Facebook’s decision to build its second data center in North Carolina shows that the company continues to see energy-efficient facilities as the best way to reduce its carbon footprint rather than building it near renewable energy sources, reports Data Center Knowledge.
Facebook has published several case studies of energy-efficiency projects that have reduced the carbon impact of the company’s data centers, according to the article.
At a recent panel session, Facebook’s director of data center engineering, shared tips on how the company has improved energy efficiency and cut costs at its data centers.
Facebook says it is currently building one of the most energy-efficient data centers to date in Prineville, Oregon. However, Greenpeace started a campaign in February to get Facebook to power the data center with renewable energy instead of coal.
Facebook signed a deal to source its energy from PacificCorp, which uses 83 percent coal in its energy mix, according to the Associated Press, reported Reuters, in September. But PacifiCorp said the number is 58 percent with the remainder from natural gas (20 percent), hydro (10 percent) and renewable energy (10 percent).
Greenpeace also said that Facebook plans to double the size of its data center, which translates into twice the energy use and twice the coal.
The new Facebook site in Forest City is served by Duke Energy, which has an energy mix similar to that in Prineville, reports Data Center Knowledge. In 2009, Duke Energy generated 54.7 percent of its power from coal, 27 percent from nuclear power plants, 12 percent from wind and hydro-electric power, and 6.6 percent from natural gas, according to the article. The utility expects its mix of renewables to improve when it adds additional wind power generation.
But Greenpeace is not happy. “Facebook has again chosen a location that will increase demand for dirty energy,” said Greenpeace energy campaigner Gary Cook in a blog post. “Good corporate citizenship involves more than setting up a webpage dedicated to green issues, or becoming members of green clubs, just as energy efficiency is only the first step to managing your environmental footprint.”
The Greenpeace statement is in reference to the recent launch of Facebook’s new “green” page that details what the company is doing in the environmental space, and its recent partnerships with the Alliance to Save Energy and the Digital Energy Solutions Campaign (DESC).
Cook said Facebook missed an opportunity to follow the lead of Yahoo, which has built hydro-powered data centers in Quincy, Washington and Lockport, N.Y., reports Data Center Knowledge.
Facebook says the North Carolina data center will use many of the techniques used to conserve power at its Prineville site. These could include the use of evaporative cooling instead of a chiller system, re-using excess heat expelled by servers to heat office space in the building, and foregoing traditional uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and power distribution units (PDUs) by adding a 12-volt battery to each server power supply, reports Data Center Knowledge.
The Facebook facility may have a lower carbon impact than other data centers reliant on an energy mix featuring coal due to its location near Duke Energy’s Cliffside Steam Station, which is readying a “clean coal” facility featuring lower emissions than traditional coal plants, reports Data Center Knowledge.
Monday, November 15, 2010
How the dirt below our feet can save us from extinction
The Biochar Solution: Carbon Farming and Climate Change
Albert Bates
Reading like a detective story and marked by impressive scholarship, Albert Bates' latest book has placed The Biochar Solution squarely in the center of the global crisis. -Peter Bane Permaculture Activist
Conventional agriculture destroys our soils, pollutes our water and is a major contributor to climate change. What if our agricultural practices could stabilize, or even reverse these trends?
The Biochar Solution explores the dual function of biochar as a carbon-negative energy source and a potent soil-builder. Created by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen, this material has the unique ability to hold carbon back from the atmosphere while simultaneously enhancing soil fertility. Author Albert Bates traces the evolution of this extraordinary substance from the ancient black soils of the Amazon to its reappearance as a modern carbon sequestration strategy.
Combining practical techniques for the production and use of biochar with an overview of the development and future of carbon farming, The Biochar Solution describes how a new agricultural revolution can reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to below zero while increasing world food reserves and creating energy from biomass wastes. Biochar and carbon farming can:
Reduce fossil fuels inputs into our food system
Bring new life to desert landscapes
Filter and purify drinking water
Help build carbon-negative homes, communities and nations.
Biochar is not without dangers if unregulated, and it is not a panacea, but if it fulfills its promise of taking us back from the brink of irreversible climate change, it may well be the most important discovery in human history.
