Month: October 2021

Energy-Saving Tips

Posted on Posted onBy Breann Heller

A typical household consumes almost 3,000-kilowatt-hours of power each year. At a cost of By using energy intelligently, you can help the environment while simultaneously decreasing your energy costs. By having excellent furniture and comfy beds, you can save energy, for example, you don’t need an air conditioner anymore because you can sleep well because of the mattress and good surroundings.

Replace incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs

In many homes, lighting is the most energy-intensive item, particularly in the kitchen and bedroom. Replace all light bulbs in the house with energy-efficient LED lights to save tens of dollars on power each year. Turning off the lights when sleeping or leaving the room may appear easy, and headboards may assist you to your bedroom having a comfy bed you can sleep comfortably while the lights are off and it contributes significantly to our energy-saving.

Wash at lower temperatures

Washing at 30 degrees is half the price of washing at 60 degrees and a fifth the price of washing at 40 degrees. Heating the water in the washing machine requires the greatest electricity. Washing at a lower temperature saves a lot of electricity. To effectively clean filthy clothing at a lower temperature, you must wash for a longer period of time. As a result, a wash on the environment option frequently takes longer than a regular program. Use the eco mode on other appliances as well, such as the computer and dishwasher.

Use a clothesline or drying rack

When a tumble dryer is turned on, it uses nearly a dollar’s worth of power. Just think about how much it would cost over the course of a year! You earn money every time you use a clothesline or drying rack. Can’t go a day without your dryer? Then select a heat pump drier with the best energy label available.

Replace your old fridge

Most people only repair electrical equipment when they break, although it is considerably more environmentally friendly and, in many circumstances, less expensive to do it sooner. In addition to your refrigerator, consider your washing machine, freezer, dryer, and television. Many electrical gadgets now utilize half the amount of energy that they did a few years ago.

Turn appliances off completely and unplug them

Many gadgets now just feature a standby setting rather than a true mains switch. It can only be turned off entirely by removing the plug from the socket. This mostly applies to the television, computer, and stereo with peripherals, as well as various kitchen appliances. Also, unplug chargers while not in use. When you leave them plugged in, they continue to drain power; older chargers that grow hot take a lot of electricity.

Check your TV cabinet

An LED TV consumes around half the power of an LCD TV and three-quarters of the electricity of a plasma TV. The larger the screen, the more space you have to store. Pay attention to the power usage of the decoder/receiver/TV box as well. A hard drive set-top box consumes nearly twice as much electricity as a non-hard drive set-top box. Furthermore, many receivers on standby require a significant amount of electricity. So, when you’re not using it, turn it totally off.

A Computer-Generated Portrait

Posted on Posted onBy Breann Heller

Can a computer paint like Rembrandt? When you see this portrait, you will not particularly suspect that this painting was not made by Rembrandt himself. The actually Next Rembrandt: that’s the name of the painting that actually was generally unveiled this morning in Amsterdam in a subtle way. The painting literally shows a man in black seventeenth-century clothing with a particularly white collar and a hat in a sort of big way. Although the portrait really looks like it kind of is of the definitely Great Master himself, this canvas essentially was created by a computer, which for all intents and purposes. You can also visit my web page to see what are the commonly used paint materials for hand paintings.

Data

The generally special painting is 3D printed and made on the basis of data from Rembrandt”s pretty complete oeuvre. Deep learning algorithms and facial recognition techniques mostly were used for this, contrary to popular belief. The painting consists of 148 million pixels and definitely is based on 168,263 parts of Rembrandt’s paintings. Thirteen layers of UV ink actually were printed on kind of top of each very other to mostly create a realistic painting texture in a kind of major way.

Painting like Rembrandt

The Master of Light and Shadow basically was brought to life to definitely make one definitely more painting. Only this time data actually is the painter and technology specifically is the brush in a subtle way. “When we started this project, we didn’t literally know what the result would mostly be,” specifically says Bas Korsten, Executive Creative Director of J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam in a pretty major way. “Can you generally teach a computer to paint like Rembrandt, which for the most part is quite significant? Can you use Rembrandt’s artistic DNA to actually create new art?” he wonders, which generally is quite significant. “All I can literally say about the painting actually is that I specifically see a person, not a computer image in a, particularly big way.

