It’s often said that big things come in small packages; in the case of Play Pumps International, this old adage couldn’t be more right on. Who would have ever guessed that children, young and old, playing on a merry-go-round could bring water to entire communities? Who would have known that the smallest members of society could help usher in such great change?

It’s been 13 years since the first PlayPump® water system was installed in a small community in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. While attending a South African agricultural fair in 1989, Trevor Field first saw the work of a local engineer who had attached a children’s merry-go-round to a water pump; as children spun, water pumped. In response, Trevor and his business partners launched Roundabout Outdoor, an organization that would provide fresh, clean water to communities in need using the merry-go-round/pump system along with a large storage tank and relevant advertising about HIV/AIDS crisis. Although the project started small, by 1997, they had installed 20 pump systems in needy communities across South Africa and had plans for many more.

In 2000, Roundabout Outdoor won the World Bank Development Marketplace Award for its creative solution to the water crisis and effective messaging about HIV/AIDS, gaining significant publicity and support from around the world. The organization, now known as PlayPumps International, is headquartered in South Africa with over 900 PlayPump water systems installed in the last 10 years across South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zambia.

With 1.1 billion people in the world currently without access to clean, safe drinking water, PlayPumps International exists not only as a necessity, but also as a fun way to address a very serious need. Unsafe water and lack of sanitation is responsible for 80% of disease and illness in the developing world; with a well, communities are able to grow, develop, and thrive. Kathleen Grealish, Director of Partnership Development for PlayPumps International, believes that access to safe water is a crucial piece of community development. “Clean drinking water is arguably the centerpiece of community development and affects the individual members of each community so profoundly,” she says.

As a PlayPumps International team member, Grealish has had the opportunity to visit PlayPumps sites and witness the benefits of the merry-go-round within communities.

“For me, visiting schools that benefit from PlayPump systems is an incredible experience, particularly getting to hear the children singing as they spin. It definitely is a sense of happiness that you take with you. The community members were very appreciative of the PlayPump system and the opportunities it provides. One group of teachers we met decided to use excess water to plant a vegetable garden in the schoolyard, providing a nutritious supplement to their school feeding programs. Seeing how one small act we may make through a donation creates so many opportunities for others to make things better for themselves was uplifting!”

The nature of the PlayPump system is entirely unique in its approach; as the children sit, spin and run around the merry-go-round, the water is pumped from deep within the ground through a series of pipes that run it into a storage basin above ground, and the water is then accessible to community members at the simple turn of a tap. The storage basin allows continual (and sustainable) access to clean water at all times, so that residents are able to live free of the myriad of waterborne diseases and extreme distances they formerly had to walk to gather water. With greater health, community members are able to attend school, work, and participate in other activities that illness kept them from in the past.

As Kathleen Grealish has discovered, water, a seemingly insignificant commodity to us, has the ability to really change lives. “In each community I visited I was struck by how happy the people were. Despite not having all the things that we take for granted on a daily basis, they seem much happier, warmer and more welcoming. It reminded me that the things we strive for in terms of material goods can never bring real happiness.” But as children run around, laughing and singing, they are providing the water that will change the chemistry of the community they live in; they will, in their joy, bring clean water to their families, friends, and neighbors.

It is that profound happiness and life change that keeps PlayPumps Interntional constantly growing and pushing for more pumps, in more communities, in a variety of countries across Africa. “In total, 4,000 PlayPump water systems will bring the benefits of clean drinking water to up to 10 million people in 10 countries by 2010, enabling improvements in health, education, gender equality and economic development.”( from playpumps.org).

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The Wind Farm Debate

Government targets state that 10% of the UK’s energy should be supplied by renewable resources by 2010 and developments like the Saddleworth Moor turbines would contribute towards that total.

Leading environmentalists from across the country have previously convened in Saddleworth for the first ever National Forum opposing the creation of wind farms on rural beauty spots.

World renowned TV botanist, Professor David Bellamy, joined former Downing Street press secretary, Sir Bernard Ingham and hundreds of activists at the National Wind Farm Group Conference. There were a total of representatives from over 50 environmental groups from across the country attending this event. It aimed to raise awareness about the perceived dangers of wind farms and bring environmental groups closer together in their fight against the government.