Bates has woven together a highly engaging interdisciplinary answer to climate change ... a lively page-turner that blends clear-headed analysis with nuts-and-bolts advice ... enough danger to wake us up, but enough opportunity to emerge feeling hopeful. - Tracy L. Barnett, The Esperanza Project
Albert Bates
Reading like a detective story and marked by impressive scholarship, Albert Bates' latest book has placed The Biochar Solution squarely in the center of the global crisis. -Peter Bane Permaculture Activist
Conventional agriculture destroys our soils, pollutes our water and is a major contributor to climate change. What if our agricultural practices could stabilize, or even reverse these trends?
The Biochar Solution explores the dual function of biochar as a carbon-negative energy source and a potent soil-builder. Created by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen, this material has the unique ability to hold carbon back from the atmosphere while simultaneously enhancing soil fertility. Author Albert Bates traces the evolution of this extraordinary substance from the ancient black soils of the Amazon to its reappearance as a modern carbon sequestration strategy.
Combining practical techniques for the production and use of biochar with an overview of the development and future of carbon farming, The Biochar Solution describes how a new agricultural revolution can reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to below zero while increasing world food reserves and creating energy from biomass wastes. Biochar and carbon farming can:
Reduce fossil fuels inputs into our food system
Bring new life to desert landscapes
Filter and purify drinking water
Help build carbon-negative homes, communities and nations.
Biochar is not without dangers if unregulated, and it is not a panacea, but if it fulfills its promise of taking us back from the brink of irreversible climate change, it may well be the most important discovery in human history.
Bates has woven together a highly engaging interdisciplinary answer to climate change ... a lively page-turner that blends clear-headed analysis with nuts-and-bolts advice ... enough danger to wake us up, but enough opportunity to emerge feeling hopeful. - Tracy L. Barnett, The Esperanza Project
Sunday, November 14, 2010
India pioneers global plan to green economy It will ensure that countries take into account the services provided by their ecosystems in economic planning
India will be one of the two countries to pioneer "a global partnership that will fundamentally change the way governments value their ecosystems", World Bank President Robert B Zoellick announced here on Thursday.
"We are here to do something that none has done before," Zoellick declared at a press conference on the sidelines of the October 18-29 UN biodiversity summit. That something is to ensure that countries take into account the services provided by their ecosystems — the value of the water stored underground because a forest allows more water to seep in, for example.
"This is a concept now widely accepted," Zoellick said. "Now we have to take the valuations provided by projects like TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) to Ministries of Finance and government economic agencies around the world."
If this is actually done, it may change the very classification of rich and poor countries. Zoellick said a recent study has shown ecosystems provide services worth US $44 trillion, of which US $29 trillion are in countries now classified as "developing".
"Our new partnership is to mainstream natural resources accounting into economic planning, starting with Colombia, India and then Mexico," Zoellick said. "We can overcome poverty only when we take ecosystem values into account."
Addressing the press conference with Zoellick, India's Environment Ministry Secretary Vijai Sharma said: "This will plug deficiencies in traditional accounting systems. India's national biodiversity action plan has already incorporated some of these concepts.
"In our country, we are moving towards a rights-based system of governance, as shown by the Forest Rights Act. Ninety per cent of our projects under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme are for rejuvenation of natural resources. Apart from environment, there are the questions of health and safety we must look into. We have to build in all these angles and this partnership will help us do that."
UN Environment Programme Chief Achim Steiner said: "The link between economic policy, natural capital and human wellbeing is being increasingly understood. The idea of this project is to make the invisible, visible, and to ensure that we have accounted for the economy of the poor."
"We are here to do something that none has done before," Zoellick declared at a press conference on the sidelines of the October 18-29 UN biodiversity summit. That something is to ensure that countries take into account the services provided by their ecosystems — the value of the water stored underground because a forest allows more water to seep in, for example.
"This is a concept now widely accepted," Zoellick said. "Now we have to take the valuations provided by projects like TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) to Ministries of Finance and government economic agencies around the world."
If this is actually done, it may change the very classification of rich and poor countries. Zoellick said a recent study has shown ecosystems provide services worth US $44 trillion, of which US $29 trillion are in countries now classified as "developing".
"Our new partnership is to mainstream natural resources accounting into economic planning, starting with Colombia, India and then Mexico," Zoellick said. "We can overcome poverty only when we take ecosystem values into account."
Addressing the press conference with Zoellick, India's Environment Ministry Secretary Vijai Sharma said: "This will plug deficiencies in traditional accounting systems. India's national biodiversity action plan has already incorporated some of these concepts.
