Global Water Shortage

In recent years, it has become apparent that access to clean freshwater will harder to come by in the near future.  This is primarily due to a sharp increase in the human population (in the last 100 years, the human population has tripled, and the demand for water has increased by a factor of six).  Not only is there a concern about the  increased consumption of water, but there is also a major concern about polluting the existing supply.  Clean water is vital to sanitation, and many developing countries do not have access to this commodity, leading to numerous deaths each year due to parasites and other water-borne illnesses.

There are several potential solutions to the problem of maintaining a clean supply of water.  One solution that many countries are already employing is the desalination of seawater.  This process works, but is somewhat costly to perform.  One interesting concept that I read about that is either free or very inexpensive, however, is local water management.  One of the aspects of this concept include the harvesting and storing of rainwater, which can either be done at individual households or on a community-wide basis by installing tanks or basins to catch rainwater running off rooftops.  Another aspect is the recycling of "gray water," which includes water from laundry, sinks, and showers, and has been used to successfully grow some aquatic-based crops without noticeable side-effects (I think this testing is still relatively new though).  Even though these two practices do not necessarily produce fresh drinking water, they reduce the demand for clean water by providing other water sources with which to perform daily household chores and related tasks.

References:

Information retrieved from:  http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-25649-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Information retrieved from:  http://www.wateraidamerica.org/what_we_do/statistics.aspx?gclid=CJD6_eu9nKcCFYnc4AodfRPabw

Vampire Power

Vampire power is basically the constant leeching of power by electronic devices operating on standby mode.  Even though a device is "off", many still require power to run internal clocks and similar subsystems, so they continue to use electricity.  It is believed that vampire power actually accounts for 5% of the overall energy usage in the U.S., and upwards around 10% in some areas of Europe.  In order to lower the effects of vampire power, you can either unplug devices during the day when they are not in use, or either invest in more efficient devices, such as those approved by the EnergyStar program.