Re: save the electron!

Posted by James Pawley on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/save-the-electron-tp7583238p7583264.html

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Dear Allison,

a)  Good for for you to bring up this all
important topic (and I mean all important!).

b) However, looking at this problem from a
slightly broader perspective, a Hg source runs at
100W for 200 hours consuming 20kWh over about 5
weeks, about the same as used by our automobile
in 30 minutes, so maybe we should also think
about driving a bike to work or living closer to
the lab.

If we think of this in terms of CO2, it is even
worse, because compared to even a coal-fired
power plant, internal combustion engines are very
inefficient at turning heat into what we want,
especially in city driving (40% vs. about 12%).
And at least here in freezing Indiana, that 100 W
helps keep us warm for half the year.

Keep thinking energy: A rule of thumb might be
for every $2 US spent, 1kg of CO2 is burned
somewhere.*

"A kg saved is a kg earned." (Ben Franklin, updated.)

Keep warm (Except those of you in the Southern
Hemisphere, where I encourage the use of a
parasol.)

Jim Pawley

* Global GDP is $74T; almost all of this economic
activity occurs not so much because of human will
but because energy is expended, somewhere.
Essentially all of this energy is related to CO2
production.  Global CO2 is 36G tons or 36T kg.

>Allison, List,
>
> I shudder to think about how much power
>an NMR machine uses.  Electron microscopes are
>pretty heavy too, but it is really unfeasible to
>turn them off overnight.  At least things
>improved when they changed from valves (vacuum
>tubes) to transistors.  But I think our lot are
>doing pretty well.  Mercury lamps are well-nigh
>dead and LEDs use much less power.  Likewise gas
>lasers have mostly been replaced by diode or
>DPSS.  Digital cameras, at least uncooled ones,
>probably use much less power overall than film.
>And I remember when we got our first ink-jet
>printer - a monster that had to be left on 24/7.
>Computers likewise didn't have the energy saving
>low-power modes they have today.  So we aren't
>too bad.
>
> Guy
>
>Guy Cox, Honorary Associate Professor
>School of Medical Sciences
>
>Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis,
>Madsen, F09, University of Sydney, NSW 2006
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Confocal Microscopy List
>[mailto:[hidden email]] On
>Behalf Of Paradise Allison
>Sent: Saturday, 10 January 2015 2:03 AM
>To: [hidden email]
>Subject: Re: save the electron!
>
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>*****
>
>Good morning everyone,
>Thanks so much to all of you have completed the
>survey already.  A copy of the study will be
>available in the spring, and I will share the
>link with the group when it is online.
>
>I really appreciate the conversation this post
>has generated.  In response to some of the
>comments/questions:
>
>1.  I know electrons aren't actually wasted;
>'please stop inconveniencing electrons' just
>didn't have the same ring to it.  But I do
>appreciate those of you who have pointed this
>error out to me.  You are correct - I should not
>have sacrificed accuracy for the sake of a tag
>line, and for this I apologize.
>  Perhaps instead I should have pointed out that
>on average laboratories consume nearly 5x as
>much energy as a typical office space.
>Laboratories account for nearly 60% of all
>energy used on a typical academic campus, while
>only occupying 25% of the total space.  On
>average, one dual compressor -80 freezer
>consumes 20 kWh/day, which is as much as an
>average house uses.  One fume hood can consume
>over 60 kWh/day.  And while no one, to my
>knowledge, has yet rigorously studied the amount
>of energy consumed by an Argon-Ion laser, I'd be
>willing to bet it's not trivial, especially when
>the effects on the HVAC system are taken into
>account.
>So labs have the attention of the utility
>companies. And that's a good thing, because they
>are willing to provide financial incentives to
>save energy.  For example, a utility company in
>California fully funded the replacement of a gas
>laser with a solid state laser simply based on
>energy savings.  We'd like to be able to do this
>for many different pieces of equipment, and that
>is why we are asking for your help with this
>study.
>
>2.  In response to the comment about the Hg
>bulb:  based on the plug load alone, metal
>halide and mercury bulbs are not the largest
>consumers of energy in a lab.
>  However they do radiate a substantial amount of
>heat (I used to use our metal halide light
>source to warm my hands), and this heat can have
>a significant impact on the heating/cooling in
