

Clean Tech – a brief introduction

Hi,

Today I'd like to share with you some basic info regarding what "Clean Tech" is. In the web there are a lot of definitions, which should confuse anyone who doesn't have familiarity with the realm of sustainability, so I thought it would be appropriate to make a brief intro about clean tech.

Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder, authors of the book, The Clean Tech Revolution, the term “clean tech” refers to any product, service, or process that delivers value using limited or zero nonrenewable resources and/or creates significantly less waste than conventional offerings. Clean technology comprises a diverse range of products and services, from solar power systems to hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), that:

• Harness renewable materials and energy sources or reduce the use of natural resources by using them more efficiently and productively
• Cut or eliminate pollution and toxic wastes.
• Deliver equal or superior performance compared with conventional offerings.
• Provide investors, companies, and customers with the promise of increased returns, reduced costs, and lower prices.
• Create quality jobs in management, production, and deployment

According the above mentioned authors, Clean tech covers four main sectors: energy, transportation, water, and materials. It includes relatively well-known technologies such as solar photovoltaics, wind power, biofuels, bio-based plastics, advanced lithium-ion batteries, and large-scale reverse-osmosis water desalination. It also includes such emerging technologies as tidal power, silicon-based fuel cells, distributed hydrogen generation, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and nanotechnology-based materials.

The authors also have identified six major forces that are pushing clean tech into the mainstream and driving the rapid growth, expansion, and economic necessity of clean tech across the globe. They are: costs, capital, competition, China, consumers, and climate.

The authors affirm that these six forces are aligning to catalyze the growth and expansion of clean-energy solutions for transportation fuels and electricity generation; clean sources of water for drinking, irrigation, and manufacturing; and clean, environmentally benign materials for buildings and industrial processes. Together they are creating dynamic, lucrative business and investment opportunities for established companies, entrepreneurs, and investors of all types.

Hummmm, pay attention to the last two paragraph. At the time the "Clean Tech" Revolution book's was published the petroleum barrel price was higher than now. Some specialists in oil industry say there is a possibility the oil price down again. So what are the implications of oil prices down to the clean tech industry?

Ranulfo

Welcome!

Hi,

I'm glad with your visit!!

Hope the info you'll find here help you.

I intend to share with you some piece of informations that I've learned with my researches and conversations with scientists, entrepreneurs, among other sources. The full info you'll have access soon with my books and courses. This info have the purpose to help you better understand:

• the roots of economic, as well, as environmental crises
• the relationships between them
• how you can increase your chances to foresee the next crises and take the better decisions to help yourself and your loved ones
• how we can together build an economic environmental system which are Sustainable
• among other things

With this global economic crisis and with the effects of global warming maybe you can think that things must change otherwise ...

To change, I feel in my heart that only with Knowledge we can Rebuild the World, a much better World in which the environmental and economic system are both sustainable. The challenges we humankind face today are enormous! I feel also we cannot have success to make the changes only with the actions of political leaders, economists, environmental scientists among others! Why?

Because they have in their minds lens that can see a small part of the real complex world. In practice, the relationships between people, nations and its environment are more complex than they can deal with their models or instruments.

The facts we see on TV, other media show clearly that they have made wrong decisions and the worst thing is million of people suffer the consequences. We can help them to improve their decisions!

Imagine now million of people with Knowledge which not only allow them to understand what are the root of problem but also taken the better actions to solve them. This is possible with the help of social media offline and online (facebook, blogger, youtube, myspace, orkut, twitter, etc). We can discuss how to solve these problems and build a better world!

This is an introduction what Knowledge for Sustainability blog is concerned.