"In our country, we are moving towards a rights-based system of governance, as shown by the Forest Rights Act. Ninety per cent of our projects under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme are for rejuvenation of natural resources. Apart from environment, there are the questions of health and safety we must look into. We have to build in all these angles and this partnership will help us do that."
UN Environment Programme Chief Achim Steiner said: "The link between economic policy, natural capital and human wellbeing is being increasingly understood. The idea of this project is to make the invisible, visible, and to ensure that we have accounted for the economy of the poor."
Friday, October 29, 2010
Vast Amber Deposit from India: New Trove of Fossils Suggests Global Distribution of Tropical Forest Ecosystems in the Eocene
A vast new amber deposit in India has yielded 100 fossil spiders, bees, and flies that date to the Early Eocene, or 52-50 million years ago. These arthropods are not unique -- as would be expected on an island (which India was at that time) -- but have close evolutionary relationships with fossils from the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The amber is also the oldest evidence of a tropical broadleaf rainforest in Asia.Bees, termites, spiders, and flies entombed in a newly-excavated amber deposit are challenging the assumption that India was an isolated island-continent in the Early Eocene, or 52-50 million years ago. Arthropods found in the Cambay deposit from western India are not unique -- as would be expected on an island -- but rather have close evolutionary relationships with fossils from other continents. The amber is also the oldest evidence of a tropical broadleaf rainforest in Asia.
The discovery is published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We know India was isolated, but when and for precisely how long is unclear," says David Grimaldi, curator in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History. "The biological evidence in the amber deposit shows that there was some biotic connection."
"The amber shows, similar to an old photo, what life looked like in India just before the collision with the Asian continent," says Jes Rust, professor of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Universität Bonn in Germany. "The insects trapped in the fossil resin cast a new light on the history of the sub-continent."
est in Asia
The discovery is published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We know India was isolated, but when and for precisely how long is unclear," says David Grimaldi, curator in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History. "The biological evidence in the amber deposit shows that there was some biotic connection."
"The amber shows, similar to an old photo, what life looked like in India just before the collision with the Asian continent," says Jes Rust, professor of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Universität Bonn in Germany. "The insects trapped in the fossil resin cast a new light on the history of the sub-continent."
est in Asia
Antarctica Melting News
The change in the ice mass covering Antarctica is a critical factor in global climate events. Scientists at the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences have now found that the year by year mass variations in the western Antarctic are mainly attributable to fluctuations in precipitation, which are controlled significantly by the climate phenomenon El Nino. Gravity data collected from space using NASA's Grace satellite show that Antarctica has been losing more than a hundred cubic kilometers (24 cubic miles) of ice each year since 2002. The latest data reveal that Antarctica is losing ice at an accelerating rate, too. How is it possible for surface melting to decrease, but for the continent to lose mass anyway? The answer boils down to the fact that ice can flow without melting.
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent (including ice and underlying land), encapsulating the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 5.4 million square miles), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America.
Two-thirds of Antarctica is a high, cold desert. Known as East Antarctica, this section has an average altitude of about 1.2 miles, higher than the American Colorado Plateau. There is a continent about the size of Australia underneath all this ice; the ice sheet sitting on top averages at a little over 1.2 miles thick. If all of this ice melted, it would raise global sea level by about 197 feet.
West Antarctica is very different. Instead of a single continent, it is a series of islands covered by ice. Because it's a group of islands, much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS, in the jargon) is actually sitting on the floor of the Southern Ocean, not on dry land. Parts of it are more than 1 mile below sea level. Pine Island is the largest of these islands and the largest ice stream in West Antarctica is called Pine Island Glacier. The WAIS, if it melted completely, would raise sea level by 16 to 23 feet.
Two areas in Antarctica are of particular interest because of their potential sensitivity to global climate change: the Antarctic Peninsula (which reaches up towards the tip of South America), and the Amundsen Sector of West Antarctica. The peninsula is currently experiencing a warming exceeding the global mean and the disappearance of large ice shelf areas. In the Amundsen Sector there are currently the largest flow rates and mass loss of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Glaciers can both melt and move or flow. Both results lead to a faster overall mass loss. Satellite images of more than 300 glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula have already showed that they were flowing some 12 percent faster in 2003 than they were in 1993. Current data indicates that the "flow rate" is increasing though not in a linear fashion.