>the building.  The extent of this impact will
>depend on the size of the room, the type of HVAC
>in the building, and the number of mercury or
>metal halide light sources, but our models show
>that removing these light sources can reduce
>HVAC-related energy use anywhere from 10-30%.
>
>3.  Because we can really only have an impact on
>labs in the US we have limited the survey to
>people whose labs are in the US.  We didn't feel
>like it was fair to ask anyone outside of the US
>to donate their time to this project when they
>themselves would likely not benefit from it.
>
>I hope this helps clarify some things.  As
>always, any questions and all comments are
>welcome.  And please, if you haven't already
>done so, complete the survey at:
>www.surveymonkey.com/s/CEEL
>
>Have a great day!
>Best,
>Allison
>
>allison paradise | executive director | my green
>lab | 860.680.3283 | [hidden email]
>
>>  On January 8, 2015 at 1:16 AM Peter Gabriel Pitrone
>>  <[hidden email]>
>>  wrote:
>>
>>
>>  *****
>>  To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>>  http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>>  Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
>>  *****
>>
>>  Hello Allison,
>>
>>  Also, the questionnaire won't let you go on to the next page unless
>>  the location of your lab is in the USA.
>>
>>  Best Regards,
>>  Pete
>>
>>  Peter Gabriel Pitrone - DipRMS TechRMS FRMS Light Sheet Fluorescence
>>  Microscopist and Imaging Specialist for Dr. Pavel Tomancak's research
>>  group at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and
>>  Genetics Pfotenhauerstraße 108
>>  01307 Dresden, Saxony
>>  Germany
>>
>>
>>  http://www.mpi-cbg.de/research/research-groups/pavel-tomancak.html &
>>  http://www.openspim.org
>>
>>  "I KEEP six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); their
>>  names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who." Rudyard
>>  Kipling - The Elephant's Child
>>
>>  On Thu, January 8, 2015 08:52, Andreas Bruckbauer wrote:
>>  <|> *****
>>  <|> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>>  <|> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>>  <|> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your
>>  posting.
>>  <|> *****
>>  <|>
>>  <|> Hi Allison,
>>  <|> Good cause but you chose the wrong name! We are returning every
>>  single <|> electron we borrow from the electricity supplier. Otherwise
>>  our lab would <|> be negatively charged and our hair stand up all the
>>  time! Just that <|> pumping the electrons around takes an awful lot of
>>  chemical, nuclear, <|> solar or other energy which is then converted
>>  to useless heat at our end <|> and we probably have to pump more
>>  electrons around to transport this heat <|> to somwhere outside the
>>  building (switch on the air conditioning).
>>  <|>
>>  <|> Best wishes
>>  <|>
>>  <|> Andreas
>>  <|>
>>  <|> -----Original Message-----
>>  <|> From: "Allison Paradise" <[hidden email]> <|> Sent:
>>  â¤Î07/â¤Î01/â¤Î2015 23:43 <|> To: "[hidden email]"
>>  <[hidden email]>
>>  <|> Subject: save the electron!
>>  <|>
>>  <|> *****
>>  <|> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>>  <|> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>>  <|> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your
>>  posting.
>>  <|> *****
>>  <|>
>>  <|> Every day, millions and millions of electrons are wasted in
>>  laboratories <|> - <|> from centrifuges kept at 4 degrees 'just in
>>  case' and water baths <|> permanently set to 37 degrees, to
>>  microscopes that are left on overnight <|> because the Hg bulb needed
>>  to be left on for 30 minutes, laboratories <|> waste <|> a lot of
>>  energy. Our non-profit, My Green Lab, is working to reduce <|> energy
>>  <|> use in labs, and put those energy savings back into the pockets of
>  > <|> researchers in the form of energy rebates.  But before we can
>>  develop <|> financial incentives, we need to know more information
>>  about the type of <|> equipment you use in your lab.
>>  <|>
>>  <|> Please help us by taking this 15-minute survey.  Anyone who works
>>  in a <|> lab <|> is qualified to participate, and all participants
>>  will be entered to win <|> a <|> MacBook Air.  A link to the survey is
>>  here:  www.surveymonkey.com/s/CEEL <|> Feel free to share this link
>>  with your friends and colleagues.
>>  <|>
>>  <|> For more information about our non-profit, or about how you can
>>  save <|> energy <|> in your lab, please visit our website:
>>  www.mygreenlab.org <|> <|> Feel free to contact me with any feedback
>>  or questions at <|> [hidden email] <|> <|> Thank you!!
>>  <|>
>>  <|> Thank you for helping us save the electron!
>>  <|>

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