36 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2022
    1. I like the way this article talks about the project while also interweaving more general insights that apply to the overall topic of what goes into making a market that people will want to use. You get insight about the topic while also having a tangible example to show how it can be done anchor the ideas to a realistic proposal.

    1. The population of Egypt grew from nomads who settled along the fertile Nile banks and transformed Egypt into a sedentary, agricultural society by 4795 B.C. Farmers sowed and harvested crops during seasons around the flooding.
    1. We translocated and monitored nuisance American beavers in desert river restoration sites on the Price and San Rafael Rivers, Utah, USA, and compared their space use to resident beavers after tracking both across 2 years. Resident adult (RA) beavers were detected at a mean maximum distance of 0.86 ± 0.21 river kilometers (km; ±1 SE), while resident subadult (RS) (11.00 ± 4.24 km), translocated adult (TA) (19.69 ± 3.76 km), and translocated subadult (TS) (21.09 ± 5.54 km) beavers were detected at substantially greater maximum distances. Based on coarse-scale movement models, translocated and RS beavers moved substantially farther from release sites and faster than RA beavers up to 6 months post-release.

      Translocated beavers travel substantially farther than resident beavers.

    1. Industrious, shy herbivores they may be, but the beavers of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago on the southern tip of South America are such a menace that scientists are planning the largest eradication project ever attempted.

      Okay, so don't translocate beavers. It seems like they could reap havoc if there is no natural predators.

    1. A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands[1] is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.[2] The soils usually consist of clays, silts, sands, and gravels deposited during floods.[3] Because the regular flooding of floodplains can deposit nutrients and water, floodplains frequently have high soil fertility; some important agricultural regions, such as the Mississippi river basin and the Nile rely heavily on the flood plains. Agricultural regions as well as urban areas have developed near or on flood plains, because the access to water and high quality soil. However, the risk of flooding has led to increasing attempts of flood control.
    1. International aid could resolve many future problems and preserve this astonishing and beautiful place for humans, nonhuman animals and plants, but the lack of support from wealthy nations makes options like this difficult for residents of small island states to consider. Artificial islands have been created in Dubai – why not here? Many other hard engineering options exist, such as coastal fortification and land reclamation technologies.

      Why not here? Probably because such projects are unaffordable costly. Locals could not pay for it, and no one else will.

  2. Jul 2022
    1. Despite this, the demand for flexible packaging continues to rise. According to CEFLEX (Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging), 50% of food packaging is flexible. And Euromonitor International states that 75% of the total global flexible packaging, which represents 41% of all packaging, is flexible plastic. In Australia, according to APCO, flexible plastics make up 32.7% of all plastic packaging and have a disturbingly low recovery rate of 10.7%.

      Despite flexible plastic packaging being a pain to recycle it's on the rise.

    1. has specially built portals that allow sediment to be discharged downstream from the dam to prevent flooding and increase the capacity of the reservoir.

      The Xiaolangdi Dam on China’s Yellow River

    2. In the Netherlands engineers use something called a ‘sand machine’ — a massive manmade peninsula built of sand — that allows waves, wind and tides to more naturally build up beaches along the coast, in part to protect the sea from claiming wetlands. 

      Lagos has a similar natural landmass, filled with wetlands. Without these barriers the sea/ocean waves would cause havoc both in Netherlands and in Lagos.

    3. And since their removal, the Elwha has taken back the trapped sediment and distributed it downstream, causing the riverine ecosystem to be rebuilt and transformed. Massive quantities of silt, sand, and gravel have been carried to the coast, resurrecting a wetlands ecosystem long deprived of sediment.

      Removal of dams caused sediment restoration downstream.

    1. In 2017, a surge in the lagoon’s water level was linked to the flood that ravaged parts of the states including Victoria Island, Lekki, Oniru, Ajah, and Epe. The high tide was said to have slowed down the flow of rainfall water from drainage channels.
    2. The continuous sand filling of wetlands and conversion for housing units has impacted the ability of the natural systems to provide storage capacity and reduce the severity or frequency of flooding.

