aluminum archives - planet forward - 克罗地亚vs加拿大让球

from plastic to aluminum: a cup swap at 2 sports venues

thu, 12 dec 2019 16:37:50 +0000

picture it, you’re at a sporting event with friends and family. then someone suggests getting refreshments during a timeout. some friends leave and come back with the usual soda and perhaps a hot dog or popcorn depending on the mood. now think of this: after you are done consuming these snacks, where does the plastic cup and paper container go?

when it comes to concessions at professional sporting events, a rising concern has been trash and uneaten food. however, there are some franchises working to make their events not as wasteful and move past the days of paper trays and plastic cups. one such venue is denver’s pepsi center.

this fall, the pepsi center — home to almost all of denver’s professional sports teams and frequent concert venue — along with the ball corporation and kroenke sports & entertainment, launched a reusable and recyclable aluminum cup at their concession stands to replace plastic cups at the pepsi center. the change was part of a pilot program created by ball in response to consumer preference for more sustainable products.

the 20 oz. cup — the first of its kind to be used at a professional sporting venue in the united states — debuted at the denver nuggets’ first home game of this season, against the phoenix suns, on oct. 25, 2019. the pepsi center is also the first professional sporting venue to distribute such a cup, according to renee robinson, director of corporate communications at ball.

in a joint press statement from ball and kroenke sports & entertainment, ball’s chairman, president, and ceo john a. hayes said a goal of the new cup was to make a “meaningful difference on promoting sustainability in its industry.”

also, according to robinson, the aluminum cup comes with many positives.

“ball’s new aluminum cup is infinitely recyclable, meaning that it can be used, recycled and be back in use as a new cup or can in as little as 60 days,” robinson said.

“aluminum beverage containers have a global recycling rate of 69% and recycling yields of more than 98%, making them the world’s most recycled beverage container.”

plastic has a much smaller recycling rate — 8.4% according to a 2017 report from the environmental protection agency.

robinson said the ball corporation is a company that prides itself on making our planet a greener one, and it is doing so in multiple areas, from packaging to aerospace. that overarching goal is what inspired ball to get this new cup made and distributed, according to robinson. beyond the new cup, ball has helped lead recycling education programs and also has joined the world wildlife fund through their cascading materials vision.

the university of colorado boulder also partnered with ball to offer fans an aluminum cup replacement, which aligned with the school’s upcoming plastic-free deadline. (ball corporation handout)

the cost of the new cups has not yet been determined, but as reported in packaging digest, ball anticipates pricing to be “competitive with other sustainable cup options.” ball general manager sebastian siethoff said in the article that venues are making a “conscious decision to adopt a more sustainable beverage container for their consumers.”

currently, the aluminum cup can be found only in colorado — at both the pepsi center and via the university of colorado athletic department at folsom field. cu’s cup swap is a step toward the university’s goal of becoming plastic-free in its sports venues by 2020.

according to robinson, ball plans to expand the production of their cups to the other side of the united states, with a goal of launching next at atlanta’s mercedes-benz stadium. the company hopes to be in other venues and facilities by the end of 2020, as well as expand their cup options.

“we are building a dedicated cups manufacturing facility in georgia and, when that plant is fully operational, we plan to introduce additional sizes to round out our cups portfolio and intend to expand adoption of the cups to drinking establishments, parks and recreation, colleges and universities, hospitality, restaurants, retail, business and industry,” robinson said.

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an innovative heating solution: fiber optics

sun, 24 jul 2011 10:30:43 +0000

can solar heat be transmitted through special fiber optics to distant places where it is cold?

i know that fiber optics transmit light but i wonder about heat as well. solar energy is at its most efficient when heat from sunlight is utilized directly instead of being converted into trickles of electrical juices. reflect sunlight to heat indoors at the shady back sides of houses that face to the north is one good example which i am using already. it can be aluminum foil or glassless mirrors made of special treated aluminum, like durabright patented by alcoa, and things like that.

i also wonder about whether fiber optics can carry vast amounts of sun heat captured in the deserts to the colder climates during winters? or can special reflectors be able to reflect infrared heat without the glare of the sunlight?? why are we so overfocused on photovoltaics and inverters alone? think reflection and concentration! not just passive photovoltaics and unnecessary inverters and batteries that cost too much for our tax credits that will go only to the wealthy…

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amplifying the sun with aluminum reflectors

sat, 23 jul 2011 10:30:05 +0000

i boosted battery capacity in my solar porch lights by adding an aluminum reflectors to double sunlight on the pv chip on top of my solar porch lights. why are we still ignoring concentrated solar power for utility scale purposes as well as retail solar products? we can add aluminum reflectors to boost photovoltaic performance by two, three or even four times. i don’t have the stats but there are none whatsoever anywhere, anyway. why is aluminum the most neglected metal around?? environmentalists seem to favor coal over aluminum for investment purposes. i just don’t get it… any enlightenment, anybody?

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aluminum recycling to build bridges

sat, 02 jul 2011 11:00:13 +0000

why not try using aluminum for building bridges? aluminum is really very strong!!

maybe the reasoning is that we are not producing enough aluminum nor even consuming enough aluminum to warrant more aluminum growth. we are more interested in pointing fingers at aluminum as too intensive in electricity for production without any after thoughts about the far less energy required to recycle and cast aluminum. steel requires the same energy to produce new as recycled while aluminum is only 7% of the energy required to produce new. we need to put far more aluminum on the table for future recycling that can power economic growth.

we can use aluminum in concentrated solar power that can be used to power additional new aluminum production while we cannot with steel. we appear not to desire solutions as we seem to desire miseries. more of them…

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solar mirror space heater

sat, 14 may 2011 09:30:03 +0000

most of us are so focused toward converting sunlight into electricity that we overlook the biggest residential energy user of all – home furnaces, space heaters , even air polluting fireplaces and wood stoves. my idea is not going to replace them entirely but can do the job every bit as good whenever the sun shines. if it is foggy or raining, we can always go back to the old standbys. if the sun is shining, turn them off and switch to my idea that uses simple mirrors to reflect sunlight through windows and even sliding glass doors. we can borrow the suntracking mechanism from the solar tower with those heliostats all around it and retrofit with mirrors so that we don’t need to go out and readjust the mirrors every hour manually. mirrors doesn’t need to use any glass panes as there are already new kinds of mirrors that reflect as effectively as the glass mirrors. there are already some kind of mylar based reflecting surfaces that using bright aluminum coatings. silver can be used as well. we are too focused on producing kilowatts from the sun , but we can also focus on producing btus (british thermal units) as well. nearly all utility ratepayers usually pay for both fuel and electricity. some use natural gas, heating oil, firewood, etc which is measured in btus not kilowatts. some of us do have electric furnaces, water heaters, of course. generally speaking, it is far cheaper and more efficient to convert sunlight into btus with reflective surfaces than kilowatts with photovoltaics. people don’t seem to grasp that simple concept of producing btus from the sun very well. this is the real dilemma with our solar energy picture. solar thermal technologies are already everywhere , but they are not being marketed efficiently. photovoltaics which are far less efficient and far more aggressively marketed at greater costs to our governments through much heavier paid in tariffs and subsidies. solar thermal technologies will use aluminum extensively , yet we are not using it as much as we should. there are already excess inventories of idle aluminum lying around in the ports. what is going on?

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