Interesting facts - Cleantech

Each year, consumers in the United States alone spread 300 million pounds of chemical insecticides, including compounds that may impair the nervous system, disrupt hormones in the body, or cause cancer. - 1 year ago

Landfills are in fact the number one source of human-generated methane, emitting over 7 million tons into the atmosphere each year. - 1 year ago

In 2002, a marine researcher named Charles Moore surveyed 500 square miles of the North Pacific and found 10 pounds of floating plastic in water for every pound of living plankton! - 1 year ago

It is estimated that oil companies spend more than $150 billion per year to seek new reserves of the fossil fuel. - 1 year ago

Keep your car windows closed at high speeds - drag from open windows can reduce a car's fuel efficiency by up to 10% - 1 year ago

The chemical composition of gasoline is quite complex. Depending on the blend, it can contain between 150 and 1,000 different chemical compounds! - 1 year ago

A significant % of roadside waste and ocean litter is plastics. Yearly plastic waste has reached almost 30 million tons in the US alone. The amount of damage these plastics cause can be gauged by the fact that each year, plastics alone kill more than 100,000 birds and marine life. - 1 year ago

Using recycled materials, you can make 20 cans with the same amount of energy it takes to make one new one. - 1 year ago

As of 2010, Iceland's power is generated almost exclusively from renewable resources - about 25% from geothermal, about 75% from hydro power and less than 0.25% from fossil fuels! - 1 year ago

A key insight by Albert Einstein was that energy and matter are just different forms of the same thing. That is, matter can be turned into energy and energy into matter. The strong relation between energy and mass is expressed in his famous equation E=mc2. We all would have seen many examples where mass is converted into energy (burning coal results in heat, for instance), but the phenomenon of conversion of energy into mass is more tricky and complicated. - 1 year ago

About 25% of Iceland's electricity and 85% of the heating and hot water requirements of its buildings are derived from geothermal energy. The reason is simple: the country is situated directly above a massive volcanic system, thus practically sitting on a gigantic source of geothermal energy. - 1 year ago

While CO2 emissions from fossil fuels is the major topic of discussion most times, burning fossil fuels also release pollutants such as sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen oxide. These two pollutants have a variety of harmful results such as smog, acid rain and human immune system dysfunctions. - 1 year ago

The world uses about 4 billion T of oil a year - that's about 660 Kg of oil per person per year, or almost 2 Kg per person per day! - 1 year ago

History says that the Romans were the first to use geothermal energy to heat homes. - 1 year ago

Except for geothermal and tidal energy, all other prominent renewable energy sources are directly or indirectly derived from the sun. - 1 year ago

One ton of sand will provide us enough silicon that, when used in photovoltaic cells, can produce as much electricity as burning 500,000 tons of coal! - 1 year ago

Geothermal energy is hardly discussed anywhere, but over 5 million Americans already benefit from it. Yes. About 2 million receive electricity from geothermal power plants and another 3 million use geothermal heat pumps to heat & cool their homes. - 1 year ago

Experts predict that our good old sun will die sometime in the next 7-10 billion years, though this estimate is pretty much an intelligent guess. At any rate, it is unlikely any of us will be around to see the death of our beloved sun. - 1 year ago

The average surface temperature on the sun is about 6000 degrees C. On earth, it is about 20 degrees C. Now you know why sun can provide us with far more energy that we would ever want! - 1 year ago

What's the connection between Albert Einstein and solar energy? Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his experiments with photovoltaics, which is the predominant form of solar power used today. - 1 year ago

Worldwide, water in the form of hydro power is the most commonly used renewable energy resource, providing enough power to meet the needs of about 30 million people. - 1 year ago

Crude wind machines were used in Persia as early as 200 B.C. and were later introduced into the Roman Empire around 250 AD. The first practical windmills were built in Iran as way back as 700 AD, where they were used for tasks such as drawing up water, and for milling grain and sugarcane. - 1 year ago