Saving Planet Earth

Threatened by extinction due to global warming, Polar bears might just get it through troubled times.  Thanks to goose and duck eggs, polar bears might have found a new food source.

The eggs are possibly coming in due to a rising goose population in the Hudson Bay area providing food for the polar bears whose natural habitat have been melting in the past years.  The ice has been melting forcing some bears either farther north or down south – towards land.  Those who go down are forced to survive on its own fat reserves because they’re not adept to hunting on land.

But scientists don’t think the new food source might last long because polar bears would need to consume 43 nests of eggs to replace the energy provided by the seals they used to hunt.  On the other hand, some say that polar bears are very adaptable and might just survive.

They might not be called polar bears anymore though when they’re no longer in the polar regions.

More about this at LiveScience.com

I was searching the net for ways to make use of water flow to generate electricity and I came across a very interesting video on YouTube.  The video demonstrates in both animations and actual videos how the natural flow of water can be used to pump itself up without the use of any moving parts.

Before I talk about anything else, I’d like you to watch the video first.

Now, how do I think can it help save the planet? Well, as I mentioned, I am currently quite interested in water power mainly because I noticed that our city’s drainage system has continues flow of water everyday. This made me think, “How can I use this nearly constant water flow to generate electricity?”.

As usual, the first idea that came to mind was to build a water turbine (most probably a Pelton Wheel) that will then turn dynamo. Then, I thought what if I can somehow increase the force of the flowing water by pumping it up to a reservoir and dropping it down on the wheel? That started my quest to find an eco-friendly pump which ended up on the video shown above.

If I can use the same water flow from the drainage system to power a pulser pump, then I can fill my reservoir with water which in turn will boost the rotation of my pelton wheel.  More rotation = more power.

Problem is, I’m not an engineer and just about any construction/engineering project I try ends up in disaster.  (I once a dog house for our puppies which was too weak that the puppies teared it apart in a day).  Anyway, I think I’ll need to ask my friends for some help here (ok, lots of help).

Wish me luck!