      Perhaps the long-term solution to reducing flood risks in Lagos would be to dismantle the housing in wetlands(and outlaw new construction) and instead construct housing at higher elevations. Very controversial though.

    1. Dredging has significant environmental impacts: it can disturb marine sediments, leading to both short- and long-term water pollution, destroy important seabed ecosystems, and can release human-sourced toxins captured in the sediment.
    2. Dredging can have its benefits in controlling the local environment and in increasing of river capacity to combat floods. On the other hand it can have unintended environmental consequences.

    1. When deposits of silt are compressed and the grains are pressed together, rocks such as siltstone form.

      Siltstone is a potentially valuable by-product material from de-silting of riverbeds as means of flood aid.

    1. As a remedy these deposits are excavated and dumped in land fill sites. The river channel becomes deeper and wider and so is able to accommodate flood water. This is called de-silting. De- silting is executed only when river flow is obstructed. It is a flood control measure.

      De-silting operation along river banks could be an architectural solution that creates economic incentive for large companies to participate in flood prevention.

    2. Over the years more and more eroded material / silt is deposited in the channel when the speed drops. These silt deposits obstruct the river flow. The river channel's water holding / carrying capacity goes down.
    1. The results of the statistical analysis show that there is a significant relationship between residents’ flood awareness and having previous flood experience, but there is no significant association between their awareness of risk and the level of preparedness for flooding.

      People who had been flooded before are able to anticipate a flood, but cannot act on avoiding it or preparing for it.

  3. Jan 2022
    1. Each unit can be configured to produce between 1 and 20MW peak power, with output duration from 15 minutes to eight hours. For example a 10 MW, 25 MWh system could deliver full power (10MW) for 2.5hrs, or 5MW over five hours.

      What is interesting about the basic concept of storing potential energy using gravity in the form of blocks, is that potential energy 'embedded' in the hoisted block inside the shaft is readily accessible energy, while blocks stacked outside of the shaft are a long-term storage energy.

      In times of large excess of energy the blocks can be taken out and stacked outside of the shaft maybe in the shape of a pyramid, since those seem quite stable from our past experiences.

      This basically means, that blocks don't have to be always hung in the with winches, and only when you are releasing/storing energy.

    2. Gravitricity technology has a unique combination of characteristics: 50-year design life – with no cycle limit or degradationResponse time – zero to full power in less than one secondEfficiency – between 80 and 90 percentVersatile – can run slowly at low power or fast at high powerSimple – easy to construct near networksCost effective – levelised costs well below lithium batteries

      The efficiency, and life-expectancy of the system is something that will have to be proven with more real world testing. Lithium-ion batteries fail overtime, from charging and discharging cycles. This winch gravity system is supposedly better, however, as with any system there will be points of failure.

      Because it is a mechanical system, the moving parts is what will wear out, require maintenance and replacing of parts. The difficulty in replacing parts here, is that the battery needs to be discharged, preferably without losing all the stored energy. If part replacement is not often required this is less of an issue. Otherwise the maintenance has to be synced with the complete discharge cycle, or the extra energy be transferred to a different battery.

      Another concern, especially in the multi-block storage system may be the carbon footprint of the concrete block weights that the hoist is lifting. This also includes the longevity of the blocks due to natural wear and tear when lifted/stacked. In fairness, this seems to be less of a problem in Gravitricity's technical concept, than in other recent gravitational storage solutions (energyvault's tower seems particularly issue-ridden).

    3. The Gravitricity system uses weight configurations totalling up to 12,000 tonnes in a deep shaft, suspended by a number of cables, each of which is engaged with an electric winch capable of lifting its share of the weight. Electricity is stored in the form of potential energy by raising the weights. Power is then generated by lowering the weights to turn a generator. The technology has been proven to reach full power in less than one second and has a predicted full scale efficiency of between 80% and 90%.