In the latest study, the mass balance of both regions is reevaluated from gravity data of the satellite mission GRACE. As a result, the estimates were lower than those of conventional mass balance methods. "With the GRACE time series, it was for the first time possible to observe how the large-scale ice mass varies in the two areas due to fluctuations in rainfall from year to year," said the GFZ scientists Ingo Sasgen.
It has long been known that the Pacific El Niño climate phenomenon and the snowfall in Antarctica are linked. The complementary piece to the warm phase El Nino, the cold phase known as La Nina, also affects the Antarctic climate:
"The cooler La Nina years lead to a strong low pressure area over the Amundsen Sea, which favors heavy rainfall along the Antarctic Peninsula - the ice mass is increasing there. In contrast, the Amundsen area is dominated by dry air from the interior during this time.
El Nino years with their warm phase lead to precisely the opposite pattern: reduced rainfall and mass loss in the Antarctic Peninsula, and an increase in the Amundsen Sector field, respectively" explains Professor Maik Thomas.
The recording of the entire ice mass of the South Pole and its variations is a central task in climate research and still raises many unanswered questions. In principle, the study could show that the continuous gravity data of the GRACE satellite mission contain another important medium-term climate signal.
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent (including ice and underlying land), encapsulating the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 5.4 million square miles), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America.
Two-thirds of Antarctica is a high, cold desert. Known as East Antarctica, this section has an average altitude of about 1.2 miles, higher than the American Colorado Plateau. There is a continent about the size of Australia underneath all this ice; the ice sheet sitting on top averages at a little over 1.2 miles thick. If all of this ice melted, it would raise global sea level by about 197 feet.
West Antarctica is very different. Instead of a single continent, it is a series of islands covered by ice. Because it's a group of islands, much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS, in the jargon) is actually sitting on the floor of the Southern Ocean, not on dry land. Parts of it are more than 1 mile below sea level. Pine Island is the largest of these islands and the largest ice stream in West Antarctica is called Pine Island Glacier. The WAIS, if it melted completely, would raise sea level by 16 to 23 feet.
Two areas in Antarctica are of particular interest because of their potential sensitivity to global climate change: the Antarctic Peninsula (which reaches up towards the tip of South America), and the Amundsen Sector of West Antarctica. The peninsula is currently experiencing a warming exceeding the global mean and the disappearance of large ice shelf areas. In the Amundsen Sector there are currently the largest flow rates and mass loss of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Glaciers can both melt and move or flow. Both results lead to a faster overall mass loss. Satellite images of more than 300 glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula have already showed that they were flowing some 12 percent faster in 2003 than they were in 1993. Current data indicates that the "flow rate" is increasing though not in a linear fashion.
In the latest study, the mass balance of both regions is reevaluated from gravity data of the satellite mission GRACE. As a result, the estimates were lower than those of conventional mass balance methods. "With the GRACE time series, it was for the first time possible to observe how the large-scale ice mass varies in the two areas due to fluctuations in rainfall from year to year," said the GFZ scientists Ingo Sasgen.
It has long been known that the Pacific El Niño climate phenomenon and the snowfall in Antarctica are linked. The complementary piece to the warm phase El Nino, the cold phase known as La Nina, also affects the Antarctic climate:
"The cooler La Nina years lead to a strong low pressure area over the Amundsen Sea, which favors heavy rainfall along the Antarctic Peninsula - the ice mass is increasing there. In contrast, the Amundsen area is dominated by dry air from the interior during this time.
El Nino years with their warm phase lead to precisely the opposite pattern: reduced rainfall and mass loss in the Antarctic Peninsula, and an increase in the Amundsen Sector field, respectively" explains Professor Maik Thomas.
The recording of the entire ice mass of the South Pole and its variations is a central task in climate research and still raises many unanswered questions. In principle, the study could show that the continuous gravity data of the GRACE satellite mission contain another important medium-term climate signal.
Innovation: Portable Breast Scanners
A new portable scanner for detecting early signs of breast cancer has been developed at the University of Manchester by Professor Zhipeng Wu. The device works by radio frequency technology that can show the presence of tumors on an computer screen. The amazing thing is that it can show the image within seconds on the computer screen, rather than a x-ray mammography which takes minutes and can only be done at hospital or specialist care centers. This new technology can revolutionize the early detection for women with breast cancer.
