Are We Green Yet ?

If you are a tree frog, your skin is green.

If you are an oak leaf,

you are green

Are These Organisms Green?

I AM A GREEN OAK LEAF.

I need:

My living space is :

I get water from:

Things that eat me:

Changes in my environment that affect me are:

Are We Green Yet?

Are We Green Yet ?

I AM A GREEN FROG.

I need:

My living space is :

I get water from:

Things that eat me:

Changes in my environment that affect me are:

Is this green ?

• What was green in the picture?

• What do we mean by ‘green choices’?

What do we mean by green ?

Transportation and Energy

H2O

NOx

CO2

Acid Rain

H2O

The Chemistry of Acid Rain

NOx + Water

NO2 + H2O

Acid Rain

HNO3

The pH scale

What is the problem?

Are cars the problem?

• What other fuels could be used?

• Are they cleaner?

What do you think?

One Answer -- Fuel Cells

• They use hydrogen as a fuel

• Their fuel cell passes the gas through a proton exchange membrane or PEM

Fuel Cell AnimationLos Alamos National Laboratory

A Look at the Data

Notice in the animation:

• What combines with the Hydrogen?

• What product comes out of the tail pipe ?

The Hydrogen Car

Bremo Power Station on the James River west of Richmond

What do you see here?

This station burns coal to make electricity.

Burning Coal

SO2

The Chemistry of Acid Rain

Sulfur oxides + water

SO2 + H2O

sulfurous acid

H2SO3

Scrubbers are inserted

• The companies that

make electricity

put in a device called

a scrubber.

It would be placed

here

The problem doesn’t end

• Scrubbers produce lots of lime slurry that dries into fly ash.

• Now what do we do with fly ash?

Often it goes to the landfill.

A new solution:

• Collect the fly ash

• Compact it into a new form—

• LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE—a small rock like substance

Making Concrete

+

=+ CEMENT

We can make concrete

• Group A—the leaf people – will make normal concrete

• Group B—the frog people– will make new concrete with some fly ash aggregate in place of gravel

• Check out your instruction sheets

• Does your concrete look like this?

• Compare your product with one from the other group?

Making Concrete

What have we learned ?

• We have choices to make:

OR

OR

Your Choices:

What can we do to be GREEN ?

1.

2.

3.

4.

Fill in your Certificate and Be Green

Green Certificate

Name _________________________I can be green by:_____ cutting off the water when

brushing my teeth_____ recycling paper, plastic or metals_____ riding my bicycle or in a carpool_____ cutting off lights and appliances when not in use_____ using fluorescent light bulbs

More Green !

• For more information about fuel cell cars go to

http://www.fuelcells.org