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NASA Unveils Greenest Federal Building In the Nation
An anonymous reader writes "NASA just unveiled its new Sustainability Base — an exceptionally efficient building that harnesses technology developed for the International Space Station. The high-tech complex produces more energy than it consumes and it was just awarded LEED Platinum certification, making it the greenest federal building in the nation. The project features an extensive network of wireless sensors that allow the building to automatically react to changes in weather and occupancy and NASA's forward-osmosis water recycling system, which cuts water use by 90% compared to a traditional building."
This should stick in the craw of those luddites that believe Space Tech doesn't have any use on Earth!
Everyone knows that the solar panels consume far more energy in their production than they ever produce in their lifetime
Completely bogus. It takes maybe 1-4 years to recoup the energy cost of construction, and the panels can last 30 years.
Everyone knows that the solar panels consume far more energy in their production than they ever produce in their lifetime
Completely bogus. It takes maybe 1-4 years to recoup the energy cost of construction, and the panels can last 30 years.
When you look at not just your "source", but the source's source, over at http://alpha.chem.umb.edu/chemistry/ch471/evans%20files/Net_Energy%20solar%20cells.pdf
You will find it's not as simple as you make it out to be.
"However, it should be noted that the above payback periods assume that the modules are always operated at their maximum power points [5], as with a maximum power point tracker. It is also assumed that no photovoltaic power is wasted or dumped, as would sometimes occur in many stand-alone systems, such as those using battery storage"
Solar panels are NOT working at their maximum power point during most days of the year. Not even close to half of it, actually. The time to "recoup" the production energy will be significantly longer than you or the Wikipedia "summary" imply.
NASA's forward-osmosis water recycling system, which cuts water use by 90% compared to a traditional building.
You are drinking your own urine.
And whatever other urine they can find.
On the plus side, the entire process renders the building water orange and tastes like Tang.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You are eating someone's shit, breathing someone's farts, eating someone's rotting corpse and drinking someone's pee. Welcome to the wonderful world of nature. (Plants grow on fertilizer (shit), oxygen is the bad breath of plants, meat and plants are dead bodies, and every bit of water has been through someone's digestive track).
Always strikes me as funny that people who would happily pay a fortune for the right to drink from a spring that a bear shat in but refuse to drink tap water that has been filtered and monitored to hell and back. You were made from dirt, eat dirt and will become the dirt in someone elses cycle of life. Enjoy!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
From NASA's site it looks like the majority of power comes from an on-site fuel cell.
That's a bit like me building a big garage, installing a big-ass natural gas generator and saying my building returns power to the grid.
Now yes, fuel cells are better than natural gas, but it's still not the building producing it's own power. It's a small power plant on the same lot as the building
You mean like Tang and velcro?
If we're ever going to do human space exploration, this "green technology" could certainly pay off because people are going to have to carry everything they use. The line between what is and what is not "aerospace" is not as clear when you start to talk about long-distance space exploration by humans.
You are welcome on my lawn.