Around the world, breast cancer comprises about ten percent of all cancer incidents for women. Breast cancer can be fatal, but there are different ways of treating it: surgery, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, and radiation. Unfortunately, according to statistics from 2004, breast cancer caused 519,000 deaths and accounted for one percent of all deaths worldwide. The key in beating the disease is to detect the cancer in its infant stage before it has a chance to grow.
Professor Wu, professor at the University's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, says that the new portable scanner can offer patients real-time video images that would clearly show the presence of any tumor. The new method would be much quicker and less intrusive. The device could be used at GP offices, reducing wait times and would allow patients to avoid costly and unnecessary mammographies. It can even be used at home.
The patented radio frequency technology uses computer tomography and works with the same technology as a mobile phone. The casing for the device is no larger than a bread basket, making it portable and low-cost.
Mammography, the standard detection for breast cancer, can give results up to 95 percent accuracy for women over 50, but is far less effective for younger women. For those under 50, it provides results that are only up to 60 percent accurate. However, it is at this age when detection is the most important. Thousands of lives could be saved if they are diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
While mammographies use density to detect the cancer, the new radio frequency technique works by detecting the dielectric contrasts between normal and affected breast tissues. The malignant tissue has a higher permittivity and conductivity to radio frequency, and will therefore show up differently (in red) on the scan.
It works instantly, as soon as the breasts are placed in the cup. 30 images can be scanned in real-time, in one second, making the process fast and painless. According to Professor Wu, "The real-time imaging minimizes the chance of missing a breast tumor during scanning. Other systems also need to use a liquid or gel as a matching substance, such as in an ultrasound, to work but with our system you don't need that — it can be done simply in oil, milk, water or even with a bra on."
Professor Wu has submitted his innovation to the IET Innovation Awards under the Electronics category. The winners will be announced this November.
Around the world, breast cancer comprises about ten percent of all cancer incidents for women. Breast cancer can be fatal, but there are different ways of treating it: surgery, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, and radiation. Unfortunately, according to statistics from 2004, breast cancer caused 519,000 deaths and accounted for one percent of all deaths worldwide. The key in beating the disease is to detect the cancer in its infant stage before it has a chance to grow.
Professor Wu, professor at the University's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, says that the new portable scanner can offer patients real-time video images that would clearly show the presence of any tumor. The new method would be much quicker and less intrusive. The device could be used at GP offices, reducing wait times and would allow patients to avoid costly and unnecessary mammographies. It can even be used at home.
The patented radio frequency technology uses computer tomography and works with the same technology as a mobile phone. The casing for the device is no larger than a bread basket, making it portable and low-cost.
Mammography, the standard detection for breast cancer, can give results up to 95 percent accuracy for women over 50, but is far less effective for younger women. For those under 50, it provides results that are only up to 60 percent accurate. However, it is at this age when detection is the most important. Thousands of lives could be saved if they are diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
While mammographies use density to detect the cancer, the new radio frequency technique works by detecting the dielectric contrasts between normal and affected breast tissues. The malignant tissue has a higher permittivity and conductivity to radio frequency, and will therefore show up differently (in red) on the scan.
It works instantly, as soon as the breasts are placed in the cup. 30 images can be scanned in real-time, in one second, making the process fast and painless. According to Professor Wu, "The real-time imaging minimizes the chance of missing a breast tumor during scanning. Other systems also need to use a liquid or gel as a matching substance, such as in an ultrasound, to work but with our system you don't need that — it can be done simply in oil, milk, water or even with a bra on."
Professor Wu has submitted his innovation to the IET Innovation Awards under the Electronics category. The winners will be announced this November.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Beach garbage recycled — as vacuum cleaners
There's a story behind the blue, white and green plastic covering the surface of the Pacific Ocean vacuum cleaner. They're tiny bits of plastic collected from one of Hawaii's dirtiest beaches, Kahuku, where waves dump trash from the Pacific all day long.
The machine made by Electrolux AB is fully functional and can suck up dirt from a rug like any other vacuum. But the company said it wants the device to serve as an object that provokes a conversation about the large volumes of plastic trash that are polluting the world's oceans.
