Farmers Generate Energy from Coffee Wastewater

A new article posted by the Environmental Leader shows proclaims:

"It is possible to generate energy, tackle climate change and protect water resources by treating discharges from coffee mills, according to project findings by UTZ Certified."

Photo Credit: Coffee via Shutterstock

Excerpts from the article:

  The Energy from Coffee Wastewater project was launched by UTZ Certified in 2010 in Central America with the goal of addressing environmental and health problems caused by the wastewater produced in the coffee industry.

  As part of the project, custom-made coffee wastewater treatment systems and solid-waste treatment mechanisms were installed in coffee farms in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. Results of the project included:

• Generation of a significant amount of biogas which was used to power households and coffee mills
• Water reduction of over 50 percent in coffee processing
• Prevention of greenhouse gas emissions
• Prevention of local deforestation of native trees
• Treatment of essentially all water used in coffee processing

  UTZ Certified is currently introducing the technology in Peru and Brazil, and hopes to replicate the initiative in Africa and Asia.


Read the full article here: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2014/08/29/farmers-generate-energy-from-coffee-wastewater/

The New Water 'Normal' via Environmental Leader

Californians understand drought better than most Americans.

According to Klaus Reichardt, founder and CEO of Waterless Co. Inc, usage and waste are not the only issues that need addressed in the state —and elsewhere.

"Estimates are that the total amount of drinking water lost each year due to leaks is in the neighborhood of 200 billion gallons..."

Leaks! Let me get this straight, 200 billion gallons of water are lost each year due to leaks? Where's the outrage, folks?

Excerpts from the article:

Klaus Reichardt, founder and CEO of Waterless Co. Inc.

 With water restrictions now enforced in California after three years of drought, more and more commercial facilities are looking for ways to reduce water consumption without impacting building user satisfaction.

However, there is a much more significant step that the state and facility managers could be taking that might reduce water consumption by as much as 10 percent, if not more. That step, very simply, is to start plugging leaks. 

Water leaks can often be reduced by simply lowering the amount of pressure in pipes. Water typically leaks from joints, seams of the pipes, and other “points of failure”; with less pressure going through with the use of advanced water management systems, there is less pressure on these points of failure.


Plus – and we have heard this before – investing more in water infrastructure is of critical importance. The fact of the matter is much of the water and sewer infrastructure in the US is decades old. 

We have a challenge before us. Hopefully, it will not take more water main breaks in more parts of the country before we realize that something must be done. 


Read full article here via Environmental Leader: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2014/08/28/the-new-water-normal/

Choking The Oceans With Plastic - NYT

The New York Times ran an Opinion page article by Charles J. Moore on August 25, 2014. This is a must-read article on Moore's return visit to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

"I was utterly shocked to see the enormous increase in the quantity of plastic waste since my last trip in 2009," writes Moore.

by Alec Doherty

Excerpts from the article:

The world is awash in plastic. It’s in our cars and our carpets, we wrap it around the food we eat and virtually every other product we consume; it has become a key lubricant of globalization — but it’s choking our future in ways that most of us are barely aware.

Plastics are now one of the most common pollutants of ocean waters worldwide. Pushed by winds, tides and currents, plastic particles form with other debris into large swirling glutinous accumulation zones, known to oceanographers as gyres, which comprise as much as 40 percent of the planet’s ocean surface — roughly 25 percent of the entire earth.

The reality is that only by preventing synthetic debris  — most of which is disposable plastic — from getting into the ocean in the first place will a measurable reduction in the ocean’s plastic load be accomplished. Clean-up schemes are legion, but have never been put into practice in the garbage patches.

Read the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/opinion/choking-the-oceans-with-plastic.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0

Water Is A Human Right

Please watch: Water is a Human Right by Jakob Bekkers.

The Best Response to the Ice Bucket Challenge