Coal Ash, increased the incidence of oral deformities in American Bullfrog

[txlibdem]

http://amphibiaweb.org/declines/ChemCon.html

HEAVY METALS AND ACIDIFICATION

The intense agricultural and industrial production from mines has increased the prevalence of heavy metals in surface waters. Heavy metals, such as, aluminum (Al), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), silver (Ag), copper (cu), arsenic (As), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo) and antimony (SB) may adversely affect amphibian populations (Blaustein et al. 2003). For example, Rowe et al. (1996, 1998) found that coal ash increased the incidence of oral deformities, increased metabolic rate and lowered larval survival of the American bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana, larvae. In the Southern toad, Bufo terrestris, coal ash increased corticosterone and testosterone levels and lowered larval survival (Rowe et al. 2001).

Acidification can also have adverse effects on amphibian growth and development ultimately contributing to population declines. Extremely low pH can arrest embryo development (Freda et al. 1990). At low but slightly higher pH levels, embryo development proceeds but the enzymes that induce hatching are inhibited, thus, trapping the fully developed embryo inside the egg capsule (Clark and Lazerte 1987).

Acidification and heavy metal contamination often work synergistically because the solubility of heavy metals in water increases as pH drops. As a result, heavy metals leach more quickly from contaminated soils in contact with acidic water (Blaustein et al. 2003). Furthermore, studies have found that inorganic monomeric aluminum acts synergistically with pH to cause embryo mortality (Clark and Hall 1985, Clark and Lazerte 1985, Freda and McDonald 1990).

[madokie]

1. A perfect example of why we need to stop using coal

We can get there with other more benign ways. *There* being produce the necessary electrical energy that we all so crave and need to carry on our lifestyles. Nuclear isn't in that mix the last time I checked the meaning of the word benign either.

[txlibdem]

2. We *will* get there by both generating more renewable energy *and* increasing efficiency

For instance, lighting takes 10% of our energy and we are currently wasting 85% of it using "standard" light bulbs. There is a better way: I just bought a few LED lights to try out. Not all of them are up on my photobucket but here are the first two:


This one is the Philips 60 watt replacement LED light bulb, takes 12.5 watts of energy. Puts out a pleasing soft white light just like the incandescent it aims to replace.



Here is the Light Science Group 40 watt replacement LED light bulb, takes 8.5 watts of energy. I chose the "natural white" color because I like the daylight bulbs better than the yellowish I think. I'll post more as I do some tests.


So as you can see they save about 80% of the energy of usual lighting options. What that means is that we don't have to replace every gigaWatt of fossil generation with solar or other renewable energy because we won't be using nearly as much energy when we use efficiency along with renewables.

This site has a chart that shows the percentages of electrical energy usage ( http://www.electricgreensolar.com/conserve.html ) and shows lighting as the #2 energy hog. Heating and cooling is #1 with 49% of home energy use. There are so many ways to reduce that by 50%, 80%, some radical designs even reduce it by 90%.

The point is that we don't need to replace watt-for-watt all the dirty fossils. We can use our brains instead and get more efficient while we're building up the renewable energy generation at the same time. Some time in the future the decreasing energy usage will intersect with the increasing renewable energy production and then we will be where we need to be.

[madokie]

3. Thanks for the link

we switched to cfl's a few years ago and we seen a pretty good savings on our electric bill from that so that is good. I have an led light that I use at my desk when I get up in the middle of the night and I like it real well. Its a battery powered one and I have the batteries out in the sun so they are charged by the sun. It isn't bright enough for general use but it works fine here in the middle of the night at my desk. I also like the white light better than the yellowish of an incandescence bulb and we've gone with the whiter cfl's though out the house and shop. The price of LEDs will have to come down some more before we make the switch but when they do we will do it. :hi:
I put 2700 mah nimh batteries in the charger so they can power the led as long as I use it without any problems.

[txlibdem]

4. Hey, if I'm getting up in the middle of the night it *isn't * to go to my computer

;-) I don't know if you've seen this link before but if you want to see how "green" the power is in your state:
http://www.getenergyactive.org/fuel/state.htm

There is a wikipedia page you might be interested in, it shows both commercial and residential energy use (for instance homes use 10% of their energy on lighting while retail used 20-something-percent). I'm having a meds attack right now and can't think but it was an interesting set of charts.

:hi:

PS, love the solar-charging battery! Does it charge on its own when in the sun or do you put it in one of those solar chargers?

On edit: PPS,

[madokie]

6. Again thanks for yet another link

LOL the reason I'm getting up is because of cramps in my legs and once I'm awake and get the cramps worked out I'm wide assed awake so then I go to the computer to try my luck at getting sleepy enough to get back to sleep. Can't be waking the boss as she might just brain me for ruining her muchly needed rest. LOL

Pretty interesting link.
One of the two 500 mw coal plants near here sends all the power they generate over to Arkansas, none of it stays here in ok.

I'd like to get rid of the coal plants as much as anyone would and do believe that the secret is renewables and mostly conservation/efficiency even it it has to be government mandated. That has seemed to have helped in a lot of things where if it was left to manufacturers and consumers we'd still be where we were 40 years ago. I remember going back to Riverside California back in '73 and you could slice the air with a knife it was so dirty where four years earlier when I spent some time there it wasn't anywhere near that bad. Government mandates is what cleaned that mess us best I remember.

[txlibdem]

7. Government mandates

They are absolutely critical to the proper functioning of this nation. Having lots of them should be MANDATORY!

I remember going through LA in the 1970s on vacation with my family and you are right. Once you came over that ridge you could see nothing but a thick haze and when you got down in it your eyes started to burn (at least mine did).

[txlibdem]

5. We switched to CFL's years ago also, little by little, changing out regular bulbs as they went dead

I am going to do the same kind of thing with LED lights. And as they get cheaper I might speed that up a bit.

I bought the Philips LED bulb from Home Depot (in-store-only special) for $24.99 and the Lighting Sciences bulb from Amazon for $17.97 (but I notice it's now 21.97 :mad:)