Based on your review and
understanding of this week’s notes, identify 3 products or technologies that
you use that impact the atmosphere. It may not be immediately obvious to you
which products/technologies you use impact the atmosphere, because most of the
interactions or impacts are invisible.
Here are some suggestions
that might help. First, think about where in your life you encounter devices
such as chimneys, vents, flues, or tailpipes. All of these release emissions
into the atmosphere. A second suggestion is to think about products or
technologies that use engines. If it has an engine, chances are it’s burning coal,
oil, gasoline, or natural gas and releasing emissions. A third suggestion are
products that smell “unnatural” when used, such as glues, pesticides, or paints.
If you decide to go this route, read the label and if there’s a warning about
ventilation, the product is off gassing into the atmosphere.
List your three
products/technologies below.
The next step is to define the
service or function that you get from the product or technology. What does it
do for you? List the service or function for each of your three technologies.
Technology
Example: Gas Clothes Dryer
Product/Technology 1:
Product/Technology 2:
Product/Technology 3:
The next step is to define
the service or function that you get from the product or technology. In other
words, what does it do for you? List the service or function for each of your
three technologies.
Service/Function
Example _Gas Clothes Dryer>drying clothes
Product/Technology 1:
Product/Technology 2:
Product/Technology 3:
Now, let’s find out how each
of your three technologies impacts the atmosphere. To do this, you will
probably need to surf the Internet a little. Let’s try our gas clothes dryer
first as an example first. Go to http://www.google.com.
Type in “air emissions gas clothes dryer” and click on the first site that
comes up. It should be from www.aerias.org/. (If not, go to http://www.aerias.org/DesktopModules/ArticleDetail.aspx?articleId=84&spaceid=1&subid=10
directly). Once you’re at the Aerias Washers, Dryers and IAQ site, scroll down
the page. As you do, you’ll see that some of the environmental impacts listed
are for washers and some are from dryers. The first impact from dryers is “Mold
can be caused by moisture that has accumulated due to wet laundry being
line-dried indoors or dryers being vented indoors”, followed by several others.
Here’s an example of how to list the impacts as well as site/sites that you get
your information from.(Be concise when you list your impacts. DON’T just copy
the text from the site).
Impacts
Example: Gas Clothes
Dryer> Mold if unvented, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide
Site: http://www.aerias.org/DesktopModules/ArticleDetail.aspx?articleId=84&spaceid=1&subid=10
Now you’re ready to search
for impacts of your three technologies. Start by going to whatever search
engine you’re used to. If you’re not familiar with a search engine, use Google.
Type in “air emissions” followed by your technology. What will come up is a
list of sites. Go through as many sites as you think is necessary to find the
impacts and list the impacts from each of your three technologies as well as
the website URL below.
Impacts
Product/Technology 1:
Website/Sites:
Product Technology 2:
Website/Sites:
Product/Technology 3:
Website/Sites:
Now, let’s look for some
alternative technologies that have less environmental impact. The goal is to
find a technology that provides the same service with fewer environmental
impacts. It would also be great if the alternative cost less or was easier or
safer to use. In some cases, the alternative technology might cost more up
front, but save money down the road. In other cases, the alternative technology
might be more cumbersome to use. Search for an alternative for each of your
three technologies until you find one that you feel good about. Trust your
instincts.
As an example, let’s look for
an alternative for our gas clothes dryer example. Let’s use Google to find the
alternative for the clothes dryer. Type “Alternative” and then the service that
you get from each technology. For the clothes dryer, we’d type “alternative
drying clothes” and you’ll see alternatives listed. The first site is “The Laundry
Alternative”. If it’s not, go to www.laundry-alternative.com/drying.html.