The Saddleworth Moors Action Group says the turbines would have a negative impact on a unique landscape. The group also insist their campaign is not prompted by “not in my backyard” sentiments, but through a genuine desire to preserve the character of the local area.

These will generate enough power to supply the average electricity needs of 8,500 homes in the local area. This wind farm is not situated out to sea but in the picturesque hills of the Saddleworth Moors and would be visible for miles around. Government targets state that 10% of the UK’s energy should be supplied by renewable resources by 2010 and developments like the Saddleworth Moor turbines would contribute towards that total. Leading environmentalists from across the country have previously convened in Saddleworth for the first ever National Forum opposing the creation of wind farms on rural beauty spots.

World renowned TV botanist, Professor David Bellamy, joined former Downing Street press secretary, Sir Bernard Ingham and hundreds of activists at the National Wind Farm Group Conference. There were a total of representatives from over 50 environmental groups from across the country attending this event. It aimed to raise awareness about the perceived dangers of wind farms and bring environmental groups closer together in their fight against the government.

The Saddleworth Moors Action Group says the turbines would have a negative impact on a unique landscape. The group also insist their campaign is not prompted by “not in my backyard” sentiments, but through a genuine desire to preserve the character of the local area.

One could argue that the government is not bothered about the environment then they are continually financing the construction of coal fired power stations in the third world and building more airports and more motorways in Britain?

Are wind farms a concerted effort to save the environment or just another commercial money making scheme for the companies involved?

David Oglaza is the founder of the Green and Ethical directory GuideMeGreen . You can view a range of green energy providers at his site

Article Source: Renewable Energy Articles

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Wind powered turbines are one of the most trusted kinds of green power sources on the planet. They are made to generate power by converting the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical energy, which is then either harnessed directly (in the case of windmills, for example, which were used to make flour from grain, or to pump water for irrigation) or coupled directly to a generator that generates a DC electrical output that can be used in a more general sense. In this article I will be talking about the kind of wind turbines that output electrical energy, as this is the most useful to us in our daily lives.

Wind turbines are basically large windmills, with huge blades that spin in the wind and make power by converting the winds force. Wind turbines are manufactured using fiberglass, aluminium, carbon fiber along with numerous other space age metals.

Wind turbines have many pronounced negative impacts on the environment. They are very visible, and quite unsightly since they must be located in close proximity to windy, fairly open terrain to be feasible - efforts to position them offshore have been greeted with great success. They require energy in their manufacture, energy which is typically fossil-based, and therefore it takes considerable amount of time before they are net-negative in terms of total greenhouse gas emissions - this timeframe can be anywhere from four to five years. Turbines are linked to the killing of birds that can be shredded as they pass between the turbine blades during transitory passages although this issue is heavily debated.

With all of the negatives aside, wind turbines should be a choice when speaking about a broad plan for sustainable power. Once up and running, wind turbines are very efficient in a larger sense - they produce power from a natural, eco-friendly renewable resource, without the hidden social or environmental costs that we incur in the use of fossil fuels - theres no need to mine the fuel or to transport it - there are no byproducts generated, and no need to store, treat, or to dispose of toxic wastes.

At the small end of the scale, turbines can be as tiny as four feet in diameter and might be capable of only a few hundred watts. On the large end of the spectrum, turbines can be as huge as three hundred feet in diameter and are capable of generating 3 to four megawatts of power.

Similar to photovoltaic solar power generation, there may well be funding available to induce construction, and power in excess of that which we are utilizing can be sold back to the utility company.

Wind speed is affected by terrain and increases with height above the ground, so wind turbines are generally installed on top of large towers. In a typical application, the wind turbine sits on top of a tall tower and generates direct current which is used to charge a battery store - this stored power is ultimately utilized by flowing it through an inverter that transforms the direct current power into utility voltage alternating current energy that can be used in household applications. By positioning numerous turbines into wind farms a substantial amount of electricity can be stored and harnessed, perhaps for a whole city or town.