The Stockholm-based company has also made four other vacuums, each from plastic trash collected in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, North and Baltic seas. None of the five are for commercial sale.
Cecilia Nord, vice president for sustainability and environmental affairs at Electrolux's floor care and small appliances division, said many groups are doing their best to clean the ocean and beaches of plastic.
But the problem keeps growing because people continue to consume more plastic without recycling it afterward, she said.
"We — as a big manufacturer with a global reach — can start a debate and hopefully can contribute to addressing the root cause," Nord said.
Electrolux received its Pacific Ocean plastic from a Hawaii-based volunteer group that cleans up Kahuku beach once a week. The remote shoreline is one of Oahu's dirtiest, in part because current flows tend to deposit trash on that side of the island.
"We can be there on any day and see it coming in on each wave," said Suzanne Frazer, president and co-founder of Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii.
Watch online series on eco-entrepreneurs
Garbage also quickly accumulates at Kahuku because the beach is behind two private properties and can't be easily visited by beachgoers who pick up trash on Hawaii's more populated shorelines every day.
Plastic breaks down into smaller pieces slowly over time but doesn't ever completely disappear. In the ocean, currents carry the small bits to areas where massive gyres of plastic garbage have formed.
One spot between Hawaii and California the size of Texas has been dubbed the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." Researchers recently found a similar plastic trash gyre in the Atlantic between Bermuda and Portugal's Azores islands.
Seabirds eat the plastic bits — particularly ones that are a bright red or orange — thinking they're squid, fish eggs or other food.
Some Laysan albatross, a seabird that nests at Midway atoll northwest of the main Hawaiian islands, die of starvation with their stomachs full of plastic.
Electrolux's Pacific vacuum has only a few red or orange pieces because marine animals have eaten most of the brightly colored plastic trash pieces before they wash ashore.
Carey Morishige, outreach coordinator for the marine debris program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said people should use less plastic and reuse and recycle what they do use.
"If it's still going in, we're still going to have to clean it up," Morishige said. "The ultimate solution is going to be in stopping this stuff from getting into the ocean in the first place."
The machine made by Electrolux AB is fully functional and can suck up dirt from a rug like any other vacuum. But the company said it wants the device to serve as an object that provokes a conversation about the large volumes of plastic trash that are polluting the world's oceans.
The Stockholm-based company has also made four other vacuums, each from plastic trash collected in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, North and Baltic seas. None of the five are for commercial sale.
Cecilia Nord, vice president for sustainability and environmental affairs at Electrolux's floor care and small appliances division, said many groups are doing their best to clean the ocean and beaches of plastic.
But the problem keeps growing because people continue to consume more plastic without recycling it afterward, she said.
"We — as a big manufacturer with a global reach — can start a debate and hopefully can contribute to addressing the root cause," Nord said.
Electrolux received its Pacific Ocean plastic from a Hawaii-based volunteer group that cleans up Kahuku beach once a week. The remote shoreline is one of Oahu's dirtiest, in part because current flows tend to deposit trash on that side of the island.
"We can be there on any day and see it coming in on each wave," said Suzanne Frazer, president and co-founder of Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii.
Watch online series on eco-entrepreneurs
Garbage also quickly accumulates at Kahuku because the beach is behind two private properties and can't be easily visited by beachgoers who pick up trash on Hawaii's more populated shorelines every day.
Plastic breaks down into smaller pieces slowly over time but doesn't ever completely disappear. In the ocean, currents carry the small bits to areas where massive gyres of plastic garbage have formed.
One spot between Hawaii and California the size of Texas has been dubbed the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." Researchers recently found a similar plastic trash gyre in the Atlantic between Bermuda and Portugal's Azores islands.
Seabirds eat the plastic bits — particularly ones that are a bright red or orange — thinking they're squid, fish eggs or other food.
Some Laysan albatross, a seabird that nests at Midway atoll northwest of the main Hawaiian islands, die of starvation with their stomachs full of plastic.
Electrolux's Pacific vacuum has only a few red or orange pieces because marine animals have eaten most of the brightly colored plastic trash pieces before they wash ashore.
Carey Morishige, outreach coordinator for the marine debris program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said people should use less plastic and reuse and recycle what they do use.
"If it's still going in, we're still going to have to clean it up," Morishige said. "The ultimate solution is going to be in stopping this stuff from getting into the ocean in the first place."
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