RSID: <<2018-12-08T14:01Z MFSK-32 @ 9400000+1500>>

Welcome to program 77 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:31 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  3:03 Latin American electric buses*
  8:39 MFSK64: Algae harnessed for clean water, power*
13:53 This week's images*
23:45 MFSK32: Closing announcements
24:41 Message (voice and text) from Tecsun Radios Australia*

* with images(s)


Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram


 

From Deutsche Welle:

Latin America grows fond of electric buses

        Cities such as Santiago de Chile and Cali in Colombia have
        started using electric buses. Others like San Jose, Costa
        Rica, and Panama City are in the middle of pilot projects to
        make transportation cleaner.

Diana Carolina Piñeros
4 December 2018

A new fleet of 200 buses in Chile's capital, known as Third
Millennium (Tercer Milenio), is to replace the current
transportation system that was launched in 2007.

"We've said all along that a civilized nation needs a
high-quality transport system that is safe, clean and
sustainable," Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said while
presenting the new buses in October.

"Our project aims to replace the notorious Transantiago."

The new Santiago fleet includes 490 diesel buses with the Euro 6
emission standard, the strictest one in place so far.

In Colombia, 125 electric buses were ordered for the city of
Cali. It is the first bus fleet of this type in the whole
country. In May 2019, 26 of them will start operating. The new
buses will complement the MIO transport system (Masivo Integrado
de Occidente).

The buses, which have eight battery packs, will have a maximum
range of 240 kilometers (149 miles). According to MetroCali, the
city's transport system, the buses have "regenerative" brakes,
helping to recharge the batteries while breaking.

"We're kicking off the process of modernization that our system
must undergo in the coming years to make bus fleets comply with
zero-emissions policies," said MetroCali President Nicolas
Orejuela.

Pilot projects

In 2019, Costa Rica is to start a pilot project involving three
electric buses that will commute between different cities. At the
end of 2017, the country approved comprehensive electric
transportation legislation and incentives to promote greener
transportation.

Argentina for its part is about to implement its own one-year
pilot project involving eight electric buses. The city of Buenos
Aires launched a clean mobility plan (Plan de Movilidad Limpia)
to reduce harmful emissions.

In August 2018, Panama City started running electric bus tests in
the old city center. People can use the service free of charge
for six months.

"If the current fleet of buses and taxis in 22 Latin American
cities were replaced with electric vehicles right away, the
region could save almost $64 billion (€65.2 billion) in fuel by
2030, emit 300 million tons of carbon dioxide less and save
36,500 people from premature death," a study by the International
Automobile Federation (FIA) pointed out.

Latin America and the Caribbean "account for some 10 percent of
global emissions of greenhouse gases and are among the regions
with the greatest decarbonization potential," United Nations
researchers added.

https://www.dw.com/en/latin-america-grows-fond-of-electric-buses/a-46554019


Image: A new electric bus in Cali, Colombia ...

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Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 ...

 

RSID: <<2018-12-08T14:08Z MFSK-64 @ 9400000+1500>>


This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

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VOA NEWS

Algae Harnessed to Make Clean Water, Clean Power

Steve Baragona
3 December 2018

BALTIMORE - "Nature sometimes isn't pretty," said University of
Maryland environmental scientist Peter May, grabbing a clump of
slimy green-brown gunk.

That gunk lines the bottom of what's called an algal turf
scrubber at the Port of Baltimore. The meter-wide, shallow
channel runs the length of a football field alongside one of the
port's giant parking lots.

"Actually, it's always pretty," May corrected himself. Even the
gunk. Because that gunk is removing pollution from the Chesapeake
Bay. Plus, May's colleagues are turning it into clean, renewable
electricity.

The Chesapeake needs the help.

Algal feast

Like many waterways around the world, the bay is polluted with
excess nutrients from farm fertilizer runoff, city wastewater and
other sources. Algae feast on those nutrients, triggering massive
growth that chokes out other aquatic life. Last summer, algal
growth left an average of 4.6 cubic kilometers of the bay without
oxygen.

A third of the pollution reaching the bay literally falls out of
the sky.