      [[Gravitricity]] is an interesting Scottish energy company of new age. Their idea is using gravity to store energy in a physical from as opposed to lithium-ion batteries which do so chemically. Their gravity storage, unlike pumped hydroelectric energy storage, does not rely on water which makes it more accessible to more arid countries.

  4. Sep 2021
    1. Second, from a theoretical perspective, the best way to start growing more in any domain is to first lose less. We see this first principle everywhere: In a subscription business, you're better off reducing churn before increasing sign-ups. In personal finance, you're better off spending less before earning more. In investing, you're better off stopping losses before seeking gains.

      Perhaps the principle behind this is aiming for longevity. You cannot have a long-term working system if it breaks down at early stages. It is important to undress breakdowns, before seeking to improve.

      Simply put, there is no point in giving your ship a new coat of paint if it has a gaping hole in its keel.

    1. The cost of excavating trash, sorting out valuable materials such as metals and then reburying the rest tends to exceed the revenues from selling recovered materials.

      Which makes sense. The day it becomes more profittable to mine trash than using resources we already have is a sad day for everyone.

    2. “I’m a big proponent of mining landfills,” says Mark Roberts, vice president of engineering consulting firm HDR and project manager for the landfill mining work at Perdido. “Garbage real estate is really valuable.”

      Trash mining sounds like our dystopian future. It will probably have to happen on a global scale at some point, however, it is better we sort things now, instead of having to look/dig for them later.

  5. Aug 2021
    1. Reading widely and applying knowledge to problems is what empowers us to take ownership of our lives. The world starts to look like a place of possibility when you can adopt new viewpoints and learn new skills.

      Reading widely gives a great overview and unlocks possibilities for exploration #divergent_thinking.

      Reading in-depth provides tuned deep understanding of issues, which enables to deliver meaningful positive change #convergent_thinking.

    1. The idea of looking back and seeing your live having had flown by in an instant is one of the most terrifying and regretful realisations one may have - and so many people do.

      • 1:30 "The routine is the enemy of time."
    1. The older we get the more we have to work to have new experiences. Growing up was a series of one new experience after another. Novelty was practically fed to us. As adults, novelty is no longer a given.

      When young, we don't get the choice to constantly experience novel things. Once you are older and you have "found your path in life", it is important to take a more proactive way of living and seek out new experiences.

    1. One way is to work in intense, focused bursts. When the ideas stop flowing and diminishing returns set in, do something which is conducive to mind-wandering. Exercise, walk, read, or listen to music.

      When mental fatigue sets it do something "boring" to let your mind rest and wander. Avoid escapism.

    2. When our minds are free to wander, we shift into a diffuse mode of thinking. This is sometimes referred to as our natural mode of thinking, or the daydream mode; it’s when we form connections and subconsciously mull over problems.

      Boredom is an important driver of ideas. Being disengaged from everything else leaves time to stay one-on-one with your thoughts.

    1. Often wars are caused by one country's wish to take control of another country's wealth. Whatever the other reasons for a war may be, there is almost always an economic motive underlying most conflicts, even if the stated aim of the war is presented to the public as something more noble.

      Economic gain is the ever present underlying motive for wars.

    2. Economic Gain Territorial Gain Religion Nationalism Revenge Civil War Revolutionary War Defensive War

      "Eight Main Causes of War"

    3. Wars have been a part of human history for thousands of years, and have become increasingly destructive as industrialization and technology have advanced.
    1. This could be why there is a growing resistance to the streaming culture, with vinyl sales experiencing colossal growth, overtaking CD sales for the first time since the 1980s.

      Just like making a choice not to shop through amazon, or not to take a flight, the way someone listens to music can now be dictated by their sense of social responsibility.

    2. Both Tunstall and Sanchez have created Patreon sites, where users pay a monthly fee to access exclusive music and an opportunity to communicate with the artists personally.

      There really should be a member feature on Spotify just like YouTube and Twitch has theirs.

      Integrated merch shop and touring schedule on the artist's page would be of huge help as well I am sure.

      For now though it is up to individual listeners to go out of their way to support their favourite artists.