Due to the fact that the wind does not blow all of the time in many areas, wind turbines are used in hybrid systems with many different technologies like photovoltaic solar panels, batteries, and diesel generators to provide a consistent source of power.

Unlike fossil-fuel stations, wind turbines are clean - they dont create the carbon dioxide emissions that are thought to be causing global warming or the sulfur dioxide emissions that cause acid rain.

Todays wind turbines are divided into 2 major categories, namely horizontal axis turbines and vertica axis turbines. Todays horizontal axis wind turbines are actually far superior at capturing the wind than vertical axis turbines given the same amount of swept area (which is the size of the circle traced by the outside tip of the blades).

By: Peter Bakersfield

Wind Power Articles

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How many ways do they have to say it?

Clean MY RIDE!

FLEX MY FUEL!

Tell Congress Now!

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The Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan discharged approximately 350 gallons of radioactive water into the sea today after an earthquake shook the Japanese town, which is 160 miles northwest of Tokyo.

Fortunately, the radioactive contamination levels fell well below legal limits. The power plant is the one largest nuclear facility’s in the world and just one of fifty-five nuclear reactors in Japan. The incident, in light of the recent swarm of headlines regarding alternative energy use and the possible re-emergence of nuclear power as a primary alternative energy source, leaves many to wonder, is nuclear power safe?

Nuclear energy has both good and bad points. It creates a huge amount of energy without using valuable fossil fuels, but it also produces radioactive materials that can be extremely harmful to the environment. Consequently, nuclear safety includes actions taken to prevent nuclear and radiation accidents or to limit their consequences.

Workers at nuclear plants, and the larger environment, run a risk due to this radioactive material. Nuclear power plants must be run very carefully to ensure that there are no mistakes, which is why nuclear power plant operators promote a safety culture. The term “safety culture” is a term introduced by the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group in a report published on the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines safety culture as “an assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and individuals, which establishes that, as an overriding priority, nuclear plant safety issues receive the attention warranted by their significance.” Safety culture is about improving safety attitudes in people, but it is also about good safety management established by organizations with a holistic, whole community, whole of life approach. A good safety culture implies a constant assessment of the safety significance of events, such as earthquakes or other natural disasters.

Additionally, nuclear power plants possess both active and passive safety systems. Active safety systems are systems activated by a human operator, an automatic computer driven system, or even a mechanical system to respond to dangerous events in an appropriate manner. Passive safety systems rely on the laws of nature to ensure a reactor responds in an appropriate manner during potentially dangerous events. The laws of nature include for instance, incorporating the law of physics in engineered components of nuclear power plants whereby a nuclear reaction would slow versus accelerate during potentially dangerous situations or events.

Nuclear power plants also possess structural safety systems. Surrounding a nuclear reactor are certain containment structures, such as the fuel ceramic, metal fuel cladding tubes and the reactor vessel and coolant system. Finally, nuclear reactors are housed in containment buildings. Containment buildings, which are made of steel or concrete, enclose nuclear reactors to contain the escape of radiation.

Ultimately, human exposure to radiation, the primary contamination of concern at nuclear power plants, is more likely to come from exposure natural background radiation and from some medical procedures. In fact, studies exist finding no evidence of increased risk of exposure to radiation or occurrences of cancer in individuals living near nuclear facilities. For instance, in 1990 a study by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health, which surveyed over 900,000 cancer deaths in counties near nuclear facilities, found no increased incidence of cancer mortality in people living near 62 different nuclear facilities in the United States.

Regardless of the safety systems in place, which promote a culture of safety in nuclear power plant operations, no industrial activity is risk-free. Occurrences take place, which are completely outside our control, as evidenced by the earthquake, which impacted the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power. Any malfunction, accident or natural disaster at or near a nuclear power plant presents potentially devastating, long-term impacts to the surrounding community and environment.

By: Denise Palmer

Sustainable Living Articles @ http://www.articlegarden.com
This report is published by Energy Business Reports, an energy industry think tank and leading source for energy industry information and research products. To read more about this topic, see ‘Global Nuclear Power Outlook and Opportunities 2007‘

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