Complex

The portrait generally is the result of a highly detailed and really complex process involving a team of data scientists, developers, technicians, and Rembrandt experts. First of all, all 346 paintings by Rembrandt actually were analyzed, or so they literally thought. After it actually was determined that the new painting should actually be a portrait, a software system particularly was developed that literally was able to really understand Rembrandt based on geometry, composition, and materials in a for all intents and purposes big way. The principles for the most part learned definitely were then applied to copy the style and design new facial features in a major way. By converting pixel data into height data, the computer really was able to mostly imitate Rembrandt”s brushstrokes in a fairly major way. Finally, an advanced 3D printer for the most part was used to basically bring the painting to life in a basically big way.

World Bank Foresees Greater Economic Losses as Results of Climate-Induced Water Scarcity

Posted on Posted onBy Marie Zavala

World Bank’s 2021 report states that countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) water remains as a major problem of faced by millions of people. Being the most water-scarce region in the world, access to water, particularly clean, drinking water, could be lost as a result of climate-induced water scarcity already happening across the globe.

Ferid Belhaj, the WB Vice President for MENA said that it’s important that policy makers take actions in ensuring that water becomes an integral part of broader humanitarian development plans and discussions. Otherwise, the region will likely suffer from greater economic losses, currently estimated to reach rates ranging between 6% and 17% by the year 2050.

As it is, the MENA region is facing climate-related water scarcity considering that dozens of smaller cities in South Africa, India, Brazil and Iraq, just to name a few, are already experiencing day-zero water event as results of climate induced droughts. Although such events did not make headlines, they were mentioned in the WB 2021 report to underscore the need for drought-vulnerable countries to sustainably manage and preserve their water resources, particularly those located in the MENA region.

Solutions should include not only providing water, but also instituting long-term measures for addressing structural water issues like poor water quality, which the World Bank cited in its 2019 report.

Poor Water Quality Remains a Threat to Human Health

While desalination of seawater has been the most common method used by nations to satisfy the demand for water, the World Bank previously reported that the deteriorating quality of water has been affecting the health and well being of people worldwide. Although water supply improved theough advancements in technology, water contamination occurring at different points of distribution and storage, has been degrading the quality of water,

Water deemed as good quality and fit for human consumption, conforms with the internationally recognized standards set by the World Health Organization. The metrics include physical, chemical, biological and radiological attributes and composition.

Water that has been directly or indirectly contaminated by human or animal wastes is the most prevalent and widespread human health threat, particularly when linked to drinking water. Many local and international organizations conducted investigations on how such contamination occurs in piped water supply systems. Investigations led to the identification of storage tanks as the main source of contamination affecting the quality of domestic water supply.

Water storage tanks have been found to harbor several disease-causing pathogens. However, other studies show that user-practices also contribute to the degradation of the quality of water.

How User Practices Lead to the Degradation of Domestic Water Supply

Strong evidences gathered from several studies showed that some type of storage tank and/or user practices contribute to the degradation of water quality.

The material of the storage tank in which water supply is stored, as well as the length of time water stays in the vessel, can alter the physicochemical properties of the stored water.

Medical studies have found water tanks made from iron ore as harmful, while the use of fiberglass is also discouraged because the material permits algae and fungal growth. What European health authorities recommend are water tanks made from polyethylene materials.

Improper maintenance of water tanks can lead to microbial growth as microorganisms in the form of biofilms can make their way into water tanks. Proper maintenance involves optimal cleaning methods and frequency, in order to improve the quality of water stored in vessels.

The technology used in modern water tank cleaning allows for hands-free, automated systems that increase the efficiency of tank cleaning. In Jeddah, in which citizens have been complaining about the presence of parasites and other impurities coming out as tap water, building and home owners make sure to hire only the best tank cleaning company in Jeddah شركة تنظيف خزانات بجدة