Fossil fuels burned in power plants, cars and elsewhere create
nitrogen oxide air pollution, which ultimately ends up in the
bay, either attached to airborne particles or dissolved in
rainwater.

Forests would soak up that pollution. But like many urban areas,
the Port of Baltimore has a pavement problem. There's not a tree
to be found at the entire 230-hectare Dundalk Marine Terminal,
where the algae scrubber is located.

So regulators require the port to remove as much pollution from
the bay as its parking lots allow in. That's where the algal turf
scrubber comes in.

Putting algae to work

The scrubber is like "a controlled algal bloom on land," May
said, "which puts the algae to work pulling nutrients out of the
water."

The city of Durham, N.C., is planning to build another scrubber
to clean up a local reservoir. A pilot study found it would cost
about half as much as typical pollution control measures, such as
constructed wetlands, and much less than retrofitting existing
systems. Others are up and running in Florida.

The algal turf scrubber creates one big challenge, May said.

"What do we do with that algae? You have to have an end use or
else you're going to pile that algae up very quickly," he said.

It's high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids. It's been turned
into animal feed. It can be fermented into biofuels. Some of
May's colleagues have used it to launch a fertilizer business.

But here at the Port of Baltimore, they're turning it into
electricity.

Digesting for power

May works with University of Maryland colleague Stephanie
Lansing, an expert in a process called anaerobic digestion. It's
not much different from our own digestion.

"You have bacteria in your gut that break down food. We're doing
that same process in an anaerobic digester," Lansing said. "We're
breaking down the material, and we're producing energy in the
process."

In this case, the microbes digesting the algae produce methane
biogas. The biogas runs a fuel cell.

"The fuel cell is actually a very efficient way to use the
energy," she said. This small, pilot system produces a modest
amount of electricity.

"You can use it to charge batteries. You can use it for lights.
You can use it for fans," she added.

https://www.voanews.com/a/algae-harnessed-to-make-clean-water-clean-power/4682374.html

https://av.voanews.com/Videoroot/Pangeavideo/2018/12/8/81/814d1302-bb49-4e85-90b4-5153a786d20a_fullhd_dashinit.mp4

See also
https://enst.umd.edu/research/research-centers/algal-ecotechnology-center


Image: Screenshot from University of Maryland video ...


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This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

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This week's images ...







During December, Comet Wirtanen may be visible to the naked eye,
but smaller than this telecopic view. From cbsn.ws/2QIOThc ...


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https://science.nasa.gov/comet-46pwirtanen

This image of asteroid Bennu, from a distance of 80 km, was taken
by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on 3 December. From
go.nasa.gov/2QfFwGk ...

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The engine of the Soyuz-FG rocket launching three new crew
members to the International Space Station, 3 December. From
bit.ly/2AX95lz ...


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Holiday lights at the Wellfields Botanical Gardens in Elkhart,
Indiana. From bit.ly/2AUKcXS. See also bit.ly/2RCq4kj ...


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Our painting of the week is a detail from St. Nicholas (circa
1837) by Robert Walter Weir. From s.si.edu/2UnW3Xb ...


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Shortwave Radiogram now returns to MFSK32 ...


 

RSID: <<2018-12-08T14:23Z MFSK-32 @ 9400000+1500>>


This is Shortwave Radiogrm in MFSK32 ...


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Twitter: @SWRadiogram

I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave
Radiogram.


Next, a message from Tecsun Radios Australia ...

Tecsun Radios Australia is running a great competition for all
Shortwave Radiogram listeners! Starting from next week they’ll
start transmitting images at the end of every Radiogram
broadcast.

All you need to do is decode and collect the 6 Tecsun Radios
images transmitted each week on Shortwave Radiogram for your
chance to win a Tecusn PL880 Radio prize pack worth over $250
Australian Dollars!

Share all 6 images on Twitter @TecsunRadios and send them an
email hello@tecsunradios.com.au. The winner will be judged on 1
February 2019. They’ll even ship the prize pack anywhere in the
world!


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DECODE TO WIN

TECSUN RADIOS AUSTRALIA

www.tecsunradios.com.au