Inventory

...

Another problem is that concentrating solar thermal plants require water for cooling. Those plants that use wet-recirculating technology with cooling towers withdraw between 600 and 650 gallons of water per megawatt-hour of electricity produced. It is possible to use the dry-cooling technology, but it not worth it because it has an expensive price and low efficiency.

In actual scenario, the photovoltaic cells are on the roof of the house/building or there are in some locations that are used only for the absorption of the solar energy and they are designed just to produce electricity. Those spaces, nowadays, cause a huge impact on the environment because in areas designed for the production of solar electricity it is necessary to have a huge land clear of everything. Space has to be free of fauna and flora because it can interfere with the collection of solar power.

As we can see all the types of alternative ways of having energy, especially the ones that care more about the environment are very new and most of them are expensive. If it is not expensive, or damage the Earth and a large scale or is not very efficient. A lot of studies are happening around the world about solar energy and ways to improve its efficiency. We need to find ways to absorb more of the energy of the sun with less land being used.

http://energyinformative.org/solar-energy-pros-and-cons/#associated-with-pollution

http://pureenergies.com/us/blog/top-10-countries-using-solar-power/

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/positive-negative-effects-solar-energy-79619.html

http://www.solarcity.com/commercial/how-does-solar-energy-work

How whales change climate

From this video about how whales can chance climate we can absorb and have the notion about many things about our environment. In the past the human being had destroyed all that was needed to produce more, to have energy and to satisfy they own needs. Unfortunately, nowadays we are paying for what they have done with the planet Earth. We do not just have to find sustainable ways to produce, transport, have energy and extract materials from nature, but also, we have to find ways to solve the damage that our ancestors did with the Earth.

The video is about what whales do to help the planet, obviously, it being involuntary. Their poop contains iron and nitrogen that fertilize the plankton and make them absorb more carbon from the atmosphere. The plankton is responsible for absorbing the carbon and transform it into oxygen that is realized to the atmosphere again. Also, the whales’ movement into the sea makes the plankton stay longer on the surface, absorbing more carbon and receiving solar energy to do their functions.

The plankton also provides necessary amount of oxygen to the fishes and all animals that live in the ocean. This alga is like the trees in the earth, they produce oxygen by the carbon, so their importance for the Earth is extremely huge, once basically all animals need oxygen to survive. If the whale hunters keep killing those animals, in some years we would have a catastrophic environmental issue. If the whale hunting keeps happening, in the ocean we would have more carbon concentrated what could kill a lot of fishes and give the opportunity for some other undesirable animals to reproduce, killing the life on oceans. Of course that it is the worst case that can happen, but if we did all those changes on the planet in just some years if we keep doing that the proportions of that are unbelievable.

Our planet is a perfect system, each animal, each plant has a reason to exist. They are in the food chain, no matter which level, but they are, so that is the reason of why they have a huge importance. Killing any animal on a massive scale can destroy that food chain and disestablish all the system. Killing whales, in a first perspective could be good because the local population of a certain area could have more fishes to fish. However, killing the whales make the ocean a worst place for fishes and the Earth a worst place not for just the animals but for the humans too. It because in a large scale can damage the amount of oxygen that we have in the atmosphere.

When the subject is environment we can not just go and do something, like killing a population of animal, or devastating a certain area to put a company or something else. Is necessary to assess all the natural damages that it can cause. Our responsibility as future engineers is guarantee that we will make the world a better place to live. We can not just forget about the environment or think that it is a problem, we have to think in a way to put the nature in our favor.

Many people think that the environmental issues are just the preoccupation of the Environmental Engineers, although all the engineers should have this preoccupation. Us as an Industrial Engineers have a huge importance on keep our company the most sustainable as it is possible. Making our production chain and our production facility the most sustainable as it is possible.

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE

Introduction to Production and Inventory Control Systems

ISE 433/533

Special Assignment