Decreasing "Carbon Footprint"

[gary greguire]

hey drbronx I would say change the lighting on the 75 softie tank to a couple of 54 watt t5's. and put a couple of efficient power heads in there the corals you raise will far out weigh the carbon foot print..IMO

I run 600 watts of t5 on my 125 I just switched the lighting period to 3 hours back 3 bulb 3 hours all six then back to 3 hour of just the back 3 again the corals seem to be responding very well to that. You could also go to the track system for the halides and only run 1 or 2 bulbs or put each on its own timer for a sun up sun down effect

 

[fatrip]

i was thinking of trying this on a small scale...but i have read about people having tanks with out and flitration just power heads and atleast 1lb of live rock per gallon. that would eliminate sump....more water during water changes...less water to heat....eliminated skimmer...not sure how that would work with the coral aspect of the hobby tho.

 

[bosborn1]

I wish Hydrogen was closer...But its not. I am not gonna debate you point by point (even though I can) I don' think its civil....Besides I like you Jerry. As for making your system more effiecant I would recommend you purchase a Kill-A-Watt and review your energy consumption. I would think that your circuation system could be modified. But in the end you will probably have to decide whether your maintaince of coral and propagation outweights your energy consumption.

Good reading
http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/factors/radiation.html

BTW..Our practices aren't substandard really. I know I breath air that is some of the cleanest on the planet....We do a pretty good job. Its the others that need to catch up. IMO we shouldn't have to be the example. Others should understand the weight of the situation and do there best. And yes we do consume a larger amount of power...But again our country is in the top 3% of wage earners on earth....See the capitalism!

 

[fatrip]

nate im wondering if that the powerfrom that company is really more than nyseg or is nyseg just raping us because they include all of there charges with the coned companies electric??? lol I HATE NYSEG

 

[dreaminmel]

Yeah, for the softy tank you could probably get away with removing some equipment (depending on your particular system). I successfully ran an lps/softy tank for years with only PC lighting, a heater, a hang-on-back filter and two small powerheads. The move to sps forced me to step my filtration and lighting up otherwise I'd still be using that equipment to this day.

 

[nwrogers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9672584#post9672584 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fatrip
nate im wondering if that the powerfrom that company is really more than nyseg or is nyseg just raping us because they include all of there charges with the coned companies electric??? lol I HATE NYSEG

Well assuming that their standard rate is comparable to other providers than it would be more. They say on their website “ConEdison Solutions' GREEN Power costs only an additional one cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more than our standard offer and WIND Power is an additional 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more than our standard offer.” If you can afford it I think it may be a guilt free solution…

 

[bosborn1]

But riddle me this...How can you be sure that you are getting that...And only that power. As for the Guilt...Dont worry so much. If you are that worried write your congressman and demand more Nuclear powerplants....There the greenest of all!

 

[bosborn1]

http://fathersforlife.org/REA/warming4.htm

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/SORCE/sorce_04.html

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_output_030320.html

http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/11.06/BrighteningSuni.html

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8040913762948908247&q=solar+radiation+Global+warming&hl=en

 

[fatrip]

very true about the nuclear power but who wants one of those in our back yard??? and nate i am definatly goin to look into getting the coned service through nyseg... bosborn, even if we ourselfs arnt getting the greenpower we pay for...nyseg paid to get that green power and some one is getting it...so it kinda helps in the long run of things..

 

[bosborn1]

Or so they say....But how are you sure???

And no I dont want a fission reactor in my backyard. But at some point we need to accept the responsibilty of our energy hungry ways!

Scott

 

[fatrip]

very true about our energy hungers... but to advertise that they make green power from water or wind....there does have to be some electrcity made that way, weather it be all or some...oh i though of another way to conserve in our tanks...getting one semilarger more efficent power head instead of having multipe ones...

 

[nwrogers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9672680#post9672680 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bosborn1
Or so they say....But how are you sure???

And no I dont want a fission reactor in my backyard. But at some point we need to accept the responsibilty of our energy hungry ways!

Scott

Are you ever sure? I would like to believe that you are getting what you paid for. It seems that not only would it be illeagle for them to mislead their customers like that but also they they would be caught eventually. How are you sure that you wouldn't get what you paid for? Tell me that...