At that site, you’ll see several alternatives listed. The first is a spin dryer
that spins at a high rate of speed and centrifugally dries clothes. Pretty
cool, huh? The cost is $119.95, which may seem steep. Let’s scroll down the
site some more. The third item is Dryer Balls. Apparently, these balls reduce
drying time and dry clothes in a way that they don’t need ironing, according to
the site. The price for the dryer balls is only $19.95, which is a lot less
than the $119.95 for the spinner, and they come with a two year unconditional
guarantee. If drying times are reduced by 50%, then emissions, as well as the
cost for gas to dry the clothes are cut by half as well.
Continue to scroll down the
site and you’ll see an item called the Mini Clothes Dryer which uses your
ordinary hair dryer, to dry clothes. So you see there are lots of different
ways to dry clothes, and this is only the first site we looked at! Search
through several sites until you find an alternative that feels right to you.
You might also surf the Internet to find out if your alternative works or not
by going to the web and either typing the name of the product or “do dryer
balls work”. You may have to search through some pages and sites to find what
you’re looking for, but this is good practice for just about any product or
service you’re thinking of acquiring. I Googled “dryer balls” and of the sites
that came up was www.dryerballs.net/how-to-use-dryer-balls.html.
If you go to this site, you’ll see a link that says “Officially Proven to
Work”. Go to this site and scroll down the laboratory test. According to this
test, it appears that balls do reduce creasing, drying times and leave clothes
feeling softer. Now, bear in mind that this is a site that sells the balls and
they’re likely not to report that they don’t work. But you’ll be amazed at the
amount of information on the Internet about whether technologies or products
work.
Once you’ve found an
alternative for each of your three technologies, list them below.
Alternative Technology
Example
Technology: Gas Clothes
Dryer
Service/Function: drying
clothes
Alternative Technology
Product/Technology 1:
Service/Function:
Alternative Technology
Product/Technology 2:
Service/Function:
Alternative Technology
Product/Technology 3:
Service/Function:
Alternative Technology
Now, list the environmental
benefits of each of the technologies below. This is the important part, so be
as descriptive and comprehensive as you can. If need be, use the Internet to
research and identify environmental benefits from your alternative
technologies.
Environmental Benefits
Example _dryer balls>
Reduced drying time yields fewer sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions
as less natural gas is burned to dry clothes. Reduced drying time might also
lead to decreased buildup of mold in instances where dryer is improperly
vented.
Alternative Product/Technology 1:
Alternative Product/Technology 2:
Alternative Product/Technology 3:
Now, list any other benefits
of your alternative technologies.
Other Benefits
Example _dryer balls>
clothes dry faster, costs less to dry clothes, eliminates/or decreases (...get it
de-creases, that’s a joke lol! or groan!) ironing, softens clothes
Alternative Product/Technology 1:
Alternative Product/Technology 2:
Alternative Product/Technology 3:
Now let’s deal with the
downside of the alternative technologies. Every alternative technology will
have both benefits and costs (does this sound familiar?). The costs might
include actual cost, as in money, or additional time, effort, or risk. Think
about the costs for each of your three alternative technologies and list them
below.
Costs
Example _dryer balls> cost $19.95, may be
unproven but come with money back guarantee
Alternative Product/Technology 1:
Alternative Product/Technology 2:
Alternative Product/Technology 3:
Now it’s time to weigh the
environmental and additional benefits versus the costs and decide whether you
think it’s worth adopting the alternative technology. There is no “right”
answer. In some cases, the decision may be clear, either because the
alternative technology costs way too much, or actually costs less and provides
both environmental and additional benefits. So, scratch your head, bite on the
eraser end of your pencil (not the lead end), flip a coin, throw a dart,
whatever, and list and justify your decision below.
Decision
Example
Decision: dryer balls>
Try dryer balls.
Justification: They’re cheap,
there’s at least some evidence that they work, and they come with an
unconditional money back guarantee. Besides, I hate ironing!
Alternative
Product/Technology 1
Decision:
Justification:
Alternative
Product/Technology 2
Decision:
Justification:
Alternative
Product/Technology 3
Decision:
Justification: