GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings

The Sun's Only Rival

12/19/2019

Edison, GE, Thomas Edison, Lewis Latimer, Lewis Howard Latimer, Edison Electric Light Company, LED, incandescent, Earth Day, 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Pontifical Regina Apostolorum Institute, Bill Lauto

1925 GE Edison bulb

When Thomas Edison finally produced a successfully working electrical light bulb, with the help of an amazing team, the world was amazed. Light bulbs became the wonder of the world and a company called GE came up with a great catch phrase to sell their light bulbs after the turn of the century.

The catch phrase is the title of this Going True Green blog post. I took the photo of a GE bulb, still in the original package from 1925, when consulting on a job involving energy savings for a house built in 1925. This bulb was in the basement for almost 100 years, as if waiting for me to take a photo. This was surreal, a time warp for me, but this also created a teaching moment.

Lewis Howard Latimer

One scientist that became part of Thomas Edison’s team was Lewis Howard Latimer and he was a major contributing factor to the success of the light bulb. Latimer and Joseph Nichols, invented the carbon filament light bulb, which was a tremendous improvement on Thomas Edison’s original filament that would burn out rapidly. After receiving a United States patent for the carbon filament, a second patent was received in 1882 for the process of “Manufacturing Carbons” which was an amazing improvement to the method of producing light bulb carbon filaments.

The Edison Electric Light Company in New York City hired Lewis Latimer in 1884 and he supervised the installation of public electric light throughout New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, and London. Then in 1892, the Edison Electric Light Company merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company to become General Electric or as we all know, GE.

Bonnard, Pierre Bonnard, Le Soiree Sous Les Lampes, Barnes Foundation Collection, Evening Under the Lamps

"Evening Under the Lamps" by Pierre Bonnard, c. 1903

The future looked so bright, that even famous artists did paintings and photographs featuring the light bulb. So by the 1920s, GE was selling the new improved light bulbs like the one in my photograph above and then in 1928 came the incandescent bulb we all used until compact fluorescent bulbs slowly replaced them. Today and the future seems bright with LED technology leading the way. Some data shows that a 2 or 3 watt LED will soon give off the light level equal to a 75 watt incandescent light bulb.

In April of next year, the world will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and for that event, I am humbled to be invited back to speak in Rome at the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum Institute of Science and Faith. I am currently in the process of finalizing additional presentations in both domestic and international venues for this important milestone. I will keep you posted on the dates and locations.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all. Best wishes for a happy, safe and blessed New Year.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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Tree Top Garbage

12/5/2019

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Plastic Clouds, Bill Lauto, microscopic plastic, BPA, PS, oligomer, bisphenol A, molecular bond, pollution, plastics, petroleum, plastic islands, plastic in beer, plastic in air

Tree Top Garbage

Tree Top Garbage
by Bill Lauto

There it shall stay,
until it erodes away.
Let loose by humankind,
into our air & out of mind.
Innocently caught by a tree,
until it’s digested by you and me.

If the garbage is some kind of foam, plastic or any other very slow degradable product made by humankind, the key word or the upsetting word in the poem above is digested. Litter, such as plastic, is made from petroleum. The official name is polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. When organic material, such as grass or an apple, is exposed to the elements of nature or buried, bacteria breaks down the item into the original compounds that formed the organic element. This biodegradation process doesn't occur on plastic in the same way or period of time.

Studies have shown that UV light will break the molecular bonds holding plastic together so that item can break down into smaller pieces. And smaller and smaller and smaller pieces. Nevertheless, there are problems because buried plastic in landfills are in a place where the sun doesn't shine and when plastic does break down into smaller pieces, this is proving to be a very serious problem.

First let us review what we all know: Plastic is building up in our oceans, especially the Pacific ocean. Humankind's plastic shopping bags, water bottles, take out containers, soda bottles, product packages and six-pack plastic rings are bathing in sunlight as they float in our oceans and waterways. The UV rays will eventually break down that plastic into smaller pieces. Ten years ago, a study from Nihon University in Chiba, Japan, discovered that plastic in our oceans can start to degrade within one year. Thus, creating smaller and smaller pieces.

BREAKING PLASTIC DOWN INTO SMALLER PIECES IS BECOMING A MAJOR WORLD WIDE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM

These smaller pieces of plastic are not natural. They are made of bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer. These are carcinogens and these toxic chemicals end up in the bellies of fish and perhaps evaporate into our air. So let us continue with that natural process of the rain cycle...
After Evaporation is Condensation and finally Precipitation, allowing these chemicals to settle on the land and crops. Animals eat the chemicals and humankind eats the fish, the animals and the crops!

I am now asking everyone who is perusing this GoingTrueGreen blog post to also revisit or read for the first time, these two previous posts:

Plastic Water, Air and Food (12/27/2017)

Plastic Clouds (03/19/2019)

As for all of us, may I suggest that we be extra mindful this time of year with the Christmas and holiday wrappings, boxes filled with shipping material and plastic waste.

GoingTrueGreen.com is teaching the complete picture for saving money, energy, our Earth and our health - Not teaching poetry.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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