 

[bosborn1]

Because on a kW by kW hour theres no means to measure the exact content of "Green" energy. Its a blind promise. I would hope that someday they would be caught if there was any wrong doing,...But then again, money doesn't talk, it screams

 

[fatrip]

you'll apreciate this one bosborn http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070407/ap_on_sc/hurricane_conference

 

[nwrogers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9672878#post9672878 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bosborn1
Its a blind promise.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9672136#post9672136 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bosborn1
For all those who would like to Flame just be forwarned that I am educated on what I say and can cite work by respected scientist that can back my claims

Prove it! You said you can cite work by respected scientists that can back your claims than do it. Put your money where your mouth is show and some proof that it is a blind promise as you claim

 

[SteveL]

Jerry (DrBronx):

In a vain attempt to address what I think you were looking to get from this thread i.e. ideas on how to save electricity to run your aquarium - I'm surprised nobody has suggested the Solaris LED lighting system yet from PFO.

I suspect many of us will be employing LED lighting (and I don't mean moonlighting) over our reef tanks very soon. I had a close look at the Solaris unit at the Backer Pet Show in Atlantic City last weekend. The specs are very encouraging and their demo unit was running side by side 250W 20,000K metal halide unit both operating over live displays. Both had an Apogee quantumn meter about 3" under the water surface:

- LED system was putting out marginally more PAR than the MH (OK it was a 20,000K bulb)
- 40% less energy consumption for equivalent light
- minimal heat output - no comparison to the MH unit
- many other cool features - not relevant to this thread although a 5 year lifetime of no bulb changes means less recycling MH bulbs.

I'm something of a believer that lighting hermatypic corals is still an empirical thing where we have to "try it and see" rather than stress over the metrics, so I'm watching this product and derivatives of closely. Tom at TRS is getting one of these units for his home tank - don't know if anyone else is taking the $1,900 plunge for the 36" version yet. Sure there are plenty on RC who are.

In any case I think the topic of energy conservation in running our reefs is a very worthwhile topic so thanks for bringing it up. I think I'll propose to take this up in a URSNY Science Committee thread to kick ideas around - join us there if anyone is interested. Hopefully without the political "hair".

SteveL

 

[gary greguire]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9674131#post9674131 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SteveL
- LED system was putting out marginally more PAR than the MH (OK it was a 20,000K bulb)
- 40% less energy consumption for equivalent light
- minimal heat output - no comparison to the MH unit
- many other cool features - not relevant to this thread although a 5 year lifetime of no bulb changes means less recycling MH bulbs.


SteveL

was there supplemental lighting on the halide system?

I am not exactly positive but with the newer t5 bulbs and reflectors I think they may even be more efficient than the led right now...

 

[drbronx]

Thanx to everyone for their informative and passionate input. Lots to read and consider. Bosborn: i read through the referenced articles and none dismiss global warming. they indicate what is generally known, that man made atmospheric CO2 is but one factor that influences observed atmospheric changes. However, this does not refute the need to do what we can to limit the man made inpact. Global warming aside, there are numerous other reasons to monitor consumption of non-renewable energy resources and to increase energy independence. Heck, even the Idiot In Chief said so in his State of the Union. Also, their is a consensus that a burgeoning of green technologies will be a major driver of future economic development throughout the world and it is imperative that we not lose further ground to other nations that are investing heaviliy in green technologies. The myth that it will truncate economic growth is ill founded. Certainly there will be some pain as the economic engines switch from traditional flows of capital to newer and more decentralized industries and applications. But the reality is that green industries of the future will be huge drivers of economic prosperity. However long term vision rather than quarterly finance reports will be required. But again, it all comes down to individual choice and grass roots movements. Government policy will lag and not lead in this and many other important initiatives. It is already happening, and spreading. Whether it is fast enough, remains to be seen.

Back to the question at hand. Greg greguire gave some good input. Puter was also kind enough to PM over some suggestions proposed by Anthony Calfo to improve aquarium energy efficiency. He gave me permission to link this thread http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic62964-13-1.aspx. The notions of insulating non-viewing sides of the tank, gravity fed skimmers, and even eliminating skimmers with more aggressive water change schedules represent interesting ideas.

 

[zanclus]

Just a little heads up on Coned. Having lived in NYC where Coned is the supplier , They arent any better than the rest of the electric suppliers. Lots of waste and employees who just don't care....

 

[jimmer]

the link is not working for me